Tag Archives: Huntingdon Life Sciences

Three SHAC UK Animal Rights Extremists Jailed

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Three UK animal rights extremists received jail sentences ranging from 15 months to four years their part in an illegal campaign against companies that had business relationships with Huntingdon Life Sciences.

Mark Taylor, 39; wife Suzanne, 35; and Teresa Portwine, 48, were the first to be charged under new UK laws designed to make it easier to crack down on animal rights extremists who skirted the law in their efforts to harass and intimidate animal research firms and nonprofits.

All three plead guilty to conspiracy to interfere with a contractual relationship. Portwine was sentenced to just 15 months, Suzanne Taylor received 2 1/2 years, and Mark Taylor was sentenced to four years in jail.

The judge in the case apparently took into account testimony from witnesses that Taylor had been a ring leader of the group’s activities in handing out the sentence. Taylor participated in numerous protests and drove others to said protests where groups of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty activists wearing masks would storm into the offices of the targeted companies.

Sources:

3 animal rights extremists
sentenced. D’arcy Doran, Associated Press, March 6, 2007.

Animal rights activists are jailed for ‘intimidation’. New Scotsman, March 6, 2007.

Animal rights activist jailed. Press Association, March 6, 2007.

Feds Hold Hearing on Makah Whale Hunt in Seattle

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On October 11, the National Marine Fisheries Service held its third public comment session in Seattle, Washington, to hear opinions about the request by the Makah tribe to once again begin harvesting small numbers of whales.

The Makah killed their first whale in 70 years in 1999, but subsequently the Ninth Circuit Court ruled it needed a formal exemption from the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The Makah have filed for such an exemption, and the NMFS has held public comment sessions as part of that process.

More than 100 people showed up for the session, most of the opposed to resumption of even small scale whaling. Animal rights activist Carol Janes, for example, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer,

I travel a lot for my work, and it means something when I say I’m from Seattle. [People] know about Mount St. Helens and the Mariners. I don’t want that meaning to change to: ‘That’s the place where they kill whales.’

The Humane Society of the United States’ Kitty Block told the Seattle Times,

We are worried about the precedent this would set. This law has saved millions and millions of animal lives.

We don’t want to come across as anti-tribal. And I am not denying their treaty right. But what does this do to our marine-mammal protection? And it is not just conservation; it is a humane issue. There is no humane way to kill a whale.

. . .

We have developed relationships with these animals [through whale watching tours]. It’s like a bait-and-switch: We go out there to see them — I’ve seen footage where people are leaning over and touching them — and now they are leaning over with a harpoon. It breaks a trust relationship.

Makah and Native American activists appealed to their long history of hunting whales, and the treaty they signed with the U.S. government guaranteeing the tribe the right to hunt whales (the tribe voluntarily refrained from hunting whales for decades after commercial whale hunting caused a drastic decline in the number of whales).

David Sones, vice chairman of the Makah Tribal Council, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer,

The animal rights groups would rather just see our culture disappear and that’s their right. But we really believe that we will get this waiver.

Bob Anderson, director of the Center for Native American Law at the University of Washington, noted that the current Makah predicament is a largely result of the tribe electing to work with federal officials in the mid-1990s instead of going its own way. Anderson told the Seattle Times

If they had gone out and just gone whaling, that would be allowed. By doing something they didn’t have to do, they triggered this federal action, and that resulted in the 9th Circuit ruling. Now the Makah are bound.

A final decision on the resumption of whaling by the Makah is likely years away, as once the National Marine Fisheries Service makes its decision on whether or not to grant a waiver that decision will be litigated for years regardless of which side the Fisheries Service comes down on.

Sources:

Hearing shows Makahs, public divided over whaling rights. Claudia Rowe, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, October 12, 2005.

Makah Tribe seeks federal waiver to let it once again hunt for whale. Lynda Mapes, Seattle Times, October 11, 2005.

Third Makah whaling hearing draws 120 in Seattle. Jim Casey, Peninsula Daily News, October 12, 2005.

Man Becomes First In UK Charged Under Laws Targeting Animal Rights Extremists

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In October, Mark Taylor, 38, became the first person charged in the United Kingdom under new laws there designed to crack down on animal rights extremism.

Taylor was charged under a provision of the Serious and Organized Crime and Police Act of 2005 that targets those who interfere with contractual relationships so as to harm an animal research organization — i.e. harassing employees and companies who do business with animal research firms.

Taylor was charged with three such counts of interference with contractual relationships so as to harm an animal research organization, two counts of aggravated trespass, and one count of assault.

He was arrested back on July 16, 2005 after a protest at a company that is a supplier to Huntingdon Life Sciences.

Source:

Charge under animal research law. The BBC, October 5, 2005.

Idiot Activists Vandalize Wrong House

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As has been mentioned a few times on this site, animal rights activist Janice Angelillo and Nicholas Cooney were arrested in July after being caught prowling around outside a Hoffman-LaRoche facility at 4 a.m. They both had white paint on their clothes and hands — the same color paint used earlier in the morning to vandalize another site with anti-Hoffman-LaRoche slogans.

