Get the updated edition:

• Amazon
• Bookshop.org
• Internationally

Preface To The Updated Edition of Liberate

The mission statement behind Liberate was to serve as the third volume in a trilogy—the trilogy I wish I had when joined the animal liberation movement. Lack of information is rarely to fault for a lack of action, but for those needing a final nudge, this trilogy sought to offer a full-spectrum solution to any information gaps. The three volume set I envisioned looked like this:

• The What (Volume One: ALF Diary Of Actions)
• The How (Volume Two: The ALF Strikes Again)
• The Addenda (i.e. addressing all remaining obstacles to action) (Volume Three: Liberate)

This was the loose outline, As it happened, Liberate would be published second, after challenges in tracking down archival material for Volume II. And The ALF Strikes Again grew so large, it ended up carrying the most of the weight—covering not just the “how,” but most of everything else too.

Liberate’s intent was to fill in major gaps left by the other two on the subject of illegal actions for animals. What happens if you’re caught? What are the psychological requisites for effective action? What are the real risks (vs. imagined)? Does any of this actually help animals? Any objections one might be encumbered with after Volumes I & II, I sought to eliminate with Liberate.

However the first printing of Liberate came with two problems.

The first: ignoring that too much information is often a greater liability than too little. Even before Liberate, the set was at risk of being on the losing end of “less is more.” Liberate’s first edition pushed it further into the danger zone. In its attempt to include everything I’ve said or written on the subject of direct action—and much that was barely even tangentially related—it lost sight of “impact over volume.” The ambition behind Liberate created a problem child of redundancies, externalities, and discordance.

To resolve, over 50 pages were cut for this edition, deliberately chosen to reduce repetition, increase impact, and stay on theme.

The first edition also suffered from what I’ll call a “loose attention to editing.” As a book that was never intended to sell a meaningful number of copies, it was edited as a book never intended to sell a meaningful number of copies. I.e. very, very poorly.

The lecture transcripts were proudly rough—including raw audience Q&A, filler words, and formatting applied with haste, as a distant afterthought. Instead of a highlight reel, the early readers of Liberate received the raw footage.

These oversights are more easily forgiven by understanding Liberate’s intended place in the trilogy hierarchy. The ALF Strikes Again was the foundational text, covering most bases and requiring no one to look further. ALF Diary Of Actions (the “What”) was for the few who sought a digestible history lesson (or a well rounded look at their criminal options). And far, far downstream was Liberate, for the even fewer still who sought an unusual level of depth into this arcane corner of activism.

As it happened, the trilogy sold in reverse order of expectations. This resulted in a four figure number of copies of Liberate in circulation while suffering an editing job worthy only of its expected two figure sales.

To round out the upgrades of this edition, small additions were made to “How They Got In,” “Researching Targets,” and “The Unconventional Liberator”—three chapters for which I have a particular fondness, covering breaking and entering tactics, exposing targets who prefer to remain in hiding, and reviewing various “how to” guides not intended for use by criminals.

This update is a compilation that serves its mission better than the original: a volume seeking to remove any last barriers to action.

The message of this book is not my own. I am just one of many messengers delivering a timeless appeal—to shed the constraint of man made laws that only serve those unworthy of our restraint, in service of those who need us most. While few will heed the call of this book’s message, just one person doing so can spare thousands from the most horrible death and pain.

For liberation,
Peter Young

The post Updated for 2026: “Liberate: Animal Liberation Above The Law” – Revised edition appeared first on Animal Liberation Front-Line: Animal Liberation Front (ALF) / animal rights news.

Here’s what’s new:

1988
Farmer reports 100 mink released from Zimbal Minkery in Sheboygan, WI.
Unclaimed

Late-1990 (date unknown)
Near Elko, NV
Hundreds of birds released from a chukar “game bird” breeding farm. Office also ransacked.
Unclaimed

1992
October 24th
Pocatello, ID
Attempted arson at USDA National Wildlife Research Center Supply Depot. The facility manufactures various poisons and lethal devices to be used on wildlife. Incendiary device left, which failed to burn the building.
Unclaimed

1993
Date unknown
Susanville, CA
Horses freed, offices torched at Bureau of Land Management Wild Burro Corral. Second raid of this facility.
Unclaimed

2000
Tucson, AZ
Two seagulls liberated from a trailer at an off-campus University of Arizona satellite research station. Transported and released in a park.
Unclaimed

2023
January 13th
Dallas, TX
Fences cut overnight at a small primate cage and leopard pens of the Dallas Zoo.
Unclaimed

The post Six new ALF actions added to “Animal Liberation Front: Complete Diary Of Actions” appeared first on Animal Liberation Front-Line: Animal Liberation Front (ALF) / animal rights news.

