Crime in the Name of Animal Rights—Archive: 2000
By: Kenneth Strand Date: 10/4/2006 Category: |
December 30, 2000 UK: A mail bomb sent to a pest control company in Cheshire exploded, injuring the owner's 6-year old daughter who was helping her father with the mail. The girl was cut on her legs and feet by shrapnel from the envelope. Authorities suspect animal rights activists in the bombing.
December 30, 2000 NY: ELF arsonists torch three luxury homes under construction and spray graffiti on a fourth in Mt. Sinai on Long Island. Damages amount to $160,000.
December 29, 2000 NY: ALF vandals smashed windows and spray-painted anti-fur slogans on the front of Tres Chic, a Hewlitt, Long Island furrier shop. 10 coats inside the store were doused with with red paint.
December 28, 2000 UK: The ban on fur farming, effective June 2003 will cause closure of a mink farm in north Devon at a cost estimated at more than 6 million pounds. The farm now breeds 30,000 mink a year from a stock of 6,500 adult animals that have been built up over an 80-year selective breeding program. The farm employs 10 full-time and 40 part-time workers, and is one of 13 farms slated for closure by the ban deadline. Part of the farm will be sent to a satellite operation in Denmark, but 6,500 of the mink will have to be killed in the shutdown.
December 26, 2000 UK: Traditional Boxing Day hunting meets, 300 of them, produced clashes between hunting advocates and animal rights protesters. An estimated 325,000 turned out to support the Countryside Alliance in favor of continued hunting activities, while protesters from the Hunt Saboteurs' Association and the League Against Cruel Sports showed up at 120 meets in combined numbers under 500. Much verbal conflict, one arrest, and some hurled eggs and potatoes were the only reported incidents to mar the event.
December 25, 2000 Canada: An ALF communique claimed credit for placing 7 incendiary devices beneath seven trucks at a Burnaby, BC meat distribution company.
December 19, 2000 NY: A house under construction at Miller Place. Long Island, is torched and credit is claimed by ELF, with damages of $50,000.
December 17, 2000 KS: The Kansas City Star discovered a propaganda scheme in its letters to the editor. An animal rights response to an earlier letter concerning fast food chicken matched letters sent under different names to newspapers across the country and in Canada. Each letter had a different local author name attached to it and what appeared to be a local address.
December 16, 2000 CA: Approximately 30 anti-fur activists were arrested in front of Neiman Marcus in Union Square, San Francisco. They locked themselves into metal sleeves in front of the department store in one of their weekly demonstrations against Neiman Marcus participation in fur fashion.
December 15, 2000 UK: Agricultural suppliers in North Yorkshire received a letter bomb that did not explode.
December 12, 2000 UK: HSBC, the world's second-largest bank, "reviewed" its position over Huntingdon Life Sciences shares and opted to sever its ties with HLS. The move followed intense pressure from animal rights protesters.
December 11, 2000 UK: A subcontractor on his way to work for AstraZeneca. a major UK drug company, found cannisters attached to wires inside his van and a black bin liner propped up next to his vehicle. While phoning police inside his home, the van exploded, shaking neighbors in their beds. Due to the type of bomb and the employment connection to the drug company, Police suspect animal rights activists in the blast.
December 11, 2000 Canada: ALF claims credit for the arson destruction of a truck belonging to the Ferry Market warehouse, a meat distributor in Vancouver, BC.
December 9, 2000 NY: A fire causes $200,000 damage in a condo under construction at Middle Island. ELF claims credit, opening "an unbounded war on urban sprawl"
December 7, 2000, Haupauge, Long Island, NY: ELF and ALF activists smashed windows and spray-painted anti-meat slogans at McDonalds corporate offices.
December 6, 2000 NV: Dawn Carr, the animal rights activist who put a tofu pie in the face of newly crowned Miss Rodeo America 2000 last year has been sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay $1,700 restitution for damages done to the dress of 21 year-old Brandy DeJongh.
December 6, 2000 MN: The University of Minnesota's Student Organization for Animal Rights, with California-based In Defense of Animals, is offering a $10,000 reward for anyone who can provide information that a researcher is in violation of animal abuse laws. The announcement preceded a presentation by Matt Rossell, a former employee of the Oregon Primate Research Center who surreptitiously videotaped activities while working at the center and, after quitting, filed a formal USDA complaint jointly with the Animal Legal Defense Fund alleging animal abuse. The university views the act as outrageous, akin to putting a bounty on the head of researchers and other people who are working to find cures for diseases.
December 6, 2000 Washington, DC: A coalition of environmentalists, farm groups and animal activists, spearheaded by fifteen law firms contributing $50,000 each, announced an all-out assault on factory hog farms. They plan to scrutinize Illinois hog operations for possible lawsuits.
December 3, 2000 UK: Police warn Huntingdon Life Sciences personnel and anyone connected to HLS support activities, contracted or financial, that they may become targets of animal rights protesters. The animal rights group has already gone after HLS staff with harassment, intimidation and car bombings, and has also published names and addresses of shareholders on the internet, urging readers to "adopt a director" to harass and intimidate.
One unnamed victim, a retired salesman from Surrey, reported that "They call at all hours, sometimes after midnight and up to eight times a day. This is a form of terrorism and it's very frightening…" He gave police a dossier of hate male and documentation of goods sent to his home by mail order firms. Other shareholders have been mail-ordered collect three-piece suits, garden sheds, sex toys and pornography. The activists are also writing to shareholders' neighbors, sending pictures of mutilated animals and informing them of their neighbor's support for animal experimentation. HLS said the mutilation photograph was not taken on its premises.
