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Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) is an international animal rights campaign against Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), Europe's largest contract animal-testing laboratory, based in Huntingdon and Occold, England, and East Millstone, New Jersey in the United States. HLS tests products like household cleaners, drugs, pesticides, and food additives on around 75,000 animals every year, from rats to primates, "From push to shove" Southern Poverty Law Group Intelligence Report, Fall 2002. mostly macaques and marmosets, with some wild baboons. "Diaries of despair", xenodiaries.org, Uncaged Campaigns, retrieved June 18, 2006. A report about the transplanation of pig hearts and kidneys onto the necks, abdomens, and chests of monkeys and baboons captured from the wild. The experiments were carried out by Imutran Ltd, a subsidiary of Novartis Pharma AG, in conjunction with Cambridge University. They took place at Huntingdon Life Sciences. Townsend, Mark. "Exposed: secrets of the animal organ lab", The Observer, April 20, 2003. The aim of the campaign was to close the company down within three years. Alleyne, Richard. "Terror tactics that brought a company to its knees", The Daily Telegraph, January 19, 2001.

SHAC was started in November 1999 by British animal-rights activists Greg Avery and Heather James after video footage shot covertly inside HLS in 1997 by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) was aired on British television. The footage showed staff shaking, punching, and shouting and laughing at beagles in an HLS lab. Undercover video footage of HLS employees beating a puppy, filmed at the Huntingdon Research Centre, England. (video) The employees were dismissed and prosecuted and HLS's Home Office licence to perform animal experiments was revoked for six months. Footage shot in the U.S. appears to show technicians dissecting a live monkey. Undercover video footage of HLS employees apparently dissecting a live monkey, filmed at the HLS Princeton Research Centre, NJ, USA. (video)

PETA retreated from its campaign against the company after being threatened with legal action, and SHAC moved in to take its place. Doward, Jamie & Townsend, Mark. "Beauty and the beasts", The Observer, August 1, 2004. Avery and James had both been involved in previous high-profile campaigns to close facilities they perceived as abusive to animals — Consort, which bred beagles for animal-testing purposes, and Hillgrove Farm, which bred cats, both of which closed after an animal-rights campaign. Avery told BBC Radio 4: "You don't pick a company unless you can close it down because otherwise you just make those companies stronger. So when they are chosen — they are finished." Cox, Simon & Vadon, Richard. "How animal rights took on the world", BBC Radio 4, retrieved June 18, 2006.

In pursuit of this aim, SHAC has been criticized for its apparent willingness to condone violence, intimidation, and attacks on property. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors U.S. domestic extremism, has described SHAC's modus operandi as "frankly terroristic tactics similar to those of anti-abortion extremists." On May 26, 2005, the Animal Liberation Front issued a warning in support of SHAC that threatened further violence: "A new era has dawned for those who fund the abusers and raise funds for them to murder animals with. You too are on the hit list: you have been warned. If you support or raise funds for any company connected with Huntingdon Life Sciences we will track you down, come for you and destroy your property with fire." Laville, Sandra & Campbell, Duncan. "Animal rights extremists in arson spree", The Guardian, June 25, 2005.

The SHAC campaign

Organization

The SHAC spokespersons are Greg Avery, his second wife, Natasha Avery (nee Dellemagne), and his first wife, Heather James, who allegedly live together rent-free in a cottage provided by a sympathizer. Together, they publish SHAC reports on their website *" target="_blank" >Greg Avery was also jailed for six months in 1998 for affray and for four months in 2000. *

In its report, SHAC Convictions: The Martyrdom Effect, the private intelligence agency, Stratfor, describes the SHAC movement as having a three tier structure, the smallest being those who engage in illegal direct action. The second tier is larger body of individuals who actively pursue legal activities such as collecting information and attending rallies. The major tier encompasses largely passive sympathizers, who may provide occasional moral or financial support, or leak information that comes to their attention.

The SHAC website and mailing list serve as a platform for supporters. Action reports are published on the website and mailed out to subscribers, and may contain details of potential targets and lists of the companies that have severed links with HLS. According to Greg Avery, "made their beds and now it's time to lie in them, and they're all whining." *

Methods

SHAC's modus operandi is direct action, comprising intimidation of HLS, its employees, its employees' families, its business partners, their business partners, insurers, caterers, cleaners and children's nursery school *. Anyone who delivers services to people who do business with HLS — even the owners of pubs employees visit, or the companies which deliver their milk in the morning — is regarded by SHAC as a legitimate target.

