Tag: Animal Liberation Front

Animal Laboratory at University of Iowa Attacked

The Des Moines Register reports that Seashore Hall and Spence Laboratories at the University of Iowa have been closed until at least after the Thanksgiving holiday due to extensive vandalism that appears to be the work of animal rights extremists.

The vandalism mainly occurred on a locked floor that housed animal research facilities used by the behavioral and cognitive neuroscience division of the university’s psychology department.

According to the Register,

The intruders took an unspecified number of mice, rats and other animals, damaged more than 30 computers, dumped hazardous chemicals and caused “tens of thousands of dollars” in damage, according to U[niversity] of I[owa] police.

It has been widely reported that “ALF” was spray painted inside the laboratory, but neither police nor the FBI have confirmed that.

Even if animal rights activists were responsible, don’t be surprised if the ALF leaves this particular action unclaimed since those responsible apparently ended up killing a number of animals in the laboratory. The Des Moines Register quoted professor and researcher Mark Blumberg as saying,

What they did to the animals was worse than what they could accuse us of doing. There were animals that drowned because of this. It was horrible. How they think that they’re doing something that is for the benefit of animal rights is beyond me.

Source:

Vandalism closes animal labs at U of I. Jeffrey Patch, Des Moines Register, November 16, 2004.

Robin Webb — Children of Researchers Are Legitimate Targets

Robin Webb, longtime animal rights extremist and UK spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front, went on record in September as saying that children are legitimate targets of animal rights extremism.

In Sept. 19 article in the Sunday Herald, Webb was quoted as dismissing criticism of animal rights extremists’ practice of targeting children and spouses of animal researchers,

Some say it is morally unacceptable but it is equally unacceptable to use animals in experiments. The children of those scientists are enjoying a lifestyle built on the blood and abuse of innocent animals. Why should they be allowed to close the door on that and sit down and watch TV and enjoy themselves when animals are suffering and dying because of the actions of the family breadwinner? They are a justifiable target for protest.

Source:

Of Mice and Men. Jenifer Johnston, Sunday Herald, September 19, 2004.

Two Men Plead Guilty in Separate Arson Attacks

Justus Ireland, 23, and Joshua Demmitt, 18, recently plead guilty in separate cases of arson in Utah that were done on behalf of the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front.

Demmitt plead guilty to participating in the arson of a building at Brigham Young University along with Harrison David Burrows. After his arrest, Burrows apparently provided additional evidence that helped convince Demmitt to plead guilty to destruction of property by fire. Demmitt and Burrows torched the building in the name of the Animal Liberation Front.

Ireland, meanwhile, plead guilty to setting a fire at the Stock Lumber Co. in the early morning hours of June 14, 2004, and set a delivery truck on fire and a pallet containing wood and cardboard. The fire ultimately did an estimated $1.5 million in damages. Ireland painted “ELF” on the truck and on the walls of a the Stock Lumber Co. building. He also walked into a health clinic and used an unattended fax machine to fax a local TV station a release claiming the arson to be an ELF action.

Ireland was already on probation for a 1999 aggravated sexual abuse conviction in Arizona.

In reaching plea deals, both Demmitt and Ireland plead guilty to charges that could earn them anywhere from 5 to 20 years in prison. Had they held out for trial, however, they could have been charged with felonies that would have carried a minimum of 25 years in jail.

Sources:

Activists puts off plea in BYU farm arson. Matt Canham, The Salt Lake Tribune, September 29, 2004.

Feds charge two men with arson for ecoterrorism fires. Mark Thiessen, Associated Press, September 29, 2004.

‘Domestic terrorist’ charged in fire. Matt Canham, The Salt Lake Tribune, September 29, 2004.

Two men plead guilty in Utah arson fires laid to ecoterrorist groups. Associated Press, October 1, 2004.

Harrison David Burrows Pleads Guilty to ALF Arson

Harrison David Burrows, 18, admitted in September to setting a fire at Ellsworth Farm on the campus Brigham Young University this past July.

Burrows reached a plea agreement with prosecutors in which he plead guilty to one count of destruction of property by fire. In exchange for Burrows’ testimony about his actions and actions of others involved in animal rights violence, prosecutors agreed to recommend that he receive only a 5 year sentence. Burrows’ sentencing is scheduled for January 10, 2005.

Burrows filed a statement as part of the plea agreement admitting his guilt and saying, “We started the fires to make a political statement on behalf of the Animal Liberation Front.” Burrows also admitted to a number of other acts of vandalism at Brigham Young University, including the release of birds and rabbits from a BYU farm. Authorities apparently don’t plan to charge him in those incidents.

Source:

18-year-old admits setting fire at BYU. Associated Press, September 15, 2004.

Russian ALF Outlines Its Extremist Actions

In July, the Russian Animal Liberation Front Support Group posted on the Internet an English-language outline of the group’s activities in Russia since its first activities in 2000.

The Russian ALF apparently started out with pretty low expectations, bragging, for example, that,

The summer of 2002 was marked by the destruction of 70 advert posters . . .

A few years later they had progressed to stealing frogs,

On 21 April 2004 RALF activists managed to get into the laboratory of the institute named after Anokhin, Russian Medical Academy. They freed 119 frogs and their eggs.

Thank goodness they saved the eggs!

The RALF (their acronym, not mine, but quite apropos) then moved up the food chain to rats and rabbits,

On 8 May 2004, 110 rats and 5 rabbits disappeared from the laboratory of Moscow State University Biological Department. These animals were used in experiments against alcoholism and drugs. Rats were fed drugs and alcohol, and rabbits had electrodes inserted in their heads.

Ah, the globalization of animal rights cluelessness in action.

Source:


History of the Russian Animal Liberation Front…so far. Russian Animal Liberation Front Support Group, July 2, 2004.

Total Liberation Tour 2004

In case you missed it, Total Liberation Tour 2004 — featuring radical bands and animal rights speakers — wrapped up in late July, but not before making a fascinating stop in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Brigham Young University NewsNet provided a good summation of the tour,

After the first few bands the speaker, introducing himself only as Evan, spoke on the need to return to a primitive lifestyle and abandon civilization in order to experience true freedom and wildness.

Nothing could tape that, but local organizer Jakob Nyberg came close as he tried to tell the press that the tour had nothing to do with animal rights or environmental extremism. Nyberg was forced to defend the tour after Harrison David Burrow allegedly torched a BYU building the week before the concert.

The Associated Press reported,

The concert, called the “Total Liberation Tour,” was one of 10 stops
scheduled nationally to promote a variety of causes, such as animal and
minority rights.

The FBI had said that the tour would feature top leaders of both
ecoterrorist groups Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front,
which are suspected in two high-profile arson fires in Utah in the past
month.

Nyberg, 27, who volunteered to help organize the Utah stop when he heard the
national tour was being planned, said there was no connection between the
show and the groups, and he didn’t know anyone involved in that kind of
action.

No connection between the tour and the ALF or ELF? Hmmm…here’s a Total Liberation Tour poster:

Leslie James Pickering is an Earth Liberation Front spokesman. Andrew Stepanian and Rod Coronado, of course, are both convicted Animal Liberation Front criminals. Josh Harper is a former ALF spokesman.

Nyberg is either an idiot, a liar or both to claim that there’s no connection between the ELF/ALF and the Total Liberation 2004 tour.

Sources:

Vegans, animal rights activists gather for tour. Jacob Conde, BYU NewsNet, July 15, 2004.

Organizers deny FBI claim that concert related to ecoterrorism. Associated Press.