The two were also charged with spray painting the home and car of a New Jersey man with “scum,” “puppy killers” and “blood money.” Apparently Angelillo and Cooney believed that the man who owns the car and home was an executive at Huntingdon Life Sciences.

It turns out, however, that the man is simply a real estate agent who has a name very similar to an executive who works at HLS.

This is why activists regularly brag about their high levels of compassion rather than high levels of intelligence.

Source:

Police: Animal Activists Target Wrong Man.

Huntingdon Wins Limited Discovery Access to SHAC Financial Records, Supporters List

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In April, a British court rejected Huntingdon Life Sciences’ request for access to Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty’s address list of 10,000 supporters, but was granted HLS access to SHAC’s financial records and a list and addresses of all supporters who are activists with criminal records.

The ruling comes as part of the discovery process in HLS’s lawsuit against SHAC which looks to be on track to start sometime later this year.

HLS lawyers argued they needed access to the list to prove that SHAC includes among its supporters animal rights activists with criminal records, but a judge denied that request. Of course its a bit odd, but typically hypocritical, for a group like SHAC that regularly publishes the addresses of people only tangentially related to HLS to clam up over its own members.

According to the Telegraph, at one point SHAC’s lawyers actually tried to maintain that SHAC is not actually a group at all and thus not subject to discovery, but in the end conceded that it was an unincorporated association.

According to SHAC’s lawyer, Tim Lawson-Cruttenden, the organization receives about 150,000 pounds a year in donations.

Source:

Huntingdon refused access to information on activists. Rosie Murray-West, Telegraph (UK), April 21, 2005.

How Close Is HLS To Closing? Its Actually Expanding Its Facilities

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I know, I know . . . the animal rights activists say they have Huntingdon Life Sciences on the run and they’re bound to drive the company out of business any day now. Apparently this is a message that HLS executives aren’t hearing, because the company announced plans in April to build a new research facility in East Millstone, New Jersey.

According to HLS, the facility will double the company’s testing capacity and will focus on testing of inhaled pharmaceutical. HLS believes there is currently a severe shortage in testing facilities for inhaled pharmaceuticals.

Mike Caulfield, the general manager of HLS’ Princeton Research Center, said,

Since we completed construction of the first phase of our inhalation facility expansion last year, we have filled this capacity and are booking studies into time slots much further into the future than any of our other product lines.

I guess someone forget to tell Caulfield that the activists have his company on the verge of failure.

Source:

Huntingdon expands US facility. LabTechnologist.Com, April 6, 2005.

Should Pharma Firms Bear Costs of Police Protection?

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The Times (UK) reported in February that the cost of policing animal rights protests over the last 5 years has been roughly 10 million pounds. The Times also suggested that the government was investigating the possibility of having the companies being protested pick up some of that 10 million pound tab.

According to The Times, Cambridgeshire police alone spent 5.4 million pounds and 400,000 man hours protecting Huntingdon Life Sciences and its staff over the past five years.

As far as charging the targets of the activists for this protection, the Times claimed that,

Discussions were under way between the Home Office, industry executives and police forces about whether companies should pay something towards the vast policing bill.

This would certainly follow the already-established pattern for the Labor government. First, openly court the animal rights movement. Second, ignore for years the increasing number of violent attacks against the industry. Then, finally, compensate for that laissez faire policy by seeking compensation from the victims of such violence.

Source:

Animal protest costs Pounds 10m over five years. Nicola Woolcock, The Times Online, February 28, 2005.

Sarah Gisborne Receives 6 1/2 Years for UK Animal Rights Attacks

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Animal rights extremist Sarah Gisborne was sentenced in February to six-and-a-half years in jail after pleading guilty to causing criminal damage.

Gisborne caused an estimated Pound 40,000 in damages in five attacks on the automobiles and homes of individuals associated in one way or another with Huntingdon Life Sciences in the July 2004.

Gisborne was caught after one of her attacks was captured on a security camera which police used to identify the rental car she used.

This is not Gisborne’s first arrest or time spent in jail. She has been arrested 9 times for animal rights-related offenses, and spent time in jail twice, including for an attack on the home of Huntingdon Life Sciences’ director Brian Cass.

At least one of the homes was spray painted with “ALF,” but Grisborne has been very active in another group — Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. As Brian Cass noted in commenting on the verdict, this is yet more evidence that SHAC engages in violent extremism. Cass told The Hunts Post,

I’m delighted that the court treated this offence with the seriousness which it deserves and I hope that this will serve as a lesson to other people who are similarly conspiring to harm the medical research community. Sarah Gisborne has been a very close associate to the leaders of SHAC for many years – they surely now cannot expect anyone to believe that they have nothing to do with criminal damage.

Along with the jail time, Gisborne is banned from coming within 500 meters of Huntingdon Life Sciences or Yamanouchi or contacting any of its staff for two years after her release, and is also banned from driving for three years after her arrest.

Source:

Animal protester jailed for attacks. February 26, 2005.

HLS activist gets six years. Amanda Breen, The Hunts Post, March 2, 2005.

