Kevin Jonas of SHAC-USA sees no need to mince words about his group’s terrorist tactics.

A Chicago insurance executive might seem like one of the last people who'd be opening a letter with this succinctly chilling message: “You have been targeted for terrorist attack.” But that's what happened last year, when a top official at Marsh USA Inc. was informed that he and his company's employees had landed in the crosshairs of an extremist animal rights group. The reason? Marsh provides insurance for one of the world's biggest animal testing labs. “If you bail out now,” the letter advised, “you, your business, and your family will be spared great hassle and humility.”

That letter - and the harassment campaign that followed, after Marsh declined to “bail out” - was another shot fired by Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC). This British-born group, now firmly established in the United States, is waging war on anyone involved with Huntingdon Life Sciences, which tests drugs on approximately 70,000 rats, dogs, monkeys and other animals each year. In the process, SHAC is rewriting the rules by which even the most radical eco-activists have traditionally operated.

In the past, even the edgiest American eco-warriors drew the line at targeting humans. They trumpeted underground activists' attacks on businesses and laboratories perceived as abusing animals or the environment - the FBI reports more than 600 incidents, causing $43 million in damage, since 1996. But spokespeople for the two most active groups in the U.S., the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), have always been quick to claim that their underground cells have never injured or killed any people.

Since 1999, however, members of both groups have been involved with SHAC's campaign to harass employees of Huntingdon - and even distantly related business associates like Marsh - with frankly terroristic tactics similar to those of anti-abortion extremists. Employees have had their homes vandalized with spray-painted “Puppy killer” and “We'll be back” notices. They have faced a mounting number of death threats, fire bombings and violent assaults. They've had their names, addresses and personal information posted on Web sites and posters, declaring them “wanted for collaboration with animal torture.”

When cowed companies began responding to the harassment by pulling away from Huntington, many radical environmentalists cheered - even when SHAC's actions clearly went over the “nonviolent” line. Still, the ELF and ALF insist that they remain dedicated to what their spokespeople describe as nonviolent “economic sabotage,” such as tree-spiking and arson. They vigorously deny the label that increasingly sticks to them: “eco-terrorist.” Spokespeople continue to chant the public-relations mantra that the ALF's David Barbarash invoked again on National Public Radio this January: “There has never been a single case where any action has resulted in injury or death.”

SHAC's escalating violence is not unique. North America's most active and widespread eco-radicals - the ELF and ALF took credit for 137 “direct actions” in 2001 alone - have clearly taken a turn toward the more extreme European model of activism. The rhetoric has begun to change along with the action. Reached by the Intelligence Report, SHAC-USA's Kevin Jonas - a former ALF spokesman - was unusually frank about the lengths to which the new breed of activists will go. “When push comes to shove,” Jonas said, “we're ready to push, kick, shove, bite, do whatever to win.”

'Igniting the Revolution'

The far left has long been skirting the edge. In the 1980s, the standard-bearer of the movement was EarthFirst!, a radical group inspired by the novels of Edward Abbey, who romanticized a life of “monkey-wrenching,” or sabotage, to protect the environment from rapacious corporations and developers. Using the model of “leaderless resistance” long advocated by white supremacist tactician Louis Beam - small, independent underground cells carrying out actions, with no hierarchy for law enforcement to go after - EarthFirst! brought “direct action” to the forefront of the environmental movement.

The most controversial of EarthFirst! techniques was tree-spiking, which involved pounding metal spikes into trees to prevent them from being cut or milled into lumber. Typically, tree-spikings were accompanied by warnings designed to cut down on the possibility of injuring or killing timber workers. But timber companies pointed out that some of the spikes would remain in trees long after the warnings had been forgotten, and said the technique put loggers and sawmill workers at risk of severe injury or even death. Such tactics resulted in the first references to environmentalists as terrorists.

Responding to criticism in the early 1990s, EarthFirst! members began to ponder a more moderate approach. This did not sit well with radicals, who left to found the ELF in Brighton, England, in 1992. In its video, “Igniting the Revolution,” the ELF says it realized “that to be successful in the struggle to protect the Earth, more extreme tactics must be utilized. Thus the Earth Liberation Front was born.”

Coming to America

It wasn't until 1998, when one of the ELF's underground cells burned down a major part of a brand new ski resort near Vail, Colo., that the group became a household name. The fire caused a whopping $12 million in damage and put eco-radicalism back in the headlines.

But news reports failed to note this was not a homegrown movement. The ELF, in fact, is an outgrowth of the European animal-rights movement more than American environmentalism. Its closely linked predecessor, the ALF, got its starts in Britain in 1976 before crossing the Atlantic Ocean. And while U.S. environmental activists still have a largely positive image, with the Sierra Club's peaceful lobbying efforts setting the tone in most people's eyes, activists of the British ALF and its continental cohorts have given the European movement a very different reputation. Eco-activists there are seen by many as dangerous and reckless criminals - and they often live up to the billing, as the SHAC campaign (along with letter bomb attacks that have maimed one secretary and injured a furrier and his 3-year-old daughter) so vividly demonstrates.

