Radical animal rights groups are targeting the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as part of their latest campaign against Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), a British-based company that has been targeted by militant animal rights groups since the late 1990s for its use of animal testing.  HLS has a laboratory in East Millstone, New Jersey.

The campaign by Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) and the New York City-based radical animal rights group, Win Animal Rights (WAR), has emerged in response to the listing of Life Sciences Research, Inc., the parent company of HLS, on the NYSE in December 2006.  Because of this listing on the NYSE all-electronic trading platform Arca, HLS shares can be bought and sold anonymously. 

In response to the listing, SHAC and WAR have organized demonstrations, including protests at the homes of the NYSE board of directors as well as companies that do business with HLS.  While the campaign has mainly consisted of protests, past SHAC campaigns against HLS and affiliated companies in the U.S. and abroad have included harassment, vandalism and bombings.

SHAC's campaign against the NYSE, entitled "Operation Fight Back," began in January 2007.  SHAC's Web site states that the NYSE and its European counterpart Euronext "have their hands drenched in the blood of the animals inside HLS." SHAC's Web site also warns that "this battle has only one end and that is that Huntingdon are [sic] kicked off the NYSE forever."

WAR also launched its latest campaign against the NYSE, entitled "Operation Helter Skelter," in January, declaring "WAR against those who would enable the killing at HLS/LSRI to continue unabated." WAR's targets are "the NYSE and anyone connected to it, including: staff, market makers, specialists, investors, and support organizations," according to its Web site.  WAR vows to "bring the message to where they work, where they live and where they spend their leisure time."
 

WAR initially campaigned against the NYSE in 2005, when the NYSE first considered listing HLS, a decision that was postponed until December 2006. WAR founder Camille Hankins called the postponement a major victory for animal rights groups.