government conducted a targeted campaign to arrest and indict ALF members during the mid-2000s. In coordination with private corporations, the U.S. In May 2005, FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) officials stated that “violent animal rights extremists and eco-terrorists now pose one of the most serious terrorism threats to the nation,” and the ALF was listed as a domestic terrorist threat in a 2005 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) internal planning document. For example, one cell conducted a string of 20 arsons from 1996 through 2001, which caused $40 million of damage to government facilities, such as ranger stations, wildlife facilities, and a police department private companies, such as meat packing companies, a ski resort, a lumber company, a truck center, and a farm an educational institution, such as the University of Washington Horticultural Center and infrastructure, such as a power line.
IS THE ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT A TERRORIST GROUP FREE
branch of the ALF began operating in 1979, when they orchestrated a raid to free laboratory animals from New York University’s Medical Center.īy the 1990s, the ALF established itself as the most infamous and damaging animal rights group in the United States.
In May 1977, activists affiliated with the Undersea Railroad released two dolphins into the ocean from the University of Hawaii’s Institute of Marine Biology. The British ideas and inspirations of the animal rights movement migrated to the United States.
He called for the use of more radicalized action and founded the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) in 1976 as an umbrella organization for any activist willing to engage in violent action in order to combat industries perceived to be violating animal rights. Lee was first a member of the HSA, but he later created an offshoot group, Bands of Mercy, to prevent hunts from ever occurring. The origins of the modern animal rights extremist movement in the United States have ties to British activist Ronnie Lee and the Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA), a group formed to sabotage hunting expeditions as they were underway. It concludes with an assessment that while animal rights extremists intend to achieve their objectives by causing maximum economic and physical damage, the threat they pose to the United States is at a historical low. This analysis provides an overview of the movement’s history, ideology, organizational structure, and targets and tactics in the United States.
Within the past several years, special interest extremism, such as that which is typical of the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front, has emerged as a serious terrorist threat. Domestic terrorism has been defined as the unlawful use, or threatened use, of violence by a group or individual based and operating entirely within the United States (or its territories) without foreign direction, committed against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. The FBI has divided the terrorist threat facing the United States into two broad categories, international and domestic.
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