December 1, 2000 CA: San Deigo-based Jack In The Box received a letter targeting the fast food franchise chain with a publicity campaign and boycott if it doesn't certify animal usage suitable to PETA's demands. On the heels of its public battle with McDonalds over this same issue, PETA also mailed similar letters to Wendy's, KFC and other fast food companies.
November 30, 2000 VA: The beaver population has exploded, partly because of a program that imported them to restore their numbers, and the results are becoming expensive. USDA calls it an epidemic of destruction of private property, roads and crops. A proposed beaver management plan to rid the area of nuisance rodents is projected to cost as much as $272,000, or $135 per beaver. Ironically, trapping controlled them in the past, when pelts fetched about $30 apiece on the fur market. Today, the price for beaver pelts is around $8 and no one is trapping them.
November 28, 2000 UT: Jeremy Lee Parkin of Salt Lake City was arraigned on multiple felony counts for the release of 30 mink from a fur farm last year and the break-in and destruction of breeding records. Parkin faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted as charged.
November 28, 2000 NC: Three stores in Cary suffered leather and fur merchandise vandalism in the post-Thanksgiving shopping rush. Wilson's Leathers, the Limited and the Gap each discovered slashings and dark marker damage to leather and fur on three consecutive days, amounting to over $5,000 in losses.
November 27, 2000 CO: ELF claims credit for torching one of the first luxury homes under construction in a new Boulder County subdivision, damages $500,000. Activists blame the failure of the voters to defeat a ballot measure controlling growth.
November 22, 2000 UK: The fur farming (prohibition) bill to outlaw in England and Wales the farming of animals for the value of their fur was set for approval today. Effective January 1, 2003, it makes UK the first country to introduce a national ban.
November 21, 2000 OH: PETA is ready to premier advertising against clothing retailer Express for selling leather garments. A 30-second spot produced to curtail the desire for leather urges buyers to "steer clear of Express." Express has been the target of on site protest pressure from PETA since October
November 20, 2000 Germany: A German animal protection charity is being charged with the diversion of more than DM 100 million to secret bank accounts in Switzerland. Reports in the press indicate suspicion that "Deutsches Tierhilfswerk" collected DM 356 million in 1998, but only DM 2 million was actually applied to animal protection projects.
October 28, 2000 OR: Animal rights activists demonstrated outside the Portland home of Oregon Health Sciences University president Peter Kohler, publicizing alleged abuse at OHSU. Former OHSU employee Matt Rossell held a news conference, showing a video intended to portray abuse, and the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a formal complaint with USDA to address the claims of abuse at the University Primate Center.
October 27, 2000 UK: Animal activists throwing rocks at the home and kennels of a major hunt last month caused the erection of a perimeter 10-foot barbed wire steel fence. Last week, more than 100 posters of chief huntsman Mike Brycroft, his wife and their 17-month old child, captioned "Meet the Brycrofts - they kill for fun" were put up in the local area. The Brycrofts are now under police guard as they prepare for the first meet of the season.
October 26, 2000 CT: Animal rights activists bidding on rights to trap on state land hope to deny trapping activity. On the heels of a court challenge that threw out state regulations requiring proof of trapping activity by successful bidders, the activists are ready to spend $36,000 again this year. In 1998, they won bids for 35 parcels amounting to 47,000 acres. In 1999, the court challenge effectively canceled the auction. This year, 160,000 acres is up for grabs on 122 parcels.
October 25, 2000 WI: Tina Kaske, animal rights activist and former public relations director for Alliance for Animals, filed a complaint with police in Madison based on claims that she had been called "trash" and a "terrorist" by talk show host John "Sly" Sylvester. Kaske claimed that Sylvester threatened to give out her home address over the air, that he asked callers to shoot off firearms as a tribute to her, and that an unknnown and ininvited 2 a.m. visitor at her apartment was somehow connected to Sylvester. Kaske left her position as Alliance for Animals spokeswoman because of the negative publicity. Police filed the complaint and never contacted Sylvester "because of his First Amendment rights."
October 23, 2000 UK: Two hunt members received death threats and car bombs. Both were on a publicized list of seven huntsmen considered to be "legitimate targets" by the Hunt Retribution Squad." All seven had received threatening letters on September 4, 2000. Amateur whip David Pitfield's van was destroyed by one bomb in South Nutfield, Surrey. The bomb under a woman hunt member's vehicle in East Sussex, discovered five hours later, did not detonate and was removed by army bomb experts. Both bombs were considered lethal.
October 22, 2000 UT: Animal rights groups are filing a lawsuit challenging Utah's passage of Proposition 5 in 1998, which established a constitutional requirement that citizen-driven initiatives to change the state's wildlife regulations must win 67 percent of the vote in 20 of Utah's 29 counties in order to pass. Plaintiffs in the suit include the Initiative & Referendum Institute of Washington, HSUS, Fund for Animals and Rep. David Jones, D-Salt Lake City.
October 21, 2000 NY: A Moriches, Long Island duck farm lost at least 19 ducks in an ALF activist raid. Some birds were taken, fences were cut to allow the escape of others, and ALF graffiti was spray-painted on buildings.
October 20, 2000 Finland: An estimated 1500 foxes were dyed with henna and breeding cards were removed from a fox farm near Iisalmi. An ALF communique claimed credit for the raid.
