February 23, 2012

Reward Offered in Harris Ranch Arson
$2 Million in Damages Cited at California's Largest Feed Lot

Last month 14 Harris ranch big rigs were destroyed by arsonists, the estimated loss was about $2 million.

Now a $100,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction. The owner of the beef producer, John Harris, says it’s about more than the financial hit to his company. "And someone could have easily been killed," said Harris.

Harris says truck drivers commonly sleep in those big rigs. "Fortunately no one was this night, but the terrorists didn't know that and there could very well have been someone in the truck. And the truck went really fast," said Harris.
After the fires an anonymous message claiming responsibility was posted on the animal rights website North American Animal Liberation Press Office. A representative of the site, Nicoal Sheen, says she's outraged by the reward that's being offered and the claims that the fires could have killed someone.
"I don't answer to hypothetical because that didn't actually happen, what does happen is that million to billions of land animals are slaughtered for their flesh and other products," said Sheen.

Sheen says the reward money will not deter animal rights activists. And that's exactly what the sheriff's department is worried about.

"We believe that there’s dangerous materials out there that are being accumulated," said Capt. Jose Flores, with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department.

[Press Office note: No animal liberation activist has ever been apprehended for their acts of compassion in exchange for money, whether its offered as in this case by the animal abusers themselves or whether offered by the government. Harris Ranch Beef Company is California's largest "cattle processor" producing nearly 200 million pounds of beef a year. The largest cattle feeder on the West Coast and 14th largest nationally, it encompasses a 100,000-head feed lot. At any given time there will normally be between 70-100,000 animals standing in their own excrement on their lot. Harris Feeding Company feeds about 1/3 of all the cows murdered in California. Cows spend the last days of their short, brutal lives standing in their own waste, until hauled off to have their throats slit and their bodies sliced into small pieces for human consumption. Video of the "feed lot" can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9yx0SwwaMo]