| Page 2 of 2 < |
Animal Rights Activists Step Up Attacks in N.Y.
On Long Island, executives of Forest Laboratories Inc. and their families have been harassed by animal rights activists for contracting with a firm that uses animals for testing.
(By Jim Peppler -- Newsday)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
"The above-ground campaign writes letters, and it's the underground actions that capture the interest," Vlasak said.
Founded in England in the 1970s, the ALF took root in the American West a decade later, the FBI said. The organization gained notoriety for its "animal liberation" actions in which activists broke into university and biomedical labs to rescue rabbits and mice. In the past decade, ALF activists spread to the East Coast, with their activity growing against the biomedical industry, which often relies on testing animals.
"They share philosophic and spiritual ethics and find each other in the American landscape, often in small numbers, and learn about activities of the so-called liberation front," said Bron Taylor, a professor at the University of Florida who has studied radical environmental movements.
The FBI said U.S. animal rights activists have not committed violence against people. In England, however, three ALF activists used a pickax to beat the managing director of Huntingdon Life Sciences outside his home. A British court convicted David Blenkinsop in the attack.
Huntingdon Life Sciences has lost investors, banking support and insurers in Europe, after it became the target of harassment, including death threats.
In New Jersey, federal prosecutors say members of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, a group affiliated with the Animal Liberation Front, used the Internet to incite 20 attacks, including threats, vandalism -- slashing car tires and breaking windows -- and detonating a smoke bomb in Seattle, according to the indictment against the seven animal rights activists in New Jersey.
The New Jersey members, like ALF activists, post the personal information on "targets" along with suggested "direct actions." "We'll be at their offices, at their doorsteps, on their phones or in their computers," read one SHAC announcement, according to the indictment. "There will be no rest for the wicked."
Defense attorneys say that employee information is publicly available and covered by the First Amendment. But in Pennsylvania, a state court granted a temporary injunction to another pharmaceutical company, ruling that the New Jersey activists had set up a Web site that incited and encouraged violence.
On Long Island, the pharmaceutical executive and his wife live cautiously but refuse to change their lives after the attacks. Their nameplate still marks the entrance to the planned community where they live. Letters arrive at the black mail box planted on the main road, and they still rely on local police to patrol the area.
"We all have things we believe in, but do we set bombs and light cars on fire?" the executive's wife asked. "We live in a country where people shouldn't live like that."