In February 2001, Huntingdon's managing director in Great Britain, Brian Cass, was badly beaten outside his home by three masked assailants swinging baseball bats. Shortly after the attack, British animal rights activist David Blenkinsop, a friend of SHAC-USA's Kevin Jonas, was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison for the assault. At around the same time, Andrew Gay, Cass' marketing director, was attacked on his doorstep with a spray that left him temporarily blinded, writhing on the ground in front of his wife and young daughter.

Ronnie Lee, one of the British founders of the ALF, applauded the beating of Cass. “He has got off lightly,” Lee said. “I have no sympathy for him.”

Joining in the jubilation were some American eco-radicals. “If it happens and it works,” Last Chance for Animals boss Chris DeRose said of attacks like the Cass beating, “then that's great.”

A Growing Radicalism

When longtime ELF spokesperson Craig Rosebraugh was called to testify before Congress about domestic terrorism this February, he invoked the Fifth Amendment with gusto. But Rosebraugh did answer written questions from a congressional subcommittee, and he didn't mince words. Asked whether he feared an ELF action could one day kill someone, Rosebraugh sounded a lot like Ronnie Lee. “No,” he wrote, “I am more concerned with massive numbers of people dying at the hands of greedy capitalists if such actions are not taken.”

Connections between the ALF and ELF run deep. From the start, they made pledges of solidarity, and they clearly shared a coterie of hard-line activists. They were also structured similarly, with a handful of activists designated as spokespeople who would announce and encourage “direct actions.” Essentially, anyone who carried out one of these actions - whether or not they were acquainted with the groups' aboveground spokespeople - became, in effect, a member. The structure is remarkably similar to that of the so-called Army of God, a violent anti-abortion “group” that is “joined” by simply carrying out an attack and claiming credit. Although there is no real “membership,” these groups can appear large because every attack undertaken in their name generates significant publicity.

At the Hilton, Violence is Cheered

Rosebraugh signed on to the movement after spending a night in jail with a prominent ALF activist in 1997. Eleven weeks later, he delivered his first message on behalf of the ALF: Activists had broken into a mink farm and released hundreds of animals, costing the business some $300,000. The next year, Rosebraugh switched to the ELF, proudly announcing the Vail arson on the ALF's Web site. (The ELF didn't set up its own site until 2001.)

To this day, the ELF has much more in common - sharing both members and tactics - with the ever-more-radical ALF than with any other environmental group in the U.S. ELF activists like Rosebraugh are regularly invited to speak at the animal rights conference held every year in the Washington, D.C., area on the week of July 4. The event is funded by several animal-rights groups, the most prominent of which are People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, and the more moderate Humane Society of the United States.

The conference setting is surprisingly highbrow, held for the past two years in the marble-clad McLean Hilton, which employs a well-known Vegan chef. But the discussions are down and dirty, dealing forthrightly with the role of violence in the fight for animal rights. At last year's conference, PETA's Bruce Friedrich was candid enough.

“If we really believe that animals have the same right to be free from pain and suffering at our hands,” Friedrich told a panel, “then of course we're going to be blowing things up and smashing windows. … I think it's a great way to bring about animal liberation, considering the level of suffering, the atrocities. I think it would be great if all of the fast-food outlets, slaughterhouses, these laboratories, and the banks that fund them, exploded tomorrow.

“I think it's perfectly appropriate for people to take bricks and toss them through the windows. … Hallelujah to the people who are willing to do it.”

The assembled activists applauded. And as they milled around between speeches and panels, there was still more evidence that the edge of American eco-advocacy is becoming even edgier. Representatives from the ALF, ELF and SHAC - all of whom claim to be independent groups - shared a table, handing out their pamphlets and T-shirts. On the back of one of the shirts was a typical slogan: “Words Mean Nothing … Action is Everything!”

'Devastate to Liberate'

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, did not dampen the enthusiasm of America's eco-radicals for direct action. But something did change when those attacks brought down the World Trade Center: Americans' tolerance for anything that smacks of terrorism. So when the ALF set a $1 million fire at a primate lab in New Mexico on Sept. 20, and when an ELF cell set a University of Minnesota genetics lab ablaze this Jan. 29, corporate groups, members of Congress, conservative commentators and the FBI joined in a chorus decrying the acts as “eco-terrorism.” The targets of these acts couldn't have agreed more. “These are clearly terroristic acts,” said Charles Muscoplat, dean of agriculture at the University of Minnesota. “Someone could get hurt or killed in a big fire like we had.”

Activists continued to insist that the eco-terror label was “ludicrous,” and that law-enforcement officials were engaged in a witch hunt cheered on by corporate interests. “I mean, what was the Boston Tea Party,” ALF spokesman Barbarash asked rhetorically on NPR, “if not a massive act of property destruction?” Barbarash went on: “Property damage is a legitimate political tool called economic sabotage, and it's meant to attack businesses and corporations who are profiting from the exploitation, murder and torture of either humans or animals, or the planet. … [T]o call those acts terrorism is ludicrous.”

