Animal Liberation Press Office

press@animalliberationpressoffice.org

July - December 2007

January-June 2007 Click Here

FBI, Prosecutors Accused of "Egregious Misconduct"; Perjury and Obstruction of Justice Alleged

December 27, 2007

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: An attorney for a woman facing trial for allegedly participating in the 2001 firebombing of the Center for Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington has accused the government of "egregious prosecutorial misconduct." Briana Waters, 32, of Berkeley, Calif., is one of five people allegedly linked to the Earth Liberation Front to be charged with setting the facility ablaze in what they thought would be a blow against genetic engineering of plants. The fire destroyed years of botanical research. The UW spent $7 million to rebuild the facility. In a court filing Wednesday asking for a conference with the judge, attorney Robert Bloom asserts that two federal prosecutors and two FBI agents, all based in Seattle, committed perjury and obstruction of justice. more...

Animal Liberation Front Renews Its Threat to Oxford Laboratory

December 26, 2007

The Telegraph: Animal rights campaigners are threatening a new wave of attacks on Oxford University as its biomedical laboratory nears completion. Groups such as the Animal Liberation Front have been waging a campaign of arson and vandalism since work on the controversial facility - which will house all of the university's animal testing labs - began in 2004 . The final touches are now being put to the £20million building and the university expects it to open next year. However, extremists have promised to ensure that it will not remain open for long. The ALF's spokesman Robin Webb warned university staff to expect "home visits". He said: "The ALF does not wave banners or leaflet neighbours. Our type of home visit involves red paint, breaking windows and criminal damage." In a message posted on the militant website Bite Back, ALF members wrote: "Oxford Uni - you can't possibly win. "How long do you think you can afford to keep the lab open? We will never stop, so get used to being the new Hillingdon Life Sciences. Let it begin." more...

Animal Activists "Get Personal"; Holding Vivisectionists Accountable for Their Atrocities Has Them Nervous

December 21, 2007

Science Magazine: As animal-rights extremism wanes in the United Kingdom, U.S. researchers have faced increasing threats and harassment Early one Sunday morning last June, Arthur Rosenbaum was getting ready to go to a yoga class when his doorbell rang. A neighbor had noticed a suspicious bundle under Rosenbaum's white BMW sedan. The two walked out to the car, which was parked on the street of their leafy neighborhood near the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where Rosenbaum is chief of pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus at the Jules Stein Eye Institute. Under the right front wheel was a plastic container full of an orangish liquid with a rag sticking out of a nozzle at one end. On the curb was a matchbook with a half-smoked cigarette woven through the matches. Rosenbaum thought it was a prank. more...

LA Mayor Under Fire for Allowing Killing of Thousands of Companion Animals; At "Epicenter" of Animal Rights Activism

December 20, 2007

Los Angeles Weekly: LOS ANGELES MAYOR Antonio Villaraigosa may need to watch his back. On December 4, the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, a leading mouthpiece for animal-rights extremists in the United States, posted on its Web site a “communiqué” from a newly minted outfit called the Cat and Dog Liberation Army. It read: “Villaraigosa deserves to be bumped off like the dogs and cats we witnessed with their eyes wide, terrified before they were bumped off. He got off way to [ sic ] easy.” The unknown writer of the menacing note also bragged about vandalizing the car and home of Deborah Villar, the mayor's sister, in Rowland Heights. The threat and attack once again establish Los Angeles as the “epicenter” of animal-rights extremism in the nation, according to Oren Segal, co-director of the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism in New York City, an international watchdog monitoring hate groups. “The Los Angeles area is clearly experiencing a spike in this activity,” the expert says. Segal, who describes the extremists as “professional” and “hardcore,” believes law enforcement has a nearly impossible job in front of it. A driving force behind the underground movement is Dr. Jerry Vlasak, a Los Angeles–based surgeon who co-founded the North American Animal Liberation Press Office in 2004. “By providing these communiqués to the public,” says Segal, “they're trying to legitimize [the underground's] actions.” more...

Long Island Fur Store Gets Visit from Activists

December 19, 2007

Newsday: A brick was tossed through the front glass door of a West Hempstead fur shop late Tuesday night with a note attached warning the owner to stop profiting from the suffering of animals, the Nassau police said. The note, taped to the brick, told the store owner to close down his business, the police said. more...
Newsday: The brick with a threatening note attached that crashed through the window of Strathmore Furs in West Hempstead was hurled by an "economic terrorist" trying to scare off a legitimate retailer, the owner of the business said yesterday. "This is a threat. It's more than vandalism and it has to be taken seriously," said Thomas, the business owner who asked that his last name not be used so he wouldn't be targeted at his home. No arrests have been made and police have no suspects. Police and Thomas said the store was targeted before. In January 2001, someone shattered the front window twice, said Det. Sgt. Anthony Repalone, a Nassau police spokesman. more...

Coronado Pleads Out On Federal Charges; Oh Rod, Where Have You Gone?

December 15, 2007

San Diego Union-Tribune: A well-known animal rights activist pleaded guilty yesterday to a charge of showing people at a speech in San Diego four years ago how to make a destructive device with the goal of having someone commit a violent crime. The plea by activist Rodney Coronado ends a controversial case that involved free-speech rights and an unsolved arson case in University City in 2003. Coronado's case went to trial in September, but the jury could not reach a decision and a mistrial was declared. Some on the panel said afterward that the majority was leaning toward acquitting Coronado. Coronado's lawyer, Jerry Singleton, said that as part of the guilty plea, the government will not pursue two other cases against his client. One in Washington, D.C., involves the same charge stemming from a speech Coronado gave at American University there. Outside court, Singleton said Coronado accepted the deal to move on with his life and raise his family. Coronado already spent four years in federal prison for committing arson at animal research labs in Michigan. more...

Are PGP Keys Really Private, or Can the State Compel Their Surrender (What if Senility Renders Them Forgotten?)

December 14, 2007

CNet News: A federal judge in Vermont has ruled that prosecutors can't force a criminal defendant accused of having illegal images on his hard drive to divulge his PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) passphrase. Niedermeier tossed out a grand jury's subpoena that directed Sebastien Boucher to provide "any passwords" used with his Alienware laptop. "Compelling Boucher to enter the password forces him to produce evidence that could be used to incriminate him," the judge wrote in an order dated November 29 that went unnoticed until this week. "Producing the password, as if it were a key to a locked container, forces Boucher to produce the contents of his laptop." Especially if this ruling is appealed, U.S. v. Boucher could become a landmark case. The question of whether a criminal defendant can be legally compelled to cough up his encryption passphrase remains an unsettled one, with law review articles for the last decade arguing the merits of either approach. (A U.S. Justice Department attorney wrote an article in 1996, for instance, titled "Compelled Production of Plaintext and Keys.") more...

Washington KFC Vandalized by ALF

December 14, 2007

Kitsap Sun: Police are investigating vandalism to a local fast food restaurant, according to Bremerton Police Department reports. Officers were called to the Kentucky Fried Chicken at the 3000 block of Naval Avenue Thursday morning for reports of graffiti and other vandalism. When they got there, they found phrases such as "Animal Love," "Mess with Animals get Served," and "Meat is Murder" spray-painted in black all over the exterior of the restaurant. "Melted milkshake" (the responding officer believed it to be of chocolate flavoring) and caulking was found on windows and doors. Elsewhere, officers found "ALF" written on the restaurant, and an officer believed that to mean the Animal Liberation Front, a known ecoterrorist organization. Unknown suspects also plastered fliers saying "Boycott KFC" on the exterior. Police have no suspects as yet. Anyone with information is asked to call 911.
Kitsap Sun: Vandalism at a Bremerton Kentucky Fried Chicken last week may have indeed been the work of a network of direct-action animal-rights activists. An e-mail received Monday from a representative from the Animal Liberation Front Press Office, which is a sort of an independent PR operation, said that the vandalism at the Naval Avenue KFC was likely the work of the group. The press office relies on communiques from activists to tell it what is being done. However, as Vlasak noted, sometimes the communiques never arrive. It's Web site features a photo of an imposing, black-clad, balaclava-kerchiefed guerrilla looking downright scary, holding a cute, little pink piglet. That's hardcore. more...

Suspect Arrested in UCSD Bomb Threat; Former Employee at Lab Pleads Not Guilty

December 8, 2007

Fox Channel 6 News: A San Diego man was arrested Saturday for a bomb scare that forced evacuations of several buildings at the University of California San Diego Wednesday. The FBI says members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested 50-year old Timothy Byron Kalka, a former lab technician in the Leichtag Biomedical Research Building where the threat was targeted. They say Kalka had been terminated by UCSD the previous week. A phone call Tuesday night threatened the animal research program at the La Jolla campus. more...
San Diego Union-Tribune: A UCSD employee who was fired from his job as a lab technician last week was arrested yesterday in connection with a bomb hoax Wednesday that targeted a research building on the La Jolla campus where he formerly worked. Foxworth said the arrest was the “direct result” of several leads from the public that followed media broadcasts Thursday of a recording of a bomb threat phoned to the University of California San Diego. more...
UCLA Daily Bruin: Members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested a man on Dec. 8 in connection with a hoax bomb threat that resulted in the evacuation of the UC San Diego School of Medicine complex earlier in the week. Timothy Bryon Kalka, a former lab technician who worked at the Leichtag Biomedical Research Building, was arrested around 6 a.m. His employment had been terminated by UCSD on Nov. 30, and his former workplace was the location of the bomb threat. Jerry Vlasak, a spokesman for the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, said his organization has no affiliation with the ALF, but his office sometimes receives press releases days or weeks after an incident takes place. He has yet to receive communication about the UCSD hoax bomb threat. He said the Animal Liberation Front has no central membership, so it may be possible that different individuals or groups can all claim themselves as part of the group. "The point here is that people are ideologically driven to help animals," he said. He added that activists are against the use of animals against their will in research, because he believes there is little benefit and it is not worth the cost. Vlasak, a former animal researcher and current medical doctor, said he does not believe activists are exclusively targeting the UC, citing an act of vandalism done to the car of a researcher from Oregon Health and Science University on Dec. 6. But he said that due to the amount of animal research the UC does he is not surprised that they have been the focus of previous attacks. "Certainly the UC is one of the largest organizations that confines and deprives animals of their rights," he said. more...
NBC San Diego: Timothy Byron Kalka, 50, pleaded not guilty on Monday to a federal charge of providing false information. Kalka was arrested Saturday at his San Diego home. Kalka allegedly made phone calls warning that bombs would be set off unless demands from the Animal Liberation Front were met. It took seven hours to determine the suspicious device was harmless. According to the FBI, Kalka was fired from his university job last month.
National Terror Response Center: A former UC San Diego researcher accused of making a series of bomb threats that forced the evacuation of a campus building pleaded not guilty Monday to a federal charge of providing false information. It took seven hours to determine the suspicious device was harmless, he said. Defense attorney Jason Sur told the judge that his client had worked for the school for the past eight years. According to the FBI, Kalka was fired on Nov. 30. The agency did not describe any ties to the animal rights group, and none were mentioned in court. The judge set bail at $100,000 and ordered Kalka to surrender his passport, have no contact involving UCSD without prior approval and submit to psychological testing. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Dec. 20. more...

Second OHSU Vivisector Feels Wrath of ALF in Six Months; Miles Novy Infects Pregnant Non-human Primates

December 7, 2007

Associated Press: Another Oregon Health & Science University scientist has reported a vandalism attack by the Animal Liberation Front. Dr. Miles Novy, who participates in clincial research on animals as well as medical care of patients, woke up Thursday morning and discovered the word "sadist" spray-painted on one of his cars, and another painted with the letters "A.L.F," the abbreviation for the Animal Liberation Front. An ALF spokesman, Jerry Vlasak, said no one has reported the incident as being done in the name of the group. The animal rights organization opposes research being done at OHSU's National Primate Research Center, which it says is cruel and inhumane. more...
The Oregonian: Animal-rights saboteurs have claimed responsibility for vandalizing the Portland home of a research scientist who uses monkeys to study the causes of premature birth in humans. In a communique obtained by The Oregonian today, the Animal Liberation Front acknowledged striking two autos owned by Dr. Miles Novy with spray-paint graffiti and paint stripper. "Novy's reproductive research on primates has resulted in this senseless torture of one of natures most magnificant creatures," ALF saboteurs wrote in a message sent to the Animal Liberation Press Office. "This blatant disregard for the earth, animals and it's resources shall not go unseen by the ever-watching eyes of the ALF." more...
KBOO FM Radio: Last week, activists from the Animal Liberation Front attacked private property belonging to an Oregon Health Sciences University researcher whom they described as a primate vivisector. This is the second Oregon vivisector in six months to be targeted by the organization. KBOO's Crystal Leighty spoke with Dr. Jerry Vlasak, with the Animal Liberation press office of North America. audio...

