Thursday, March 9, 2006

On Thursday, March 9, 2006, activists with Win Animal Rights protested at an event being held at NYC's prestigious Palace Hotel on Madison Avenue. The gala evening was in honor of Jon M. Huntsman, Chairman of the Board of Huntsman Corporation, who was awarded the Society of Chemical Industry medal.

Literature was distributed on the heavily trafficked street pointing out that Richard Michaelson, Chief Financial Officer of Life Sciences Research aka Huntingdon Life Sciences sits on the Board of Directors of Huntsman Corporation as well as Chairing their Audit Committee. Thus making Huntsman Corporation a new focal point of attention in the campaign to educate and inform about the animal cruelty occurring at Huntingdon Life Sciences.

From our vantagepoint in front of the hotel, we were able to greet the tuxedoed partygoers as they entered the ornate and luxurious lobby. Loud chanting named and shamed Richard Michaelson and literature asked for calls and letters to Huntsman to remove him from their Board of Directors. “500 animals died today, Richard Michaelson is to blame” chanted the protestors. A special effort was made to speak to those dressed in formal eveningwear as they were almost assuredly headed for the Society of Chemical Industry dinner.

As the evening drew to a close, an activist entered the lobby of the hotel to deliver a packet of information to Jon Huntsman. Although it was left at the Mail Desk with a promise that it would be given to Mr. Huntsman, moments later a goonish looking security person, who had followed the activist, returned bearing the envelope. He was questioned about his intentions and he was told that we would be calling Mr. Huntsman before he left the hotel to make sure that he received our literature packet, which included a DVD of “The Truth”.