October 18, 2000 IN: ELF graffiti accompanied damage to heavy logging equipment in the Martin State Forest. Destruction included cut hoses, smashed gauges and sand poured into fuel tanks and radiators. Damages amounted to $55,000. ELF later claimed credit for the incident.
October 17, 2000 VA: HSUS, Fund for Animals, a coalition of Virginia voters and Philip Hirschkop joined others in filing a lawsuit contending that Virginia Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries fact sheets are partisan leaflets supporting a proposed amendment to the state's constitution and that the agency's action amounts to taking a position on the amendment. Plaintiffs seek removal of the fact sheet from distribution around the state and deletion of the same information on the agency's web site.
October 16, 2000 Netherlands: The Dutch ALF claimed responsibility for building damage and torching three meat delivery vans in Rotterdam.
October 16, 2000 Australia: The RSPCA is caught disseminating misinformation about electronic training collars. A look at the campaign also leads to speculation as to the foundation for criminalizing the use of electronic collars in several Australian states, and the source for the Department of Customs definition of electronic collars as an illegal import, along with hand grenades and rocket launchers. During a court proceeding which led to an injunction against the RSPCA, a picture of a dog claimed to have an electronic collar-generated neck burn was found to have been a picture of a dog with an infection, not a burn. A photo of an RSPCA officer's arm showed three "burn" marks corresponding to the three probes of a No-Bark collar while the middle probe is actually plastic and conducts no electricity. Innotek Australia also introduced evidence of university research showing a collar's output to be 3000 times less than an electric fence, 50 times below the human threshold of pain and 6 times less than static electricity.
October 14, 2000 South Africa: Animal wildlife expert Ron Thomson, former head of Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park, sounded an elephant overpopulation alarm, noting that with elephant numbers doubling every ten years, huge swaths of Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia and Botswana would be reduced to an uninhabitable desert. Thomson, calling for a lifting of the ivory trade ban, accused animal rights groups of hijacking the conservation debate by putting the sanctity of elephants above all else. "This is a fundamental error. It will lead to the destruction of the soil and plants which sustains them along with countless other species." Thomson estimated that half of the current 200,000 elephant population would have to be culled in order to avoid massive desertification problems.
October 14, 2000 MA: A security system warning apparently headed off a mink release in Hinsdale. At least two trespassers had cut 25 feet of fencing and entered sheds but were unsuccessful in releasing mink.
October 9, 2000 Norway: Animal rights activists released more than 1500 mink at a farm in southern Norway. About half were captured, but many of them were at risk of dying from exposure suffered during the release.
October 7, 2000 PA: Fund for Animals and others joined as plaintiffs in a lawsuit aimed at preventing a state-controlled bobcat hunt designed to reduce the bobcat population in the state by 5%. Bobcats are not endangered or threatened in the state.
October 6, 2000 WA: 29 animal rights activists are suing the city for civil rights violations connected with their arrest and detention at an anti-fur demonstration during the Democratic National Convention in Seattle. Claims include being forced to sit handcuffed or stand with their hands behind their heads in the sun for hours without water, vegetarian food, or medical attention, being strip searched and having been prohibited from calling lawyers. Charges against 41 of the 42 people arrested in the demonstration were eventually dismissed.
October 3, 2000 Washington DC: USDA agreed in an out of court settlement to expand its regulation of research animals to include rats, mice and birds. The agreement is the result of a lawsuit instituted by the American Anti-Vivisection Society, an animal rights group. The cost to biomedical laboratories is estimated to be $80-90 million if implemented. The agreement has yet to be approved by a federal judge.
September 26, 2000 Denmark: ALF vandals released more than 4000 mink from two Danish farms overnight, one near Soeroe and the other near Frederikssund.
September 25, 2000 Denmark: ALF vandals released 8000 mink in a night time raid at a fur farm near Frederikssund.
September 26, 2000 CA: Protesters at Bouvray Furs, a Los Angeles jewelry store, were arrested after an incident caught on videotape where two demonstrators kicked the locked security screen to the store. 42 animal rights activists were arrested, two were charged. One wound up going before a judge. The convicted protester, when finally identified by the court, was wanted in Illinois for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and had a prior conviction for aggravated sexual assault.
September 24, 2000 CA: Four protesters locked themselves together at the neck in an anti-fur demonstration at Bloomingdale's, Sherman Oaks. Store personnel surrounded the protesters with curtains and turned on music to drown out the chanting until police arrived. Two adults were held in jail in lieu of $10,000 bail and two juveniles were released to their parents.
September 17, 2000 OR: ALF activists struck Sunshine Dairy Foods, the smallest dairy in Portland, causing $3000 damage to vans, refrigerated trucks and a building.
September 28, 2000 NY: Andrew Stepanian, president of the Animal Defense League, was convicted of criminal mischief for throwing wooden logs through the window of a Huntington, Long Island fur store. Stepanian's cohort in the night time attack pled guilty to one count of fourth-degree criminal mischief on May 19th and was sentenced to 45 days in jail and given three months probation. Stepanian faces two and one-third to seven years in prison, with sentencing to be pronounced on November 17, 2000.
September 20, 2000 VA: In a night time raid, vandals painted golden arches on the front of PETA's Norfolk headquarters and threw raw ground meat at the building.
September 17, 2000 Finland: ALF raiders returned to the Christer Ronlunds mink farm which was raided three days earlier and this time released 2000 to 2500 mink.