ALF Threatens Animal Abusers at UC San Diego

December 5, 2007

KUSI Channel 9 (San Diego): Breaking news out of UC San Diego, where police have confirmed that a possible explosive device was found on campus. We're now getting reports that UCSD's Animal Sciences Department received an alleged threat last night from the Animal Liberation Front. According to a UCSD employee, the ALF claimed that a very large bomb would be placed on campus. Three science buildings have been evacuated. Police believe the device may be hydrogen based, and is covered with bullets.
UCSD Guardian: Hundreds of staff and students were evacuated from the School of Medicine complex on Dec. 5 after a suspicious package was discovered in the Leichtag Biomedical Research Building . While the device was ultimately determined to be a hoax, questions regarding campus officials' prior knowledge of the threat persist, according to a local union representative. All buildings in the School of Medicine , along with the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Cellular and Molecular Medicine East building, were evacuated after the package was discovered inside Leichtag at 10:26 a.m., according to FBI Special Agent Darrell Foxworth. At approximately 1 p.m., a campuswide e-mail from Vice Chancellor of Business Affairs Steven W. Relyea announced the evacuation and advised students and staff members to avoid the buildings. Buckmaster said that the Animal Liberation Front, a prominent animal-rights activist group, contacted Leichtag the night before and the morning of the threat. more...
San Diego Headline News: A threatening letter was sent to the University of California at San Diego Wednesday. The letter demanded that all research animals be let go or else the person(s) making the threats would detonate bombs at the facilities. Specifically targeted was the Medical Teaching Building, Leichtag Research Building, Stein Research, Skaggs, Bio-medical, Basic Science Building and others. The letter was attributed to the Animal Liberation Front (ALF). The FBI is asking for the public's assistance. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the FBI at (858) 565-1255 . click here to see the letter
San Diego Union-Tribune: The FBI is asking for the public's help in identifying who planted a fake bomb that led to the evacuation of University of California San Diego medical school buildings at the La Jolla campus Wednesday. Authorities made public yesterday a letter left by the Animal Liberation Front, an animal rights group that claimed responsibility for planting the fake bomb. Authorities also released a recording of a bomb threat phoned to the university. “We are asking the public to look at the font, word usage and misspelled words that could help identify the author,” Special Agent Darrell Foxworth said. “Listen to the words used, the pace of speech and background noise to identify . . . who made the phone call.” more...
CBS News Channel 8: The FBI has released the tape recording of the phone call that was a bogus bomb threat against the UCSD campus. An apparently bogus bomb threat, coupled with the subsequent discovery Wednesday of a suspicious object in a medical building at the UCSD campus, prompted the evacuation of several hundred students and faculty. A telephone caller, reportedly of the Animal Liberation Front, issued the menacing message in the mid-morning, targeting the Leichtag Family Foundation Biomedical Research Building, university officials reported. more...

Effective Tactics of Animal Rights Activists Debated in Mainstream Media; Why Working Within the System Doesn't Help Animals

November 26, 2007

New York Times: ON a recent Sunday afternoon, a varied group of 20 or so protesters — some wearing nose rings, others sensible shoes — gathered on Central Park West on the Upper West Side and started shouting insults like “animal murderer” at the top of their lungs, standing a court-ordered 45 feet away from the apartment of Robert J. McSweeney, a former senior vice president of the New York Stock Exchange . The job of keeping these protests going has fallen to Camille Hankins, 54, of Brooklyn, who runs the organization Win Animal Rights (or WAR). She says she has been able to manage the task only because of the Internet. more...
Nature: December's editorial in Nature Neuroscience ( 10, 1501; 2007) describes how law-enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom are acting before trouble develops to protect researchers from threats and harassment by animal rights extremists. Other countries should consider adopting similar policies and tactics. According to the Nature Neuroscience editorial: "In contrast, Dario Ringach and Michael Podell received little support from law enforcement or their universities in the United States in dealing with sustained campaigns of threats and intimidation, which ultimately led each of them to stop studying animals. more...
Lawrentian: Recently, the animal liberation group Animal Liberation Front (ALF) attacked three Wachovia Bank locations in California. The most recent attack involved red graffiti across the façade of the building; the other two involved jamming or destroying the night deposit box of the bank, one of which involved a small bomb. After each of these attacks, ALF claimed the attacks by sending communiqués to Wachovia, the media and the North American Animal Liberation Press Office (NAALPO), which, though unaffiliated with ALF, publishes these communiqués and answers all questions involving ALF. At the end of each of these communiqués was a forceful demand for Wachovia to sell its stock in Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), a company that is known to test on animals, and a threat of further violence if the stock was not sold. Independent media outlets are grasping onto these recent attacks because this time they seem to have worked. Wachovia, who used to be the largest shareholder of HLS, sold all of their stock in the company. NAALPO put out a celebratory press release stating that ALF had succeeded in their continuing campaign against HLS and against animal testing. more...
San Francisco Chronicle: A lawsuit by animal rights advocates accusing UCSF of illegally spending state money on painful and unnecessary experiments on dogs and monkeys was dismissed Tuesday by a San Francisco judge, who said Congress has designated federal regulators, not the courts, to oversee the research. The suit cited findings by U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors that UCSF had violated Animal Welfare Act standards. After inspectors alleged that the university had committed 75 violations from May 2001 to December 2003, including 15 instances of failing to meet minimum standards for humane treatment, UCSF paid $92,500 in a September 2005 settlement, the suit said. more...

102 Hens Liberated From Utah Egg Farm; Photos and Video Document Raid

November 23, 2007

Deseret Morning News: An internationally known animal activist group says it conducted an early morning raid at a Spanish Fork egg farm Nov. 1 and liberated 102 hens from a "living hell." The Animal Liberation Front — a group that the Homeland Security Administration classifies as a terrorist organization — has posted a report on a Web site describing its break-in at Shepherd's Egg Farm. "We moved quickly to remove as many birds as we could," states the posting on a Web site that acts as a liaison between the organization and the press. The posting first appeared five days following the claimed break-in. more...
Associated Press: An animal rights group is claiming responsibility for the theft of 100 hens from a Utah County egg farm - but the farm owners aren't sure the heist ever took place. The Animal Liberation Front says it broke into a shed at Shepherd's Egg Farm in Spanish Fork on Nov. 1, taking away 100 hens from a flock of about 500,000. They say the birds were being held in cruel conditions. The Department of Homeland Security designated the ALF as a terrorist group in 2005. ALF has a reputation for stealing animals and damaging businesses that use animals for medical or scientific testing.
Daily Herald: A radical animal rights group is claiming responsibility for the theft of about 100 hens from an egg farm near Spanish Fork, but the farm isn't sure there was a theft at all. A communique purportedly from The Animal Liberation Front was sent on Tuesday saying that the group broke into a shed at Shepherd's Egg Farm on Nov. 1 and took 102 hens. The communique claimed the birds were held in cruel and inhumane conditions. The statement said the stolen hens were given veterinary care and placed in new homes where they could live freely. "They will all live out their full lifespan here instead of being killed when no longer profitable. In other words, these chickens can finally live like chickens," the statement said. more...

Wachovia Securities and AXA Group Cut Ties To HLS; Series of ALF Attacks May Have Played a Role

November 17, 2007

SHAC.net: Rathbones, after one demonstration out side their office in London, made the right decision and sold their 20,000 shares in HLS. Huntingdon Life Sciences are on the ropes after AXA and Wachovia both sold all their share very recently. Please get out and help kill off this sick and dying company once and for all. Since May 2007 the following companies have dropped their shares:

Rathbones Brothers
Wachovia Bank
Axa
Dresdner Bank
Deutsche Bank
La Grange Capital
Robeco Investment Management
Fairfield Grenwich Associates

Portland Indymedia: After a sustained campaign by activists across the globe, Wachovia securities and AXA group sold their shares in HLS. Wachovia and AXA were the 2nd and 3rd largest shareholders in Huntingdon Life Sciences. In the past few weeks several branches of Wachovia bank in Southern, California had been target of sabotage and vandalism by underground animal activists. These actions were all later claimed by the Animal Liberation Front.