Just back from the printer: The first assembled timeline of the Animal Liberation Front’s 40+ year history – from broken windows to lab raids.

In 2009, I released the first timeline of the ALF’s (then-) 30 year history. After selling over 1,000 copies, the book went out of print in 2012.

Now, 10 years later, I gave the “A.L.F. Diary Of Actions” a thorough update and all new layout, bringing it up to date for 2022. It is now available in two formats: Free PDF download, or paperback.

Free PDF Download

Enter your email address in the sidebar (right side of the page) and get the PDF emailed to you instantly.

Paperback

Amazon ($6.95 + free shipping)

Bookshop.org (support local bookstores)

30+ other bookselling sites

Internationally (UK, Spain, Canada, more)

ALF: Diary Of Actions (preview)

From the introduction:

“A.L.F.: Complete Diary of Actions is the first attempt at compiling the complete history of recorded A.L.F. actions—from lab raids to paint bombs—in one collection. This is the unwritten history of an underground movement that rises to the call of non-human animals, rescuing them through direct or indirect means under the cover of darkness. With this collection, we wish to offer historians and activists the first attempt at a comprehensive resume of the U.S.’s most prolific underground movement, and the last hope for thousands of animals each year.

The information compiled here was pooled from numerous sources. Every effort was made to verify the accuracy of the data, and ensure the thoroughness of this timeline’s scope. It can be speculated that reported actions represent but only a portion of all A.L.F. (and other) activity. This is not presented as an all-inclusive list. Instead, it attempts to collect all actions reported to the greater movement, and many which were less publicized.

In bringing this information together in one place, some points become evident. The sheer prolificness of underground activists in this 30-year old movement is immense, with over 1,500 recorded actions in 40+ years. For all this activity, fewer than 40 activists have been arrested. Of those, only a small handful have served any substantial amount of prison time. The cost/benefit calculation is clear: for the animal liberation movement, the A.L.F. represents a net gain.

The actions here are diverse, in both tactics and impact. Look closely at this timeline, and it will tell a story. Direct action trends corresponding to above-ground campaigns. Cells building their skill level, evolving their tactics, and disbanding for reasons unknown. We see expertly coordinated lab raids of the 1980s fading to the surge of small-scale property damage of the mid-1990s, the further surge of fur farm raids, the return of the lab raid, and the gradual fading of lower-impact retail-level actions into the less numerous, yet higher-impact actions in the era of this timeline’s end.

The greatest power of the Animal Liberation Front perhaps has yet to be realized. While U.S. history has not yet shown us a focused direct action campaign that has collapsed an entire industry and rid it from this earth forever, no movement should scale it’s hope to the limits of recorded history, but instead to the boundless potential of the unwritten future.

Every activist who attended an anti-fur demo this year pairing off and visiting a fur farm would guarantee there were no fur stores to protest next year. Every person who dined at a vegetarian restaurant today pairing off and visiting a slaughterhouse tonight would ensure every restaurant was vegetarian tomorrow. And every person who refused an animal tested product today striking a high-impact blow against animal experimentation tonight would guarantee a more hopeful future for all of vivisection’s victims.

This is the story of those who make animal liberation a reality.

For Liberation
Peter Young”

The post New Book: ALF – Complete Diary Of Actions appeared first on Animal Liberation Front-Line: Animal Liberation Front (ALF) / animal rights news.

Twelve years ago I started a project  with one goal: to collect every piece of writing from the North American Animal Liberation Front into one massive book.

Over a decade in the making, the book is now live.

“The A.L.F. Strikes Again: The Collected Writings Of The Animal Liberation Front In North America” was compiled to serve as the definitive historical record of the Animal Liberation Front.

Coming in at 700+ pages, the book is available now at these links:

1. Amazon.com (cheapest)
2. Bookshop.org (support local stores)
3. European orders
4. Many other sites + international

Details

• Title: “The A.L.F. Strikes Again: Collected Writings Of The Animal Liberation Front In North America”
• Pages: 704
• ISBN: ‎ 9781732709690
• Price: $14.95 on Amazon, more elsewhere (about 30 cents above cost).

