24.08.06
Taken from the West Sussex Observer:

"Animal Rights Group Protests At Pet Shop
By Kevin Smith

Animal rights campaigners have demonstrated outside a Barnham pet shop. The 11 people urged customers to boycott Furry Friends in protest at the alleged actions of owner Philip Porter.

They spent three hours outside the business in The Square. They left soon after the police arrived, though the protestors claimed the officers were satisfied their actions were within the law.

The activists were from the Southern Animal Rights Coalition. It has vowed to stage weekly protests for the foreseeable future until Mr Porter has to close his shop>

The protest between 11am and 2pm on Sunday followed the ending of a trial at Chichester at the end of last week.

This saw four activists sentenced for raiding premises where Mr Porter kept animals. The judge criticised the conditions in which the animals were living.

Coalition spokesman Dave Thompson said the focal point of the protest was a big banner urging people to boycott Furry Friends. The protestors also handed out more than 150 leaflets with photographs which were said to show the conditions in which the animals were being kept by Mr Porter.

"We had a really positive reaction from people," said Mr Thompson. "So many people said they were not going to buy goods from the shop again, even those who had been going there for a long time.

"We only had two or three people disagree with us. Mr Porter was not aggressive towards us and it was someone else who called the police, though we were not doing anything wrong."

Mr Thompson pledged that they future protests would be similarly peaceful.

"We had an incredible amount of support on Sunday. We are not going to do anything to jeopardise that.

We want people to realise what Mr Porter is doing. the focus should be on that and not on us," he stated.

Those involved with the demonstration came from Poole, where the coalition is based, as well as the local area around Barnham."