FBI "Forgets" To Include University of Iowa Animal Liberation in Roster of Terrorism Activities

November 14, 2007

Cear Rapids Gazette: A recently released federal report that details incidents of terrorism in the United States from 2002 to 2005 does not include the break-in and vandalism at University of Iowa's Spence Laboratories and Seashore Hall reported three years ago today, but federal officials believe it was an inadvertent omission. The UI incident, which happened during the overnight hours of Nov. 13 and Nov. 14, 2004, resulted in about $450,000 in damage. The Animal Liberation Front, an animal rights organization, claimed credit.The FBI report includes several other terrorism incidents attributed to the Animal Liberation Front and to the Earth Liberation Front. more...

Hampshire College Bans Press Officer From Speaking; Talk Proceeds Off-Campus to Appreciative Audience

November 10, 2007

Amherst Bulletin: After negotiating with Hampshire College administrators, an animal rights student group will be able to hold a controversial conference, "Smash the State Crush the Cage," this weekend. Administrators first objected to the Hampshire Animal Liberation Advocacy group's conference for safety reasons. A planned keynote speaker, Jerry Vlaska, a spokesman for the Animal Liberation Federation, has on several occasions noted he supports violence against scientists who test on animals. Vlaska "believes that any tactics - ranging from threats and break-ins to sabotage and even assault or murder - are legitimate given the suffering exploiters inflict on animals (and) the impossibility of ending their misery through legal systems," his biography reads. Another keynote speaker is Peter Young, who was arrested in 2005 in connection with a 12-day spree in which 8,000 to 12,000 minks were released from farms in the Midwest in 1997. He served two years for the crime and was released from federal prison in February. more...

Religious Veganism: Evangelizing For the Animals

November 6, 2007

Los Angeles Times: She spent years as an outspoken antiabortion activist, and that cause remains dear to her. But these days, Karen Swallow Prior has a new passion: animal welfare. She wasn't sure, at first, that advocating for God's four-legged creatures would go over well on the campus of Liberty University, a fundamentalist Baptist institution founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell. more...

More on UCLA Vivisector Edythe London and Her Nicotine/Methamphetamine Primate Addiction Study

November 3, 2007

Los Angeles Times (letters): The Times ignores information that illustrates the egregious suffering of non-human primates and other sentient animals being addicted to methamphetamines, nicotine and other drugs. Treatments for such addictions are well known but underfunded; still, London and her ilk waste millions of dollars on ridiculous animal experiments that shed no light on human illness (money not just from Philip Morris USA but from taxpayer-funded grants as well). If the public could see the animals' pain and learn of their lifetimes of confinement only to further the academic careers of non-clinicians such as London, they would be enraged. It's a sorry state of affairs that compassionate activists must expose these absurdities by the use of flood and fire. Such actions would be unnecessary if not for the refusal of UCLA officials to talk with mainstream activists advocating on behalf of the voiceless and powerless animals being exploited, abused and killed. -Jerry Vlasak, MD
Los Angeles Times (letters): What happened to London's home is reprehensible. However, I strongly disagree with her reasons for accepting tobacco industry funding. It is not "immoral" to decline funds from the tobacco industry to further research. Groundbreaking research continues to be done without tobacco funding. The tobacco industry produces products that, when used as intended, addict and kill. Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. Analyses of tobacco industry internal documents reveal a long history of suppressing, manipulating and distorting scientific research. These findings were affirmed in last year's federal court ruling (currently under appeal) that the tobacco industry violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The acceptance of money from the tobacco industry by scientists, especially for health-related research, threatens the mission of the university to seek truth. -Michael Ong MD
Los Angeles Times (letters): Sorry, but chimps are not responsible for London's father's -- or anyone else's -- addiction to nicotine. If the animals are treated so humanely in her research as she states, then why not test her drugs on London's family or the executives at Philip Morris USA who are funding her research? Chimps are a much more evolved creature than us to do something as silly as smoking.
-Jefferson Davis
Los Angeles Times (letters): As an animal rights activist and American Jew who lost family members in the Holocaust, I am astonished that London does not see the link between the atrocities that she commits against her vulnerable nonhuman prisoners and the violence committed against our relatives in the Nazi concentration camps in the name of "science." Nazi researchers defended their vivisection of certain human beings by invoking the argument that it was going to be of some benefit to others. Similarly, London attempts to defend the abduction, confinement, mutilation and killing of sentient nonhumans by stating the utility it may hold for humans. Both of these justifications are insufficient because species, like ethnicity, is not morally relevant and does not affect our ability to suffer. -Justin Goodman
Los Angeles Times: Vivisection is simultaneously an animal rights and a human rights issue. Contrary to Edythe London's claim in her recent Op-Ed article " Why I use laboratory animals ," testing treatments on animals and applying the results to humans is the greatest confounding variable of all! Data from one species cannot be extrapolated to another with more than 5% to 25% accuracy (note that simply flipping a coin would yield 50%) and that explains why no cures come down the pike for decades. It underlies the multiple thousands of consumer injuries and deaths every year from adverse reactions to drugs tested "safe" in animals and, conversely, causes potentially beneficial drugs tested "unsafe" to be discarded. Vivisection accomplishes nothing more than to gratuitously torture animals and retard true advancement in human medicine. In sum, it is both immoral and scientifically fraudulent. more...
Canyon News: A group which goes by the name, Animal Liberation Front, has claimed responsibility for flooding the home of a UCLA professor who uses primates in her research. The professor, Edythe London, does research which involves the Adolescent Smoking Cessation Center at UCLA. Primates are used in some of the studies, which research treatment options for drug or nicotine addictions, and how nicotine and other drugs affect the brain. London 's home in Benedict Canyon , near Beverly Hills , was vandalized on October 20, in what the FBI and police are calling a case of domestic terrorism. The underground group, Animal Liberation Front, said in a press release that they broke a window of London 's house and used her garden hose to flood the house. The group stated that their first choice was to set London 's home on fire, but they did not because they didn't want to harm anyone, or start brushfires. more...

Battle Lines Drawn for Opening of Oxford Vivisection Laboratory

October 31, 2007

Oxford Student: The University is bracing itself for a fresh onslaught from animal rights extremists after leading activists promised to deploy new tactics “in the days and weeks” after the lab's opening. Oxford is keeping the completion date closely under wraps, but the Oxford Student can reveal that the lab will be operational within six months – and that animals are already inside. Robin Webb, spokesman for the extremist Animal Liberation Front, said he believed its members would “take unlawful actions to stop the lab's operation” and would attack the University “by whatever means necessary, including criminal damage and arson.” Mel Broughton, leader of the Speak animal rights group, told this newspaper, “In the days and weeks after the lab opens, there will be a battle that we will take to the University and the lab. Our tactics are evolving. Only one thing is clear: we won't go away. As far as we're concerned, we've only just started.” Robin Webb, Press Officer for the extremist Animal Liberation Front, told this newspaper that ALF activists were planning fresh attacks on Oxford. Speaking yesterday evening he said, “Whether the lab opens or not depends on the University. If it does open, it will be a legitimate target.” “The ALF by its nature is unlawful. Arson has been used by ALF from its beginnings, and I see no reason why this would not be used to attack the lab.” more...

