The men who stood up to animal rights' militants
Not once, even in his darkest hour after he was beaten outside his home with pickaxe handles, did Brian Cass think of walking away from his job as managing director of Hungtingdon Life Sciences (HLS). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/4276376/The- men-who-stood-up-to-animal-rights-militants.html By Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter Last Updated: 11:55AM GMT 17 Jan 2009 Brian Cass - The men who stood up to animal rights' militants <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01241/brian-cass_12 41031c.jpg> Never considered walking away: Brian Cass Photo: PA He says he could never have lived with himself if he had bowed to violence and intimidation from animal rights activists. Instead, Mr Cass risked his life by standing up and being counted when countless of other firms publicly declared they would have nothing to do with HLS even though the company was, as the law insists, simply testing new drugs on animals before they could be declared safe for human use. While animal rights activists protested in their SHAC - Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty - T-shirts, Mr Cass started wearing a design of his own. It said SHAC on the front but the acronym was spelt out on the back as: "Spongers Hypocrites Anarchists Cowards". Tomorrow Mr Cass and a small group of defiant businessmen will see most of the leaders of SHAC sentenced to lengthy jail terms for their part in a ten-year campaign aimed at shutting down the company, which employs 1,700 people worldwide. It is a campaign which nearly saw one businessman burned to death and which brought fear to hundreds of others of employees. Mr Cass said that he never considered walking away from HLS for a safer job. "The work we are doing is vital to continue developing new and better medicines. We have always had the determination that we must continue for the sake of patients, all people involved in medical research and our staff." He said the police had made significant inroads into the illegal activities of Shac by jailing so many of its activists. He said: "The aim is to ensure those people who break the law are properly dealt with by the judicial process. We have always supported the right of people to protest within the law for their beliefs, but what must not be allowed is for the protest to tip over into criminal activity which threatens individuals and businesses." In 2001, Mr Cass was set upon and beaten so badly by three men that he needed hospital treatment. "I arrived home in the dark, got out of my car, turned around and there were three individuals with what looked like pickaxe handles already raised above their heads," he said. "I protected myself as best I could but they hit me on the back of the head. They kept raining blows down on me - on my head, back and forearm." Mr Cass said his attackers eventually fled when his partner and neighbour came out of their respective homes. In another incident a businessman linked to HLS was attacked when he heard intruders outside his home and discovered them setting fire to his barn. Assailants knocked him to the ground and left him unconscious besides the burning barn, but he regained consciousness before the flames engulfed him. SHAC was formed in 1999, two years after an undercover reporter working for a Channel 4 documentary infiltrated HLS's research centre at Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, and obtained secretly-recorded footage of technicians abusing a beagle. The images were disturbing: a puppy punched in the face and brutally shaken by frustrated staff as it resisted having a blood sample taken. HLS has admitted that such behaviour was deplorable and three technicians were sacked over the incident, including two who were convicted of animal cruelty. The following year a new management team was brought in which introduced greater openness and new training methods. Mr Cass, 61, and other businessmen were angry with the Government until as recently as 2006 for what they saw as the failure of ministers and the police to tackle the problem of animal rights extremism. However, they say that it was Tony Blair, as Prime Minister, and Lord Sainsbury, as Science Minister, who eventually took the decision to try to eradicate this problem - at a time when many research companies were threatening to move abroad because of the lack of protection for them and their staff. Mr Blair signalled his determination to tackle the problem and the need for animal testing in an article for The Sunday Telegraph in May 2006. "The appalling details of the campaign of intimidation show the depths to which the animal extremists are prepared to stoop," he wrote. "Hundreds of millions of people in the UK and around the world today are alive and healthy because of the pioneering work of our scientists and researchers. "Many millions more will be spared an early death or a life of pain because of the research now under way. They deserve our support. And they should get it." Mr Blair's article followed revelations by this newspaper that HLS and GlaxoSmithKilne, Europe's largest pharmaceuticals company, had accused the Government of abandoning British research companies and allowing the animal rights movement to spiral out of control. Another to stand up to SHAC was Andrew Baker, the chairman and chief executive of Life Sciences Research, HLS's parent company. At the height of Shac's activities three years ago, he said: "Why have we allowed 10 - perhaps 20 at most - pathetic, sick, psychologically disturbed people to intimidate a country of 60 million people?'' Mr Baker, whose former home in California was firebombed once and vandalised on four other occasions, criticised dozens of firms, including Securicor, for refusing to deal with HLS after threats to their workforce. "What sort of signal does this send out?'' said Mr Baker. "Securicor should have said: 'We are the biggest security company in the country and we will not tolerate this sort of behaviour'.'' Mr Baker said he, too, had never considered walking away from HLS. He said: "I hate the thought of being bullied and giving into a bully. I was brought up to believe that if you stand up to a bully you can win. And that's what I think is happening here." Mr Baker, 60, and Mr Cass praised the courage of Jean-Pierre Garnier, the former chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline. Dr Garnier said in 2006 Britain was losing out on new investment because of animal rights extremists and urged the Government to take decisive action. He said he knew of several American companies that had decided against investing in the United Kingdom for fear of being targeted. "My concern is attracting foreign companies who don't have to be here,'' Dr Garnier said. "They have a choice and that is where it's hurting us. It's making this country poorer than it needs to be, in terms of innovation, research, all the engines of the new economy.'' SHAC plans a protest at HLS tomorrow to coincide with the sentencing of activists, including its leader Greg Avery. The group insists that it will continue lawful protests against the company. (F)AIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to these copyrighted items are reserved. 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