Animal Activists Throttle Dutch Development

(Netherlands) Opposed to animal testing, radical activists are terrorizing employees of companies involved in the testing to supposedly "relieve the suffering of animals."

It's not a new tactic but, for the first time, a Dutch company has decided to give up.

Dutch animal rights activists are claiming a major victory after a property developer decided to pull out of the construction of a new industrial park near the town of Venray in the south of the Netherlands.

The park - called Sciencelink - will house biotech research companies, many of whom carry out testing on animals. Animal rights groups in the Netherlands are vehemently opposed to the project.

Over the Christmas period, members of the radical Animal Liberation Front (DBF) visited the homes of a number of the development company's directors, confronting them and spraying their homes with slogans such as:

"Stop Sciencelink, Stop Animal Testing", and the more threatening "This time it's just paint. Next time we won't be so friendly. See you in the new year".

The company, Van der Looy Project Management, has now pulled out of the development, saying the opposition has become "threatening and unacceptable".

Interestingly, the animal activists cover their faces with scarves when they descend on the homes of employees, vandalize property and threaten. As such, they are not noticeably different in appearance from terrorists regularly seen in television footage from the Middle East. Fortunately, the animal activists haven't adopted a similar level of violence.

Yet.