Nicolas Atwood
Encyclopedia
Nicolas Atwood is an American animal rights
activist based in West Palm Beach, Florida
. He maintains the Malaysia-registered Bite Back
direct-action website, which is associated with the Animal Liberation Front
.
, Atwood is a former arts promoter with a postgraduate degree in business management from New York University
. He has a number of animal rights-related convictions, including criminal damage.
to have traveled to Britain to meet Greg Avery
of the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty
(SHAC) campaign, which aims to close Huntingdon Life Sciences
, a British and U.S.-based contract animal testing
company.
Atwood is also allegedly involved in the SPEAK
campaign to stop the construction by Oxford University of a new animal-testing laboratory, believed by animal-rights activists to include plans for a new primate
facility. According to The Sunday Times, he has sent out e-mails naming Oxford academics who are targets of the animal rights movement, including Colin Blakemore
, former head of the British Medical Research Council
.
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
activist based in West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...
. He maintains the Malaysia-registered Bite Back
Bite Back
Bite Back is a Malaysia-registered website and magazine that promotes the cause of the animal liberation movement, and specifically the Animal Liberation Front...
direct-action website, which is associated with the Animal Liberation Front
Animal Liberation Front
The Animal Liberation Front is an international, underground leaderless resistance that engages in illegal direct action in pursuit of animal liberation...
.
Background
Originally from Chaska, MinnesotaChaska, Minnesota
As of 2005, there were 22,467 people and 8,194 households residing in the city. The population density was 1,640 people per square mile . There were 6,235 housing units at an average density of 454.1 per square mile...
, Atwood is a former arts promoter with a postgraduate degree in business management from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. He has a number of animal rights-related convictions, including criminal damage.
SHAC and SPEAK
Atwood is said by The Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
to have traveled to Britain to meet Greg Avery
Greg Avery
Greg Avery is a British animal rights activist. He is chiefly known as a founding member of several influential animal rights campaigns — focusing on opposition to the animal testing industry — that have dramatically altered the nature of the animal rights movement in the UK...
of the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty is an international animal rights campaign to close down Huntingdon Life Sciences , Europe's largest contract animal-testing laboratory. HLS tests medical and non-medical substances on around 75,000 animals every year, from rats to primates...
(SHAC) campaign, which aims to close Huntingdon Life Sciences
Huntingdon Life Sciences
Huntingdon Life Sciences is a contract animal-testing company founded in 1952 in England, with facilities in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire; Eye, Suffolk; New Jersey in the U.S., and Japan...
, a British and U.S.-based contract animal testing
Animal testing
Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments. Worldwide it is estimated that the number of vertebrate animals—from zebrafish to non-human primates—ranges from the tens of millions to more than 100 million...
company.
Atwood is also allegedly involved in the SPEAK
SPEAK (animals)
SPEAK, the Voice for the Animals is a British animal rights campaign founded in 2003 that aims to end animal experimentation in the UK. It has to date fought against two projects. The first was a proposed non-human primate research facility at the University of Cambridge, which was abandoned in...
campaign to stop the construction by Oxford University of a new animal-testing laboratory, believed by animal-rights activists to include plans for a new primate
Primate
A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...
facility. According to The Sunday Times, he has sent out e-mails naming Oxford academics who are targets of the animal rights movement, including Colin Blakemore
Colin Blakemore
Professor Colin Blakemore, Ph.D., FRS, FMedSci, HonFSB, HonFRCP, is a British neurobiologist who is Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oxford and University of Warwick specialising in vision and the development of the brain. He was formerly Chief Executive of the British Medical...
, former head of the British Medical Research Council
Medical Research Council (UK)
The Medical Research Council is a publicly-funded agency responsible for co-ordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom. It is one of seven Research Councils in the UK and is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills...
.