Me: Vegan

Huntingdon Life Sciences have been reliant on loans since the beginning of the campaign to shut their company down.  The SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty) campaign has been effective on nearly every continent in its efforts to stop the horrific violence and abuse that takes the lives of 500 animals every day of the year.  HLS initially had a £12 million loan with Natwest.  When RBS took over Natwest in 2001 they did not want to take the campaign with them, and when HLS failed to pay their money back in time they wrote off the debt for £1.  HLS then borrowed money from US bank Stephens, after a year of campaigning they dropped HLS.  By 2006 HLS were $100 million dollars in debt after securing an “anonymous” foreign loan. No other financial institution would touch them and still won’t.  SHAC have now traced the anonymous loan back to the Fortress Investment Group, as US based financial company who specialize in high risk loans and acquisitions.

In 2009 HLS are still $70 million in debt and meant to pay it back in 2011, but HLS were also in crisis in March 2009 when they were unable to make one of their loan repayments. CEO Brian Cass even tried putting out a desperate plea in the national press calling on a bank to give them a loan and bank account, but no one responded as HLS rightfully remains a pariah.

HLS cannot pay back their 2011 loan to Fortress, and as a result have been forced to sell the company. No one else wants to help HLS which is why their American management has borrowed still more money to privately buy the company for over $100 million! Before the sale could take place, HLS was forced to commission an independent analysis of their financial situation. The results were incredible as they were proven to be on the brink of bankruptcy.  Fortress has been the key to HLS’s survival, and are really their only hope.

2010 has seen major demonstrations against Fortress and their subsidiaries all over the world.  Recently this post was released to an Animal Liberation reporting website:

– statement released by anti-HLS campaigners:

“Fortress Investment Group have ceased all loan facilities with Huntingdon Life Sciences / LSR / and all associated subsidiary companies. They will not re-finance the loan either themselves or via any other financer.

More information will be made public soon.”  –  The following was taken from bite back online.

For more information on the campaign to Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty check out:  http://www.shac.net/HLS/who_are_hls.html

Hey All!

You may have heard by now that former President of the United States, Bill Clinton has recently become Vegan!  What a great representative of the Vegan diet   In this video clip CNN’s Wolf Blitzer discusses near-Veganism with Doctors Esselstyn and Ornish.  They’re not pure-Vegans, but they’re sending a great message:

(Taken from The Vancouver Sun, Thursday, August 12, 2010.)

VANCOUVER — Animal-rights activists have started a campaign to raise awareness about the “grim realities” of University of B.C. animal research, which they say have been hidden from the public for years even though the work is funded by taxpayers.

The campaign is worrying UBC officials, one of whom said he is afraid it could lead to violence because “there are nuts out there.”

“Few local residents are aware that UBC has such an extensive research program,” campaign organizer Brian Vincent told The Vancouver Sun. “Unfortunately, UBC has been less than forthcoming about its research activities.

“The public has the right to know that their tax dollars are paying for highly invasive research on animals, including experiments on cats.”

The group, which was formed several months ago but had not gone public until now, has been connecting with like-minded people over the summer via e-mail, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, and seeking information about animal research through freedom-of-information requests, some of which UBC has refused.

The activists are looking for details about nine medical researchers — including one who they say has been experimenting on cats since 1980 — and are distributing posters appealing to university employees to become whistleblowers.

Vincent says the group — Stop UBC Animal Research — has about 200 members, including students, faculty, other professionals and seniors.

The university admits it could do a better job of communicating with the public about its research and the difficult issue of animal experimentation.

But John Hepburn, vice-president of research, said UBC will not provide information about individuals because of privacy and safety concerns.

Although Hepburn said he believes the Vancouver group’s promise of a peaceful campaign, he’s worried about the potential for violence, which has occurred in some American states, where researchers who work with animals have seen their offices firebombed and their families threatened.

“I trust that the local people are responsible, but there are nuts out there,” he said in an interview.