Their case was bolstered in June, when a San Francisco jury found that law-enforcement officials (including three FBI agents) violated the civil rights of EarthFirst! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney - to the tune of $4.4 million in damages. Bari and Cherney were on their way to an EarthFirst! rally in 1990 when a pipe bomb exploded in Bari's Subaru station wagon. Authorities claimed that the two were planning to use the bomb, but Bari and Cherney consistently denied any knowledge of the explosives, saying they had been falsely pegged as eco-terrorists and in fact were the victims of an assassination attempt.

Though the Bari/Cherney verdict was a setback for those decrying “eco-terrorism,” the similarity between eco-radicals' methods and those of more stereotypical “terrorists” has made the comparison seem natural to more and more observers. The increasingly inflammatory rhetoric of the groups hasn't helped.

Last year, the ELF put up two new manuals on its Web site - “Setting Fires With Electrical Timers: An Earth Liberation Guide” and “Arson Around With Auntie ALF.” An ELF communiqué went even further, saying the group was now targeting “FBI offices and U.S. federal buildings,” “liberal democracy” and even “industrial civilization” itself.

For its part, while it advises non-violence, the ALF's “Beginner's Guide to Direct Action for Animal Liberation” opens with the slogan, “Devastate to Liberate.” The booklet goes on to offer handy tips for relatively mild sabotage - gluing locks, spray-painting slogans and threats, smashing windows, “rippin' shit up” - but it also includes easy-to-follow instructions for “a few simple incendiary devices” like Molotov cocktails. A more detailed “ALF Primer” has three single-spaced pages devoted to arson. “As dangerous as arson is,” the primer advises, “it is also by far the most potent weapon of direct action.”

SHAC Ups the Ante

Meanwhile, SHAC was teaching other potent lessons - and getting results that have only spurred eco-radicals on.

Last year, Barclay's Bank in the United Kingdom pulled its financing of Huntingdon Life Sciences, saying it “couldn't guarantee the safety” of its employees. Charles Schwab, an American financial firm, also pulled out after protesters occupied its offices in Birmingham, England.

When Huntingdon moved to the U.S. last year, hoping to escape the wrath of U.K. activists, the violence didn't let up. SHAC-USAÿ's Web site boasted that a company vice president here “was visited several times, had several car windows broken, tires slashed, house spray painted with slogans. His wife is reportedly on the brink of a nervous breakdown and divorce.”

In July 2001, a related group, “Pirates for Animal Liberation,” took responsibility for trying to sink the private yacht of a Bank of New York executive to protest the bank's connection with Huntingdon. The Stephens Group, an investment firm in Arkansas, was subjected to a campaign of harassment after announcing a $33 million loan to Huntingdon. After backing out this February, CEO Warren Stephens said the company had been “aware of the activists, but I don't think we understood exactly what lengths they would go to.”

SHAC-USA rejoiced along with its allies in the ALF and ELF. “If we can push this domino down,” Kevin Jonas told US News & World Report, “there is no domino we can't push down.”

Targeting Scientists, and Others

Scientists have been increasingly targeted - with similar success. In July, Dr. Michael Podell halted his aids studies and resigned from Ohio State University, giving up a tenured position and a $1.7 million research project. Podell, who was using cats to study why drug users seem to succumb more quickly to aids, received nearly a dozen death threats after PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) put the experiment on its “action alert” list. Podell was sent a photograph of a British scientist whose car had been bombed. “You're next” was scrawled across the top of the photo.

The use of animals in research has decreased in the last few decades, according to government estimates - and the use of cats has dropped a whopping 66 percent since 1967. But scientists say that some research, like Podell's, cannot be done with computer modeling or with human subjects. “It's a small number of animals to get information to potentially help millions of people,” Podell told The New York Times. But that argument did not hold water with PETA, or with the local protest group that sprung up in Columbus. Eventually, they wore down Podell.

“Scientists tend to be good targets,” Frankie Trull, president of the Foundation for Biomedical Research, which promotes “humane and responsible” animal testing, told the Intelligence Report. “Their temperament is such that they don't really fight back. The ALF is like the bully in the schoolyard for them.”

Pumped up by their victories, eco-radicals have made it clear that their agenda is broadening in a big - and potentially dangerous - way. If President Bush expands the nuclear-power industry, said a spokesperson for SHAC-USA, that industry will be targeted next. The ultimate target, as the ELF says in a video, is nothing short of “the entire capitalist system.”

The Justice Department

While SHAC sets a new standard for eco-terrorism, another British import is making American and Canadian authorities even more nervous. Since it sprang up in 1993, the so-called Justice Department has claimed responsibility for hundreds of violent attacks in the U.K. With an underground cell structure similar to those of the ALF and ELF, the Justice Department has made creative use of letter bombs, which have injured several people, and sent out scores of envelopes rigged with poisoned razor blades. The London Independent called the Justice Department's attacks “the most sustained and sophisticated bombing campaign in mainland Britain since the IRA was at its height.”