SHAC supporters are known to have engaged in harassment; intimidation with death-threat letters and hoax bombs; arson, including the use of fire-bombs; trespass; and vandalism. The Daily Mail cites as examples a SHAC activist sending 500 letters to the neighbours of a company manager who did business with HLS. The letter warned parents to keep their children away from the man - falsely claiming that he had raped the letter writer when she was a child. Police subsequently visited every household in the manager's area to tell his neighbours that the allegations were false. A woman in her 60s who worked for a HLS-related company allegedly had every window in her house smashed twice, both after visits from SHAC supporters during the night, and found an effigy hanging outside her home, which read "R.I.P. Mary, Animal Abusing Bitch". [http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/ar-news/Week-of-Mon-20031013/008215.html

SHAC say they publish names and addresses only so that people can protest peacefully and within the law. * However, testimony to the House of Commons on March 19, 2003 included excerpts from a document reported to have come from within the SHAC organization. Quotes include:

  • A simple tactic has been adopted recently. Pick your target. Throw a couple of rape alarms in their roof guttering or thick hedgerow, and leg it ...
  • Being kept awake at night hardly puts you in a good mood at work or with your family ...
  • Another idea is to set off extra loud fireworks from a safe distance that will wake up the HLS scum and everybody else for miles around ...
  • From the comfort of your own home, you can swamp all these bastards with send no money offers. They cause huge inconvenience and can give them a bad credit rating. Order them taxis, pizzas, curries, etc, the possibilities are endless.
  • Above all, stay free and safe, and don't get caught. The more preparation you do the better ... Think, think, think. Don't lick stamps, use gloves when pasting stuff ... No idle talk in pubs. Burn your shoes and clothes after your night of action. *

Brian Cass, the managing director of HLS, sustained serious head injuries when he was attacked outside his home in February 2001 by three men armed with pickaxe handles and CS gas. Detective Chief Inspector Tom Hobbs of Cambridgeshire police told reporters: "It's only by sheer luck that we are not beginning a murder inquiry." [http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/ar-news/Week-of-Mon-20031013/008215.html A neighbor who tried to help Cass was sprayed with CS gas. Dave Blenkinsop, who had been linked to the Animal Liberation Front, was jailed for three years for the attack.

A few months later, HLS marketing director Andrew Gay was attacked on his doorstep with a chemical spray to his eyes which left him temporarily blinded.

Alleged ties to ALF

The SHAC spokespersons deny any link between their campaign and attacks carried out by activists using the name of the ALF. However, the SHAC website features ALF news, and Kevin Jonas, the president of SHAC USA, who took charge of SHAC UK while the Averys and James were jailed for six months in 2002, has declared his "unequivocal support" for the ALF. Robin Webb, spokesman for the ALF in the UK, has attended and addressed SHAC conferences in the U.S. *

"Dangerous activists are moving freely between these groups, money is changing hands and the threat is escalating," David Martosko, spokesman for the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) — a group largely funded by the fast-food, alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceutical industries — told The Observer in August 2004. The FBI suspects that British SHAC activists are being bankrolled by groups and individuals in the U.S. *

As with SHAC, the ALF is not a closed organization, but is simply a name used by activists when they engage in covert, what they consider non-violent, direct action that furthers the cause of animal liberation. Any analysis of how much overlap exists between SHAC and ALF actions is therefore speculative, although the May 26, 2005 warning by the ALF to HLS supporters, posted on the ALF website, leaves little doubt that there is a relationship between the activists: "If you support or raise funds for any company connected with Huntingdon Life Sciences we will track you down, come for you and destroy your property with fire." *

Effects of campaign on HLS and its customers

The campaign has reportedly had a major impact on HLS's business deals, share price, and profits *." target="_blank" >The SHAC website maintains a list of companies, 166 (June 2005) up to 272 (06/July/2006), that they claim have severed business ties with HLS. [http://www.shac.net/FINANCIAL/dumpedhls.html The British Department of Trade and Industry had to insure HLS because all previous insurers had abandoned them after being targeted by SHAC.

Shareholders published

In 2000, SHAC obtained a list of HLS shareholders. The list included the names of beneficial owners: anonymous individuals and companies who bought shares using the name of a third party. Shareholders included the pension funds of the Labour Party, Rover cars, and the London Borough of Camden. The Labour Party sold its 75,000 shares in January 2000.

The list was passed to the Sunday Telegraph, which published it on December 3, 2000, and several beneficial owners disposed of their shares. Two weeks later, an equity stake of 32 million shares was placed on the London Stock Exchange for one penny each. HLS quotes crashed immediately. The Royal Bank of Scotland closed HLS's bank account and the British government arranged for the state-owned Bank of England to give them an account. The British Banking Association said "Huntingdon Life Sciences are in a nightmare situation," (Huntingdon Life Sciences, financial report 2002). * (pdf)

Dropped from NYSE

On December 21, 2000, HLS was dropped from the New York Stock Exchange because of its share collapse: its market capitalization had fallen below NYSE limits and the NYSE did not accept HLS's revised business plan. * On March 29, 2001, HLS lost both of its market makers and its place on the main platform of the London Stock Exchange.