Columnist Provides Interesting Look at Animal Rights Activist Ariel Swan Greenspun Gale

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Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Jane Ann Morrison recently wrote an interesting look at California animal rights activist Ariel Swan Greenspun Gale.

As Morrison notes, the 23-year-old Gale is a member of the wealthy Las Vegas Greenspun family, and recently purchased a $1 million home in California. When she was arrested on a trespassing and disturbing the piece charges at an animal rights protest, however, she demanded a public defender. The public defender negotiated a plea bargain for her which resulted in a sentence of community service, but when Gale never bothered to show up in court to enter that plea, a bench warrant for her arrest was issued.

Gale has been a part of Last Chance for Animal’s protests against the family of Mitchell Lardner in Monrovia, which this site has covered in detail. Lardner is a manager at Sumitomo Corporation, which has been targeted by animal rights activists due to its ties with Huntingdon Life Sciences.

Protests at Lardner’s home have involved threats and someone chucking a brick in the face of an off-duty police officer that the Lardner’s had hired as a security guard.

Like many activists, Gale is willing to threaten others, but carefully hides for fear of being targeted herself. Morrison writes,

Third, she has no qualms about standing outside a private home chanting the threat: “For the animals we will fight! We know where you sleep at night.” Yet she asked me not to reveal her address. (She said she has been threatened and didn’t want people to know where she lives).

. . .

Gale was one of the protesters who stood outside Lardner’s home May 23 and chanted, “Hey, Mitchell, what you say? How many animals died today?”

As police stood by, one protester yelled, “Your police aren’t always going to be here.” Lest this sound like an empty threat, on May 29 an off-duty police officer hired to protect the Lardner home was struck in the face with a brick, breaking his jaw, said Monrovia police Detective Rob Wilken.

Ah, those ever-compassionate activists.

Source:

Arrogant words and deeds of animal activist beastly. Jane Ann Morrison, Las Vegas Review-Journal, February 3, 2005.

Teens Arrested At Ohio Animal Rights Protest

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Animal rights activists Stephanie Wilson, 18, and Donald Antenen, 17, were arrested in January after they stood and protested in the front yard of an employee of Forest Pharmaceuticals. Forest Pharmaceuticals has been targeted by Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty and other groups for its ties to Huntingdon Life Sciences.

As Wilson and Antenen attempted to leave, the Forest employee jumped on top of the hood of the car the pair were using and refused to move until police arrived. When police finally showed up, the two were arrested and charged with menacing by stalking.

Ohio’s menacing by stalking statute defines the crime thusly,

No person by engaging in a pattern of conduct shall knowingly cause another person to believe that the offender will cause physical harm to the other person or cause mental distress to the other person.

Wilson was released on $10,000 bail.

Those who follow the animal rights movement might remember Wilson from the publicity her disappearance in 2002 caused. Then 16, Wilson disappeared shortly before Christmas from her Ohio home. Her parents went public with their suspicions that Wilson had run away from home to join the animal rights movement.

Fox News reported at that time,

The Wilson family says it was like a drug addiction – radical animals rights ideas literally took over their daughter’s life. She ran away on December 6th. But the Wilson’s say their daughter was emotionally and mentally gone long before. Stephanie Wilson, 16, loves animal, but when she started to visit certain websites, her parents say things changed. “It turned from a love of animals to a hate for humans.”

She spent more and more time viewing disturbing images of animal cruelty, and chatting with animal rights activists. Phone calls would come to the house. Over time, it became Stephie’s life. “She couldn’t function at school, function at home.”

“We found her name listed as the chairperson of one of these organizations. She was 15-years-old until October.” Stephie kept an on-line journal illustrating her hatred for people. “There was such a draw, the consistent information.”

A neighbor saw a strange woman helping Stephie run away on December 6th, when her parents were at work. They took every picture of Stephanie’s face, erased phone-numbers from caller I.D. and ripped the hard drive from the computer. The last thing Stephie wrote in her journal “Trust me, I will update you in a few days. Much love, Steph.”

“It’s an obsession… it’s cult like.” Some of the groups Stephanie was involved with are. Stop Huntington Animal Cruelty or S.H.A.C., The Animal Liberation Front or A.L.F. and Earth First. The Wilson’s were contacted by America’s Most Wanted.

Wilson was found in March 2003 in Chicago, where police said she was believed to be staying with local animal rights activists. She was picked up by police at an anti-war protest and returned to her family.

Sources:

Students arrested for protesting animal cruelty. ChannelCincinnati.Com, January 13, 2005.

Police arrest students protesting against animal cruelty. Cincinnati Animal Defense League, Press Release, January 12, 2005.

Missing girl located. The Cincinnati Post, March 22, 2003.

Bridgetown teen found in Chicago. 9News, March 21, 2003.

Students Arrested In Animal Cruelty Protest. 9 News, January 13, 2005.

Parents think missing teen was brainwashed. Fox News, December 18, 2002.

Parents Fear Runaway Daughter Has Joined Subversive Group. Deb Silverman, 9News, December 18, 2002.