Saturday, March 18, 2006

WAR Activists Hit the Streets Again – Day 1

On Saturday, March 18, 2006, activists with Win Animal Rights visited the home of Robert Schaffer of the Vertical Group, market maker for LSRI (aka Huntingdon Life Sciences). Although Robert did not appear to be home, we got a chance to get to know a few of his neighbors. Sadly, our report is not a good one. The rudeness and aggressiveness of Schaffer's neighbors seems to be growing every week.

A woman entering the building with her two children stopped to tell us that Rob loves animals and she couldn't imagine such a nice smooth talking guy like Rob hurting animals. We assured her that Rob was living on the blood money of a company that kills 500 innocent animals every single day. After she entered the building, her two kids came back outside repeatedly to make faces at and mock the activists who were chanting and holding posters of mutilated animals.

Raising children that are so callous and indifferent to the suffering of animals is very sad. But what is even sadder is that this parent obviously had no problem with her children taunting activists who were speaking out to advocate against animal abuse and cruelty. At one point, we told these rude children that it takes a truly sick perverted individual to laugh at pictures of bloody dead beagles. This wiped the smile off their faces as they ran inside to tell Mommy that THEY were being harassed by activists.

The NYPD came a runnin' again (more than a dozen officers for a handful of protesters). After a shouting match, threats of arrests for disorderly conduct and blocking the sidewalk, police finally backed off as they realized that the protest was, in fact, peaceful and orderly, as documented by the two video cameras that recorded the entire exchange. No doubt we will be back here soon, as these people need someone to educate their children about animal cruelty and common decency. Obviously, their parenting skills are lacking.

Our next stop was the home of Rob's partner, Peter Rosten, also of the Vertical Group. Activists unfurled a large banner directly in front of the large plate glass wall of his swanky lobby. Peter's neighbors were horrified as they read flyers describing the cruelty occurring at HLS and hearing how Peter helps them to stay in business.

After a brisk walk up the eastside of Manhattan, we visited the home of Pfizer Executive Karen Katen. We love this location as Karen's posh luxury hi-rise building is right across the street from a block of 4 story brownstones. The cavernous setting allows chanting voices to carry far and wide. Graphic photos and banners greeted Karen's neighbors as they anxiously asked us to identify who was the puppy killer living among them. “We will never back down, until they stop the killing”.