Hepburn recently sent an e-mail to UBC staff members urging them to be wary of strangers in and around research facilities and to contact campus security if they receive any threats or encounter sidewalk protests.

“I encourage you to remain vigilant and familiarize yourself with university resources available to help mitigate potentially unpleasant and violent situations,” he wrote.

Vincent suggested the university’s warning was an overreaction, stating: “All of Stop UBC Animal Research’s activities have been entirely legal and peaceful. Those activities certainly do not warrant the inflammatory rhetoric in Dr. Hepburn’s e-mail.”

Although he is out of the province this week on holidays, Hepburn said the university has received 75 to 100 e-mails thus far — mostly from local activists but also from concerned people in places such as California and Britain — and he will respond to them as soon as he returns to work.

He said he will assure them that UBC research on animals — mostly genetically modified mice, but some larger animals as well — is tightly regulated by the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC), an independent organization that monitors animal experiments in publicly funded institutions.

Nevertheless, he agreed the issue is challenging for everyone, including researchers.

“I don’t think anyone wants to do research on animals, but sometimes it has to be done,” he said, adding that he doesn’t know any university in Canada that conducts medical research and doesn’t use animals.

Thousands of UBC research projects involve animals and while invasive surgeries are “not something you would want to happen to your pet kitty-cat,” there are always solid, scientific reasons for doing the work, he said.

UBC has a committee on animal care that includes lay people, scientists and veterinarians and reviews all animal research to ensure it complies with the CCAC’s guidelines and policies.

One member of the UBC committee is Shawn Eccles, chief animal protection officer for the British Columbia SPCA.

Eccles, a committee member for three years, said he agonizes over his conflicting roles and his knowledge that decisions by the committee can result in animals suffering.

“I struggle with this every day, but if I didn’t do it, who would?” he said in an interview. “Maybe I will serve my penance in hell.”

While not suggesting that other committee members are less committed to animal welfare, he noted that the requirement to include lay people does not specify that they must be animal lovers.

“I make it clear that it is fully my intention to speak for the animals.”

Geoff Urton, the SPCA’s animal-welfare manager, said the issue of animal research is ethically challenging and should be debated publicly. For that to happen, UBC will have to be more open about its research, he added.

“We understand that there are benefits from animal research [including] benefits to other animals,” Urton said. “But how do we measure what is an acceptable amount of suffering from one animal to help another?”

jsteffenhagen@vancouversun.com

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/fears+animal+activists+campaign/3388234/story.html#ixzz0wSm4uYrk

When:  6:00pm-11:30pm Saturday, July 31

There will be a potluck and film screening at a local Activist House on July 31st.  Many local activist groups will be in attendance and at least two new groups will be formally launched at this event.  It will also be a great opportunity to ask questions in a 100% inclusive environment and to meet new, like-minded people.  Please bring a Vegan dish/snack/item for sharing, but don’t feel pressured as there will be plenty of food for all.

Potluck and meet & greet will start at 6pm, and at  8pm they are screening the documentary film Earthlings. http://www.earthlings.com/

To comfort sensitive souls who may need to see some positive images of free animals, living natural lives in peace,  following Earthlings will be  the film Peaceable Kingdom, about the organization Farm Sanctuary.  http://www.peaceablekingdomfilm.org/

Hope to see you there!

Taken from www.directaction.info:

anonymous communique (translation):

“Late at night on July 5 of this year we attacked a chinchilla farm, but it was not just any small businessman’s farm, but rather we chose to attack the only registered chinchilla farm in the State of Mexico, in the rural municipality of Amecameca.

