AR-News: (UK) Animal rights activists target farmer

[WeArPetitions at aol.com]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1071739,00.html


Breeder of guinea pigs used for testing subjected to campaign of threats 

Alok Jha, science correspondent
Monday October 27, 2003
The Guardian 

At Darley Oaks farm in the Staffordshire village of Newchurch, Chris Hall has 
bred guinea pigs for use in animal experiments for more than 30 years. It may 
come as no surprise, then, that he has been targeted by local animal rights 
activists, who claim not only that the guinea pigs are housed in appalling 
conditions but who are also resolutely against the use of animals in research 
anyway. 
But what started as regular peaceful demonstrations outside the farm four 
years ago has escalated into violence and intimidation against the Hall family 
and many of their associates. Police said that that there has been a string of 
criminal activity - from vandalism to arson - in the name of a campaign that is 
rapidly becoming the new front line in the UK's animal rights movement. 
"The shift has moved from peaceful protest towards this more criminal way of 
protesting," says Inspector David Bird of the Staffordshire police force. Last 
week, one of the Halls' unused houses was the target of an arson attack 
believed by police to be the work of local activists. 
The Halls have never spoken publicly about the activists, and would not speak 
to the Guardian about the latest events. The campaign against them, however, 
has been recorded in detail on a web site run by Save the Newchurch Guinea 
Pigs (SNGP), which has protested outside the farm every week for the last four 
years. 
The site talks proudly about the group's past marches and protests and even 
publishes contact details for the Hall family, encouraging members of the 
public to call the farmer with their comments on his work. "At one point they [the 
Halls] complained that they were getting up to 400 phone calls a day from 
people who care about animals!" says the site. 
The SNGP has also targeted anyone who does business with the Halls. Among the 
"collaborators" (as they are called by the group) who have pulled out of 
their dealings with the Darley Oaks farm recently are First Milk and Lloyd Fraser, 
dairy services companies that were due to buy milk produced by the farm. Even 
the Halls' solicitors have severed links after SNGP protesters paid a noisy 
visit to their Birmingham offices with placards and banners. 
But loud and intimidatory though these protests may be, there is an even 
darker side to the campaign against the Halls. 
"The more sinister side has seen explosive devices placed near to the homes 
of employees on four occasions," says Mr Bird. "It's seen the electricity 
supply lines to an entire village cut off. There has been quite an intense hate 
mail campaign against those same people - threatening letters, invitation cards 
to their own funeral, this type of activity. There are those that have a 
genuine care for animal rights and animal welfare issues. [But] there are also 
criminals who hide behind the genuine people." 
Those in the shadows are believed to be mainly members of the Animal 
Liberation Front, famed around the world for its illegal activity in defence of animal 
rights and very active in Newchurch. Last week's arson attack is believed to 
be the ALF's work; as is the destruction this year of parts of a golf course 
used by members of the Hall family. 
According to the police, despite many criminal acts being claimed by either 
the SNGP or ALF prosecutions are difficult because neither organisation 
officially exists. "There are people who will tell you they affiliate themselves to 
those campaigns but when you try and find out who is SNGP, nobody will come 
forward and say, that's me," said Mr Bird. 
Andrew Davidson, a local supply teacher and a regular at SNGP's peaceful 
protests outside Darley Oaks farm, confirmed that the SNGP is a loose-knit 
organisation. "It really operates democratically from suggestions from all sorts of 
people," he said. "There isn't a spearhead pulling people along, it's very 
organic." 
Crime associated with the campaign against the Halls has increased so much 
that Staffordshire police had to apply for an extra £250,000 from the Home 
Office this year to deal with the problems. 
And the police can expect the problems to continue, according to Dr Mark 
Matfield, executive director of the pro-animal research group the Research Defence 
Society, who said that the local activists have learnt the tricks behind 
their relentless campaigning after noting its effectiveness in work of other 
animal rights campaigners who managed to close down facilities such as Consort, a 
dog breeding company in Hereford, and Hillgrove Farm, a cattery near Whitney by 
week in, week out protests and so-called "secondary targeting" of business 
associates. 
By far the highest profile of these campaigns so far has been the work of 
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (Shac) in response to what it claims is the 
maltreatment of animals at Huntingdon Life Sciences, a pharmaceutical and chemical 
testing facility in Cambridgeshire. After years of intimidation, however, in 
which some members of HLS staff were assaulted and had their cars destroyed by 
arson, Shac's campaign was stalled earlier this year when the high court 
established 50-yard "exclusion zones" around HLS premises and the homes of its 
employees. The government has even stepped in to provide banking services for HLS 
after the Royal Bank of Scotland pulled out. 
According to HLS, the number of regular protesters has dwindled in recent 
months. Indeed, the campaigners may be facing a losing battle as the prime 
minister, Tony Blair, and the science minister, Lord Sainsbury, have publicly stated 
that they fully supported not only HLS but research using animals, and would 
take all necessary steps to ensure its protection. 
Perhaps buoyed by the government's support, the Halls have told colleagues 
that they will not cave in to the demands of the protesters. "On one or two 
occasions when there have been the odd rumour flying around that he [Chris Hall] 
might chuck the towel in, he has written round-robin letters to people saying 
we are staying in this business, we're not going to be forced out," said Dr 
Matfield. 
Experiments cut by half 
· There were 2.75 million scientific procedures using animals in 2002. The 
annual number of experiments has halved in the past 30 years 
· Animal research and testing makes up about 10% of all biomedical research 
· Animals used: 84% rats, mice and other rodents; 12% fish, amphibians, 
reptiles and birds; 1.5% small mammals other than rodents (mostly rabbits and 
ferrets); 2.1% sheep, cows, pigs and other large mammals; 0.3% dogs and cats. 0.1% 
monkeys, (marmosets and macaques). Use of chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas 
is now banned in UK 
· Guinea pigs have been used in research for more than a century for medical 
reasons, including development of blood transfusion, diphtheria vaccine, 
anticoagulants, kidney dialysis, replacement heart valves, drugs to treat mental 
illness, and asthma treatments 
· The Save The Newchurch Guinea Pigs campaign argues that animal research is 
not necessary because of the existence of non-animal methods such as computer 
modelling and tissue culture. The Research Defence Society says scientists use 
animals in research only "when absolutely necessary" and all the research 
methods have their place 
· Members of SNGP say animal testing is unreliable, since drugs react 
differently depending on whether administered to people or even to different animal 
species. The RDS maintains that information is needed on how chemicals react in 
a whole body, and so it has to be living animals that are used for safety and 
efficacy tests 






I looked at all the caged animals in the shelter...the cast-offs of human 
society. I saw in their eyes love and hope, fear and dread, sadness and betrayal. 
And I was angry. "God," I said, "this is terrible! Why don't you do 
something?"  God was silent for a moment and then He spoke softly. "I have done 
something," He replied. "I created You." 
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