Posted on 08/25/2002 6:02:26 AM PDT by SamAdams76
They pummeled a British man with ax handles and threw toxic chemicals at another in a botched blinding attempt - all in the name of beagles, monkeys and other animals used in experiments for drugs that save humans.
Now the England-based animal-activist group is waging war in the United States and the Hub, carrying out terrorist-type tactics on anyone it believes has ties to Huntingdon Life Sciences Inc., an animal-testing lab in England and New Jersey.
``It's extortionist and terroristic. These people will do anything to further their objection to us,'' HLS general manager Michael Caulfield said this week.
At least three Bay State families have been under siege since April, when Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty launched its campaign in Massachusetts. The militant group is determined to drive HLS out of business.
The victims work in Boston at Marsh, a worldwide insurance broker the group claims sold insurance to HLS. Members say if Marsh drops HLS as a client, the research lab will be forced to close.
Two Allston activists who allegedly tormented a Marsh employee for four months were arrested last week. A grand jury is investigating the case.
The extremists target employees and companies worldwide that do business with HLS, whose drug-testing has resulted in treatments for cancer and AIDS.
SHAC formed in England about three years ago when undercover footage showed technicians slapping a beagle and slicing open a live monkey.
That launched a violent campaign in England, where members firebombed cars of HLS workers, made hundreds of death threats and vandalized homes, authorities say. Three masked men beat HLS chief executive Brian Cass with pickax handles. Attackers sprayed caustic liquid in the face of another unidentified employee.
``I don't shed any tears for Brian Cass. He is responsible for 500 animals agonizing and dying every day at Huntingdon,'' said SHAC leader Kevin Kjonaas, who says the group supports such acts but doesn't employ them.
``I feel little sympathy for him, but that's not the sort of activism SHAC chooses to pursue,'' he added.
HLS nearly closed as the group turned its fire on the company's financial backers and shareholders, making bomb threats, vandalizing offices and accosting employees, authorities said. Many companies and banks broke ties with HLS, and the British government now serves as HLS' banker, according to court documents.
Last year, HLS moved its head office to the United States, where shareholders have more anonymity. The company's stock dropped from $15 a share in early 2000 to about $2.50 today.
Meanwhile, SHAC's campaign infiltrated the United States, first targeting Arkansas-based Stephens Inc., a major stockholder in HLS. After its employees were harassed and company e-mails and faxes were blocked, Stephens sold its entire stake in HLS in January, court documents show.
Activists went after Marsh employees worldwide this year. They detonated military-style grenades in its Seattle offices last month and began a campaign of fear and intimidation in the Bay State in the spring.
SHAC posts employees' personal information on the Internet and stages massive protests outside offices and homes. The Web site lists a slew of tactics against ``targets,'' including beatings, sledgehammer attacks and ``arranging for the undertaker to call and collect your body.'' A disclaimer tells members,``Don't get any funny ideas.''
In Boston, two people were arrested last weekend and charged with stalking, harassing and trying to extort midlevel Marsh manager Robert Harper Jr.
Lisa Lotts, 23, and Ryan Kleinert, 17, were among a group of activists who allegedly threatened to burn down his Back Bay home, where he lives with his wife and 2-year-old son, prosecutors say.
The pair is accused of dumping red paint on his steps, leading megaphone-bolstered chants outside his home at all hours, yelling out his son's name and boasting about it on SHAC's Web site. They threatened to continue harassing him until he quit Marsh.
``We used a megaphone to wake up Rob and his neighbors and inform everyone of the sort of scum they are living near,'' the Web site read.
The group also claims to have dumped putrid fruit in the Boston office.
Several local activists have been subpoenaed by a grand jury. The office of state Attorney General Tom Reilly is prosecuting the case.
Lotts, an Iowa native and supermarket worker, and Kleinert, who is from New Jersey, are believed to be students, and live in a basement commune decorated with posters of tortured animals.
Lotts said this week she wasn't a member of any group and that there is no leader among the activists with which she is associated.
``Everyone has equal say. We don't believe in hierarchy like the society you live in,'' she said before declining further comment.
Kjonaas, 25, who learned his activism in the United Kingdom, claims there are 10,000 to 15,000 SHAC members in England and 2,000 in the United States. He said membership is on the rise in the Hub, where activists are recruited on college campuses. Kjonaas insists ``everything we do in our campaign is legal.'' Targeting people at home is more effective than protesting outside a building, he said.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals supports SHAC.
``More power to SHAC if they can get someone's attention,'' said British-born PETA president Ingrid Newkirk.
HLS officials say their animal testing meets all federal requirements. The beagle-slapping employees were fired and the monkey was under anesthesia when he was sliced, Caulfield said.
The FBI, which labeled SHAC a ``domestic terrorist group,'' is keeping a close eye on it. Police and security guards provide 24-hour home protection for Marsh employees nationwide. Judges in several states, including Massachusetts, have restricted demonstrations.
The Harpers say in court papers that they have suffered emotional distress, fear, anxiety, insomnia and nausea. Prosecutors say Harper has nothing to do with HLS.
``It's completely reprehensible. These are innocent employees that haven't done anything to bring this on upon themselves other than work at a company that SHAC believes is connected to us,'' Caulfield said.
Perhaps these violent nutballs didn't recognize Cass and the unidentified employe as mammals, so it was permissable to beat Cass with ax handles and throw "caustic liquid" in the face of the employe.
I hope they lock up the animals who perpetrated these crimes are locked up for a long long time.
I guess it's just as well as I see a good chance for unfortunate accidents.
You may be interested to know, Miss Lotts, that hiearchy believes in *you*; enjoy your stay at one of our fine, fine correctional facilities.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't that an apt description of EVERY surgery ever performed?
(and the reason so many people hate hospitals?)
And if PETA is openly supporting a group identified by the FBI, why hasn't PETA been shut down, and had their assets siezed?
Mark
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