Timeline of Animal Liberation Front actions, 1976–99

Main article: Timeline of Animal Liberation Front actions

This is a time line of Animal Liberation Front (ALF) actions since its formation in 1976 until 1999.

Background

1976

ALF logo

Main article: Animal Liberation Front § Origins

Two years after Ronnie Lee and Cliff Goodman had been charged for the raid on the Oxford Laboratory Animal Colonies in Bicester, as part of the Band of Mercy, the "Bicester Two" as they were known; Lee emerged even more militant than before. There had been daily demonstrations at the court during their trial, including Lee's local Labour MP Ivor Clemitson. He then collected up the remaining activists from the Band of Mercy upon his release, including another two dozen new willing activists, 30 in all, and the Animal Liberation Front was born.

It was reported that in early operations by the ALF, individuals targeted slaughterhouses, furriers, butchers shops, circuses, breeders and fast-food restaurants, causing £250,000 in the first year alone.

1980s

Main articles: Britches (monkey), Silver Spring monkeys, and Unnecessary Fuss

1981

File:Silver-Spring-monkey.jpg

One of the Silver Spring monkeys. from the Institute of Behavioral Research, that were being cared for by PETA.

September

In Monkey Business, by Kathy Snow Guillermo, she writes that the first ALF action in the United States was the removal of the so-called Silver Spring monkeys, who were being cared for by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in a safehouse. They were kept there are after a researcher from the Institute of Behavioral Research in Silver Spring, Maryland, had allegedly acted in violation of the animal cruelty legislation for laboratory practice. The animals were then returned five days later, after learning that legal action against the researcher could not proceed without the monkeys.

1982

December 24

The president of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, writes that an activist codenamed "Valerie" flew to England, after the publicity triggered by the Silver Spring monkeys case. She was directed by Ronnie Lee to a training camp for activists, who at the time was working for the BUAV, before returning to Maryland and breaking into Howard University. Twenty-four cats were removed by the ALF cell she had founded, with some of the cats suffering from back legs that were crippled.

1984

May 28

The Head Injury Lab of the University of Pennsylvania is raided by the ALF with $60,000 worth of damage caused, and 60 hours worth of video tapes stolen which shows researchers laughing and joking as they cause brain damage to baboons. PETA then released the documentary Unnecessary Fuss, causing the chief veterinarian to lose his job.

December 9

The City of Hope National Medical Center is raided by the ALF totaling $400,000 in costs.

1985

April 20

Sixteen ALF activists take 468 animals, including a five-week-old macaque named Britches, after raiding the University of California, and cause $700,000 in damages. After the raid, which the ALF filmed (video), eight of the seventeen projects involving the use of animals at the laboratory, which were currently going on, were stopped, because of the footage. The University said "years of medical research were lost".

1986

October 26

The University of Oregon laboratory is attacked in Eugene with $120,000 worth of damage.

1987

April 15

Two years and two weeks after 500 animals were taken from the University of California, an ALF arson is claimed at the Animal Diagnostics Laboratory, causing $5.1 million, one of the largest and most costly actions yet for the movement.

November 28

"ALF" and "murderers" is spray-painted at V. Melani, which is set on fire causing $200,000 in damages. The company are a poultry distribution company in Santa Clara, California.

1989

April

• On the 2nd, one of the laboratories at the Veterans Administration hospital is set on fire, a part of the University of Arizona, causing $500,000 worth of damage.
• Timed incendiary devices are left at a meat company on the 13th April, the ALF claim the fire.

July 4

Equipment, computer and records are smashed after the ALF raid Texas Tech University, with an estimated $700,000 in damages.

1990s

Main articles: Barry Horne, Consort beagles, and Save the Hill Grove Cats

Further information: Shamrock Farm, Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs, and Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty

1990

March 17

Harlan Interfauna is raided by Keith Mann, Barry Horne and Danny Attwood, as part of a small ALF cell. The activists entered the animal units through holes they punched in the roof, removing 82 beagle puppies and 26 rabbits. They also removed documents listing Interfauna's customers, which included Boots, Glaxo, Beechams, and Huntingdon Research Centre, as well as a number of universities. A vet who was an ALF supporter removed the tattoos from the dogs' ears, and they were dispersed to new homes across the UK. As a result of evidence found at the scene and in one of the activists' homes, Mann and Attwood were convicted of conspiracy to burgle and were sentenced to nine months and 18 months respectively.