Move to the U.S.

Because of SHAC's use of public records to threaten HLS investors, HLS moved its financial centre to the United States and incorporated in Maryland as Life Sciences Research, Inc., in order to take advantage of stricter U.S. securities laws, which allow greater anonymity of shareholders.

Saved from banktruptcy

HLS was saved from bankruptcy when its largest shareholder, American investment bank Stephens, Inc, gave the company a $15-million loan. SHAC supporters reacted by targeting Stephens, Inc. HLS's position remains unstable, as is shown by their $87.5-million debt and by documents leaked to SHAC. *

Firebombing

In June 2005, a Vancouver-based brokerage announced that it had dropped a client, Phytopharm PLC, in response to the May 2005 ALF firebombing of a car belonging to Canaccord executive Michael Kendall. The ALF stated on its website that activists placed an "incendiary device" under the car, which was in Kendall's garage at home when it caught fire during the night. Kendall and his family went into hiding.

Phytopharm was targeted, as were those doing business with it, because it had business links with HLS. The ALF warned Phytopharm to stay away from HLS or "see your share price crash and your supporters' property go up in flames." *

Carr Securities withdraws

Carr Securities announced it had withdrawn from making a market in HLS shares after a New York yacht club was covered in red paint by the U.S. branch of the ALF, because members of the club worked for Carr Securities, which traded in HLS shares.

The ALF announced on its bulletin board: "Let this be a message to any other company who chooses to court HLS in their ... entrance into the NYSE. If you trade in LSR shares, make a market, process orders, or purchase shares you can expect far worse treatment. The message is simple, don't touch HLS!"

On October 26, 2005, Testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works by John Lewis, Deputy Assistant Director Federal Bureau of Investigation Oversight on Eco-terrorism included statements that in September, "Carr Securities began marketing the Huntingdon Life Sciences stock. The next day, the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club, to which certain Carr executives reportedly belong, was vandalized by animal rights activists. The extremists sent a claim of responsibility to the SHAC website, and three days after the incident, Carr terminated its business relationship with HLS. These are just some of the examples of SHAC’s use of threats and violence to financially strangle HLS and permanently mar its public image. These examples demonstrate some of the difficulties law enforcement faces in combating acts of extremism and domestic terrorism. Extremists are very knowledgeable about the letter of the law and the limits of law enforcement. The SHAC website has a page devoted to instructing activists on how to behave toward law enforcement officers, how to deal with interrogations, and what to say — and not say — if they are arrested."

NYSE listing postponed

On September 7, 2005, the New York stock exchange asked Life Sciences Research, the name HLS is trading under in the U.S., to delay its listing. The company has been listed on the junior OTC bulletin board since its move out of the UK. The NYSE offered no reason for the delay. *

GlaxoSmithKline targeted

A posting on the website Bite Back on September 7, 2005 said that the ALF had carried out an attack on the home of Paul Blackburn, the corporate controller of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), in Buckinghamshire, because GSK is a customer of Huntingdon Life Sciences. The activists admitted to detonating a device containing two litres of fuel and four pounds of explosives on the doorstep of Blackburn's home, causing minor damage. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,1271,-5308648,00.html?gusrc=ticker-103704

HLS can no longer trade on OTCBB

On February 4, 2006, activist pressure resulted in HLS losing its only listed market maker, Legacy Trading. As a result of this, the company can no longer trade on the OTC Bulletin Board.

GlaxoSmithKline small investors targeted

In May 2006, an anonymous group said it would be writing to every one of GlaxoSmithKline's 170,000 small investors warning them to sell their shares, as part of the campaign against Huntingdon Life Sciences. The letters began arriving at investors' home addresses on May 7, 2006, asking that shares be sold within 14 days, and that the group should be informed of the sale by e-mail via a hotmail address. It added: "We will be checking that you have done this. The choice is yours." The number of letters sent was much smaller than was claimed, reports suggesting "at least 50" shareholders received the warning Sunday Telegraph the following week, British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed support for animal experimentation in the face of an "appalling...campaign of intimidation." [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=033OSJ0HAFW4JQFIQMFCFF4AVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2006/05/14/nrights214.xml" target="_blank" >*