September 14, 2000 Finland: The Finnish ALF raided the Christer Ronlunds mink farm near Voyri, releasing 600 mink.
September 13, 2000 NC: ALF forces claim credit for the release of 20 cats from the Gaston County Animal Shelter. Subsequent damage assessment by the County revealed destroyed fencing enclosures, a broken door and the absence of 58 cats which had been rounded up as part of an anti-rabies initiative to protect staff and students at nearby Belmont Abbey College.
September 12, 2000 Faroe Islands: A Faroese court fined Paul Watson $37,000 (US) or 60 days in prison in the case of nonpayment. The penalty was based on Watson's violation of Faroe Island immigration laws when he entered Faroese waters with the vessel "Ocean Warrior" to protest a Faroese pilot whale hunt this past summer. Watson, unwelcome in Faroese waters and persona non grata in all the Nordic countries, chose to be judged in absentia.
September 11, 2000 IL: The National Dairy Council and the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board went on the offensive, noting that the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and PETA are trying, with their current anti-milk campaign, to generate media coverage on an animal rights agenda based on little fact and no actual news. Both dairy organizations point out that PCRM's milk-cancer connection views have been repeatedly denounced by the American Medical Association, National Osteoporosis Foundation and the American Council on Science and Health. In fact, the researchers who conducted the health study used by PCRM to support their publicity campaign disagree with PCRM's position on the issue.
September 9, 2000 IN: A fire at the Republican Party Committee Headquarters in Bloomington caused $1,500 damage to the exterior of the building. A communique from ELF claimed credit, blaming plans to extend an interstate highway, stating that the arson was "a reminder to politicians…that we are watching and that we will not sit idly by as they push for plans like I-69."
September 5, 2000 UK: In a partial summary of protest and intimidation, Huntingdon Life Sciences reports that their 750-employee facility receives about 500 abusive telephone calls per day, 200 at the switchboard and 300 directly to extensions within the system. All calls are recorded. Examples include, "You torturer, I hope you get cancer." "If I saw you on the street, I would stab you in the face." "You f** animal torturer, you animal abuser, you f** bitch." "I hope you get cancer, I hope you get murdered on the way home from work today." Employees of HLS also receive similarly intimidating mail at their homes.
September 5, 2000 Taiwan: A campaign started last June by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection and the Animal Protection Institute produced results when China Airlines announced that effective September 5th, it would no longer accept live primates destined for experimentation as cargo. China Airlines was the second largest carrier of primates to the US in 1999. Delta instituted an embargo in June and joined TWA, United and Continental in refusing to transport monkeys to the US. Other carriers have repeatedly rejected the urging of animal rights forces to end such shipments.
September 5, 2000 UK: After the recent rash of car firebombings outside the personal residences of employees at the beleaguered Huntingdon Life Sciences research facility employees have been told to register their cars at the company address, rather than their homes. One researcher, speaking out on the pressure, indicated that she is now on medication and having firebombing nightmares and struggling to put in 1 ½ workdays a week. She has been harassed going to and coming from work, firebombed at home with damages of 5,000 pounds, and assailed even on her new mobile phone number.
September 2, 2000 WA: A Seattle woman who demonstrated in opposition to the Makah whale hunt by racing her personal watercraft too close to a Makah Indian Canoe was ordered to perform 120 hours of community service and to stay away from the Makah Indian reservation. Erin Abbott, age 24, sustained a broken shoulder in the incident when a Coast Guard 21-foot inflatable boat collided with her. Abbott's attorney has announced an intent to sue the Coast Guard over the matter.
September 2, 2000 Italy: PETA activists dumped manure outside the venue for the fashion week catwalk shows in Milan. Torrential rains happened to beat clean-up service personnel to the punch, washing away the entire mess shortly after the incident.
September 2, 2000 UK: Animal rights protestors rampaged through Surrey and Burstow Fox Hound Kennels at Felbridge, Surrey, hurling bricks and stones and spraying CS gas. One police officer needed hospital treatment after the raid. Animal rights spokesperson Dawn Preston said the incident had been provoked the day before, when a hunt saboteur had been "deliberately run-over" at Horsted Keynes.
August 30, 2000 Wellington, CO: ALF activists ripped wire from two bird coops, broke a lock on a rat cage and drilled through a corrugated metal wall before tripping a motion sensor alarm and fleeing from Genesis Laboratories. Activists claimed that the predawn raid scattered 168 bobwhites and 11 ducks, all of which were native wildlife from eastern Colorado and Wyoming and which were undergoing animal experimentation. Genesis Labs corrected the information by explaining that the birds were quail and mallards, most of which had been bred in captivity. The ducks had clipped wings, could not fly and did not return, so were assumed eaten by other wildlife in the area. Some quail were found dead at the coop, apparently killed from stress and mishandling during the raid. Some of the quail were to be used in an EPA study to determine whether poisons used to kill rodents would harm birds, and others were simply aviary residents. The raid caused about $500 in physical damage, inestimable costs for bird losses, and resulted in the hiring of armed security to protect the property.
August 28, 2000 UK: "Urban terrorists" are blamed for planting fire bombs under cars outside the homes of Huntingdon Life Sciences workers. Five of six went off, destroying two cars and badly damaging three others. No people were injured, but one family had to be rescued from their home through a back door and a 7-month pregnant woman had to be treated for shock. Since becoming a target for animal rights protests, the cost for Cambridgeshire police involvement alone in the Huntingdon Labs controversy has run up to one million pounds.
