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as the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) to actually The envelopes also contained four typewritten lines:
threatening and harming individuals—a tactic similar “You have been targeted and you have until autumn
to that employed by the Unabomber. 2000 to release all your primate captives and get out
Since its inception in October 1993, the England- of the vivisection industry. If you do not heed our
based Justice Department has specialized in directly warning, your violence will be turned back upon you.”
targeting individuals involved in industries that use (A similar message had been included in the antifur
and may abuse animals. Its first act was to mail campaign.) Although no one was hurt by the razor
devices—such as razor-tipped mousetraps—to “blood blades, the FBI and Americans for Medical Progress
sport” supporters (i.e., hunters). (AMP) officially recognized the mailings as an anti-
The Justice Department seemed to have declared science act of domestic terrorism.
war in 1994. That year the traditional Boxing Day With passage of the Terrorism Act of 2000 in Great
(December 26) hunts in Sussex saw more than Britain, the Justice Department became the first-ever
30 bomb attacks against them, including two bomb animal rights group to join the company of the Irish
hoaxes; responsibility for the attacks and hoaxes was Republic Army as a domestic terrorist group. Because
claimed by the Justice Department. The group tar- the Justice Department operates in a loose, anony-
geted Prince Charles with a razor-tipped mousetrap mous, and decentralized cell structure, much like
after he took his two sons on their first hunts in ALF, it has been difficult for authorities to infiltrate.
October. Finally, the Justice Department shut down While bombing campaigns continue, more recently,
several ferries involved in the meat industry’s live- the Justice Department has been the key suspect in two
export sector. violent physical attacks. Brian Cass, of Huntingdon
In 1996, the Justice Department became active Life Science, the British animal research institution
in Canada. In January, group members mailed 65 that has been targeted for one of the largest animal
envelopes containing razor blades tainted with rat poi- rights campaigns, was beaten by three masked
son to big-game hunting guides throughout British assailants wielding baseball bats. In a separate attack,
Columbia and Alberta. Borrowing a tactic from another British journalist Graham Hall was attacked, and the
extremist animals rights group, Britain’s Animal Rights letters ALF carved into his back.
Militia, in November 1997 the Justice Department
See also ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT; ANIMAL RIGHTS
began a contamination hoax in the eastern United
MOVEMENT; UNABOMBER
States, claiming to have injected toxic substances into
Thanksgiving turkeys at large chain supermarkets. Further Reading
The Justice Department’s most significant acts
occurred in fall 1999, with two large-scale razor-blade Guither, Harold D. Animal Rights: History and Scope of
campaigns in North America. The first wave, in a Radical Social Movement. Carbondale: Southern
Illinois University Press, 1998.
August, against the fur industry, involved more than
Scarce, Rik. Eco-warriors: Understanding the Radical
100 envelopes with rat-poisoned razor blades. The
Environmental Movement. Chicago: Noble, 1990.
second, in October, targeted more than 80 scientists
and researchers at major U.S. universities that con-
ducted AIDS and cancer-related research on primates. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, U.S. See
The Justice Department indicated that the razor blades DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, U.S.
had been contaminated with AIDS-infected blood.