Former ALF Activist Jonathan Paul Jailed: Begins Sentence for Arson at Horse Slaughter Plant that Closed it Permanently

October 31, 2007

Democracy Now: One of the best-known animal rights activists in the Pacific Northwest is heading to prison today to begin a 51-month sentence. Jonathan Paul was arrested almost two years ago as part of the so-called Green Scare, when federal agents detained ten activists connected to the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front. His sister Caroline Paul recently summarized his activism like this: “He crept into animal laboratories to free dogs. He dismantled corrals to release wild mustangs. He impersonated a fur buyer to film the treatment of minks. He put himself between whales and whalers despite warnings that his boat would be impounded and that he would be jailed.” more...
Bombs and Shields: Convicted Animal Liberationists and eco-activist Jonathan Paul reported to prison Wednesday afternoon to begin a more than four year sentence for destroying a horse slaughter house and meat packing plant in Redmond, Oregon, in 1997. Paul helped to ignite a fire that caused an estimated $1 million in damages. The plant, which was slaughtering as many as 500 horses per week, was never rebuilt and no one was injured during the course of action. Paul has been a committed activist since the mid-eighties and was involved in some of the earliest high profile Animal Liberation Front actions in the US. He was indicted in January 2006 along with more than a dozen others who committed similar acts of conscious between 1997 and 2001 in the Pacific Northwest. Paul was one of the few who chose not to cooperated with the government and implicate other activists. more...

UCLA Vivisector Edythe London Visited by Animal Liberation Front; Flooded with Compassion

October 30, 2007

Los Angeles Times: An animal rights group has claimed responsibility for flooding the Westside home of a UCLA professor who uses lab monkeys in research on nicotine addiction. An FBI spokeswoman said Monday that the agency is investigating the claim that the Animal Liberation Front used a garden hose to flood the house of professor Edythe London on Oct. 20 in an attempt to stop her animal experiments. The FBI, along with UCLA and Los Angeles police, are treating the vandalism as a case of domestic terrorism and are probing possible ties to a June incident in which an incendiary device was lighted, but did not explode, next to a car at the home of a UCLA eye disease researcher, according to FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. The group's claim was posted by a Woodland Hills-based website called the North American Animal Liberation Press Office. Jerry Vlasak, a trauma surgeon who is an activist in that press office and who protests against animal euthanasia at animal shelters, declined to say how he received the information about the vandalism and said he did not know the responsible parties. But Vlasak said Monday that he sent the communique to the media so the incident would "not be dismissed as a random act of violence." He said he condones the flooding at London's house "if it is helpful to get her to stop torturing innocent animals." more...
UCLA Daily Bruin: The activist group Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the flooding of UCLA Professor Edythe Londonâ€™s Beverly Hills home on Saturday, Oct. 25. The North American Animal Liberation Press Office Web site, an organization that acts as a press outlet for several animal rights activists groups, released a statement on behalf of the Animal Liberation Front in which ALF accuses London of "addicting non-human primates to methamphetamine" and "addicting baby lambs to cocaine". "Water was our second choice, fire was our first. We compromised because we in the ALF don't risk harming animals human and non human and we don't risk starting brush fires," the statement read. Jerry Vlasak, a spokesman for the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, said his organization has no affiliation with the Animal Liberation Front, and historically law enforcement officials have been unable to identify and arrest responsible parties. "They would love to get their grubby little hands on the Animal Liberation Front," he said. more...
Associated Press: An animal rights group says it flooded the home of a University of California, Los Angeles professor who carries out research on monkeys. The FBI says the Animal Liberation Front is claiming it used a garden hose to flood the house of Edythe London on October 20. University officials say the flooding caused between $20,000 and $40,000 in damage. more...
Chronicles of Higher Education: A house owned by a researcher at the University of California at Los Angeles was vandalized last week by the Animal Liberation Front, in yet another militant act against a UCLA faculty member who performs research on primates and other animals. The house is owned by Edythe D. London, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral studies and director of UCLA's Laboratory of Molecular Neuroimaging. The ALF said it had singled her out because of her research on nicotine and methamphetamines involving primates. more...
Primate Research Blog: Invariably, when I mention that vivisectors are in it for the money, one of them writes to me and says, "How dare you!" Right. Here's part of the current real estate listing for Dr. London's Beverly Hills home:
1249 Shadybrook Drive
Prime Lower BHPO, CA 90210
TOTALLY REMODELED FAMILY HOME. ABSOLUTE TURNKEY
Offered at $2,595,000
Owner: Edythe D. London A
I can't remember the last time UCLA hosted any substantive public discussion regarding the use of animals in its labs; maybe it never has. In either case, you can't really criticize the garden hose event if the university won't discuss the matter in public. more...
UCLA Press Release: In a press release today, an animal-rights extremist group claimed responsibility for the recent vandalism at the home of a UCLA professor who conducts research involving the use of laboratory animals. The group, which calls itself the Animal Liberation Front, also made ominous threats against the professor. more...
ABC News: Edythe London is a professor of psychiatry at UCLA, specializing in what happens in the brains of drug addicts. "Dr. London's research has advanced the study of substance abuse and the development of new approaches and probes for studies of brain function," says her university web page . Some of the work in her lab involves experiments on vervet monkeys, which brought objections from a group called the Animal Liberation Front . On Oct. 20 her Los Angeles home was flooded out with a garden hose. The damage was reported by the university to be $20-40,000. The FBI and the LAPD are on the case. They've labeled it an act of domestic terrorism. more...
UPI: A radical animal rights group said it flooded the home of a Los Angeles college professor because she is involved in research that uses of lab monkeys. A spokeswoman for the FBI said the agency is probing the Animal Liberation Front's claim that it used a garden hose to flood the home of University of California-Los Angeles Professor Edythe London on Oct. 20, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. more...
The Scientist: An animal rights group says it vandalized the home of a Los Angeles neuroscientist, adding yet another incident to a string of recent attacks on UCLA researchers. The incident is being investigated by the FBI and local authorities. An anonymous statement posted on the Web site of the North American Animal Liberation Press Office described in detail how the perpetrators, members of the Animal Liberation Front, broke into the Beverly Hills house of Edythe London, a researcher at UCLA who has investigated how addiction influences behavior with experiments in monkeys. The interlopers smashed a window and flooded the home with a garden hose. UCLA officials told the Los Angeles Times that the flooding had caused between $20,000 and $40,000 of damage. more...
Los Angeles Times: For years, I have watched with growing concern as my UCLA colleagues have been subjected to increasing harassment, violence and threats by animal rights extremists. In the last 15 months, these attempts at intimidation have included the placement of a Molotov cocktail-type device at a colleague's home and another under a colleague's car -- thankfully, they didn't ignite -- as well as rocks thrown through windows, phone and e-mail threats, banging on doors in the middle of the night and, on several occasions, direct confrontations with young children. more...
National Terror Alert: A radical animal rights group, The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) said it flooded the home of a Los Angeles college professor because she is involved in research that uses of lab monkeys. A spokeswoman for the FBI said the agency is probing the Animal Liberation Front's claim that it used a garden hose to flood the home of University of California-Los Angeles Professor Edythe London on Oct. 20, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. more...