1991

June 10

Rod Coronado, and the ALF, raid Oregon State University and set timed incendiary devices in building, with $62,000 in damage done to the experimental mink farm.

December 15

A mink pelt drying company, Hynek Malecky facility, is set fire by the ALF,with costs estimated at $96,000. The raid is claimed as the ALF and Rod Coronado is later charged with the arson.

1992

February 28

Another mink research facility is attacked, Michigan State University, again another arson, this time causing substantially more damage at the cost of $1.2 million. Rod Coronado was charged with the attack, with PETA donating $42,000 towards his legal defense.

1995

January

In Henrietta, New York, two trucks belonging to Conti Packing Co are set on fire by the ALF.

April 14

The ALF use an incendiary device, causing $6,000 in damages at Oneata Beef Company, Syracuse, New York.

June 15

Tandy Leather, in Utah is set on fire causing $300,000 in damage, the action is claimed by the ALF.

December 24

Three Dutch Girl Ice Cream trucks in Eugene, Oregon, have incendiary devices placed under them by the ALF, costing $15,600.

1996

April 2

An Egg Products store in Salt Lake City is burned to the ground, with also the ALF destroying two trucks that were ownded by the company. The damage totaled $100,000.

October

• In Detroit, Oregon, 27th, a U.S. Forest Service truck is set on fire. The claim is a joint one by the ALF and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), a similar movement who formed in 1992.
• Three days later, a U.S. Forest Service Oakridge Ranger Station is burned down in Eugene, Oregon, causing $5.3 million, also claimed by both the ELF and the ALF.

November 12

The ALF claim that they have thrown a firebomb through the window of the Alaskan Fur Company, in Bloomington, Minnesota, the damages is estimated at over $2 million.

1997

February 15

Butyric acid is left in a McDonald's by the ALF, a chemical that leaves a foul smell, and also "McShit, McMurder, McDeath" is spraypainted on the walls of the bathroom in Michigan.

March

• Another joint claim by the ALF and the ELF of a series of firebombings on the 11th of March, destroying the offices of the Agricultural Fur Breeders Co-Op and four trucks, in Utah, costing an estimated $1 million.
• Three days later, the "Animal Liberation Front - Eco-Animal Defense Unit" claim the spiking of 47 trees in a clearcut area, Oregon. The action is also claimed by the ALF and the ELF.
• On the 18th, nearly ten years after the $5.1 million arson at the University of California by the ALF, the "Bay Area Cell of the Earth and Animal Liberation Front" set fire to the Center for Comparative Medicine facility, which was under construction at the time.
• On the same day, Montgomery Furs is torched by the ALF, the store is a trapping supply firm in Utah.

April 19

In Indiana, the ALF set fire to a truck belonging to Archer's Meats.

July 21

A napalm is used by the ALF and ELF against Cavel West, a horse slaughtering abattoir based in Oregon, calling the device "vegan Jell-o". The plant is reported destroyed.

August

• On the 16th, in Utah, a McDonald's restaurant is completely burned to the ground by four ALF activists, totaling $400,000 worth of damage in total.
• The very next day, two Molotov cocktails are thrown through the window of Cosmo's Furs, in Illinois, claimed by the ALF.
• Only a couple of days later, on the 19th of August, the Wildlife Pharmaceuticals in, Colorado, is set on fire by the ALF.
• Several trucks are set on fire belonging to Jersey Cuts Meat Co, in New Jersey, on the 26th, with the ALF claiming responsibility. Three of the trucks are completely destroyed, each costing $60,000.

1998

February 28

A window is broken at The Outdoorsman Sport Shop, which is then used by the ALF to set fire to the building in Indiana. Slogans were are also painted at the store.

May 4

The Florida Veal Processors Inc, in Florida, is burned to the ground causing half a million dollars in damage. The ALF then claim to have carried out the action.

June 28

A joint claim is made by the ALF and the ELF for an arson attack at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a control building located in Olympia, Washington.

July 16

Nearly a year after the previous set of meat trucks were destroyed in New Jersey, another truck is destroyed, this time belonging to Steven Corn Furs, the action is claimed again by the ALF. Furthermore, present in this vehicle was a drive-along Barbie truck belonging to Steven Corn's daughter. The truck was destroyed as well.

