Animal Liberation Front Threatens Physical Harm to Partygoers

We’ve all heard the nonsense rhetoric from the activists — Animal Liberation Front is non-violent since burning down homes and research facilities doesn’t count as violence (in these folks’ ethical guide, a white racist burning down a black church is committing a nonviolent act of protest). But the North American Liberation Press Office issued a press release in December that contained a clear intent to physically harm — perhaps even kill — human beings.

The press release concerned a planned holiday party by Forest Laboratories to be held December 10, 2004. The press release noted that Animal Defense League – Long Island planned a protest outside the Hunting Towne House, where the holiday party was to be held.

The press release also republished what it claimed was a communique from the Animal Liberation Front that said (emphasis added),

Cancel the 12/10 Forest Labs party or syrup of ipecac and diarrhea inducing agents will appear in your catering provisions beginning Friday afternoon. We will target all town house events this weekend. All additives will be non-lethal and the symptoms non-permanent, however: will be very disruptive to town house functions. Cancel the Forest Labs party. *The A.L.F.*

Non-permanent? Spiking food with ipecac in this way could be potentially fatal.

Ipecac syrup used to be widely recommended in cases of accidental poisoning, especially among children, because it can induce vomiting. In 2003, the American Academy of Pediatrics reverse that recommendation, after studies showed ipecac was simply not effective and had a number of potential problems (mainly that it is sometimes abused by people with eating disorders).

Spiking food with ipecac would be extremely dangerous, because it would be impossible to control how much ipecac any given person was exposed to. Exposure to large doses of ipecac can cause respiratory difficulties, fast or irregular heartbeat, seizures and pneumonia. If, for some reason, the ipecac is not vomited, it can cause heart problems, permanent heart damage and even death.

There’s a reason ipecac is clearly labeled that it is not to be administered without first consulting a poison control center, emergency room or physician.

There is simply nothing you can spike food with that is not potentially hazardous and even deadly to some subpopulation of people. Apparently the possibility that someone might be seriously injured or even killed in such a stunt is simply not as important as the animals to the ALF or the North American Animal Liberation Press Office.

Non-violent my ass.

Source:

Animal Testing Firm to be Targeted on Long Island; Animal Liberation Front Issues Threat to Partygoers. Press Release, North American Animal Liberation Press Office, December 8, 2004.

ALF Threatens Hare Coursing Bombings

Recently I mentioned and Irish campaign to end hare coursing in that country. Recently the Animal Liberation Front has threatened to firebomb the supporters of hare coursing events.

One of their targets is JP McManus, a millionaire currency trader who is also owns numerous race horses. McManus also sponsors hare coursing.

Robin Webb told the Irish Examiner that he had “very strong indications” that ALF had acquired incendiary devices to use against those sponsoring hare coursing. The Irish Examiner quoted Webb as saying,

ALF members will have no problem carrying out an arson attack on any of his properties.

At the beginning of January, ALF activists spread nails and tacks on a field used for hare coursing. They also placed incendiary devices around the field, but they did not detonate.

Source:

Activists threaten to firebomb hare coursing events. John Breslin, Irish Examiner, January 24, 2005.

National Hare Coursing Venue Attacked. Press Release, Association of Hunt Saboteurs, January 9, 2005.

Harrison David Burrows, Josh Demmitt Sentenced to 2 1/2 Years

Convicted animal rights terrorists Harrison David Burrows, 18, and Josh Demmitt, 19, were sentenced in January to two-and-a-half years each in prison for their in an arson at Brigham Young University.

Burrows reached a plea agreement with prosecutors in October 2004 and plead guilty to one count of felony destruction of property by fire. He faced up to five years on that charge. In return for the plea agreement, Burrows agreed to testify against Josh Demmitt whom Burrows told prosecutors was also involved in the arson.

Demmitt also decided to take a plea bargain and plead guilty in October 2004 to one county of felony destruction of property by fire as well.

Burrows and Demmitt helped set fire to an animal husbandry farm on Ellsworth Farm at Brigham Young University on July 8, 2004. The fire caused an estimated $30,000 in damage.

Source:

Second Man Sentenced for Utah Farm Fire. Associated Press, January 18, 2005.

SLC Snitch: Harrison David Burrows. No Compromise, Issue 25.

Teen gets 2 1/2 years for setting BYU eco-terror fire. Associated Press, January 11, 2005.

ALF Sends Video of University of Iowa Attack

The Animal Liberation Front sent videos to a number of media outlets this week showing at three activists plus the camera operator breaking into a University of Iowa animal laboratory.

The video is apparently 45 minutes long and shows three individuals clad all in black entering the animal lab, destroying equipment, and removing animals.

At one point the tape shows one of the masked activists entering a secured part of the lab by using an electronic swipe card, suggesting that at least one of the activists had access to the lab or access to someone who had access to the lab.

