Tag: Animal Liberation Front

Sunday Times Claims Wealthy UK Developer Is Linked to Animal Rights Extremists

The Sunday Times filed a story on March 13 claiming that one James Gorman, 57, is linked to extremist animal rights activists in the United Kingdom.

According to the Times, Gorman made his fortune as a property developer and now spends his time giving lectures on the benefits of vegan diets. The Times quotes Gorman as saying he has committed “direct action” attacks in the past and carried out surveillance for other activists planning such attacks.

The Times quotes Gorman as saying,

I’ve rescued animals — no problem at all . . . I have been involved with surveillance, undercover work. . . . The ALF are freedom fighters fighting the terrorists who are terrorizing the animals.

According to the Times, Gorman is a “nutritional adviser” to the UK’s Vegan Prisoners Support Group whose mission is “to fight for the daily rights of vegan animal rights prisoners whilst being detained in prison establishments.”

The Times claims that Gorman is in regular contact with UK animal rights extremists Keith Mann, Greg Avery, and Natasha Avery.

Gorman tells The Times that he plans to leave about 1 million pounds to animal rights groups when he dies, but that he won’t be donating it to groups like Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty out of concerns that the government will seize any such donations.

Its worth noting that The Times uses an extremely deceptive headline for its story, which reads (emphasis added), “Vegan bodybuilder funds animal extremists.” But there is not a single sentence in the story which backs up this claim. The only mention of Gorman’s providing funds to the movement is related to his will, with Gorman telling The Times that, “My money is left in my will, and I’ve left over Pounds 1 million” to animal rights groups. The article contains nothing about whether or not Gorman is currently funding animal rights groups in the UK. Perhaps The Times should require that its editors actually read its articles before writing the headlines.

Source:

Vegan bodybuilder funds animal extremists. Nick Fielding and Gareth Walsh, The Sunday Times, March 13, 2005.

Australian Minister Accuses PETA of Involvement with Terrorist Groups

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals recently threatened to sue Australia’s Agricultural Minister Warren Truss after Truss accused the animal rights group of providing aid and comfort to animal and environmental terrorists.

Truss apparently cited testimony by the Center for Consumer Freedom about PETA’s alleged involvement with the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front. CCF reprinted part of Truss speech which said,

But even more concerning, it has been alleged in a US Senate hearing by the same organization that PETA has provided aid and comfort to people associated with two groups considered domestic terrorist threats by the FBI — the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF).

According to the FBI, the two groups have been responsible for more than 600 crimes since 1996, causing more than $43 million in damage. The ALF even brags on its website that the two groups committed “100 illegal direct actions” — like blowing up four-wheel-drives, destroying the brakes on seafood delivery trucks, and planting firebombs in restaurants — in 2002 alone.

PETA lawyer Jeff Kerr threatened to sue Truss calling the claims part of a smear campaign by a “discredited group.”

If the statements are untrue and part of a smear campaign, then why hasn’t PETA sued the Center for Consumer Freedom for making the same statements for several years now? Perhaps PETA doesn’t think it would help to go into court only to have CCF show PETA’s own 2001 tax return showing a $15,000 donation to the Earth Liberation Front. Or maybe it doesn’t want to be reminded of Ingrid Newkirk’s odd behavior in the Rodney Coronado case which was cited in the government’s sentencing memo (emphasis added),

Forensic evidence discovered during the investigation confirmed that Coronado played an important role in planning and executing the ALF’s campaign of terrorism. Investigators learned that immediately before and after the MSU arson, a Federal Express package had been sent to a Bethesda, Maryland address from an individual identifying himself as “Leonard Robideau”. The first package went to Ingrid Newkirk, PETA’s founder.

. . .

Significantly, Newkirk had arranged to have the package delivered to her days before the MSU arson occurred.

Not to mention quotes from everyone from Bruce Freidrich to Dan Mathews to Newkirk herself expressing approval for actual acts of violence and destruction and anticipation that more such acts might be forthcoming.

I suspect that this lawsuit will have the same sort of longevity as PETA’s lawsuit against New Jersey over another PETA attorney’s violent altercation with a deer.

Source:

PETA may sue over Truss’ terror comments. Australian Associated Press, March 3, 2005.

Not A G’Day For PETA Down Under. Press Release, Center for Consumer Freedom, March 4, 2005.

Sarah Gisborne Receives 6 1/2 Years for UK Animal Rights Attacks

Animal rights extremist Sarah Gisborne was sentenced in February to six-and-a-half years in jail after pleading guilty to causing criminal damage.

Gisborne caused an estimated Pound 40,000 in damages in five attacks on the automobiles and homes of individuals associated in one way or another with Huntingdon Life Sciences in the July 2004.

Gisborne was caught after one of her attacks was captured on a security camera which police used to identify the rental car she used.

This is not Gisborne’s first arrest or time spent in jail. She has been arrested 9 times for animal rights-related offenses, and spent time in jail twice, including for an attack on the home of Huntingdon Life Sciences’ director Brian Cass.