In January 1996, after the group became active in North America, the Justice Department claimed responsibility for sending envelopes with blades dipped in rat poison to 80 researchers, hunting guides and others in British Columbia, Alberta and around the United States. The blades were taped inside the opening edge of the envelopes, poised to cut the fingers of anyone opening the letters. “Dear animal killing scum!” read the note inside. “Hope we sliced your finger wide open and that you now die from the rat poison we smeared on the razor blade.” The letter signed off, “Justice Department strikes again.”

Authorities in Great Britain have suggested that Keith Mann of the ALF, currently serving an 11-year prison sentence in Britain, founded the Justice Department, although that has not been proven.

A Taste of Fear

Just as EarthFirst! ultimately became too “tame” for the eco-saboteurs who formed the ELF, groups like the Justice Department seem to attract frustrated activists who don't want to hold the line against harming humans. The existence of such violent spin-offs, including the Animal Rights Militia, allows ELF and ALF to continue claiming ethical purity by way of comparison.

How do these groups defend their methods? “If the animals could fight back,” says the Justice Department, “there would be a lot of dead animal abusers already.”

The group's fact sheet - posted on an ALF Web site - makes it clear that the Justice Department thinks of itself as a more extreme version of the ALF. “The Animal Liberation Front achieved what other methods have not while adhering to nonviolence,” the Justice Department manifesto reads. “A separate idea was established that decided animal abusers had been warned long enough. … [T]he time has come for abusers to have but a taste of the fear and anguish their victims suffer on a daily basis.”

A similar thought occurred to one of America's legendary terrorists, Ted Kaczynski. And the connection is more than philosophical. During his trial, Kaczynski admitted that he was in contact with EarthFirst! during his Unabomber days. In fact, he found at least one of his targets - Thomas Mosser, a New Jersey advertising executive, who was killed instantly when he opened a package from the Unabomber - by reading about Mosser's firm in the EarthFirst! journal.

In his manifesto, Kaczynski sounded for all the world like an eco-extremist as he took credit for Mosser's violent death: “We blew up Thomas Mosser last December because he was a Burston-Marsteller executive. Among other misdeeds, Burston-Marsteller helped Exxon clean up its image after the Exxon Valdez incident.” Officials noted that Kaczynski misspelled the company's name - it should be Burson, not Burston - precisely the same way that EarthFirst! did. They also noted that, as reported in the Washington Post, the EarthFirst! journal got it wrong: Burson-Marsteller “never worked for Exxon on the spill.” Thanks to incorrect information from EarthFirst!, Mosser was killed for something his company never did.

A Murder in the Netherlands

Frustration with the slow pace of nonviolent change appears to be epidemic in the movement. In September 2001, ALF co-founder Ronnie Lee told Jane's Intelligence Review, “So far no one on the other side has ever been seriously harmed or killed. But that may now change.”

It didn't take long for Lee to be proved right. This May, as the debate over “eco-terrorism” raged in the United States, an apparent “eco-assassination” in Europe sent shockwaves through the environmental activists and their targets. Less than two weeks before voters in the Netherlands would choose a new government, animal-rights activist Volkert van der Graaf allegedly pumped six bullets into Pim Fortuyn, a right-wing anti-immigration candidate for prime minister. Van der Graaf may have been enraged by Fortuyn's support of pig farmers in a debate with animal rights activists.

Fortuyn's death at the hands of a veteran activist spawned a wave of “I-told-you-so” editorials in European newspapers, which have sharply criticized the escalating violence of radical activists in recent years, warning that murder was the next step. Fortuyn, a dog lover whose environmental views were generally more moderate than his hard-right stance on immigration, had expressed similar exasperation earlier in the campaign, telling the green group Milieudefensie, “I'm sick to death of your environmental movement.”

Could eco-activism spawn another van der Graaf - or another Kaczynski - in the United States? If it happens, don't expect the ALF or ELF to take responsibility. The groups' guidelines for cell members always include a crucial escape clause, like this one in “Frequently Asked Questions About the Earth Liberation Front”: “If an action similar to one performed by ELF occurred and resulted in an individual becoming physically injured or losing their life, this would not be considered an ELF action.”

'Rethinking Nonviolence'

By refusing to take responsibility for any actions that harm humans, the ALF and ELF implicitly acknowledge that violence directed at people is a foreseeable result of the tactics they promote. Their ever-more-fiery rhetoric and increasingly brash methods could inspire future Kaczynskis and van der Graafs. In fact, the 32-year-old van der Graaf was the founder of Zeeland's Animal Liberation Front before he went on to found Milieu Offensief (Environment Offensive). His story reads like a cautionary tale, especially now that the American ELF and ALF seem to take their cues from the Europeans.