The activists are shown removing the mice, rats and other animals housed in the laboratory and placing them in plastic bins of varying sizes.

The video also shows the extremists destroying computers and spray painting slogans such as “ALF,” “Science Not Sadism” and “Free the Animals”.

It curiously omits the extremists dumping chemicals. According to the University of Iowa, the ALF attackers dumped hazardous chemicals in the laboratory. The lab has been closed indefinitely while a team works on removing the hazardous materials.

Another oddity is that the ALF e-mail claming responsibility for the attack claimed that no pigeons were released, but news reports have said that pigeons were also released from the lab.

Source:

FBI has video of vandals at UI. Kristen Schorsch, Iowa City Press-Citizen, November 23, 2004.

Animal Liberation Front Claims Responsibility for University of Iowa Attack

The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility this week for extensive damage at a University of Iowa animal laboratory on November 14.

In a lengthy e-mail communique, the Animal Liberation Front said,

The Animal Liberation Front is claiming responsibility for the liberation of 401 animals from the University of Iowa in the early hours of November 14th, 2004. All animals on the third floor of the UI psychology department — 88 mice and 313 rats — were removed, examined and treated by a sympathetic veterinarian, and placed in loving homes.

Additionally, two animal labs and three vivisector’s offices were entered and all contents relating to animal research were destroyed.

These are:

4th Floor – Spence Labs:
Vivisector Ed Wasserman’s lab entered. Dozens of computers and devices used in experiments on live pigeons were destroyed.

Basement – Spence Labs:
Lab of vivisector Mark Blumburg and others entered. Surgical equipment and small animal stereotaxic devices, as well as “shock boxes” and other instruments of torture destroyed.

4th Floor – Seashore Hall
Primate researcher Joshua Rodefer’s office entered. Computer discs, hard .drives, paperwork and photos showing Rodefer’s work confining drug addicted primates in small glass boxes removed. The remaining paperwork detailing his monstrous work addicting primates and rats to narcotics was soaked in acid and the computer destroyed.

1st Floor – Seashore Hall
Primate researcher Amy Poremba’s office entered. Computers destroyed, documents removed, and the remainder soaked in acid.

This raid was carried out to halt the barbaric research of the UI Psychology Department’s 7 primary animal researchers: Professors Poremba, Freeman, Blumburg, Johnson, Robinson, Rodefer and Wasserman.

This was not thoughtless vandalism but a methodical effort to cripple the UI psychology department’s animal research. Only equipment in rooms where animals were confined and tortured were targeted. Only computers belonging to or used in the work of vivisectors were destroyed. Only documents of animal researchers waere doused in acid. The acid a deliberately chosen paper dissolving agent. Our goal is total abolition of all animal exploitation. Achieved in the short term by delivering the 401 animals from UI’s chamber of hell. And in the extended term by shutting down the labs through the erasing of research and equipment used in the barbaric practice of vivisection. The entire raid was a careful and deliberate 5-pronged assault on UI’s animal research.

Behind the laboratory doors we found drug addicted rats, rats subjected to stress experiments involving loud noise, rats undergoing thirst experiments, unanesthetized rats with protruding surgical staples and oozing wounds, and mice and rats affixed with grotesque head implants. Inside the labs of UI’s Psych Department, we found a bloody torture chamber showcasing the cruelest whims of our earth’s sickest minds. Professors Freeman, Poremba, Rodefer, Johnson, Robinson, Blumburg, and Wasserman are monsters. Tonight 401 animals are spared their reach.

Our deepest sadness is reserved for the animals on the 4th Floor kept from our arms, those we were unable to save, including hundreds of mice and rats, pigeons, guinea pigs, and 8 primates.

No animals were released into the wild. All 401 were placed in comfortable, loving homes.

No mention was made in the e-mail about the animals which University of Iowa researcher Mark Blumberg said had ended up being drowned at the laboratory as a result of the attack. There’s also something a bit fishy about the claim that the activists were able to house all of those animals humanely. As Wayne Stollings points out in this site’s discussion forum,

If you take this article as a base the minimum (outdated) laboratory requirement for this group would be 21910 sq in for the rats and 1320 sq in for the mice for a total minimum area of 23230 sq in or 161.3 sq ft. or about a 13ft X 13ft room. If you take the UK minimum for rats . . . of 700 cm2 X 18 cm (108.5 sq inches) you have 219100 cm2 or 33960 sq in or 236 sq ft. as a laboratory minimum. The on line cage calculator for pets gives 225 sq in for rats and 36 sq in for the mice for 70425 sq in and 3168 sq in respectively for a total of 73593 sq in or 511 sq ft, the size of a typical apartment. Given, you can stack the cages to halve the square footage needed, you then have to be more careful in the care as the higher cages may get hotter than the lower ones. So how many people do you believe gave up entire rooms in their homes for these rats?