Criticism of SHAC

SHAC has been cricitized for condoning or encouraging violence. Activists may use the information published by SHAC, which includes names and details of people and organization deemed to be targets, to cause criminal damage; for example, those associated with HLS often have their cars damaged by paint-stripper.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) included SHAC in its fall 2002 Intelligence Report. In an article entitled "From Push to Shove," the SPLC described SHAC's modus operandi as "frankly terroristic tactics similar to those of anti-abortion extremists." Kevin Jonas, the leader of SHAC-USA told the Intelligence Report: "There's a very famous quote by John F. Kennedy. If you make peaceful revolution impossible, you make violent revolution inevitable." [http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=42

SHAC's critics argue the following:

  • The campaign's tactics are not working. HLS managing director Brian Cass says that, since the formation of SHAC in 1999, HLS has seen the value of orders placed with it double to just under £100 million worth (London Evening Standard, March 31, 2003).
  • HLS says it abides by British animal welfare laws. These laws are already among the world's strictest laws on animal use in medical testing; closing down HLS would mean displacing animal testing to smaller laboratories in the UK, they say, or moving the testing to a country with less strict laws on animal testing.
  • SHAC's efforts are susceptible to the problems common to vigilantism, namely that an entirely unconnected person may be targeted or affected. SHAC relies on leaked information regarding HLS's current clients and staff members, which means the details may not be timely or accurate. The company says that SHAC has occasionally harassed staff who had already left HLS.
  • SHAC supporters have been seen soliciting donations at street stands in the UK with leaflets and collection cans. As SHAC is not a registered charity, donors cannot be sure that the funds raised are used for SHAC activities.
  • The way the campaign decorates its stands gives a misleading impression. Rodents make up 84% of animals used for testing in the UK, cats and dogs make up 0.3%, monkeys, 0.1%. * though these general cross-country percentages do not indicate how many of each species is used for testing by HLS. If the picture choices at the stands are not exactly in this proportion, critics say, the SHAC supporters are misrepresenting animal experimentation and are committing a fallacious appeal to emotion.

British government response

On July 30, 2004, the British government released a paper called "Animal Welfare — Human Rights: protecting people from animal rights extremists." The paper describes what the British government sees as the benefits of medical research, which it argues would not be possible without animal studies; estimates the commercial value of the bio-medical industry in the UK; asserts its concern for the welfare of animals; asserts that all steps to replace the use of animals have been and will continue to be taken; defines 'animal-rights extremists' as those engaged in harassment and intimidation, not seeking civil discourse; says that it listens to law-abiding animal rights and welfare groups and enacts legislation where appropriate — for example, RSPCA officers now have the power to investigate animal abuse claims on the spot, and the LD50 test was permanently banned in the UK after peaceful, lawful lobbying by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection; reviews the existing laws used to prosecute what it calls animal-rights extremists; proposes new legislation and amendments to existing legislation * (pdf).

Legal action against SHAC

Several companies targeted by SHAC have obtained High Court injunctions against SHAC under the Protection From Harassment Act. These include HLS itself, Chiron UK, Phytopharm, Daiichi UK, Asahi Glass, Eisai, Yamanouchi Pharma, Sankyo Pharma, and BOC. The injunctions compel SHAC to print the injunction on their website, so that SHAC's action targets are juxtaposed with a legal notification that there is a 50-yard exclusion zone around the homes of employees and places of business. Protest outside HLS itself may only occur one day a week with a police presence.

These injunctions are not permanent. HLS tried but failed to obtain a permanent injunction against SHAC, which represented itself, on June 26, 2004. SHAC's argument against the enforceability of such injunctions was that, despite having hundreds of supporters, a website, mailing address, telephone information hotline, mailing list, and bank account, it does not exist as a corporate or charitable body, and therefore cannot prevent its supporters from taking action against HLS. *

Tim Lawson-Cruttenden, lawyer for HLS, has explored another legal avenue to hold SHAC financially accountable. HLS sought £205,000 in damages from the owner of a property SHAC used as a mailing address, for the costs incurred in its harassment suit, or the forfeit of the property in lieu. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1320712,00.html

SHAC 7
On March 3, 2006, a federal jury in Trenton, New Jersey convicted six members of SHAC of "terrorism and Internet stalking," according to the New York Times, finding them guilty of using their website to "incite attacks" on those who did business with HLS. The case was the first one brought under the Animal Enterprise Terror Act (1992). Originally seven individuals were charged, but the case against one of the defendants was dropped. Four of the six are currently under house arrest while awaiting sentencing in June. The defendants face possible prison sentences of up to 23 years, but are likely to serve less than seven, according to the U.S. attorney's office. *

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

Animal experimentation | Animal rights groups of the United Kingdom | Animal liberation movement

Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty".

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