Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Animal-rights firebombs send meat, fur flying Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 14:23:38 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Animal-rights firebombs send meat, fur flying \BY Sharon Schmickle \CR MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL STAR TRIBUNE \DT MINNEAPOLIS MINNEAPOLIS - The firebombing of five meat trucks may be linked to terrorism in several other states that has caused more than $2 million in damage in the past two years to animal and fur facilities. Federal grand juries in Oregon, Washington and Michigan are considering charges against people who have burned buildings and research laboratories in the name of a shadowy activist group called the Animal Liberation Front, said John Bogdan, an FBI agent in Portland, Ore., who has investigated some of the cases. In Minneapolis, graffiti, including the letters ALF and the slogan "Meat Is Murder," were painted in red on trucks that were burned at Swanson Meats Inc. early Sunday. "The group that has apparently claimed responsibility for this has claimed responsibility for arsons and bombings at other locations around the country," said David Cid, a special agent with the FBI in Minneapolis. Whether the incidents are related is part of the FBI investigation. Authorities haven't ruled out the chance that someone else is trying to blame ALF for arson, Mr. Cid said. But a Maryland-based animal-rights group that sometimes speaks for ALF said what happened at Swanson's fits the pattern of the movement's raids. Besides the fires, locks on the buildings at Swanson's were jammed with quick-hardening glue. "That's the ALF prescription," said Dan Mathews of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. "It happens late in the night. No one is hurt. Locks are glued, and paint is left." Mr. Bogdan said whoever is setting the fires isn't safe in believing that no one will be hurt. "These people have been saying they are just burning down a mink farm," he said. "They are not just burning down a mink farm. What if there was a night watchman? This is a heinous act." If ALF was involved in the Minneapolis fire, one thing that apparently was missing was a news release. Typically, ALF activists have given news organizations statements of their reasons for a raid; they've often included videotapes. The releases generally have been issued through PETA. No one has contacted PETA's offices in Rockville to claim responsibility for the Minneapolis incident, Mr. Mathews said. But ALF is loosely organized and may include individuals who wouldn't issue releases, he said. At least six fires have been linked with ALF in the past two years, including: * The torching in October of U.S. Department of Agriculture research offices connected to a predator research center at Utah State University. About 12 coyotes were released, and more than $200,000 in damage was done. * The burning in February of a mink research facility at Michigan State University. Thirty years' worth of research data was lost, and $125,000 in damage was done. * The June 1991 destruction of the warehouses of a cooperative in Edmonds, Wash., that supplies feed to mink farmers. * A fire in June 1991 at an experimental mink farm associated with research at Oregon State University. While several recent incidents linked with the group have involved mink facilities, there have been nearly 100 incidents in the past decade at zoos, ranches, medical research centers and other locations. Despite its notoriety, little is known about the organization. In the introduction to a book published this year about ALF, author Cleveland Amory said the organization "operates in total secrecy. No insider would even admit to being a member of the group, let alone talk about it or write about it, and no outsider knows enough either to talk or write accurately about it." The one exception, he said, is the author of the book "Free the Animals," PETA co-founder Ingrid Newkirk. She claims to have been trusted as a conduit for ALF's messages over the years. PETA's spokesman said ALF is so unstructured that people may nominate themselves whenever they are inspired to action for their cause. ALF may be more of a symbol for radical action than an organization, he said. "ALF consists of anybody in the general public who goes to extremes to make a point for animals," Mr. Mathews said. In addition to issuing news releases for ALF, PETA has done follow-up publicity and lobbying for ALF's causes. PETA calls itself "an above-ground legal organization" that is separate from ALF. But it sympathizes with the causes of ALF activists. "We don't condone it, but we don't condemn it either," Mr. Mathews said. Mr. Cid said the FBI isn't concerned with the political positions of ALF or with opposition to eating meat or using animals in research. "Our concern is to identify people who committed a criminal act and bring them to the court system." In the latest case, the criminal act would probably be the federal offense of destroying a motor vehicle, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $25,000 fine, he said. * Distributed by Scripps Howard. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM