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ALF 2002
December 29 Milford,
Utah: Activists from the United Animal Rights Coalition (UARC) broke into
a hog farm and stole two pigs. Such break-ins are a matter of concern
since activists don't follow biosecurity protocols designed to protect
the animals from disease.
December 28 Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania: ELF activists attacked a housing development, severely damaging
construction vehicles and the model home on the property.
December 28 Doebein,
Germany: ALF activists smashed windows of several vehicles belonging to
a meat packing company, and painted slogans on the walls of the plant
building.
December 19 Emst,
Netherlands: A member of the Dutch ALF stole 33 chickens from an egg farm.
This is the second time the farm was broken into and birds were stolen.
December 18 London,
England: The UK government has agreed to provide insurance services to
Huntington Life Sciences, following an intimidation campaign by SHAC against
Marsh, Inc, its former insurers. The Royal Bank of Scotland, Citibank,
CSFB, HSBC, and Barclays all withdrew support from HLS after staff and
shareholders were subject to harassment and intimidation by SHAC, and
the UK government was forced last year to provide banking services to
the company.
December 1 The
Hague, Netherlands: Activists attacked the building housing Marsh, Inc.
with paint, glue and acid, and vowed to return until Marsh broke its connection
with HLS.
November 23 San
Polo D'Enza, Italy: Animal rights activists broke into a dog breeding
farm and stole 128 beagles being raised for research. The activists spray-painted
"murderers" and "ALF will free all" on the buildings
and walls. November 11, 2002 Thionville, France Animal rights activists
broke into a mink farm in eastern France and released 1000 animals from
their cages. Firefighters and volunteers searched for the animals with
little success. The farm owner estimates his loss at $30,000.
November 11 Shreveport,
LA & Vancouver, Canada: PETA unveiled two new advertising ventures.
A PETA ad, which the Vancouver Province refused to run, compares the murder
of women on a British Columbia pig farm to the treatment of animals slaughtered
for food. The ad features headlines describing the mutilated bodies of
the women, and ends by saying "If this leaves a bad taste in your
mouth, become a vegetarian." A billboard, which was rejected by all
four New Orleans outdoor advertising firms, depicts former Ku Klux Klan
member David Duke with a milk mustache. The ad says "Got (lactose)
Intolerance? The White Stuff Ain't the Right Stuff. MilkSucks.com."
November 1 Richmond,
Virginia: Vandals who left messages crediting ELF damaged SUVs in several
incidents recently. Twenty-five SUVs on the lot of a Ford dealer were
permanently defaced with a glass-etching cream. The cream was also used
to write ELF on the windows of a Burger King and two MacDonalds. A week
later, SUVs parked near homes were severely damaged with an ax or hatchet.
Vandalism and attempted arson have also been reported recently at highway
and home construction sites in the area. The FBI is investigating.
November 1 Washington,
DC: PETA has issued an alert against contributing to the American Lung
Association as well as a call for a boycott of the Bank of America because
it sends corporate contributions to the March of Dimes - both organizations
which fund animal-based biomedical research. The anti-charity campaign
by PETA and PCRM, through PRCM's new "Council of Humane Giving"
uses misinformation on the use of animals in research.
October 31 California:
SHAC activists went "trick or treating" to the homes of three
people who work for businesses connected Kirby Cramer, an investor in
HLS. If the door was opened, the activists responded by throwing leaflets
and blood-covered stuffed animals, while screaming their message through
megaphones. One couple was told their home address and personal details
were on the Internet. At one home, where the door wasn't opened, the activists
left photos and stink bombs, along with their leaflets and bloodied stuff
animals.
October 25 Boston,
MA: Twelve animal rights activists linked to SHAC were indicted for stalking
an employee of Marsh Inc., which SHAC accuses of doing business with Huntington
Life Sciences. The dozen activists allegedly harassed the Marsh executive
for five months, calling him "puppy killer" and standing outside
his home at all hours with a megaphone screaming threats, including threatening
to burn down his house. Prosecutors said SHAC's goal is to intimidate
Marsh into refusing insurance brokerage business with HLS.
October 25 Beijing,
China: Two PETA activists, Yvonne Taylor and Kayla Worden, stripped naked
and displayed a banner protesting a Beijing fur fashion show in a busy
Beijing shopping district. Police confiscated their passports, and Chinese
officials subsequently deported the women.
October 25 Boston,
MA: Twelve animal rights activists linked to SHAC were indicted for stalking
an employee of Marsh Inc., which SHAC accuses of doing business with Huntington
Life Sciences. The dozen activists allegedly harassed the Marsh executive
for five months, calling him "puppy killer" and standing outside
his home at all hours with a megaphone screaming threats, including threatening
to burn down his house. Prosecutors said SHAC's goal is to intimidate
Marsh into refusing insurance brokerage business with HLS. 43 indictments
were handed down, including among other charges criminal harassment, attempted
extortion, and conspiracy.
October 24 Washington,
DC: The Florida Election Commission has charged Farm Sanctuary with 210
counts of breaking campaign finance laws in their campaign to get Amendment
10, dealing with the use of gestation crates at hog farms, on the Florida
ballot. Farm Sanctuary co-founder Gene Bauston was personally named. The
Commission charged that Farm Sanctuary illegally and willfully acted as
the ballot committee's cashier and unlawfully promised donors a federal
tax deduction.