University of Iowa President David Skorton released a statement in response to ALF’s statement that read,

Today we have learned that anonymous members of the Animal Liberation Front are claiming responsibility for the violent attacks on laboratories and offices in Seashore Hall and Spence Laboratories on our campus on Sunday, Nov. 14. We have shared that message with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies and hope that it will help in the effort to solve this criminal case.

Reasonable people do not resort to violence and vandalism and then follow those acts with further threats of violence. Reasonable people can and do disagree about when and how using animals in research is appropriate ethically and/or scientifically. But make no mistake: the message from the perpetrators of this crime, which identifies not only the home addresses of our researchers, but also names family members, can have no other purpose than to intimidate. But we will not be bullied. I have directed our University of Iowa Police Department to work with other law enforcement agencies to take action to help ensure the safety of our faculty, staff, students and their families. Just as importantly, we will take whatever steps are necessary to safeguard the laboratories and offices of our colleagues who have dedicated their lives to the discovery of new knowledge.

At a time like this, when one of our core values is being questioned, it must be said that the University of Iowa is committed to the pursuit and discovery of knowledge that contributes to society’s general welfare.

The knowledge gained from biological research involving animals has come to be valued highly by society because it promotes the health and well-being of humans and animals. The majority of Americans endorse the use of animals to advance medicine and science when there are no non-animal alternatives, and when it is done in an ethical and humane way.

When the use of animals is necessary, the University of Iowa does everything in its power to ensure animal well-being and responsible animal care and use. The University Animal Care and Use Committee is charged with reviewing and approving all University activities related to the care and use of animals in research. In addition, caretakers under the close supervision of veterinary staff provide husbandry to the animals every day.

I call on our entire University to reach out to the members of our community who have been directly attacked, as well as those who have been cut off from their work and forced into temporary quarters by these unconscionable acts.

In closing, I want to strongly reiterate what I said previously: We will
emerge from this incident with an even stronger commitment to continue our scholarly and creative endeavors.

Of course not everyone within academia thinks terrorists are such a bad thing. The Iowa City Press-Citizen quoted University of Texas-El Paso philosophy chair as saying,

They [ALF] want every researcher to know no one is safe from attack. What (researchers) do to animals is not just a threat, it’s a threat that’s carried out.

One of the odd upshots of the ALF attack is that it has apparently created a chilling effect among local animal rights activists. A newly formed group, Citizens for Animal Rights of Eastern-Iowa, had been planning protests at the University of Iowa, but now its president, Kira Pfeifle, is not so sure they’re gong to go ahead with the protests,

I’m afraid to do it now. I don’t want my members to get investigated.

Sources:

Animal groups worry about effects. Iowa City Press-Citizen, November 20, 2004.

FBI investigates university vandalism. KWWL, November 16, 2004.

ALF says vandals likely its members. Mike McWilliams, Iowa City Press-Citizen, November 18, 2004.

Skorton responds to ALF claim. Iowa City Press-Citizen, November 18, 2004.

Oxford University Obtains Permanent Injunction Against Animal Rights Extremists

This month the UK’s High Court granted Oxford University a permanent injunction against a number of animal rights gruops and individuals that will limit how those gruops and individuals can protest against an Oxford animal laboratory.

The decision creates a 50-yard zone in which activists and groups named in the decision may not enter, except during once-a-week demonsrations. The injunction also forbids the activists and groups from protesting or loitering within 50 yards of the premises of contractors and within 100 yards of the homes of university faculty, staff, contractors, or the shareholders of the contracts or their families.

The injunction also prohibits those named in it from publishing the personal details of any of those protected individuals.

In issuing the injunction, Justice Grigson said that the injunction did not limit anyone’s ability to express his or her views, but

What it does restrict is to whom and where he expresses those views. A similar consideration applies in respect of his right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association. A right to freedom of peaceful assembly does not entitle a citizen, by means of a mass protest, to stop the lawful activities of others.

BioMed Central quoted Roger Morris of King’s College as commending the ruling saying,

For too long resaerch that will make a real impact upon our traetmetn of such diseases has been disrupted by a few urban terrorists. It is now clear that the govenrment and the courts are standing up for human rights as well as animal rights.

Cherwell Online reported on one activist’s take on the decision,

Robert Cogswell of SPEAK, which is also included in the injunction, said that the University was attempting to “restrict legal protest becuase they don’t want to have its lies highlighted by the SPEAK campaign” and trying to smear his gruop by associating it with extremists.

He also pointed out that those undertaking criminal action were unlikely to be deterred by the additional barrier of a legal injunction.

Groups covered by the injunction include Supporting and Promoting Ethics for the Animal Kingdom, the Animal Liberation Front, and Oxford Animal Rights Group.

Source:

Animal activists banned for good. Cherwell Online, November 12, 2004.

Animal rights injunction. BioMedCentral.Com, November 10, 2004.