Page 61 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

A-Kushner.qxd 29-10-02 3:19 PM Page 34

34———Animal Rights Movement

primate liberation occurred in January 1985, when the largely ineffective.) Based on undercover work
Canadian ALF rescued a rhesus monkey from labs at conducted by ALF activist Rodney Coronado, the
the University of Western Ontario. multistate arson campaign began in June 1991, at the
While authorities were well aware of the activities Experimental Fur Farm at Oregon State University in
of the American ALF, the federal government did not Corvallis. A warning spray-painted on the wall of the
target the group until April 1987, when activists set facilities read, “This is only the beginning.” Over the
fire to the Animal Diagnostics Lab at the University of next 16 months, Operation Bite Back struck at univer-
California, Davis, causing more than $3.5 million in sities and research labs in Washington, Utah, and
damages. This act elevated the ALF from an under- Michigan and at fur farms and feed coops in the Pacific
ground activist group to a domestic terrorist threat in Northwest. The ALF claimed the Michigan State Uni-
the eyes of the FBI, who began to closely track the versity attack, which caused more than $200,000 in
movement’s actions. (The FBI had already heightened damages, in a press release distributed by PETA.
investigations of domestic terrorist threats following In 1994, Coronado was arrested for his actions at
the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.) Similarly, in Michigan State University (the first federal arrest of
England, Scotland Yard created a database of the any ALF member). Just as authorities began to believe
animal rights movement, called the Animal Rights that ALF activity had died down, the group rebounded
National Index, to monitor the activities of the British in 1995 with Operation Bite Back II, another multi-
ALF as well as other groups, including the more state campaign that focused on animal liberation
extreme and violent Animal Rights Militia (ARM). rather than economic sabotage. As part of Operation
Bite Back II, the ALF perpetrated the largest animal
liberation ever—10,000 mink from the Arritola Mink
CONTEMPORARY
ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVITIES Farm in Mt. Angel, Oregon.
Similar antifur actions in Canada, during the late
The 1990s saw renewed action by the ALF, and the 1980s and early 1990s, have eroded the once-powerful
development of other militant animal rights groups Canadian fur industry. However, that is not to say
that went beyond ALF’s tactics of animal liberation that radical animal rights activism has been effective
and property destruction. England’s ARM had estab- in attaining the goal of ending all human use of
lished itself in Canada by 1990, perpetrating a food animals, or even ending the exploitation of fur-bearing
contamination scare against Cold Buster candy bars in animals. In America, after the slew of attacks in the
1992, similar to Britain’s ARM contamination scare mid-1980s, research institutions began to install much
against Mars Bars in 1984. By claiming to have more elaborate security systems, making them more
poisoned a certain number of candy bars, ARM forced difficult to penetrate, and Congress passed the Animal
the targeted food companies to recall their products, Enterprise Protection Act, which allowed the federal
causing financial losses upwards of $1 million. In both government to prosecute an animal rights actions that
cases, ARM later admitted the poisonings were a hoax. caused more than $10,000 in damage. In the United
In 1993, another extreme animal rights group was States, Canada, England, and Sweden, animal rights
born, the British-based Justice Department. The Justice activists, considered “prisoners of war” by their orga-
Department, now active in both England and North nizations, remain in jail for their activities.
America, gained notoriety by mailing envelopes with Even so, their activities continue, although the ALF
razor blades tainted with rat-poison or HIV-infected has been fiercely criticized for continuing actions
blood to individuals involved in “animal exploitation.” in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
While these more extreme groups employed Universities, medical schools, veterinary clinics,
increasingly violent scare tactics, the Western Wildlife research labs, butcher shops, fish markets, meat-pack-
Unit of the ALF began to carry out Operation Bite ing plants, chicken and egg producers, dog kennels,
Back, one of the most successful campaigns against mink and fox farms, furriers, and fast-food restaurants,
the fur industry to date. During 1991–1992, the ALF as well as the individuals behind these establishments,
targeted mink farming, considered the backbone of the remain targets. More recently, the list has extended
fur industry, in an attempt to undermine the fur econ- to politicians as well. On May 6, 2002, in the
omy in the United States. (Previous attacks on com- Netherlands, Volkert Van der Graaf, an animal rights
mercial fur stores proved to be highly sensational, but activist and cofounder of a group called Environment