For Immediate Release
Contact AL Press Office at 818.932.9997

June 1, 2005

Huntingdon Laboratories Client Executive Quits

Monrovia, CA: Mitchell Lardner has quit Sumitomo Corporation of America, a notorious client of the animal-testing laboratory Huntington Life Sciences (HLS), according to a letter mailed to the Animal Liberation Press Office last month. Lardner's home and office had been targeted by both protests and sabotage in the Los Angeles area, evidently spurring his departure from the company.

In the letter received by the Press Office, Lardner's wife states she "hopes Mitchell's departure from Sumitomo effectively removes my family from any list of potential targets and that we can continue our lives free from the threat of any future actions against us". She does not mention the "threats" or "actions" that maim and kill thousands of animals at HLS, which her husband and his company financially supported.

Sumitomo has not only contracted with HLS to test chemicals on animals, they have also shipped primates from Mauritius to suffer and die in labs, including HLS, all over the world. Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) has been exposed in five separate undercover investigations to openly abuse animals, killing 500 per day testing such products as oven cleaners and pesticides. HLS is a contract testing company with facilities in the United Kingdom and New Jersey. Its suppliers and customers have been under unrelenting attack by animal advocates for the last 3 years, driving them to near-bankruptcy.

A communiqué issued last year after an attack on Lardner's home reads, in part:

"this poem is dedicated to Mitchell Lardner who we visited during the early hours of April 21 at 464 N. Myrtle in Monrovia, California:

Puppy killers we do hate
As a Sumitomo employee it was your fate
To wake up to your home covered in red paint
What you must do there is no debate...

Sever your ties with HLS or we will be back.
-ALF"

A spokesperson for Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) stated “While we do not condone breaking the law, it is clear the passion of some animal defenders will hold those accountable that make animal torture a reality in places like HLS”. For more information on the SHAC campaign against HLS cruelty, visit www.shacamerica.net.