UNLESS you have experienced the displeasure of the extreme animal rights lobby, as I have, it is difficult to imagine what it can be like. I have become concerned of late with the dire situation facing the UK鈥檚 Institute of Animal Technology, the professional association of animal technicians. The IAT is unable to hold its annual meetings in the UK.
The trouble began in 1998 when the police said that they could not guarantee the safety of delegates attending an IAT congress at the University of Wales in Swansea, and at the last minute the university withdrew its offer to host the meeting. Since then the choice of venues has become increasingly difficult. One was held at a hotel in Jersey two years ago, but when the animal rights extremists discovered its whereabouts they almost brought the hotel to its knees with fake bookings. The congress in 2003 was to be held in Dublin, but the animal rights extremists visited the hotel venue and threatened harassment and intimidation. I gather it is still being harassed.
The most recent successful congress that the IAT was able to hold was at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, in 2000. As rector of the University of Edinburgh, I have many contacts at Heriot-Watt. Some tell me they have withdrawn from future meetings because of threats and harassment.
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The late George Younger, a former Secretary of State for Scotland, as chair of the Royal Bank of Scotland, withdrew the bank鈥檚 support from the drug-testing company Huntingdon Life Sciences. Asked why, Younger replied in his quiet way: 鈥淚 had to think not only of the bosses, but of all the defenceless rural bank managers for whom the bank is responsible.鈥�
So is the IAT, a legitimate organisation, not to be allowed to hold its congresses due to the criminal activities of a few extremists? And when those extremists suffer serious illness, are they unhappy to accept the benefits of modern medicine? Medicine that was by law subject to strict testing, which at some stage depended on research involving animals.
I WAS delighted when the government announced in August that it was drawing up measures to protect the UK鈥檚 Darwin Mounds 鈥� cold-water coral reefs to the north-west of the Hebrides. These reefs are important nursery grounds for many fish species, including commercially important ones. I recently asked Ben Bradshaw, the fisheries minister, if the measures were being respected. Amazing to relate, they are.
Bradshaw said the mounds had been designated special areas of conservation for a six-month trial period, and that appears to be working well. No breaches have occurred. I hope the protection will be put on a permanent footing once the trial period ends.