While van der Graaf was an avowed enemy of factory farming, most of his attacks on farmers had been peaceful. Environment Offensive filed more than 2,200 lawsuits against big farming interests. “His weapon was the law,” a member of Environment Offensive told Dutch television.

But van der Graaf was apparently provoked to more drastic action by his frustration with fighting “the system.” When Dutch police searched the suspect's home after Fortuyn's murder, they found documents linking van der Graaf to a recent outbreak of direct-action attacks on a mink factory and a poultry farm. They also found that van der Graaf apparently hadn't intended to stop with Fortuyn: He had floor plans of the homes of three of Fortuyn's fellow List Party candidates for the parliament.

What happens when U.S. companies and politicians keep getting in the way of eco-radicals' goals? Peter Singer, a Princeton University philosopher and long-time darling of many eco-radicals, recently acknowledged the quandary faced by many in the movement - and the direction in which it clearly seems headed. “We who have an affinity with non-human animals and nature,” Singer told the Australian Herald-Sun, “are finding it increasingly difficult to love our fellow man.”

Kevin Jonas of SHAC-USA, which is inspiring a new breed of activist, put it even more bluntly. “There's a very famous quote by John F. Kennedy,” he told the Intelligence Report. “If you make peaceful revolution impossible, you make violent revolution inevitable.”

Indeed, further violence seems almost inevitable. Just ask Craig Rosebraugh, the long-time ELF spokesman who recently left that post to pursue theoretical work for the movement. Attending the Institute for Social Ecology at Goddard College in Vermont, Rosebraugh's master's thesis has a revealing working title: “Rethinking Nonviolence: Arguing for the Legitimacy of Armed Struggle.”

Intelligence Report
Fall 2002
Issue 107


Eco-terror: The Record

Extremists within the environmental and animal rights movements have committed literally thousands of violent criminal acts in recent decades - arguably more than those from any other radical sector, left or right. Although these extremists have yet to kill anyone in America, they have carried out arsons, fire-bombings, assaults, and attacks on animal-based businesses and laboratories. This February, an FBI official testified to Congress that what he characterized as the leading eco-terrorist groups the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) - had committed more than 600 criminal acts since 1996 that resulted in a minimum of $43 million in damage. What follows is a selection of 1984-2002 incidents, drawn from ALF/ELF communiqués, media reports, law enforcement officials and publications of the movement.

MAY 1984
Philadelphia, Pa.
An ALF raid at the University of Pennsylvania Head Injury Lab caused $60,000 in damage.

DEC. 9, 1984
Duarte, Calif.
The ALF raided the City of Hope National Medical Center, causing $400,000 in damage.

APRIL 1, 1985
Riverside, Calif.
The ALF raided a laboratory at the University of California, Riverside, causing $700,000 in damage. About 500 animals were released.

OCT. 26, 1986
Eugene, Ore.
The ALF claimed an attack on a University of Oregon laboratory that did nearly $120,000 in damage.

APRIL 15, 1987
Davis, Calif.
An ALF arson attack at the University of California, Davis, Animal Diagnostics Laboratory destroyed a building and 20 vehicles, causing $5.1 million in damage.

SEPT. 1, 1987
Santa Clara, Calif.
The Animal Rights Militia, part of the ALF, claimed an arson fire at the San Jose Valley Veal & Beef Company that caused $10,000 in damage.

NOV. 28, 1987
Santa Clara, Calif.
The words “ALF” and “murderers” were sprayed on walls at the V. Melani poultry distribution company, where a fire caused $200,000 in damage.

APRIL 2, 1989
Tucson, Ariz.
The ALF set fires in a laboratory at a Veterans Administration hospital at the University of Arizona that caused $500,000 in damage.

APRIL 15, 1989
Monterey, Calif.
The ALF set timed incendiary devices at a meat company, where an apparently unexpected early morning crew smelled smoke and managed to flee to safety.

JULY 4, 1989
Lubbock, Texas
The ALF destroyed records and smashed computers and other equipment during a laboratory raid at Texas Tech University, causing $700,000 in damage.

JUNE 10, 1991
Corvallis, Ore.
ALF member Rod Coronado and others broke into the Oregon State University's experimental mink farm and set timed incendiary devices that caused $62,000 in damage.

DECEMBER 15, 1991
Yamhill, Ore.
Rod Coronado set fire to a Hynek Malecky facility where mink pelts are dried, causing $96,000 in damage.

FEB. 28, 1992
East Lansing, Mich.
Rod Coronado and other ALF members set a $1.2 million fire at Michigan State University's mink research facility. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) donated $42,000 toward Coronado's defense, but he was imprisoned anyway and not released until 2001.

JANUARY 1995
Henrietta, N.Y.
The ALF set two trucks on fire at the Conti Packing Co.

APRIL 14, 1995
Syracuse, N.Y.
The ALF ignited an incendiary device at Oneata Beef Company, causing $6,000 in damage.

JUNE 15, 1995
Murray, Utah
The ALF torched Tandy Leather, causing $300,000 in damage.

