Tag: Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty

SHAC Plans to Turn New York City into a "Battle Ground to Smash Huntingdon Life Sciences"

In the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty urged its supporters “from the tri-state area” to join them on October 1st “as NYC becomes the battleground to SMASH Huntingdon Life Sciences and their supporters.”

A press release posted to an animal rights e-mail list promised that “On October 1st we will name, shame and annihilate those who see fit to make it possible for HLS to poison and brutally kill around 500 animals every day.”

SHAC notes that, “NYC is chock full of companies that provide financial support, financial services, and contracts to kill and its time we held them accountable.” The press release promises that they will target multiple businesses on October 1st.

Source:

Oct 1st: NYC becomes a battle ground to smash HSL. Stop Huntingdon Animal Creulty, Press Release, September 24, 2001.

SHAC's Favorite Activist Sentenced to Three Years in Jail for Assault

In February of this year, Huntingdon Life Sciences executive Brian Cass was attacked outside his home by three men wielding pickaxe handles. This month one of the attackers involved, animal rights activist David Blenkinsop, plead guilty to the assault and was sentenced to three years in jail for what the judge in the case called a “wicked act.”

Police tracked down Blenkinsop from DNA samples they found on the pickaxe handles. In Great Britain, most people convicted of crimes have DNA samples permanently stored in a nation-wide database. Blenkinsop has a long history of convictions for animal rights-related violence. When police ran the DNA samples through their database, Blenkinsop was flagged as a suspect.

Prior to his sentencing, Blenkinsop’s lawyer, Ian MacDonald, claimed that his client no longer believes violence is acceptable. “He was, and remains, appalled at the suffering of animals at HLS. He deeply regrets his part in this attack and now realizes that peaceful protest is the only way forward.”

It is amazing how so many animal rights terrorists have sudden changes of hearts when trying to angle for lenient sentences from judges.

And lets not leave this story without noting that a little more than a month ago, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty’s Kevin Jonas issued a press release endorsing Blenkinsop as “a brilliant and accomplished animal rights activist.” In a SHAC press release, Jonas said,

The police and animal abuse industries in the UK have wanted to stitch him up for years but have never been able too. While in custody Dave was also charged with the liberation of 600 Guinea Pigs from Newchurch Farm (a major breeder in England) in September of 2000. (Why he is being charged with this now is a mystery to everyone and indicates the police just want to make sure he remains in jail during the wait for his trial.)

Dave did not attack Brian Cass and this will be proven during his trial, in the meantime though the police think they have taken one of the best activists out of commission. We must prove them wrong and show that we only get strong as they attempt to stifle the only voice those animals inside of HLS have. Please send kind letters of support to Dave. Be advised that all of his letters are read by police and prison officials. Also, the police will use anything they can to try to tie Dave to direct action so please send him only updates about and news about legal campaigns.

Hmmm, “Dave did not attack Brian Cass and this will be proven during his trial.” As a psychic and a judge of character, Jonas is almost as pathetic as he is in his attempts to explain away the need for the animal research that HLS conducts.

At least now we have a good benchmark for what qualifies as a “brilliant and accomplished animal rights activist.”

Sources:

Jail for lab boss attacker. The BBC, August 16, 2001.

Animal activist jailed for attack. Claire Hu, The Times (London), August 17, 2001.

Protest attacker jailed. The Scotsman, August 17, 2001.

Animal rights activist jailed. Harvey Morris, The Financial Times, August 17, 2001.

Activist jailed for attack with pickaxe handle. Chris Gray, The Independent (London), August 17, 2001.

Animal Lib Prisoner. Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, Press Release, June 28, 2001.

Anti-Huntingdon Protesters — Do As We Say, Not As We Do!

Seventeen anti-Huntingdon Life Sciences protesters were recently arrested by Middlesex County, New Jersey police for protesting at the home of an HLS employee. HLS had already sought and been granted a restraining order limiting the size of demonstrations at the homes of its employees.

Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty issued its obligatory press release claiming the arrests were unlawful, hinted that such arrests would only lead to more violent actions, and in a bizarre twist complained that, “The Middlesex County Court and detention system has shown callous and corrupt behavior by denying detained elderly women their medications.”

Apparently the animal rights activists don’t see the contradiction in trying to stop animal research and then turning around and insisting that denying animal-tested medication is “callous and corrupt.”

On this point, however, I think we must defer to SHAC — those who would try to prevent people from obtaining lifesaving medicines are certainly “callous and corrupt,” with exhibit number one being the ignoramuses behind SHAC who are actively working to prevent important research on drugs that offer promising treatments for a number of diseases.

Shame on them.

Source:

(NJ) HLS 17 Jail Support Protest. Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, Press Release, July 14, 2001.

Huntingdon in the Crosshairs

Scripps Howard News Service recently ran a brief, but thorough, story outlining the ongoing animal rights campaign against Huntingdon Life Sciences.

Writer Lance Gay notes that HLS is fighting back both legally and with public relations efforts.

“We can’t afford to be silent,” said Michael Caulfield, vice president for operations. “We can’t let the intimidation win.”

Still, Gay writes,

Caulfield admits it is tough to persuade the public that drug tests on beagles and monkeys are needed, but those animals are sued because they are easy to handle and there’s a long history on how they react to drugs that provides a guide on how new drugs are going to affect human cardiovascular systems.

Meanwhile activists see their efforts to shut down HLS as merely the first salvo in efforts to end all animal testing.