August 23, 2000 Washington, DC: McDonald's Corp., which has long been targeted by animal rights protests, adverse publicity campaigns and the bombing and vandalizing of its franchise establishments world wide by animal rights forces, announced recently that they have adopted new standards for the treatment of animals by their suppliers. These standards were the work of their own panel of scientific advisers and are to be "a natural evolution from our animal welfare program," according to Robert Langert, senior director of public and community affairs for McDonalds. Langert asserted that "This is our pathway to be a leader on this issue." (See related news item dated June 27, 2000.)
August 15, 2000 Los Angeles, CA: 25 protesters were arrested after banging on the windows of Edward Borovay Furs during the second day of the Democratic National Convention.
August 12, 2000 Los Angeles, CA: An activist dressed in a pink pig costume dumped four tons of animal manure in front of a hotel housing Democratic National Convention guests. The activist was arrested and the truck impounded.
August 6, 2000 Holland: An ALF communiqué claimed responsibility for the torching of two storage buildings and the subsequent release of mink from a mink farm in Barchem. The farm had been "visited" by ALF twice previously, with the claimed release of more than 10,000 mink.
July 31, 2000 Dusty, WA: Anti-biotech activists used machetes and scythes to destroy five acres of genetically engineered canola at Monsanto facilities.
July 31, 2000 Norfolk, VA: Reports from Richmond, Virginia indicate that PETA took in 2,103 companion animals last year, found homes for 386, and euthanized 1,325.
July 27, 2000 Minneapolis, MN: Preliminary estimates for security at the International Society for Animal Genetics conference indicate that it was the most expensive police action in state history, approaching $1 million. According to the Hennepin County Sheriff's department, riot gear, preparations, food, logistics, trooper availability, buses and drivers and additional deputy availability tallied more than $770 thousand, with figures yet to be determined for overtime for about 100 deputies; overtime for between 400 and 500 officers; and costs for sending 50 officers to Minneapolis.
July 27, 2000 New Orleans: "Survivor" producer Mark Burnett obtained a restraining order against an irate viewer who sent a threatening message to him after viewing the episode that included survivors eating rats. According to court papers, the message read: "Thankfully, there are people out there who have no qualms about (vengeance) against those who profit and glorify from the deaths of animals." The order prohibits following, contacting, or distributing information about how to contact Burnett.
July 22, 2000 Milo, ME: Activists destroyed 1500-2000 genetically engineered trees at MEAD Corporation facilities.
July 21, 2000 Anchorage, AK: The Sierra Club, Greenpeace USA, and the American Oceans Campaign won a federal US District Court ruling in Seattle that bans trawling for pollock, cod and other fish in Alaska waters. The ban, citing a "reasonably certain threat of imminent harm" to Stellar sea lions, covers waters deemed to be critical habitat for the animals. Estimates of losses by the fishing industry if the ban affects the last half of this year and the first half of next year amount to more than $275 million.
July 20, 2000 Rheinlander, WI: ELF claimed credit for a July 19, 2000 attack defacing US Forest Service trucks and destroying 500 research pine and broadleaf trees and saplings. A guard at the North Central Research Station Forest Biotechnology Laboratory in Rheinlander, Wisconsin discovered the vandalism in progress and prevented further damage.
July 15, 2000 Ann Arbor, MI: Activists cut through fencing and locks at the Humane Society of Huron Valley over the weekend and removed a dog on death row. The animal had been the subject of court battles for two years after biting a newspaper carrier delivering a paper to the home of the owner. The dog was held at a shelter until it attacked another dog and an evaluator, after which it was transferred to Huron Valley.
July 20, 2000 Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Activists destroyed a research cornfield, leaving graffiti denouncing genetic engineering. The field was where Dr. Barbara McClintock's studies of Indian corn genetics in the 1940's led to a Nobel prize for her work. The corn plants that were destroyed also happened to be the result of natural plant breeding.
July 11, 2000 Copenhagen, Denmark: Activists released 1800 mink from a farm north of Copenhagen in a night raid. 1700 were recovered. This farm was also attacked in the spring of 1998. July 11, 2000, Washington, DC The Performing Animal Welfare Society, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Fund for Animals and the Animal Welfare Institute pooled their resources to file suit against Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, charging Ringling Brothers and its parent company with violating the Endangered Species Act and other animal protection laws.
July 10, 2000 Surrey, UK: A rabbit farmer of 22 years handed over 600 of his 1000 rabbits to animal rights activists for placement, with the remainder to be given up next week. Activists targeted the farm as a lab animal production facility and forced the concession by laying siege to the farmer's home for 12 days, smashing windows and threatening his staff and family.
July 9, 2000 Long Island, NY: ALF activists claimed credit for smashing 20 large plate glass windows in the early morning hours at Macy's in Garden City, and painting anti-fur slogans on the side of the building.
July 10, 2000 Corpus Christi, TX: Three men were arrested from a crowd of approximately 70 protesting a proposed dolphin exhibit at the Texas State Aquarium. Construction of the 400,000 gallon habitat exhibit is awaiting the raising of $1.5 million in funds. One protester, lashed to one of two 15-foot steel tripods that were placed in a roadway, was detained and found to be carrying what police described as crack cocaine. Another was arrested for disorderly conduct and a third was arrested for inciting a riot.
