Month: October 2003

ELF Extremists Destroy Dozens of SUVs in California

On August 22, 2003, Earth Liberation Front extremists set fires that damaged or destroyed dozens of SUVs at a California car dealership.

According to the Associated Press, the 5 a.m. arson resulted in at least $1 million in damage to about 20 vehicles, mostly Hummers. The fires also destroyed a warehouse.

Activists spray painted the site with graffiti and ELF-related slogans.

The FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were both involved in investigating the fire. FBI spokeswoman Cheryl Mimura told the Associated Press,

Since they’re (ELF) considered an extremist movement, by definition it falls under possible domestic terrorism violation.

Assistant fire chief and fire marshal Rick Genovese noted that if the group took its anti-pollution slogans seriously, the fire was counter-productive,

There’s a lot more pollutants from the fire than the vehicles would pollute during their lifetime. There’s hundreds of tons of pollutants that were spilled off.

Ah, but the point of ELF actions are to generate publicity and feed the egos of those committing the actions. Who cares about generating pollution or endangering people when activists need to grab some headlines?

Source:

SUVs burned as four California dealerships vandalized. Nada El Sawy, Associated Press, August 22, 2003.

Kucinich Doesn't Let Veganism Get in the Way of Political Aspirations

Dennis Kucinich may not eat any animal products, but that has not stopped him from seeking support from Iowa dairy farmers.

Chronicling Kucinich’s visit to the Iowa State Fair, Des Moines Register reporter Laurie Mansfield notes that Kucinich’s views about animals did not stop him from making a stop at The Dairy Barn and making his pitch to dairy farmers that regardless of what he personally eats, he’s the man to protect the family farmer.

According to Mansfield’s story,

Like the other Democratic candidates, Kucinich is making the rounds to Iowa family farms, hoping he can persuade meat and dairy farmers that he’s on their side, even though he doesn’t use their products.

“Farmers want someone who is going to stand up for them,” Kucinich said last week. “My willingness to do that means more to farmers than what my food choice happens to be because inevitably, farmers are concerned that their families are able to survive.”

At the moment, Kucinich appears to be relying heavily on the vegetarian vote as he is currently only polling 2 percent among registered Democrats or Democrat-leaning voters, putting him dead last among Democratic candidates for president.

Source:

The vegetarian candidate. Laurie Mansfield, Des Moines Register, August 23, 2003.

Three Extremists in Finland to Face Charges

Back in 2001 five animal rights extremists in Finland were arrested and held for several weeks on suspicion of involvement in a number of raids on fur farms in that county. In August the Finnish government finally got around to deciding to prosecute three of the individuals while dropping all charges against the remaining two.

Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported that the three would be charged with “aggravated damage to property and aggravated disturbance of the peace.” One of the animal activists is also, ironically, charged with an animal welfare violation resulting from using a dye on several foxes to discolor their fur in order to render them worthless on the market.

The long delay and failure to pursue charges has angered fur farmers and others in Finland who complain that the government is too lenient against animal rights extremism.

Source:

Suspected fur farm raiders rarely face trial. Helsingin Sanomat, August 21, 2003.

European Commission's Proposed Animal Transport Laws

In June, the European Commission released a draft law intended to regulate animal transportation within the European Union.

The proposed law would increase the amount of space that has to be devoted to each animal and would limit transportation to a maximum of 9 hours which would then have to be followed by an 11 hour rest period. That did not please animal activists who want a strict limit of 8 hours maximum total travel time for animals.

Sonja Van Tichelen of Eurogroup for Animal Welfare told Reuters,

They are not thinking of a transport limit but some intermediate solution of nine hours and then 11 hours rest on the vehicle, then another nine hours and so on. It will make every journey a lot longer. It’s unbelievable they can even consider it. It would almost double the transport time from the Netherlands to Greece.

Farmers in some EU countries, such as Ireland, also were displeased, saying the new restrictions would essentially end their livestock export businesses.

The proposed new regulations also ban the transportation of pigs younger than four weeks, lambs younger than one week and calves younger than two weeks would be banned altogether.

Sources:

Brussels draws up tough new animal transport law. The Financial Times (London), June 11, 2003.

Byrne puts livestock trade at risk accusation. Sean MacConnell, The Irish Times, June 20, 2003.

EU drafts new rules on transporting live animals. Jeremy Smith, Reuters, June 16, 2003.

Activists Release 10,000 Mink from Washington State Farm

In late August, Animal Liberation Front extremists broke into a farm in Sultan, Washington and released approximately 10,000 mink.

The activists broke open cages at the Roesler Brothers Fur Farm causing damages estimated at more than half a million dollars.

Most of the released animals were recaptured, but not before doing significant damage at other farms in the area.

Washington farmer Jeff Weaver told the Associated Press that the released mink converged on his farm where they killed at least 25 animals, including geese, chicken and ducks. Weaver told the AP,

Over half our livestock was shredded. Murdered. Eaten alive. . . One of the mink had part of a chicken in its mouth and was headed for the creek. They’re starving. They’ll kill anything in their path.

Weaver estimated his losses at about $2,000.

But those who support such actions said that the net increase in animal well being was worth it. Andrew Knight, director of research at the Northwest Animal Rights Network, told the Associate Press,

The amount of suffering that has been prevented by releasing them [the mink] from cramped cages and freeing them from an extremely cruel death more than justifies a temporary disruption to the ecosystem.

The FBI is investigating the incident and the Fur Commission USA is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

Sources:

Scores of freed mink feed on farm animals. Associated Press, August 30, 2003.

Animal rights group frees thousands of minks. Associated Press, August 28, 2003.

Freed minks attack farm animals. Katherine Schiffner, Daily Herald (Washington), August 29, 2003.

Freed mink attack Sultan farms. Seattle Times, August 29, 2003.

Protesters Arrested in New Zealand

The lead paragraph from a New Zealand report on protests at an August medical conference pretty much says it all,

Two anti-vivisectionists who tried to throw themselves underneath buses transproting animal research delegates were arrested during a week of boisterous protests outside a Christchurch conference.

A total of about 50 activists showed up to protest the conference.

Source:

Protesters arrested at animal research conference. Stuff.Co.Nz, August 23, 2003.