DECEMBER 24, 1995
Eugene, Ore.
The ALF planted incendiary devices under three Dutch Girl Ice Cream trucks, causing $15,600 in damage.

APRIL 2, 1996
Salt Lake City, Utah
The ALF burned an Egg Products store to the ground and damaged two of the firm's trucks, causing over $100,000 in damage.

OCT. 27, 1996
Detroit, Ore.
The ELF and the ALF jointly torched a U.S. Forest Service truck.

OCT. 30, 1996
Eugene, Ore.
The ALF and the ELF burned the U.S. Forest Service Oakridge Ranger Station, causing $5.3 million in damage.

NOV. 12, 1996
Bloomington, Minn.
A firebomb claimed by the ALF was thrown through a window at the Alaskan Fur Company, causing over $2 million in damage.

FEB. 15, 1997
Troy, Mich.
The ALF left butyric acid, a foul-smelling chemical, in a McDonald's and spray-painted “McShit, McMurder, McDeath” on the restaurant's bathroom walls.

MARCH 11, 1997
Sandy, Utah
A series of firebombs claimed jointly by the ALF and the ELF destroyed four trucks and leveled the offices of the Agricultural Fur Breeders Co-Op, causing about $1 million in damage.

MARCH 18, 1997
Davis, Calif.
The “Bay Area Cell of the Earth X ALF” took credit for setting fire to the University of California, Davis, Center for Comparative Medicine facility, which was still under construction.

MARCH 18, 1997
Ogden, Utah
Montgomery Furs, a trapping supply store, was torched by the ALF while a night watchman was inside. The watchman escaped unhurt.

APRIL 19, 1997
Indianapolis, Ind.
The ALF torched an Archer's Meats truck cab.

JULY 21, 1997
Redmond, Ore.
The ALF and ELF used napalm which they referred to as “vegan Jell-O” - to destroy the Cavel West horse slaughtering plant.

AUG. 16, 1997
West Jordan, Utah
Four ALF activists burned a McDonald's restaurant to the ground, causing $400,000 in damage.

AUG. 17, 1997
Morton Grove, Ill.
The ALF threw two Molotov cocktails through a Cosmo's Furs window.

AUG. 19, 1997
Fort Collins, Colo.
The ALF claimed an arson attack on Wildlife Pharmaceuticals.

AUG. 26, 1997
Howell, N.J.
The ALF torched several Jersey Cuts Meat Co. trucks, destroying three that were valued at $60,000 each.

FEB. 28, 1998
Indianapolis, Ind.
The Outdoorsman Sport Shop had its windows broken and was set on fire. ALF slogans were spray-painted at the shop.

MAY 4, 1998
Wimauma, Fla.
The ALF claimed credit for burning down Florida Veal Processors Inc., causing $500,000 in damage.

JUNE 28, 1998
Olympia, Wash.
The ALF and ELF claimed responsibility for an arson at a U.S. Department of Agriculture Damage Control building.

JULY 16, 1998
Paramus, N.J.
The ALF claimed the destruction of a Steven Corn Furs truck.

OCT. 18, 1998
Vail, Colo.
The ELF burned down the Vail Associates ski facility, destroying seven structures valued at more than $12 million.

NOV. 16, 1998
Manalapan, N.J.
A van owned by the Leather and Fur Ranch was firebombed by the ALF.

NOV. 29, 1998
Burns, Ore.
The ALF and the ELF claimed joint responsibility for an arson at the Bureau of Land Management's Wild Horse Corrals.

DEC. 26, 1998
Medford, Ore.
The ELF claimed the $500,000 arson of a U.S. Forest Industries facility.

FEB. 18, 1999
Chicago, Ill.
Unidentified PETA activists were credited for throwing two pies at Procter & Gamble executive John Pepper to protest the company's animal testing.

MARCH 5, 1999
Eugene, Ore.
The “Biotic Baking Brigade” took credit for throwing a banana cream pie in Sierra Club staffer Charlie Raine's face to protest the Club's support of land exchanges between the government and timber companies.

MARCH 11, 1999
Hampton, N.H.
Three Biotic Baking Brigade activists threw pies at University of Wisconsin geneticist Neil First, who was speaking at the University of New Hampshire, to protest genetic engineering at UW. David Pike and Renee Medford were charged with assault.

MARCH 27, 1999
Franklin, N.J.
The ALF firebombed six Big Apple Circus vehicles, destroying two trucks.

APRIL 5, 1999
Minneapolis, Minn.
Laboratories at the University of Minnesota were vandalized and dozens of research animals stolen by the ALF, wrecking research into Alzheimer's and cancer.

MAY 9, 1999
Eugene, Ore.
ALF set a fire that destroyed a two-story office building, a shipping dock and a refrigeration unit at Childer's Meat Co., wreaking about $150,000 in damage.

