Animal Liberation Front > Animal Protection > ELF

"The E.L.F. takes credit for a strike on the offices of Catherine

Ives, Rm. 324 Agricultural Hall at Michigan State University on

Dec. 31, 1999. The offices were doused with gasoline and set

afire. This was done in response to the work being done to

force developing nations in Asia, Latin America and Africa to

switch from natural crop plants to genetically altered sweet

potatoes, corn, bananas, and pineapples. Monsanto and

USAID are major funders of the research and promotional

work being done through Michigan State University. According

to local newspapers, the fire cost $400,000 in damage.

Cremate Monsanto, Long live the E.L.F. On to the next G.E.

target!"

Just under a month later, on January 23, 2000, the ELF set

fire to a new luxury home under construction in the

Bloomington, Indiana area. This home, which was to be valued

at between $750,000-$1.5 million upon completion, threatened

the Lake Monroe watershed which supplies clean, fresh

drinking water to the Bloomington area. Damage from the fire

was assessed at over $200,000 and it marked the first time

the ELF had targeted what the group chose to call urban

sprawl.

The communiqué sent by the ELF claiming responsibility for

this action stated,

"Greetings from Bloomington, IN:

The Earth Liberation Front would like to take credit for a late

night visit to the Sterling Woods development on the evening

of January 23rd. During our visit, we torched one house that

was under construction. It was completely destroyed. The

walls had caved in by the time the fire department arrived.

Damage has been assessed at $200,000. When finished the

house was to be worth $700,000. 'No Sprawl, ELF' was painted

on the developers sign. The house was targeted because

the sprawling development it is located in is in the Lake

to be asked is, are the actions of the ELF successful? If the

group does not stop a given entity fully with one action that

does not mean the action was unsuccessful. The ELF actions

have at least three major goals in mind,

1) To cause as much economic damage as possible to a given

entity that is profiting off the destruction of the natural environment

and life for selfish greed and profit,

2) To educate the public on the atrocities committed against

the environment and life,

3) To make it known that any entity profiting off the destruction

of life for profit may be considered the next target.

With these three goals in mind every action taken by the ELF

has successfully met at least one or more of these goals.

A common argument against the actions of the ELF has been

that each target has been covered by insurance so the given

entity fails to suffer little if any economic loss. While it is largely

true that most if not all of the ELF targets have been insured

it is completely ludicrous to believe that insurance companies

can suffer losses of hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars

without greatly raising the rates of insurance. If the given

entity or even industry was targeted repeatedly by the ELF,

insurance companies would either cease to cover these entities

or raise the cost too high for a profitable business.

The only problem with ELF actions at this point is there are not

enough occurring.

17 13