October 18 Winter
Park, Colorado: The town's water supply has been threatened in a letter
by a group claiming to be ELF. The Denver Water Board also received a
letter from ELF on October 2. ELF's press office said, in an e-mail to
the Associated Press, that while they don't say the threat isn't real,
they usually get notice after an action has been taken. Security in the
area has been stepped up since 9/11.
September 22: Animal
activists are urging action against Shell, BP, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck
and 59 other companies which have links with the Huntington Life Sciences.
SHAC (Stop Huntington Life Cruelty) has posted contact information for
the companies on their website, urging activists to lobby the companies
and organize demonstrations against them to force them to drop dealings
with HLS. "The only way we are going to stop HLS is if every single
one of us opposed to what they are doing stands up and takes action against
them with determination and force" reads the SHAC website.
September 2 Edmund,
OK: The FBI is "actively investigating" SHAC to see if any federal
laws have been broken. SHAC had posted on its website personal information
(names, addresses, and social security numbers) of nineteen neighbors
of Skip Boruchin, a market maker for stock of Huntington Life Sciences.
SHAC has been harassing Boruchin with pickets and hundreds of phone calls
daily to force him to stop marketing HLS. Boruchin has stood firm, so
SHAC has focused on his neighbors. An except from the website stated "Skip
Boruchin is a man who can not be moved by reason or sympathy ... So we
regretfully announce that since Skip can not be figuratively moved, he
must be literally moved… Below is a small sample of information
currently available on his neighbors. We have other information for some
of them - e-mail accounts ... credit card information, birthdates, etc.
This information will be periodically leaked to the public and to animal
liberation groups to do with as they will."
August 22 Lohja,
Finland: Animals rights activists representing Justice for Animals targeted
a fur store owner. During their protest at the owner's home, they told
her children that their mother was "a murderer," that they should
be ashamed of her, and that "your mother will kill that {family}
dog." The store owner said her children had become fearful, having
nightmares, and being afraid the protesters would return.
August 20 London,
England: Robert Moaby, linked to SHAC, was jailed for four and half years
for sending e-mail death threats to senior corporate figures and financial
backers of HLS living in New York and Toronto. In sentencing him, the
judge said "These were not idle threats. They must be seen in the
context of a violent campaign against HLS and its associated companies."
August 18 Eugene,
Oregon: FBI and the Oregon State Police are investigating instances of
sabotage to Bonneville Power Administration transmission lines. Environmental
activists have been shooting at and damaging the insulators of the power
lines in several different areas. The sabotage has caused brush fires,
and repairs and power outages have cost BPA and other suppliers $40,000.
August 11: Arson
by the ELF caused $700,000 worth of damage at a Forest Service lab in
Irvine, PA, and destroyed 70 years of research focused on maintaining
a healthy forest ecosystem. An e-mail from Elf's office said "While
innocent life will never be harmed in any action we undertake, where it
is necessary, we will no longer hesitate to pick up the gun to implement
justice, and provide the needed protection for our planet that decades
of legal battles, pleading protest, and economic sabotage have failed
so drastically to achieve." It further stated that all Forest Service
stations were targeted, and, if rebuilt, the Pennsylvania station would
be targeted for complete destruction.
July 10 Seattle,
WA: The FBI is searching for the activists who set off smoke bombs in
two downtown buildings where Marsh, Inc., which insures HLS, has offices.
The buildings were completely evacuated with no injuries. The Fire Department
reports that the bombs are an incendiary type that, if they had come in
contact with combustible materials, would have caused high-rise fires.
SHAC did not take credit, but "applauded" the animal rights
activists who set the bombs and left notes.
July 9 San Francisco,
CA: A SHAC activist deliberately vomited over the HLS display at the World
Congress of Pharmacology Conference. The next day more activists overturned
the company's literature table, yelling and calling the HLS personnel
"puppy killers."
June 22 Seattle,
WA: An activist protesting the round-up and culling of geese tried to
interfere with wildlife officials by repeatedly driving his car in front
of their trucks and slamming on the brakes. He hit a truck driven by a
federal wildlife official, sending the man to the hospital where he was
treated with back and neck injuries.
May 3 Blomington,
IN: A series of explosions was planned at the Sims Poultry Company. Company
trucks were connected by gasoline trails to a refrigerator truck that
was rigged to explode. The refrigerator truck burned, but the others failed
to catch fire. Sims Poultry had been targeted in the past. ALF took credit
for the arson in a press release May 15.
March 15 Traveler's
Rest, Ontario, CA: A group calling itself Activists Working for Animal
Rights broke into a fox farm and released 40 foxes. The activists cut
through a chain link fence and carved a note on a door threatening to
"burn" next time. Most of the foxes were recaptured, but three
died after being struck by vehicles on a nearby highway.
February 14 Trenton,
NJ: Two PETA activists filed a lawsuit against the state of New Jersey
following a collision of their car with a deer. PETA charged that New
Jersey's wildlife management programs were planned to increase the deer
population "despite the known dangers an increased deer population
poses to motorists," and thus the state violated the obligations
of the government to provide for public safety.
Feb 12 Washington
DC: FBI testimony before the House Ecoterror Hearing. "Domestic terrorism
is the unlawful use, or threatened use, of violence by a group or individual
based and operating entirely within the United States (or its territories)
without foreign direction, committed against persons or property to intimidate
or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof,
in furtherance of political or social objectives...During the past several
years, special interest extremism, as characterized by the Animal Liberation
Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), has emerged as a serious
terrorist threat… The FBI estimates that the ALF/ELF have committed
more than 600 criminal acts in the United States since 1996, resulting
in damages in excess of 43 million dollars."
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