MAY 10, 1999
Neah Bay, Wash.
Sea Defense Alliance activists Jake Conroy and Josh Harper (who would later work for Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty) were charged with felony assault after allegedly throwing ignited smoke canisters at a Makah tribe's whaling support vessel and firing a lighted flare across its bow.

JUNE 25, 1999
Miami, Fla.
The ALF claimed the firebombing of a Worldwide Primates truck.

AUG. 7, 1999
Escanaba, Mich.
ELF arsonists torched two fishing boats at the home of veterinarian James Boydston and spray-painted his garage door with “FUR IS MURDER, ELF.”

AUG. 9, 1999
Plymouth, Wis.
Mink feed supplier United Feeds was burned down by ALF at about the same time as an ALF raid and mink release at Gene Myer's Fur Farm, also in the Plymouth area.

AUG. 29, 1999
Orange, Calif.
The ALF claimed an attack on a Bio-Devices Inc., research laboratory that resulted in $250,000 damage and the theft of 46 dogs.

AUG. 31, 1999
Fulton County, Ga.
The ALF burned down a McDonald's restaurant. PETA's Bruce Friedrich announced the crime on AR-News, an online animal rights news service.

SEPT. 23, 1999
Phippsburg, Mass.
The ALF claimed a failed arson at the Phippsburg Sportsmen's Association, where activists turned over coffee pots, left plastic cups on the burners, and turned on a gas line.

OCT. 1999
Various cities
An ALF faction known as the Justice Department took credit for sending over 80 razor blade-laced envelopes, each containing a threatening letter with a picture of a bomb on it, to animal researchers, hunting guides and others in the United States and Canada. An ALF communiqué said some of the razor blades, which were positioned so as to slice open the fingers of anyone opening the envelopes, were coated in rat poison.

OCT. 22, 1999
Warwick, R.I.
The ALF claimed the torching of four Harris Furs vehicles.

NOVEMBER 1, 1999
Seattle, Wash.
Four gasoline bombs were thrown into a Gap clothing store in an attack the FBI attributed to the ALF.

DEC. 4, 1999
Las Vegas, Nev.
PETA activist Dawn Carr hit rodeo showgirl Brandy DeJongh in the face with a pie moments after DeJongh was awarded the Miss Rodeo America 2000 crown.

DEC. 25, 1999
Monmouth, Ore.
The ELF claimed responsibility for burning down logging firm Boise Cascade's regional headquarters.

DEC. 31, 1999
Lansing, Mich.
The ELF used accelerants to destroy $400,000 worth of property at Michigan State University in an action targeting Monsanto's genetically engineered products. The blaze was discovered by a faculty member working late inside the facility.

JAN. 3, 2000
Petaluma, Calif.
The ALF set fire to buildings and trucks at Rancho Veal's meatpacking plant, causing $250,000 in damage.

JAN. 15, 2000
Petaluma, Calif.
The ALF claimed credit for placing five incendiary devices in offices and trucks at a Petaluma Farms chicken farm (which “enslaves chickens for their eggs”). Two trucks were destroyed.

JAN. 23, 2000
Bloomington, Ind.
The ELF claimed credit for torching a house under construction, causing some $200,000 in damage. “No Sprawl, ELF” was painted at the site.

JAN. 24, 2000
Redwood City, Calif.
The ALF claimed credit for attempting to burn down Primate Products, a medical research facility.

MAY 30, 2000
Washington, D.C.
PETA activist Arathi Jayaram was charged with assault after throwing a pie at U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman at the National Nutrition Summit.

JULY 2, 2000
North Vernon, Ind.
The ALF took credit for burning a Rose Acre Farm chicken feed truck, causing $100,000 in damage. “Polluter, animal exploiter, your turn to pay,” was spray-painted at the scene.

JULY 30, 2000
San Francisco, Calif.
Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade activist Bhaskar Sinha was charged with battery after threatening rock star Ted Nugent outside a Neiman Marcus department store.

SEPT. 9, 2000
Bloomington, Ind.
In an attack aimed at a highway project, the ELF claimed a minor fire at the Monroe County Republican Party headquarters that was meant as “a reminder to politicians.”

NOV. 27, 2000
Boulder, Colo.
The ELF claimed responsibility for torching a $2.5 million Legend Ridge mansion.

DEC. 19, 2000
Miller Place, N.Y.
The ELF claimed credit for burning down a home under construction.

DEC. 29, 2000
Mount Sinai, N.Y.
The ELF took credit for burning down four new homes at Island Estates. Teenagers Jared McIntyre, Matthew Rammelkamp and George Mashkow III pleaded guilty to charges connected to the attack. Fellow teen Connor Cash was later indicted for arson, arson conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists.

JAN. 1, 2001
Glendale, Ore.
The ELF torched the Superior Lumber Co., causing $400,00 in damage. “This year,” the ELF said, “we hope to see an escalation in tactics against capitalism.”