Circus Threatened in Northeast; Enslavement, Exploitation of Animals Cited

October 10, 2007

Connecticut Post: The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus on Wednesday was thrust into a battle featuring animal rights, First Amendment issues and bomb threats. Those diverse issues came together in U.S. District Court as several animal rights groups asked a federal judge to relax restrictions on how close their protesters can come to circus patrons as they enter the Arena at Harbor Yard for performances scheduled today through Sunday. more...

Liberationist Peter Young Speaks in Madison, Wisconsin, Not Far From Where He Liberated Thousands of Captive Mink

October 10, 2007

Badger-Herald (Madison, WI): A man who served six months in Dane County Jail for freeing minks from being skinned returned to Madison for the first time as a free man Tuesday. Peter Young started a two-year prison sentence in fall 2005 after freeing between 8,000 and 12,000 minks from five different farms in the Midwest. Young was convicted under the Animal Enterprise Protection Act, according to Madison Coalition for Animal Rights member Kevin Carey. “[The act] is a way to silence us because the government doesn’t agree with our opinions, and it’s a way to protect corporate profits,” Carey said. In a lecture at the University of Wisconsin, Young explained he traveled the Midwest with a colleague for two weeks and released minks during the pelting season. Young added he felt this was a time for saving lives, and he was not concerned with the possible ramifications. more...
Janesville Gazette (Madison, WI): He's been called a hero and a terrorist. He wants you to see he's just a person. Animal rights activist Peter Young will speak Thursday at Beloit College, offering his presentation, "Ecoterrorism: Animal Liberation and the Crackdown on Social Activists." Despite the intimidating-sounding title, Young is not speaking with an agenda but just telling his story, he said. In 1997, Young went on a two-week raid across the Midwest, releasing more than 20,000 mink and fox from fur farms, including 3,000 mink from Brown's Mink Ranch, 3457 Riverside Drive, Beloit. Young, 30, remained at large until 2005, when he was arrested on an unrelated charge in Seattle. He served two years in federal prison on a charge of animal enterprise terrorism. He was released in February and lives in Los Angeles. more...

FBI Conspires With University Presidents Against Dissidents

October 03, 2007

Chronicles of Higher Education: Washington — About two years ago, a blight of spray-painted graffiti had the police at Penn State University befuddled. “It looked very threatening,” recalls Graham B. Spanier, the university's president. So Mr. Spanier used his clout as chairman of the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board to solicit help from an unlikely ally: the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Spanier recounted that episode at a news conference today following the 10th meeting of the advisory board, which was created in 2005 to foster communication between the FBI and the chief executives of major research universities. Seven new members joined the board today, bringing its total membership to 20. Aside from an analysis of the Virginia Tech shootings and counterintelligence assessments, today's meeting included a briefing about “the Animal Liberation Front and other extremism groups” from FBI officials, according to a news release. FBI officials at the news conference would not elaborate, but Mr. Spanier said universities were not interested in spying on their campuses. more...
Chronicles of Higher Education: In the two years since the Federal Bureau of Investigation pulled together a panel of university presidents, the 20-person National Security Higher Education Advisory Board has discussed matters ranging from cyber threats to counterterrorism to the Virginia Tech shootings. In a briefing for reporters at FBI headquarters Wednesday, officials involved with the advisory board provided an update as to its activities — though not surprisingly given the subject, specific details were scarce. more...

Eric McDavid Found Guilty After Testimony of FBI Informant, Snitches Lauren Weiner and Zachary Jensen

September 28, 2007

Sacramento Bee: A prosecutor told a Sacramento federal court jury Tuesday that Eric McDavid "was the driving force" behind an eco-terrorism conspiracy, and a defense lawyer countered that McDavid was entrapped by an undercover informant and the FBI agents working with her. McDavid "never wavered from his belief" that violent action was required to get the attention of those who pollute and exploit the environment, Assistant U. S. Attorney Ellen Endrizzi told the jury in her closing argument. McDavid is accused of plotting to blow up federal and other facilities and if found guilty could receive from five to 20 years in prison. The case is expected to reach the jury Wednesday. more...
KCRA (Sacramento): A guilty verdict was returned by a federal jury against Eric McDavid, the suspected Earth Liberation Front member accused of conspiring to destroy government property. McDavid, 29, was charged with one count of conspiracy to damage or destroy property by fire and an explosive. Former co-defendant Lauren Wiener, 21, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson. In exchange for a lesser sentence, she testified against McDavid. more...
Sacramento Bee: Eric McDavid, a 29-year-old self-styled anarchist with an aimless lifestyle, was found guilty Thursday in federal court of plotting acts of eco-terrorism in the Sacramento region. The jury of seven men and five women deliberated 11 hours over two days and reached a verdict near the end of the trial's eighth day. Lauren Weiner and Zachary Jenson were allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges and testified against McDavid. A status conference in connection with their sentences is scheduled Oct. 11. more...

Grand Jury Resisters Set Example for Activists: Danae Kelley and Others Show What is Possible Against Abusive State

September 24, 2007

Los Angeles Times: SAN DIEGO -- It was big news last week when a federal jury deadlocked in the trial of arson advocate Rodney Coronado, charged with encouraging local environmentalists and animal rights activists to throw firebombs. The case that federal authorities had once touted as a bold blow against home-grown terrorism now may be on the verge of collapse -- especially since the jury voted 9 to 3 to acquit. But the first sign that it was not going to be easy to prosecute Coronado may have come long before the trial -- with three young vegans' stubborn, principled refusal to talk. To these devout believers in vegetarianism and compassion for all animals, Coronado is a kind of patron saint. Rather than testify to a grand jury about Coronado's speech, the three -- Nicole Fink, Danae Kelley and David Agranoff -- went to jail for contempt in the summer of 2005. Finally, despite prosecutors' pleas that their testimony was crucial, a judge released the three, figuring that they meant what they said: They were never going to talk. more...

6000 Mink Liberated from Newoundland Prison; Animal Liberationists Target Renowned Animal Abuser and Profiteer

September 18, 2007

CBC News: The RCMP are investigating what they believe is a case of sabotage at a Newfoundland mink farm, where as many as 6,000 of the furry creatures escaped from their cages early Saturday. A motorist alerted police to the high numbers of the animals on a road in Harcourt. The farm is located between that community and George's Brook. RCMP Const. Trevor O'Keefe said the release was an act of sabotage. more...
CTV News (Newfoundland) : Police in Newfoundland are investigating after someone let thousands of mink escape from a mink farm. Employees at the farm in the town of Harcourt say they can't understand why someone let between 5,000 and 6,000 mink out of their cages over the weekend. By Sunday about half had been recovered, but there are fears many have already been killed on local roads. Police are still in the early stages of their investigation and don't have any suspects. They say the mink don't pose a danger to humans but are warning residents not to try to catch the animals. Licensed trappers, however, are encouraged to help recapture the mink. They'll receive a $50 reward for every mink they turn in. About 1,000 mink were still on the loose on Sunday. The provincial government had placed restrictions on the provincial mink industry earlier this year. There were reports that some of the mink suffered from Aleutian disease, which can destroy animal populations or effect their reproduction. more...
The Star: Police officers, wildlife officials and veterinarians continued to catch thousands of mink in the Newfoundland community of Harcourt yesterday, as the province offered a reward for licensed trappers who capture the escaped animals. Between 5,000 and 6,000 animals escaped early Saturday morning after someone broke the gate of a barn on the mink farm and opened all of the cages inside. more...
National Post: About 1,000 mink are still on the lam after 5,000 to 6,000 of the carnivorous mammals were freed from their cages on a mink farm, in eastern Newfoundland over the weekend. Police are considering the possibility they were freed by a disgruntled employee rather than by animal rights activists. "They're a nuisance in the community [Harcourt, Nfld.], hanging around people's houses looking for food,'' said Hugh Whitney, the provincial veterinarian. "They don't have any street sense. They can get hit by cars." Some of the mink got into cat fights and several attacked some ducks in a shed. To control the mink, the province has posted a $50 bounty for every mink trapped. The majority of the animals stayed close to the farm simply because they were never wild in the first place. Newfoundland's mink industry is worth some $70-million annually.

