Science Park Developer Quits After Animal Activist Threat
Dutch News

Threats by animal rights activists have led to a developer pulling out of plans to build a science park in the Limburg town of Venray.

In a statement issued on Monday afternoon, developer Van der Looy said it would not go ahead with the project due to the ‘unacceptably threatening attitude’ of certain groups.

On Christmas Eve the houses of several project managers were daubed with paint. ‘We decided immediately to stop,’ the company said on its website. The action has been claimed by the Animal Liberation Front (DBF) which said in a letter to Van der Looy that its next action would not be so ‘friendly’.

The controversial €60m Science Link is intended as a technology centre housing life science companies and is set to create 400 high-quality jobs. The DBF claims companies planning to locate in the science park would carry out animal experiments for the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors.

News agency ANP says that Venray council will meet on Tuesday to discuss the case, adding that no companies had yet signed up for the a place on the site.

A spokesman told the NRC Handelsblad that another company would now be sought to take over the project. Christian Democrat MP Sybrand van Haersma Buma urged minisiters to give their full support to Venray council, saying he was surprised that animal rights activisists could so easily terrorise entrepreneurs.