At least one of the homes was spray painted with “ALF,” but Grisborne has been very active in another group — Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. As Brian Cass noted in commenting on the verdict, this is yet more evidence that SHAC engages in violent extremism. Cass told The Hunts Post,

I’m delighted that the court treated this offence with the seriousness which it deserves and I hope that this will serve as a lesson to other people who are similarly conspiring to harm the medical research community. Sarah Gisborne has been a very close associate to the leaders of SHAC for many years – they surely now cannot expect anyone to believe that they have nothing to do with criminal damage.

Along with the jail time, Gisborne is banned from coming within 500 meters of Huntingdon Life Sciences or Yamanouchi or contacting any of its staff for two years after her release, and is also banned from driving for three years after her arrest.

Source:

Animal protester jailed for attacks. February 26, 2005.

HLS activist gets six years. Amanda Breen, The Hunts Post, March 2, 2005.

Man Arrested In Connection With McDonald’s Arson in 2003

New Jersey resident Chris McIntosh, 22, was arrested this month and charged with setting a fire Jan. 20, 2003 that caused about $5,000 in damage to a Seattle-area McDonald’s.

Shortly after the McDonald’s arson, someone called a crime tip line claiming the arson in the name of the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front. The caller said,

There was an E-L-F-A-L-F hit at McDonald’s across from the Space Needle. There will be more. The fire was set on the ‘M.’ Four gallons of gas. There was a broken lock, not cut. Broken. There will be more. As long as Mother Earth is pillaged, raped, destroyed. As long as McDonald’s keeps hurting our furry brothers, there will be more.

Prosecutors say that fingerprints and DNA evidence found on a can of spray paint and sunglasses left at the scene of the crime match McIntosh’s. McIntosh had been arrested numerous times before in several states including Oregon, California, Wisconsin and Illinois, and his name turned up quickly after the FBI ran his prints through their criminal database.

McIntosh’s former girlfriend, Maria Gardner, told police that McIntosh set that fire and that she acted as a lookout during the fire. Another woman he dated, but who is unnamed in the affidavit against him, told the FBI that McIntosh bragged about the McDonald’s fire to her in February 2005.

Additionally, McIntosh apparently used his brother David’s name as an alias, and a Seattle-area youth centers’ records show a “David McIntosh” stayed at the center in January 2003, including the period during which the fire was set (McIntosh, in fact, was using “David McIntosh” as an alias when he was arrested).

McIntosh was arrested in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after police there received a tip that he may have been in the area. He will be brought to Seattle by federal authorities, and if he is ultimately convicted, he could face up to five years in jail and a $250,000 fine.

The full text of the affidavit filed against McIntosh can be read here.

Sources:

McDonald’s blaze suspect held. Christine Frey, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 17, 2005.

New Jersey Man Arrested In 2003 Arson At Seattle Mcdonald’s Restaurant. Press Release, United States Attorney’s Office Western District of Washington, February 16, 2005.

Man charged with arson in 2003 fire. Danielle Camilli, Burlington County Times, February 18, 2005

ALF Damages McDonald’s, KFC in Torrance, California

Animal Liberation Front extremists vandalized a McDonald’s and KFC restaurant in Torrance, California, early February 6.

Police responding to a burglar alarm at the McDonald’s found windows at the restaurant smashed and the words “McMurder Killers” and “ALF” painted on a window.

A KFC near the McDonald’s also had its windows damaged.

Sources:

Vandals strike a Torrance McDonald’s. Doug Irving, The Daily Breeze, February 8, 2005.

ALF Continues South Bay Campaign Against Fast-Food Giants; Torrance McDonald’s Struck Twice in Week’s Time. Press Release, North American Animal Liberation Press Office, February 14, 2005.

McDonald’s Restaurant in Torrance, CA Latest Target of ALF. Press Release, North American Animal Liberation Press Office, February 7, 2005.

Animal Liberation Front Releases California Deer Herd

The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the January 18 release of a heard of deer at a California ranch owned by Gerd Konieczny.

While Konieczny was at a doctor’s appointment, activists cut the 8-foot-high metal fence used to enclose the herd.

In a letter claiming responsibility, the Animal Liberation Front said (emphasis added),

GNK Ranch – owned by former LAPD Sergant Gerd Konieczny – is one of the 3 largest deer farms in California and hosts an on-site deer slaughterhouse.

We believe this to be the first ever deer liberation in the US. Freedom for these creatures – for whom death is a certainty- was a simple and unskilled operation. Hundreds of deer farms operate in this country. We encourage
compassionate people everywhere to locate farms in their area and tear down their walls.

The venison industry remains small. Our hearts go out to victims of the larger problem, the billions of lives we are unable to save – cows, chickens, pigs, mice, rats, and others – casualties of the meat, dairy, vivisection and other
industries of suffering and blood. Their pain is our own.

The part of the letter claming the ranch included a operation at the ranch is simply wrong. According according to the Capital Press, the slaughter operation was blocked in 2002 due to objections raised by animal rights activists and never built.

Nice to see the activists keeping well-informed as usual.

According to the Capital Press, the FBI is involved in the case and the Monterey County Cattleman’s Association has offered a $1,000 reward for information about the perpetrators of the crime.

Source:

Venison farm hit by animal rights group. Judy Bedell, Capital Press, 2005.