Barbara Stagno, Northeast director of In Defense of Animals, says the ultimate goal of the campaign is to stop researchers from using animals for either drug or cosmetic testing.

And, of course, the activists are more than willing to use violence, with Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty spokesman Kevin Jonas saying, “Windows will be broke, and cars will be flipped, an animals will be taken. HLS will close down. That’s a promise I will make to you.”

Source:

A dogfight over animal testing. Lance Gay, Scripps Howard News Service, July 2001.

Huntingdon Sues Activists

On April 19, Huntingdon Life Sciences announced that it was joining a lawsuit against “various animal rights organizations and affiliated individuals” who the company argues are involved in an “unlawful campaign of violence, intimidation, and harassment directed at the Company and Stephens Group of Little Rock, Arkansas, one of the Company’s significant shareholders.” Stephens Group had already filed the lawsuit against the activists, which HLS seeks to join.

HLS’s amended complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and charges Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, Voices for Animals, Animal Defense League, In Defense of Animals, and several individuals with violating state and federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) statutes. According to an HLS press release,

The suit requests injunctive relief to stop the defendants and those acting in concert with them from engaging in acts and threats of force, violence and intimidation directed at the Company, Stephens, and their respective employees, customers, shareholders and investors. It also seeks an award of monetary damages for losses incurred as a result of the defendants’ unlawful conduct.

Huntingdon’s executive chairman Andrew Baker said in the release, “This suit represents a next step in the Company’s initiatives to reign in the company of a small band of animal rights extremists who are seeking to destroy our Company and undermine the fields of scientific discovery which rely on the Company’s crucial work. Unlike the activists, who defy the law to terrorize people and entities to bow to their demands, we will seek proper redress in the US legal system.”

Source:

Huntingdon sues animal activists. Huntingdon Life Sciences, Press Release, April 19, 2001.

Quiet facet of drug industry is drawing a loud reaction. Kate Coscarelli and John P. Martin, New Jersey Star-Ledger, Apri 8, 2001.

A Weekend of Animal Rights Violence in Great Britain

Animal rights terrorists in the United Kingdom went on a tear over the weekend as more letter bombs were discovered in an ongoing terrorist campaign in which animal rights activists are the leading suspects, while a mob of up to 1,000 animal rights activists trashed facilities owned by pharmaceutical companies in the UK.

On the letter bomb front, army bomb disposal experts were called on to disarm a letter bomb sent to an unnamed agricultural business and a farm. At least nine people have been injured during the letter bomb campaign which has been directed at animal enterprises including farms, restaurants, pet pest control companies, and pet suppliers over the past couple months.

Police again urged that any business in the UK associated with animals be extremely cautious opening mail and contact police if they find any suspicious packages.

Meanwhile, as many as 1,000 animal rights activists took part in well-planned assaults on facilities owned by GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer and three other pharmaceutical companies in Great Britain.

According to The Independent (London), protesters first met at a church parking lot in an action organized by Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. At the parking lot the protesters were divided into a white and a yellow team and given detail instructions on routes to take to their targets as well as instructions on what to do once at the targets.

In all there were nine separate actions throughout the day. At a Bayer facility, activists stormed offices, smashed windows, destroyed machinery, and overturned cabinets and other office equipment shortly before 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Shortly after that, the activists targeted a factory owned by GlaxoSmithKline, smashing windows and damaging the building before participating in a sit down protest on the roads outside the company.

Police made more than 80 arrests of animal activists and were studying security camera tapes to identify other activists to arrest.

Protesters also surrounded the homes of several directors of pharmaceutical companies.

Chris Avery, SHAC spokesman, took credit for the violent assaults saying, “The protests were aimed at five different companies who are customers of Huntingdon Life Sciences and are paying for 500 animals to die every day.”

SHAC spokeswoman Heather James had a more ominous take on the day’s events saying, “We asked them if they were going to continue to use Huntingdon and they have refused to answer. They are being targeted now and will be targeted from now on. They certainly know they have been demonstrated against today. We’ve said we mean business and we do. People out there today were very, very angry. All those companies have underestimated how determined we are.”

GlaxoSmithKline issued a statement that the company “wholeheartedly condemns this violent action … which was clearly designed to disrupt work and terrorize employees.”

Police promise to track down and charge as many activists as possible. The main product of this day of mob action may be to strengthen Home Secretary Jack Straw’s call for more serious laws to curb animal rights extremists.

Sources:

Police vow to catch animal rights wreckers. Ananova, February 11, 2001.

Animal rights mobs invade drug companies Sally Pook, The Daily Telegraph, February 12, 2001.

Animal rights mobs synchronise attacks. Adrian Shaw, The Mirror, February 12, 2001.

Protesters held after 400 target Huntingdon. Paul Peachey, The Independent (London), February 12, 2001.

Pharmaceutical firms attacked. David Brown, The Guardian (London), February 12, 2001.

Protesters attack drugs groups’ premises. The Financial Times (London), February 12, 2001.

Firms ransacked during six-hour rampage as 87 are arrested; 1,000 animal rights activists in mass protest. Steve Hartley, The Express, February 12, 2001.

Animal rights mob of 1,000 on rampage. Ben Taylor and Gordon Rayner, Daily Mail (London), February 12, 2001.

Farming businesses on alert after letter bombs find. Paul Sims, Press Association, February 12, 2001.

Letter bomb defused by army experts. Paul Sims, Press Association, February 12, 2001.