Charity boss shocked by animal testing claims

The alleged funding of animal testing by the League Against Cruel Sports’ pension scheme was compared to the Oxfam sexual exploitation scandal by its former boss.

Eduardo Gonçalves said that he was “shocked and appalled” when a colleague, Jordi Casamitjana, discovered that the anti-hunting charity’s default pension fund invested in companies said to be involved with vivisection. Mr Casamitjana, 55, a vegan, was dismissed in April 2018 after emailing all staff to explain how they could switch to an “ethical” pension.

Mr Casamitjana is bringing a landmark claim for anti-vegan discrimination. The League insists that he was fired for misconduct.

Mr Gonçalves, 52, who left the charity in May 2018 after developing a neurological autoimmune condition, told Watford employment tribunal yesterday that Mr Casamitjana, his head of policy and research, approached him in early 2017 with concerns about the pension fund and he asked staff to resolve the matter immediately.

Mr Gonçalves, who now runs the Campaign Against Trophy Hunting, said: “I compared it to the Oxfam crisis when it was found that aid workers were involved in sexually exploiting some of their victims of crisis. I certainly did not want my pension to be supporting this.”

He said he was concerned that the investment could contradict the League’s charitable objects and would be a legal risk.

Having been in hospital in May and June, he returned to work late in 2017 and was “very surprised” that the matter had not been dealt with.

Source: The Times