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Targeted guinea pig farm to close

LONDON: A British farm harassed by animal rights activists will cease raising guinea pigs for medical experiments, the family run business has said. David Hall and Partners said it would shut down its guinea pig breeding operations in Yoxall in northwestern England at the end of the year. The family says it has suffered hate mail, malicious phone calls, hoax bombs and arson attacks for several years. It also believes animal rights activists are responsible for desecrating a churchyard grave and stealing the body of a relative of one of the farm owners.

The family said it hoped the decision to stop raising the animals would lead to the return of the body of 82-year-old Gladys Hammond, the mother-in-law of Christopher Hall, who co-owns Darley Oaks Farm with his brother John. Her remains were stolen from a grave at St. Peter's Church last year.

``David Hall and Partners are planning a return to traditional farming. They have no plans to be involved in any way in the breeding of animals for medical or scientific research,'' the family announced.

Tim Lawson-Cruttenden, a lawyer who acted for the Hall family during a court bid to secure a 200 sq-km exclusion zone around the farm, said the court had rightly classified the campaign as terrorism.

A spokesman for Stop the Newchurch Guinea Pigs, who gave his name as Johnny and refused to give his surname, said the decision was ``a victory for the animals and it's a fundamental victory for the animal rights movement.'' ``It's tearful, those guinea pigs will not have to be incarcerated for another day by the end of the year,'' he added. Professor Tipu Aziz, who uses primates in his research on Parkinson's Disease at Oxford's Radcliffe Infirmary, regretted the decision. ``Its a tragedy that the animal rights movement is hampering moves to such a degree that they're putting the future of public health at risk,'' Mr. Aziz said. — AP

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