RodCoronado on Trial for Exercising Right to Free Speech; 2003 Lecture Allegedly Provided Instructions on How He Formed Incendiary Device

September 18, 2007

International Herald Tribune: SAN DIEGO: A radical environmentalist was charged with violating federal law because the government wanted to silence him, his lawyer told a U.S. jury. Rod Coronado, who has advocated sinking whaling ships and destroying mink farms and animal research labs, was charged after a 2003 speech in which he showed a California audience how to make a Molotov cocktail out of an apple-juice jug. "He has said things that are offensive, but he believed, perhaps naively, that under the First Amendment he had the right to say those things," Gerald Singleton said in opening statements Tuesday. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of speech. more...
Indypendent: Twelve jurors in San Diego will soon grapple with the definition of free speech in a post-September 11 world. Longtime environmental and animal rights activist Rod Coronado is currently on trial for a talk he gave in August 2003, in which the government alleges he publicly demonstrated how to make a bomb. He is charged with violating a law prohibiting the “distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction” and faces up to 20 years in federal prison. Although Coronado's speech focused on biocentrism and indigenous rights, it was the last question of night that landed him in trouble when a woman asked how he constructed an incendiary device for a 1995 arson at an animal research lab. Coronado spent almost five years in prison for that action. In an essay posted online August 2006, Coronado wrote, “Don't ask me how to burn down a building. Ask me how to grow watermelons or how to explain nature to a child.” more...
Associated Press : A prosecutor called environmental activist Rod Coronado "a recruiter and a mentor of arson" in closing arguments Monday, while a defense attorney said he was an innocent practitioner of free speech. Both sides dwelled on Coronado's remarks to a San Diego audience in August 2003, only a few hours after a $50 million condo project burned down nearby in an apparent eco-terrorism attack. Coronado showed the crowd how to make a Molotov cocktail out of an apple-juice jug, though prosecutors have not linked him to the fire earlier that day. Coronado, 41, is renowned for helping sink whaling ships and destroying mink farms and animal research labs, though he renounced violence last year. He was charged in February 2006 with a single count of distributing information on explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction with the intent that his listeners commit illegal acts of violence. more...
Los Angeles Times: A federal jury began Monday deliberating the fate of environmental activist and ex-convict Rodney Coronado, accused of telling a group of vegans how to make a firebomb for use in "direct action" against those who abuse animals. Assistant U.S. Atty. John Parmley, in his closing argument, told jurors that Coronado came to San Diego as a "recruiter and mentor of arsonists." Although Coronado did not specifically tell his audience to use firebombs, Parmley said the overall tone of his speech, in which he showed impatience with nonviolence as a means of forcing social change, was meant to encourage arson. But Tony Serra, one of Coronado's defense attorneys, said the speech on Aug. 1, 2003, did not include any suggestion that audience members engage in an immediate act of violence. The law under which Coronado is being prosecuted makes it illegal to describe an incendiary or explosive device with the intent of encouraging "an activity that constitutes a federal crime of violence." more...
Los Angeles Times: A mistrial was declared Wednesday in the prosecution of "eco-anarchist" Rodney Coronado after the jury said it was deadlocked. Coronado, 41, was accused of urging a gathering of vegans to throw firebombs. He was charged under a seldom-used federal law that makes it a crime to describe how to make an explosive device with the intent of encouraging a lawless act. Miller set a hearing for Sept. 28 on whether to retry the case. "If these prosecutors opt to retry this case, then they are the puppets we know they are, in the business of suppressing constitutional rights," Serra said. more...

Enemy of the State: The Story of Daniel McGowan

September 17, 2007

The Indypendent: Growing up in New York City, Daniel McGowan saw first-hand how pollution fogged the air and fouled the beaches in some of the city's poorest communities, setting him on a lifelong path of environmental and social justice. But how he ended up drenched in gasoline and setting fire to Oregon's Jefferson Poplar Farms in 2001 and was later targeted as a “domestic terrorist” is the story of someone who cared too much and didn't know what else to do. more...

Norwegian Whaling Ship Sunk; Animal Liberationists Celebrate Iceland Decision to Halt Whaling

September 16, 2007

gCaptain: ANIMAL rights activists yesterday claimed responsibility for the sinking of a whaling ship in a Norwegian port last month. Police said they did not know how the Willassen Senior went down in Svolvaer, north Norway, on 31 August, but suggested it might have been due to an open valve in the machine room. A group calling itself Agenda 21 said on a US-based website that it scuppered the ship. "After ensuring that the vessel was unoccupied, the salt water intake valve was opened, unleashing a torrent of water into the heart of the killer ship," it said.

Austin Activist Continues Campaign To Expose Animal Cruelty; May Have Gotten Himself Arrested

September 12, 2007

CBS News Channel 13 (Austin): Stacey Julian probably didn't expect to see new artwork when coming into work Monday morning. The artwork Julian came across was actually a message, and a cartoon drawing of a dead cow. An exterior wall of Longhorn Meat Co. in Auburn was vandalized Sunday night with a spray-painted anti-meat message and a decapitated cow. more...
KVUE News (Austin): Thursday afternoon, one week after someone vandalized the windows outside Restaurant Jezebel downtown - you could still see the acid marks. The vandal wrote "spit it out" across the front windows. Police say the statement refers to the dish foie gras - which is served at Jezebel. Foie gras is goose or duck liver. The animals are force-fed before slaughter. It's a practice - that draws weekly protests outside Jezebel. more...
KVUE News (Austin): A man wanted on charges of vandalizing a local restaurant as part of an animal rights protest has been arrested. Joshua Rosenberg, 29, taken into custody on Sunday. He is charged with criminal mischief for spray painting a Congress Avenue restaurant that sells fois gras -- a goose or duck liver. Critics say the animals are cruelly-treated because they are force-fed to fatten up their livers.

