XPost: alt.animals.ethics.vegetarian, rec.pets.cats.misc, alt.pets.rabbits   
   XPost: rec.pets.birds   
      
   On 3 Mar 2005 10:37:16 -0800, "Tim Campbell"  wrote:   
      
   >   
   >Feds using terrorism excuse to crack down on eco-activists   
   >   
   >The U.S. government is using the Patriot Act to go after radical   
   >environmental activists -- and some unfortunate folks who just happen   
   >to look like them -- by branding them as "terrorists."   
      
       Good, since that's what they are.   
      
   [...]   
   >Thanks to the Patriot Act, groups or   
   >individuals deemed terrorists lose several constitutional protections   
   >and can be surveilled without a warrant.  "It's a ludicrous extension   
   >of the word terrorist," says professor Steven Best of the University   
   >of Texas at El Paso, who has written about the animal-rights   
   >movement.  "It drains it of any meaning."   
   _________________________________________________________   
   September 5, 2004: East Peckham, England: Animal Rights activists vowed   
   to launch ten "terror attacks" a night across Britain. An ALF spokesman at   
   a "training camp" for AR activists to learn "direct action" said "Ten attacks   
   a night would be an absolute minimum "Think of the number of butcher   
   shops: at least a couple of windows are already being broken every night   
   and then you have people spraying graffiti on cars to those targeting   
   employees of Huntingdon Life Sciences." There have been reports of at   
   least six serious incidents in the last ten days, including attacks on cars   
   and other property of people connection with GlaxoSmithKline, HLS, and   
   a farm raising guinea pigs for research.   
      
   August 11, 2002:   
   Arson by the ELF caused $700,000 worth of damage at a Forest Service lab   
   in Irvine, PA, and destroyed 70 years of research focused on maintaining a   
   healthy forest ecosystem. An e-mail from Elf's office said "While innocent   
   life will never be harmed in any action we undertake, where it is necessary,   
   we will no longer hesitate to pick up the gun to implement justice, and   
   provide the needed protection for our planet that decades of legal battles,   
   pleading protest, and economic sabotage have failed so drastically to   
   achieve." It further stated that all Forest Service stations were targeted,   
   and, if rebuilt, the Pennsylvania station would be targeted for complete   
   destruction.   
      
   September 21, 2001 UK:   
   Ashley Broadley Glynn Harding, the mail bomber   
   who sent 15 letter bombs to animal-related businesses and individuals over   
   a three-month period last winter, was sentenced to indefinite detention in   
   mental hospital. Additional court ordered restrictions mean that Harding will   
   not be released until the Home Secretary is satisfied that he poses no risk to   
   the public. The bomber's mail terror campaign injured two adults and one   
   child, one woman lost her left eye, the child scarred for life. At trial,   
   evidence   
   indicated that he had intended to mail as many as 100 letter bombs.   
      
   August 16, 2001 UK:   
   One of the three men who assaulted Brian Cass, managing director of   
   Huntingdon Life Sciences, at his home, received a sentence of three years in   
   jail for his part in the attack. David Blenkinsop and two others donned ski   
   masks and ambushed Cass as he arrived home, bludgeoning him with wooden   
   staves and pickaxe handles. DNA on the handles and Blenkinsop’s clothing   
   helped convict him of the offense.   
      
   June 12, 2001 MO:   
   A 30-year-old animal rights activist attacked a   
   "Survivor" series cast member at a workplace safety promotion, pepper   
   spraying him in the face and hitting several onlookers, including children, as   
   well. Police arrested the attacker. Michael Skupin, who lasted six weeks on   
   "Survivor," attributed the attack to his killing of a pig for food on the   
   series.   
      
   May 31, 2001 Canada:   
   In a raid late this month, Toronto police arrested   
   two men and put out an appeal for apprehension of a third in connection   
   with animal cruelty charges stemming from the videotaped skinning of live   
   animals. The video showed a cat being tortured and killed allegedly by a   
   self-styled artist and vegan protesting animal cruelty. Anthony Ryan   
   Wenneker, 24, and Jessie Champlain Powers, 21 were arrested. The raid   
   turned up a headless, skinned cat in the refrigerator, along with other   
   animal skeletons, including a dog, some mice and rats, and the videos.   
   Police are searching for the third person seen in the videos.   
      
   May 23, 2001 UK:   
   Three men, ages 34, 31 and 34, were arrested for the   
   attack on Brian Cass, Director of Huntingdon Life Sciences. The baseball bat   
   brandishing attackers split Cass' scalp and bruised him and sprayed a   
   would-be rescuer with CS gas on February 22, 2001. One of the men was   
   arrested at an animal sanctuary run by TV script writer Carla Lane.   
      
   May 9, 2001 Israel:   
   Shraga Segal, an immunologist and former dean of the   
   Ben-Gurion University medical school, resigned his post as chairman of the   
   government body that supervises research involving animals. Segal received   
   a faxed death threat and threats of violence against his family.   
      
   April 27, 2001 WA:   
   Governor Gary Locke signed into law this week a   
   measure that would make it a misdemeanor to knowingly interfere with or   
   recklessly injure a guide dog, or to allow one's dog to obstruct or intimidate   
   a guide dog. Repeat offenses could net up to one year in jail and a $5,000   
   fine. The measure sailed through the legislature in record time after reports   
   of blind people being harassed by animal rights fanatics, both verbally and   
   by looking for opportunities to separate the guide dogs from their owners.   
      
   April 19, 2001 UK:   
   In the US District Court for the District of New Jersey,   
   the US subsidiary of Huntingdon Life Sciences joined in the filing of an   
   amended complaint against SHAC, Voices for Animals, Animal Defense   
   League, In Defense of Animals, and certain individuals. The amended filing   
   asserts claims under the Civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization   
   Statute (RICO) and cited physical attacks on individual employees, death   
   threats, bomb threats, destruction of property, burglary, harassment and   
   intimidation; and also asserts claims for interference with contractual   
   relations and economic advantage. The original plaintiffs in the action were   
   the Stephens Group and its wholly owned investment-banking subsidiary,   
   Stephens, Inc.   
      
   February 23, 2001 UK:   
   In a major public escalation of animal rights terrorist violence, the managing   
   director of Huntingdon Life Sciences was attacked as he arrived home by   
   three masked goons wielding baseball bats or ax handles. Brian Cass, 53,   
   bludgeoned with head and body wounds and bruises, including a 3-inch   
   scalp gash, was saved from further injury by his girl friend's screams and   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)