July 3, 2000 Austria: The ALF is credited with an early morning fire that destroyed two generators, a tractor and a part of a circus tent and a truck belonging to the Circus Knie, an Austrian National Circus.
July 2, 2000 North Vernon, IN: A fire destroyed a truck and caused an estimated $100,000 damage at the Rose Acre chicken farm. At the feed mill, the words "Polluter, animal exploiter, your turn to pay" were spray-painted on a concrete wall, along with the letters "ALF." The incident also disrupted the feeding routine at the 1.8 million chicken ranch.
June 29, 2000 Bloomington, IN: The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) claimed credit for spiking trees in two counties in southern Indiana. "Hundreds" of spikes were claimed to have been set both high and low in trees on timber sales that were prepared for cutting. Officials have found about 20 such spikes to date.
June 27, 2000 Chicago, IL: PETA bargained with McDonald's, offering to abandon its "Unhappy Meal" campaign against the chain if McDonald's would agree to stop buying eggs and pork from US suppliers who confine animals in cages or stalls considered by PETA to be too small. PETA also sought McDonald's non-buying agreements from producers who remove beaks from hens to prevent pecking injuries. The "Unhappy Meals" are mock-ups of McDonald's children's hamburger meal box, but with Ronald McDonald brandishing .a bloody knife on the side of the box, and toy animals with missing heads and limbs found inside. PETA said it would call for regular demonstrations around the world and would pass out Unhappy Meals in Great Britain. (See related news item dated August 23, 2000.)
June 24, 2000 Honolulu, HI: A federal court order protecting endangered and threatened sea turtles called for 100% of longline ships to have a federal observer on board on every fishing trip within 30 days or face suspension until compliance is achieved. The National Marine Fisheries Service has two trained observers stationed in Honolulu, and the longline fishery includes 115 boats and 600 crew members. The order was written to remain in effect until the NMFS completes an environmental impact statement on how the fishery affects sea turtle populations. NMFS was given until April 1, 2001 to complete the task.
June 24, 2000 Eugene, Oregon: Anarchists with past actions linked to timber sale disruption and rain forest demonstrations were indicted on arson charges for allegedly trying to set fire to a 12,000 gallon gasoline tanker truck. On May 27, a driver for Tyree Oil found a section of cloth stuck in the fuel tank of his double-trailer fuel truck. The cloth was draped over a gallon milk jug filled with fuel and soap. Two devices were set, but crude ignition delay mechanisms failed to ignite the jugs. Jeffrey Michael Luers, 21, and Craig Andrew Marshall, 27 were arrested for this incident while being investigated for (and subsequently charged with) another arson that had caused $40,000 damage at a car dealership.
June 19, 2000 UK: Animal rights activists have been sending death threats to scientists conducting "badger culling trials," experiments designed as part of a five-year trial to establish if there is a link between badgers and TB in cattle. The harassment has been going on for two years, but the increased gravity of threats warranted increased police protection. A spokesman for scientists noted the irony that the trials might lead to fewer badgers being killed, as there is no clear evidence that badgers are to blame for bovine TB to date.
June 16, 2000 Paris, France: Brigitte Bardot was found guilty of inciting "hatred or racial violence" by a French court and fined $3,000. Her offense consisted of including criticizism in her book of a Muslim festival in which sheep are slaughtered.
June 15, 2000 Lyndeborough, NH: Activists tore down a fence and released approximately 500 mink from Richard Gauthier's farm. He recovered about 200 by the afternoon of the incident, but many were nursing mothers that required matching back up with their offspring. About 100 litters remained without mothers. Gauthier's farm was vandalized in 1998 and he has received a threatening letter filled with razor blades.
June 14, 2000 Sacramento, CA: Activists have filed a million-dollar civil rights violation lawsuit against the University of California, the chief of a primate research lab, the UC Davis chancellor and police. The suit alleges beating and falsely arresting animal rights demonstrators, and is the second such suit in two years to be lodged against UC. The plaintiffs were arrested on June 12, 1999 at a primate lab protest and all had their charges dismissed. They have charged violations of US and California civil rights laws, false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and excessive force.
May 22, 2000 Washington, DC: US Fish & Wildlife Service records dating from October 1997 through January 1998 were ordered destroyed, according to a USF&W employee. The 8-year employee, Bonnie Kline, testified at House Resources Subcommittee hearings that she was instructed to destroy the computer files, which apparently contained information on spending that was sought by the House Resources Subcommittee. She refused the order. She then lost her security clearance, the combination to her safe was changed, and she now says the files are missing. No terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the disappearing files.
May 21, 2000 UK: A meat processing plant in Oxfordshire had ten bombs planted, one exploded and nine defused by bomb disposal officers. No injuries occurred in the attack, no one claimed responsibility for it. It was the second incident in as many hours as Regal Rabbits was attacked, with a 7-rabbit release by ALF in Great Bookham, Surrey.
May 18, 2000 Philadelphia, PA: An animal rights group based in Helsinki, Finland, is reported as attempting to dismantle barriers against US import of human body parts - to enable the sale stateside of PetCloaks fashions. These articles are reported to be animal clothing created from the skins of cadavers in the Far East and distributed by "Animal Mights," a fringe group in Helsinki. Spokesperson Maija Kiiski maintains that "turnabout is fair play."