HLS Executives Keep Whining About Abysmal Financials as Activists Continue Onslaught Against Their Animal Abuse

September 2, 2007

The Telegraph: Nervous banks and investors should renew their backing for a medical research laboratory now that a campaign against it by animal rights extremists is all but over, says its chief executive. Brian Cass, the head of Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), said: "So much of the activity [from animal rights campaigners] has gone away - and a lot of the activists are behind bars." Critics of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (Shac) say its latest move - the claim to have poisoned hundreds of tubes and bottles of Savlon - smacks of desperation and proves that animal rights extremism is in its death throes. The makers of the antiseptic cream, the Swiss company Novartis, is thought to be a client of HLS. And it is this sort of link that has led fearful financial service companies in effect to boycott the company, refusing it such facilities as banking, insurance, auditing and share dealing. Because of this, the Government has stepped in to help, arranging special banking facilities, but HLS says the arrangement is far from ideal. HLS, which is Europe's largest contract testing laboratory, has been targeted by Shac since 1999, two years after an undercover television reporter infiltrated its research centre in Cambridgeshire and obtained secretly-recorded footage of technicians abusing a beagle. Mr Cass, 60, was one of several staff to be beaten or intimidated as the company was brought to the brink of bankruptcy. He was battered with a pickaxe handle outside his home six years ago. more...
Los Angeles Times: Recall after animal rights group claim Activists claimed to have sabotaged healthcare products in Britain and France in a long-running and often violent campaign against an animal-testing firm, police said, leading to recalls in both countries. A British group called Animal Rights Militia said it had contaminated products made by the Swiss-based pharmaceuticals company Novartis because it allegedly has ties to the firm.
BBC News: Red tape is hampering UK animal research, a leading scientist claims. Speaking at the BA Festival of Science, Lord Robert Winston said animal rights activists had forced the government to adopt an overly cautious position. He said the bureaucracy was forcing UK research, including some of his own, abroad to the US. The fertility expert criticised the government for taking 13 months to grant him a licence for research on transgenic pigs. more...
Daily Mail (UK): The head of a research company targeted by animal rights extremists has made a scathing attack on British industries that treat his company as if it were 'radioactive'. Brian Cass, chief of Huntingdon Life Sciences said institutions such as banks would not accept his company's business. He revealed that the firm has set up its own delivery service, security system, catering arm and even a laundry because outside suppliers have been successfully intimidated by the threat of violence. more...
Financial Times: The head of a British business targeted relentlessly by animal rights extremists has called on the financial services industry to stop treating his company as “radioactive”. Brian Cass, managing director of Huntingdon Life Sciences, urged banks, insurers, auditors and the financial markets to shrug off fears of intimidation and have the courage to work with his company and others involved in the development of medicines. His comments come as the UK's largest case against individuals alleged to have conspired to blackmail suppliers to HLS, a large clinical research group that tests medicines on animals, moves towards trial amid a decline in intimidation by activists. more...

Activists in Europe Tamper with Retail Products of HLS Customers

August 31, 2007

The Guardian (UK) : Hundreds of thousands of bottles and tubes of Savlon have been removed from sale after animal rights activists claimed to have contaminated them. The Animal Rights Militia said it had tampered with 250 Savlon antiseptic products as part of a campaign against an animal testing laboratory. Savlon is primarily marketed as a treatment for children's cuts and grazes. more...
le Figaro (Paris): The Paris Criminal Brigade is working flat out to trace those who may have contaminated liquid used for contact lenses, as revealed last Friday [31 August]. The Animal Rights Group claimed it had carried out such action on Bite Back, an Internet site based in the United States. "Over the last five days, over 250 bottles and tubes of the antiseptic product Savlon from Novartis have been tampered with," the group claimed on the Internet last week. The justification it gave was cause for concern: "We do not want to kill any living beings like Novartis, but the side effects and the inevitable hospital stay will give people an idea of what Novartis pays for inside Huntingdon Life Sciences," they wrote. Huntington Life Sciences is one of the laboratories that carries out experiments on animals. more...

Highly Trained ALF Activists Disable Eight Tournament Fishing Boats

August 22, 2007

Contra Costa Times: BAD NEWS. Monday morning I received the following scary press release from the North American Animal Liberation Press Office: "Received anonymously (clever, aren't they? /Gary): "On the night of August 5, the ALF commenced Operation White Marlin. The White Marlin Open is the biggest sport fishing tournament in the world. Killers from all over the world competed to slaughter the lives of our brothers and sisters. Ex-military members of the Animal Liberation Front donned scuba gear and tactical equipment and took to the sea. 8 boats were permanently disengaged and disabled with their props welded and holes cut in the hulls allowing them to fill with water." more...

Monkey Madness at UCLA- Vivisectors on the Defensive

August 7, 2007

LA Weekly: THE HOME OF DR. ARTHUR ROSENBAUM isn't hard to find. He lives a few blocks south of Sunset Boulevard, near the UCLA campus, in a white two-story house with a front yard jammed with aspen trees. There is a short driveway on the side of the home, and during the evening, a bright, white light illuminates the carport. If someone wants to sabotage the doctor's car under the cover of night, a flashlight isn't needed. On Sunday, June 24, just that kind of person struck. Rosenbaum, a highly regarded pediatric ophthalmologist who had been regularly harassed by animal-rights activists for his research work with cats and rhesus monkeys at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA, noticed a device underneath his luxury sedan. The bomb squad was dispatched to the scene and hauled away a makeshift — but deadly — explosive. A faulty fuse was the only reason it didn't go off. Rosenbaum wouldn't comment. In an e-mail, he wrote, “I have been asked by law enforcement to not discuss any events surrounding the incident at this time. I look forward to doing so in the future.” According to a Bel-Air Patrol guard, though, the doctor's neighbors are “jumpy.” more...
Short News.com: Dr. Arthur Rosenbaum, a pediatric opthalmologist, has been targeted for death by the "Animal Liberation Front." Rosenbaum has been targeted before by activists for his research on rhesus monkeys and cats at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute. A makeshift gasoline bomb was placed under a vehicle at Rosenbaum's L.A. home on June 25th, and a recent statement claiming to be from the Animal Liberation Front confesses to the attempt. The bomb failed to detonate due to a faulty fuse. The statement, published online by the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, also vowed further attacks against Rosenbaum.

Warning Issued to OHSU Vivisector; Stop Killing Infant Primates or Deal With the ALF

August 2, 2007

The Oregonian: Animal-rights protesters have harassed primate researcher Eliot Spindel for years, sometimes demonstrating noisily outside his Lake Oswego home. Now the Animal Liberation Front, an underground group characterized by the FBI as a leading domestic terrorist organization, apparently has drawn a bead on Spindel's domicile. A contractor on Tuesday discovered graffiti spray-painted on the garage door of Spindel's house that read, "ALF eyes on you!" His daughter's car was covered with white foam. The Animal Liberation Front typically channels anonymous claims of responsibility for its crimes to the North American Animal Liberation Press Office. But a Los Angeles-based spokesman for the group, Dr. Jerry Vlasak, said he had not received such a claim. [Read the communique here] Vlasak said that monkeys have been shown to be poor models for research on smoking and that money could be put to better use helping women avoid or quit the habit. "I really don't think there's any need to be killing monkeys," said Vlasak, "to help mothers understand the ill effects of smoking on their fetuses." more...
Fox News Channel 12 (Oregon): The home of an Oregon Health & Science