The farm is owned by Patricia Perrin-Sullivan and Thomas L. Carpenter, members of the Mexican branch of the International Chinchilla Association. This association, which works to expand the domination and domestication of animals for human consumption as clothes for fashion and haute couture, has been mocking the attacks of ecosaboteurs and liberationists throughout the world, devoting part of their website to so-called ‘vegan fanaticism.’ Eco-terrorists, as these idiots call us, have shown how stupid these people are to think that we would not come to raid their property and to attack them.
They thought we would put a bomb in some business or that we would be breaking windows in a demonstration, but they were wrong. Now we are everywhere, sharpening our knives to tear open the bars of their farms filled with animal prisoners and to sabotage them causing more economic damage than ever before.

For this action a lot of time and effort was dedicated in surveying the area; pictures and videos were taken, information and maps were compiled from the internet, so that we’d have more information about the area and the possible escape routes. With this preparation completed we decided to attack and make our hardest strike for animal liberation.

So that night, camouflaged by the darkness and with only the moon lighting our insurgent steps, we arrived at the property in the late hours of the night. With some bolt cutters we cut the metal fencing that had protected the farm with much care so that they would not hear us and so that the dogs who were guarding the place would not chase us. We opened the fencing from top to bottom and entered. We realized that one of the two chinchilla sheds was completely abandoned but the other was full of chinchillas who very softly squeaked and moved in their cages. Our greatest desire was to free a large number of the chinchilla prisoners but because of serious concerns about security we decided to just focus on the shed that was empty and to destroy it so that it couldn’t ever be used as a center for animal extermination again.
Several attempts were made to open the barred window in the shed where chinchillas were, but these were in vain. The shed was medium-sized and was very close to the house belonging to those guarding this business of torture and domestication, so we decided (as we already said) to focus on the empty shed.

On the two sheds we left graffiti against this filthy business, graffiti such as ‘Patricia, we have come for your skin!’, ‘You are in our sights’, symbols of the ALF and other slogans that at that moment we felt were appropriate, so that they would know who we are and what we are capable of. Immediately after this we placed an incendiary device made of about four liters of gasoline at the side of the empty shed. We left it under a lot of wood so that the fire would spread.
We set the timer on the device and left through the torn wire mesh.
When we were far away from the target, the fire could be clearly seen as it burned. The abolitionist’s flame was present once again on a tranquil night shaken by the Frente de Liberación Animal in Mexico.
We had struck once again, but this time it was not a bank or a pet store, now we have focused our sights on larger targets, evolving and growing in ideology and our actions are at par with the actions of the dominators of animals and the earth.

Two days after this action, after the workers and the owners saw our graffiti and threats, after they had seen the charred empty shed and that the fencing was cut, we sent a threat by e-mail to the owners of the farm. They must stop operating their business of animal exploitation. Part of the threat read:

… ‘You are warned! We have entered your property and we can do so again. It will do no good to have lighting or better security because we will be there, watching you from the darkness, night after night, until you are distracted, then we will enter and sabotage and liberate the animals that you keep as prisoners. If this time we didn’t liberate the chinchillas, next time we will!’…

Abraham López and Adrian Magdaleno, this action is dedicated to you. We send you much strength and an incendiary embrace. Remember that confinement is only a setback that all true revolutionaries have to face sooner or later and that the harder the battle, the sweeter the victory will be!

For animal and earth liberation!
For the destruction of dominating and anthropocentric civilization!
Direct and insurgent attack against the strongholds of the system of domestication!
Fire to all society based on authoritarian and ‘alternative’ values!
For the destruction of the prisons and the cages!

Address of the chinchilla farm:

Rancho Ximoco
Number 1010
Postal Code 56900
Telephone: 011 52 597 976 7464
Fax: 011 52 597 976 8045
Email: ximoco@prodigy.net.mx
Amecameca, Mexico State
Mexico

Frente de Liberación Animal / Mexico

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpnHKpns5bQ“

Taken from www.directaction.info

A fire that heavily damaged a Tandy Leather Factory store in Salt Lake City (1107 S State Street) in early June has been ruled arson. A Tandy Leather representative reported that someone broke into the store and spread an “accelerant” up and down the aisles, and over leather in storage.