JAN. 23, 2001
Capitola, Calif.
Peter Schnell and Matthew Whyte, both of the Animal Defense League, were found behind the Capitola City Hall with plastic milk bottles, gasoline and candles. After five containers of gasoline were found in Whyte's car, Schnell told police he was working on a “craft project.” Authorities ultimately would sentence Schnell to 24 months and Whyte to 14 months in prison for attempted arson.

FEB. 20, 2001
Visalia, Calif.
The ELF claimed a fire at a research cotton gin owned by Delta & Pine Land, a firm accused of ties to Monsanto's genetically engineered seed program.

MARCH 2, 2001
Douglas County, Ore.
The ELF claimed responsibility for spiking trees at the Umpqua National Forest to prevent a timber sale.

MARCH 30, 2001
Eugene, Ore.
Thirty SUVs at Joe Romania's car dealership were torched, causing about $1 million in damage. The ELF said the attack was in support of Jeff “Free” Luers, who was serving a 23-year prison sentence, in part for torching cars at the same dealership.

APRIL 5, 2001
Arlington, Wash.
The ALF set fire to a National Food Corp. egg farm, causing $1.5 million in damage.

APRIL 15, 2001
Portland, Ore.
The ELF claimed an arson attack, using time-delayed fuses, that caused $210,000 in damage to cement trucks at Ross Island Sand & Gravel.

MAY 21, 2001
Seattle, Wash.
The ALF set fire to the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture, causing $5.6 million in damage and wrecking years of research on genetically altered poplar trees and similar projects.

JUNE 1, 2001
Estacada, Ore.
One logging truck was destroyed and two more damaged during an arson attack on Schoppert Logging trucks by the Cascadia Forest.

JUNE 12, 2001
Tucson, Ariz.
Four under-construction luxury homes were set afire and “CSP,” for Coalition to Save the Preserves, was found spray-painted at the site.

JUNE 14, 2001
New York, N.Y.
PETA activists aiming for fur designer Karl Lagerfeld missed and hit designer Calvin Klein with a tofu cream pie. Six members were charged with disorderly conduct and attempted assault.
JULY 2001
Cowlitz County, Wash.
The ELF claimed responsibility for spiking hundreds of trees slated for a timber sale in the Cowlitz Valley.

JULY 4, 2001
Detroit, Mich.
The ELF torched an executive office of logging giant Weyerhauser to protest the company's part in funding Oregon State University and the University of Washington's poplar and cottonwood genetic engineering research.

JULY 24, 2001
Sands Point, N.Y.
The “Pirates for Animal Liberation” claimed responsibility for unsuccessfully trying to sink a Bank of New York employee's 21-foot boat.

SEPT. 8, 2001
Tucson, Ariz.
Saying the attack was meant “as a warning to corporations worldwide,” the ALF and ELF claimed joint credit for the $500,000 arson of a McDonald's restaurant.

SEPT. 20, 2001
Alamogordo, N.M.
The ALF claimed a $1 million arson fire at Coulston Foundation's White Sands Research Center. Lab owner Dr. Fred Coulston had earlier had a bomb scare at his home and had also received razor blades in the mail.

OCT. 15, 2001
SUSAnville, Calif.
The ELF planted four firebombs at a Bureau of Land Management corral, burning down an $85,000 barn.

OCT. 24, 2001
Long Island, N.Y.
The “Special Operations: Huntingdon Life Sciences” cell of the ALF attacked Bank of America offices, smashing more than 30 windows and later boasting sarcastically that it had “joined the United States in their [sic] noble War Against Terrorism!”

NOV. 5, 2001
Idaho County, Idaho
The ELF claimed the spiking of trees in the Nez Perce National Forest to prevent a timber sale.

NOV. 5, 2001
Houghton, Mich.
After a series of ELF e-mail threats, suspected ELF activists planted incendiary devices at the U.J. Noblet Forestry Building and a U.S. Forest Service laboratory at Michigan Tech University. Security guards disarmed the devices.

NOV. 11, 2001
San Diego, Calif.
The ALF destroyed a contract animal research lab owned by Sierra Biomedical, causing $50,000 in damage.

JAN. 29, 2002
St. Paul, Minn.
The ELF claimed a $250,000 arson at the University of Minnesota's Microbial and Plat Genomics Research Center, which was under construction.

JAN. 29, 2002
Fairfield, Maine
The ELF and ALF jointly claimed the sabotage of a biotech plant being built for Jackson Labs, an animal testing business. Sand and mortar mix were used to wreck construction equipment at the site.

MARCH 24, 2002
Erie, Penn.
Saying it was trying to stop a highway project, the ELF spiked trees and torched a $500,000 construction crane at a bridge worksite.

MAY 3, 2002
Bloomington, Ind.
The ALF claimed a fire that destroyed a Sims Poultry truck.

JULY 10, 2002
Seattle, Wash.
Animal rights activists set off smoke bombs in two downtown buildings, sending 700 office workers fleeing into the streets. The targets were firms insuring Huntingdon Life Sciences, a company that does animal testing.

Intelligence Report
Fall 2002
Issue 107