Tokyo

British animal-rights activists have pledged to export their fight to Japan. But animal-rights groups in Tokyo, after a brief dalliance with the outsiders, are recoiling from their aggressive tactics, which they say could backfire there.

Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), an animal-rights group based in Worcestershire, UK, said earlier this year that it planned to target Japanese academic and industrial researchers, saying that they make up one-fifth of the customer base of controversial UK animal-testing company Huntingdon Life Sciences. SHAC has already demonstrated against the European branches of many Japanese companies.

When SHAC member Dawn Hurst arrived in Tokyo in April to demonstrate at a pharmaceutical trade show, she was charged with the theft last year of a dog that was being used in experiments at Juntendo University. But after two directors of the Tokyo-based Animal Rights Center (ARC) were also arrested in connection with the theft last week, the group has backed away fast from its association with SHAC.

Susumu Kawaguchi and Yukari Sugisaka of the ARC claim that they were keeping the dog at their shelter after it was given to them as a stray by Hurst, who has reportedly admitted stealing it. ARC representatives helped Hurst to find lodgings when she came to Japan but say that they were unaware of any illegal activity.

The ARC seeks to draw attention to animal cruelty in Japan. “Japanese consciousness of this problem is very thin,” admits Chihiro Okada, another director of ARC. But Japanese sensibilities frown on the use of illegal means in the pursuit of political ends. “Given the Japanese character, radical activity would only alienate people,” says Okada.

The ARC and larger animal-rights groups such as the Japan Antivivisection Association (JAVA) say that they do not support SHAC's activities.

Hurst has also been charged with the theft of research materials relating to animal experiments in several Japanese laboratories. In August 2001, for example, she entered Osaka University's pharmacology department by posing as a graduate student from a British university, according to Osaka neuroscientist Masaya Tohyama. Hurst allegedly stole videos and photographs, which were later posted on SHAC's homepage.

Tohyama says that SHAC's tactics had some initial success, but that the laboratory was able to explain what it was doing and why. “The only thing that changed was that we became more wary of outsiders trying to get into the labs,” he says.

But SHAC spokesman Greg Avery says that the group's activities have influenced the research of some Japanese companies, and that it plans to escalate operations against Japanese researchers.