August

The ALF claimed responsibility for releasing into the wild up to 6,000 mink from a mink farm in Ringwood, UK. About 2,000 of the minks were immediately recaptured, another 2,000 were killed and the rest remained unaccounted-for at the time the incident was reported. Anti-fur activists denounced the action as "a disaster for the [anti-fur] campaign, and it's a disaster for the mink". The action was described by a Royal Society for the Protection of Birds spokesman as an "act of monumental stupidity," amid fears that the non-native carnivorous minks would cause ecological damage. The ALF said it would continue its campaign until the British government introduced new animal-welfare legislation for animals used by the fur industry.

November

• On the 16th, another arson occurs in New Jersey by the ALF, they target a Leather and Fur Ranch van.
• The ALF & ELF release 500 wild horses and torch the Bureau of Land Management in Burns, Oregon, on the 29th November. This is claimed in protest of BLM's intention to round up the wild horses and process them for the sale of horsemeat.

1999

March 27

Six vehicles are firebombed by the ALF that are owned by Big Apple Circus in New Jersey.

April 5

Dozens of research animals are taken from the University of Minnesota's laboratories, as well as the property vandalised. The raid is claimed by the ALF.

May 9

• The ALF target Chilrder's Meat Co., in Oregon, destroying a refrigeration unit, a shipping dock and a two-story building. The fires are estimated to have caused $150,000 in damage.

June 25

A Worldwide Primates truck is destroyed by the ALF in Miami, Florida.

August

• In Wisconsin on the 9th, United Feeds, a feeder supplier to mink farms, is burned to the ground. Gene Myer's Fur Farm is then raided, releasing mink into the wild, with both actions claimed by the ALF.
• Forty six dogs are taken from Bio-Devices Inc, California, on the 29th August. The research laboratory is also set on fire, causing $250,000 in damages, with the ALF claiming responsibility.
• Two days later, the ALF burn down a McDonalds restaurant in Georgia to the ground. It is reported that Bruce Friedrich, of PETA announces the news on an animal rights website.

September 23

The ALF claim an arson at Phippsburg Sportsmen's Association, Massachusetts, although their attempts fail.

October 22

Four vehicles belonging to Harris Furs are toched by the ALF in Rhode Island.

November

• On the 1st, a Gap clothes store has four gasoline bombs thrown inside, which the FBI claimed the ALF were responsible for.
• British documentary-filmmaker Graham Hall told police and the Mail on Sunday that he was kidnapped and branded with the letters "ALF" across his back after meeting a man claiming to have information on a dog-fighting ring and filming ALF activists "boasting about bomb making and choosing sites for violent attacks." His film was shown on Channel 4 in the UK during the 1998 hunger strike of ALF activist Barry Horne. Hall said he was taken by several masked men, one of whose voices he said he recognized from a previous gathering of activists, to an unknown house, then was tied to a chair for several hours and branded. No charges were laid as a result of his complaint. In response to the attack, Robin Webb stated "The ALF's policy has always been that there should be no harming life in its work, and we abide by that. There are probably many people with grudges against Mr Hall because of his films over the years, but this attack has nothing to do with us."

For continued article, see Timeline of Animal Liberation Front actions; 2000-2004 and 2005-Present

See also

• Animal Liberation Press Office
• Animal welfare
• Bite Back
• Behind the Mask

Further reading

Books

• Young, Peter Daniel (2010). Animal Liberation Front: Complete Diary of Actions, The First 30 Years. Voice of the Voiceless Communications. ISBN 978-0-9842844-0-5
• Mann, Keith, (2007) From Dusk 'til Dawn: An Insider's View of the Growth of the Animal Liberation Movement, Puppy Pincher Press, ISBN 978-0-9555850-0-5
• Best, Steven, and Nocella, Anthony J, (2004) Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals, Lantern Books, ISBN 1-59056-054-X
• Newkirk, Ingrid, (2000) Free the Animals: The Story of the Animal Liberation Front, Lantern Books, ISBN 1-930051-22-0

Films

• Behind the Mask (ALF)
• Earthlings (documentary)

External links

• Britches
• Barry Horne
• Animal Liberation Front
• Diary of Actions Bite Back
• North American Animal Liberation Press Office