May 16, 2000 UK: After picketing at least two homes earlier in the month, arsonists attacked the animal testing staff of Huntingdon Life Sciences research laboratory. Cars belonging to four members of the animal lab's staff were set on fire; two of the fires spread to houses where children were sleeping. No one was injured. The fires were set simultaneously, apparently to make local fire suppression response more difficult.
May 16, 2000 Burlington, WA: ALF burglars steal more than 200 chickens from an egg farm. Activists cut wire on about 60 cages and took approximately $1,500 worth of chickens.
May 9, 2000 Kauai, Hawaii: Hawaiian "elves" destroyed corn crop research at the Novartis center on Kauai. A group calling themselves the "Menehune" claimed credit for the raid, which described complete destruction of one test plot and enough pollen mixing throughout other test plots to invalidate the experiments.
May 1, 2000 UK: May Day demonstrators rampaging through central London hurled bricks and bottles at police, smashed store and car windows, and trashed a McDonald's restaurant, breaking windows, tearing down the large "M" sign and distributing food. Three police officers and nine civilians were hospitalized and nine other policemen suffered minor injuries. 42 were arrested.
May, 2000 UK/NY: Huntingdon Life Sciences pressure tactics against stockholders are proposed for US colleagues at a New York annual meeting of Huntingdon Life Sciences.
April 26, 2000 UK: The Association of the British Pharmaceuticals Industry warned that Britain's drug companies could be forced to shift their research activities abroad to avoid an outbreak of terrorist attacks by animal rights groups. Association president Bill Fullagar noted the recent rise in biophobia and animal extremism, stating, "It cannot fail to have an effect on considerations about how and where we do research." See May 16, 2000 for related information.
April 25, 2000 UK: AMP news reports that blackmail charges were filed against the leader of a group that had targeted stockholders of Huntingdon Life Sciences. Niels Hansen was questioned regarding 1,700 counts of alleged blackmail, which corresponded to the number of letters sent to stockholders warning of protests outside their homes unless they sold their stock in the company. See May 16, 2000 for related information.
April 24, 2000 San Diego, CA: 17 windows were broken at Neiman Marcus department store, ALF graffiti reported to have been apparent at the scene.
April 19, 2000 Dinan, France: A bomb explosion at a McDonald's restaurant killed an employee - a 28-year old relative of the owner. The bomb shattered windows and blew off a part of the restaurant's roof. No one has stepped up to claim credit for the bombing, but the Breton Revolutionary Army, which is seeking greater autonomy for Brittany's Breton-speaking population, is at least one suspect group. However, the mayor of Dinan, Rene Benoit, said that Dinan "is a very calm town. It has no link to the Breton independence movement, which some people say is linked to the attack."
April 8, 2000 Salt Lake City, UT: ALF graffiti was left at a burglarized leather shop, at a Burger King and two Arby's restaurants. Vandals smashed windows, scattered glass and spray-painted the buildings.
April 7, 2000 Sonoma County, CA: An anti-biotech group calling itself the "Petaluma Pruners" destroyed grape plant root stock grown by the biotechnology corporation Vinifera. April 1, 2000 University of Minnesota: A group calling itself the "Genetic Jokers" trashed 6 vehicles belonging to the US Forest Service, sprayed graffiti, jammed locks and coated windows with etching cream at the offices of the USFS North Central Forest Experiment Station research building.
April, 2000 San Diego, CA: Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine puts up a billboard in opposition to the March of Dimes.
March 29, 2000 British Columbia: A group calling itself the "Ministry of Forest Defense" destroyed 1,600 test trees at a provincial seed orchard.
March 28, 2000 UK: A radical animal rights organization threatens doorstep protests against stockholders of Huntingdon Life Sciences unless they sell their holdings. Share prices fell heavily on the London Exchange immediately after the threat. See April 25, 2000 report for further action on this item.
March 27, 2000 Boston, Mass: Four protesters were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct outside the nation's largest biotechnology conference.
March 25, 2000 Minnesota: ELF claimed credit for sabotaging construction equipment and materials being used in a highway rerouting that was claimed to endanger water resources. They smashed parts, cut hoses and dumped dirt and sand into the gas tanks and oil tubes of four vehicles, and destroyed a half mile of survey stakes.
March 25, 2000 Chandler, AZ: Revlon manager Richard D. Simer's finger was blown off and his legs and chest were peppered with shrapnel when he opened a package bomb addressed to him and delivered to his driveway. No suspects have been named and no person or group has claimed credit for the bombing.
March 17, 2000 San Francisco Bay Area: The College of Notre Dame in Belmont, CA, experienced the unplanned end of a 72-year old research project when thieves broke into a university professor's animal trailer and stole all 250 test mice from their cages. Biology professor Elizabeth Center's work with the mice utilized generational observations of colony development that started in 1928 in seeking causes of genetic birth defects and osteoporosis. No animal rights groups have claimed credit for the rodent theft.
March 13, 2000 Viroqua, Wisconsin: ALF claimed responsibility for attempting to torch a former mink feed supply house. The warehouse once served as Kickapoo Fur Foods, but now houses gourmet dog food. The incendiary devices failed to ignite and caused minimal damage.
March 10, 2000 New York: Chrissy Hynde, lead singer of The Pretenders, along with PETA president Ingrid Newkirk, Paul Haje and Paul Chetirkin were charged with criminal mischief and trespassing after they tore leather and suede garments inside a display window at a Gap store in midtown Manhattan.
