Page 59 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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32———Animal Liberation Front

See also WILLIAM BUCKLEY; HEZBOLLAH; HOSTAGE TAKING; which forces producers to recall these food items, at
IMAD FAYEZ MUGHNIYAH; THOMAS SUTHERLAND; TERRY considerable expense.
WAITE ALF activities in North America, which began in
1979, include major attacks on universities, federal
Further Reading
research centers, medical labs, fur farms, and meat-
Anderson, Terry A. Den of Lions: Memoirs of Seven Years. packers, causing millions of dollars of damage and lost
New York: Crown, 1993. or compromised data, as well as smaller attacks on fast-
Fisk, Robert. Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War. London: food restaurants, pet stores, banks, and corporations.
Deutsch, 1990. Members use stolen footage from labs to create public-
ity materials and films; in 1986, after seeing an ALF
film, Breaking Barriers, renowned primatologist Jane
ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT
Goodall used her influence to change conditions for
primates at the SEMA research center in Maryland.
The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is an under- In 1987, the American ALF committed a multi-
ground group of animal rights activists comprised million-dollar arson at a University of California, Davis,
of small, autonomous cells throughout the world, laboratory; in consequence, the FBI placed ALF on its
primarily in North America and England. Since its domestic terrorist list. In the 1990s, Operation Bite
creation in 1976, the ALF has become one of the most Back and Operation Bite Back II, multistate cam-
active radical animal rights group and is now consid- paigns against the U.S. fur industry, included the free-
ered a domestic terrorist organization by both the FBI ing of more than 10,000 mink from the Arritola Mink
and Scotland Yard. Farm in Mt. Angel, Oregon—the largest liberation of
The ALF was founded in England by animal rights animals to that time.
activist Ronnie Lee. Frustrated with traditional forms ALF actions have closed businesses, stopped or
of protest, Lee created the ALF with the intent to end altered inhumane research, and hobbled some animal-
animal exploitation by inflicting economic hardship industry economies, but many pro-animal rights
on the businesses and persons involved in animal groups and individuals consider ALF’s actions to be
industries, usually through the damage and destruc- ineffective. “Liberated” animals are often recaptured.
tion of property. The ALF guidelines, which include Break-ins have led to the installation of stronger secu-
“taking precautions against harming any animal, rity systems and more stringent security controls. ALF
human and non-human,” instruct members to liberate actions have led to legislation, including the Animal
animals, inflict economic damage, and reveal atroci- Enterprise Protection Act (1992), which made causing
ties against animals. The group uses a range of tactics: more than $10,000 in damages at commercial and
civil disobedience, arson, and burglary among them. academic institutions that utilize animals a federal
Vandalism is the most common action, with members crime. Consequently, American ALF performs fewer
spray-painting slogans on targeted businesses, such as actions each year, managing just 35 actions in 2001.
“McMurder” inside McDonald’s.
See also ANIMAL RIGHTS MOVEMENT; RODNEY CORONADO
By the mid-1980s, the initial 30 ALF members had
grown to more than 1,500. ALF cells now operate in Further Reading
more than a dozen counties, including France, New
Newkirk, Ingrid. Free the Animals! The Untold Story of the
Zealand, Poland, Italy, and Slovakia. Because the ALF
U.S. Animal Liberation Front & Its Founder, “Valerie.”
has no central authority, and because any individual
Chicago: Noble, 1992.
who follows ALF guidelines may be considered part
Singer, Peter. Animal Liberation. 2nd ed. New York:
of the organization, determining current ALF mem-
Random House, 1990.
bership is difficult. In Great Britain, animal rights
activities have been consistently more frequent and
more violent than elsewhere; in 1991 alone, activists
engaged in 1,718 actions. British ALF groups have ANIMAL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
also been more likely to use crude incendiary devices,
including mail bombs and car bombs, as well as the By the 1980s, both the FBI and Scotland Yard
scare tactic of claiming to have contaminated food, viewed radical animal rights organizations, such as