Petrol-bomb thrown at house as farmer and wife slept
ARSONISTS petrol-bombed a farmer's home while he and his wife slept.
The attack happened at Highgate Farm, in Normanby-by-Spital, near Market Rasen, where Geoff Douglas breeds rabbits for vivisection.
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In recent years, the farm has been plagued by animal rights activists who have demonstrated outside and vandalised Mr Douglas's property, as reported.
But this time, as Mr Douglas, his wife and their dog slept, an attack was carried out on their home under the cover of darkness at 2.45am on Tuesday.
Someone threw a petrol bomb at the front door. The fire did not take hold and the damage sustained was limited to the door frame, but another fire bomb gutted a Mercedes van parked nearby.
Detective Superintendent Stuart Morrison, at Lincolnshire Police, who has dealt with four attacks at the farm in three years, said: "The occupants could have been killed. This attack takes things to a new level of criminality."
Highgate Farm has been a focal point for animal rights activists. Militant Forces Against Huntingdon Life Sciences claimed responsibility for an arson attack last year which killed eight rabbits. In January last year, activist Lewis Pogson was jailed for three years after 129 New Zealand white rabbits bred for Huntingdon Life Sciences were stolen from the farm. He was a member of SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty).
Mr Douglas, who caught the latest attack on CCTV, said: "It is a legal requirement that all medicines and vaccines are tested on animals.
"If you went for a flu jab, that would have been tested on animals. Having the flu jab saves lives. We have a lot of support from locals and it really makes all the difference."
4 Comments
by SpaldingGY
Monday, July 11 2011, 6:31PM
“I'm not an animal activist but why use animals? Surely if the tested product is for humans, why not use humans to test it out.
Prime candidates,
1. child abusers.
2. murderers
3.convicted terrorists.
None of the above mentioned are worth saving, so why not put them to good use.”
by wecamethru47
Monday, July 11 2011, 11:38AM
“Forget what this family does for a living. Trying to kill them is a very cowardly thing to do.
Some people think more of animals than human beings! Are these attempted murderers all vegans?”
by Truthdom
Sunday, July 10 2011, 12:08AM
“I lost my Mother to Huntingtons disease when I was just 5 and I can categorically tell You that animal testing is redundant! the results have shown that animal testing not only does not correlate effectively enough to human tissue response in order to provide accurate enough data, but also we have new mediums that no longer require the harvesting of living sentient beings in order to test for appropriate and effective treatments, the reason You don't know about them is the same reason You don't hear about the best cancer treatments! it is cheaper that You don't know and that big medical companies use animals as they are cheaper for them to buy in than to start a new testing format, it is alot of training and reformulating of systems for them to do so, so they cut the expense and stick with the easy option!
and I Personally would give myself for the life of my own child and anyone who wouldn't needs thier head examined!
however it is far better to push for the advancement of the pharmaceutical testing sytems to bring them in line with modern technological advances within the bio industry, wouldn't You agree?”
by humberstonres
Friday, July 08 2011, 12:28PM
“I know that I find experiments on animals distasteful - but if it means saving the life of one of my family - then I would accept any procedure willingly whatever means were used to achieve it- and I think that brings out the hippocryte in us all, so hands up any-one who would let their grandchild die because they don't want to accept medical experiment and progress - or would they volunteer themselves as a guinee pig (no pun intended) or use the old chestnut about using prisoners as fodder for the laborotories. so many arguments until it comes home to roost.”