March 3, 2000 Holland: ALF releases 2-3,000 mink in conjunction with raid noted above on February 27, 2000/
March, 2000 UK: In the first week of March, 2000, while the head of a lab monkey production center slept in her home, along with her husband and 12-year old son, arsonists broke into their garage and torched their two cars. The woman, a former veterinarian, has been the subject of continuing attacks. Last year 25 men and women hid behind balaclavas and used bricks to smash the front and side windows of her house and the family cars. She has driven into her remote-controlled entry garage to find four thugs waiting with sledge hammers to smash the front, side and back windows of her car while she was trapped inside. A hearse was sent to her house after a local undertaker had been told that she was dead. The staff at her place of employment has received threatening letters with razors inside, and they have also had similar visits at their homes from terrorists. Local authorities are investigating the current incident as an arson, seeking ALF suspects.
February 27, 2000 San Francisco Bay Area: An ALF tag was left on the building after smashing 29 windows at Neiman Marcus causing $100,000 in damages. Two activists attending a fur protest at the same location the following day were arrested and charged with trespassing and felony vandalism in connection with the damage. ALF's Bay area damage claims from December 20, 1999 through this incident amount to an estimated $500,000.
February 27, 2000 Holland: ALF claimed credit for releasing two to three thousand mink in combination with a raid on March 3, 2000, at mink farms in the villages of Putten and Barchem. The release was timed to preempt the breeding season. The group also took breeding cards and destroyed them off site and left ALF graffiti and the reminder "While you sleep, ALF destroys your world."
February 25, 2000 San Francisco Bay Area: ALF used incendiary devices to burn down four trucks at B&K Universal in Fremont.
February 15, 2000 Vancouver, BC: A group calling itself "The Lorax" claimed credit for inserting 5- and 10-inch spikes into hundreds of trees in the Elaho Valley, about 3 hours north of Vancouver, BC. Reasons for the action were claimed as tree cutting prevention and preservation of grizzly bear habitat.
February 9, 2000 University of Minnesota: ELF claimed credit for overturning 800 genetically engineered oat plants that were the subject of a disease resistance experiment. They also sabotaged construction vehicles and sifted salt into concrete destined for a controversial highway project in Minneapolis.
February 6, 2000 Bellingham, WA: Psychology labs in Miller hall at Western Washington University were spray painted. Suspects were the same ALF activists who released rats and rabbits in October, 1999.
January 29, 2000 Monroe, WA: Activists broke in and released 60 mink from Brainard's Fur Farm in Monroe, Washington.
February 23, 2000 San Francisco Bay Area: The Sonoma County Farm Bureau announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of ALF-claimed raids in the Bay area. Later, on March 16, 2000, the Farm Bureau's office was broken into, trashed, files strewn, desk contents scattered, but nothing of value was taken. No one yet has claimed responsibility for the vandalism.
January 24, 2000 Bloomington, IN: ELF claimed credit for torching a house in a development that was criticized as endangering the water supply for the Bloomington area. The $200,000 in damage destroyed the start of a $700,000 finished product.
January 23, 2000 San Francisco Bay Area: ALF attempted arson by inserting flammable material through the mail slot at Primate Products in Redwood City.
January 20, 2000 Long Island, NY: ALF launched multiple attacks on 7 fur stores across Nassau and Suffolk counties in early morning hours. Damage included broken windows, damaged vehicles, locks glued shut, graffiti, lighting destruction, billboard damage and utility vandalism.
January 16, 2000 Plymouth, Wisconsin: Two vanloads of masked terrorists descended on the farm of Gene Meyer and proceeded to harass and terrorize him. His neighbor copied down the visitors' license plate numbers and called the police, who then found the vans and the occupants and arrested 14 suspects, ranging in age from 17 to 26. Meyer's farm had been the target of a mink raid on August 9, 1999, when 3,000 animals were released. On that date also, the United Feed mill, just 10 minutes away, was torched, causing $1.2 million in damage. Both actions were claimed for credit by the ALF. Among those charged with disorderly conduct while masked were Kim Berardi, 22, director of the Animal Defense League of Chicago; and Matthew Bullard, 25, of the Student Organization for Animal Rights in Minnesota.
January 15, 2000 San Francisco Bay Area: ALF planted five incendiary devices in offices and trucks at Petaluma Farms. All ignited. Two trucks were destroyed.
January 11, 2000 San Francisco Bay Area: The "Reclaim the Seeds" group broke into the Western Regional Research Center of the USDA's Agricultural Research Service at the U of Cal's Plant Gene Expression Center in Albany, CA. Their communique claimed to have destroyed over half the crop and to have "ruined the experiment."
January 10, 2000 Stanwood, WA: ALF was credited for a raid on the R&R Research and Rabbitry facility in Stanwood, which took 23 rabbits.
January 3, 2000 San Francisco Bay Area: ALF planted five incendiary devices in offices, storage facilities and trucks at Rancho Veal Corp. in Petaluma. Rancho Veal was hit in 1997 by ALF, too. The current arson created $250,000 in damages.
January 3, 2000 UK: In a second mink raid on Crowhill Farm in Ringwood in less than 18 months, ALF released 300 of the 1,400 animals at the facility. The prior raid released up to 3,000 into the surrounding countryside.
January 1, 2000 Belgium: ALF attacked a store of the Belgian fur company Pelsland by pouring benzine through a ventilation duct and lighting it. The fire went out for lack of oxygen without damaging the building severely. An ALF spray-painted tag was left at the scene.
Crime in the Name of Animal Rights Archives:
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