Front & back cover:

Table of Contents

Animal Liberation Front Strikes Again: Table of Contents by Peter_Daniel_Young on Scribd

Part One: How It Was Done – The A.L.F. gives step-by-step accounts of some of their most spectacular animal liberations, including:

• The University Of Arizona (1,200 animals rescued, 1989)
• University of California – Harbor (12 dogs rescued, 1983)
• College Of Notre Dame (250 mice rescued, 2000)
• …and a dozen more

Part Two: Interviews – Rare tell-all interviews with the Animal Liberation Front, including activists behind raids such as:

• The University of Pennsylvania (labs broken into and vivisection footage removed, 1984)
• Texas Tech University (Five cats rescued, 1989)
• University of Alberta (29 cats rescued, 1992)
• …and ten more.

Part Three: Essays – From anonymous bulletins for the A.L.F. to communicate between cells, to overt calls to action, to prison writings – it’s all here. Among them:

• “A.L.F. Bulletin To All Fur Farm Raiders” (message from an A.L.F. cell on optimizing fur farm liberations)
• “Life Underground” (Anonymous A.L.F. member on the necessity of going underground for animal liberation)
• “Fire Is A Good Tool” (Activist behind rescue of 46 dogs from a California lab on regrets over not burning the lab down)
• …and over 15 more.

Part Four: Communiques – Over 150 anonymous statements released after A.L.F. actions, among them:

• University Of Oregon (264 animals rescued, 1986)
• University Of Minnesota (116 animals rescued, 1999)
• United Feeds (fur farm feed supplier burned down, 1999)
• …and over 150 more.

Part Five: How To Guides – Literal manuals on carrying out Animal Liberation Front (A.L.F.) actions – large to small, including:

• An Animal Liberation Primer (introductory manual to basic sabotage techniques)
• How To Sink Whalers (how to sink ships that kill animals)
• The Final Nail (step-by-step guides to raiding fur farms)
• …and more.

Download a sample excerpt

From Section One: “How It Was Done – Raiding Loma Linda University (+more)”

Download here (PDF)

From the intro:

“The largest-ever collection of writings from the Animal Liberation Front

At over 700 pages, this is the definitive look inside the Animal Liberation Front (A.L.F.).

The  A.L.F. Strikes Again is the largest-ever collection of writing from members of the Animal Liberation Front (the “radical fringe of the animal rights movement”), tying together over 40 years of documents and writings with one goal: A complete collection of everything written by the A.L.F. in North America.

The Animal Liberation Front (A.L.F.) intervenes where mainstream animal rights groups have failed. The A.L.F. breaks into buildings, rescues animals, and destroys property of animal abusers. They work outside the law, and, unless caught, their identities are never known.

With few blindspots, this book compiles nearly everything written by the North American A.L.F. – Settling the score on what the A.L.F. is, what they believe, and exactly how they do what they do.

Forty years into the A.L.F.’s history in North America, despite over 1,000 actions, being the subject of multiple congressional hearings, and surviving the label of “America’s number one domestic terrorist threat”—their history has been largely untold.

Academics, journalists, internal opposition and external opposition—many have taken small shots at the full story. Among it all, the A.L.F.’s voice in its own history is the one pushed furthest to the back. In being the saviors of the voiceless, one also becomes the voiceless.

In this collection, the A.L.F.’s voice is restored.

Regarded by many as heroes today, yet regarded by nearly all as heroes tomorrow—this book will play a role in history vindicating the Animal Liberation Front.”

Available now:

1. Amazon.com (cheapest)
2. Powells.com
3. Books A Million
4. Half Price Books
5. Many other sites

I’ll end with the source of the cover image: This article from an Arizona newspaper after the ALF liberated 1,200 animals from the University of Arizona labs in 1989:

PS: Wholesale copies are available in quantities of five or more, sold at-cost (literally the exact cost to print and ship). Email for wholesale rates.

The post New Book: “The A.L.F. Strikes Again” – ALF writing collection appeared first on Animal Liberation Front-Line: Animal Liberation Front (ALF) / animal rights news.

Out now & updated for 2020: “The Blueprint” – New fur farm addresses list.

Called a “terrorist handbook” by fur farmers, the 10th anniversary edition contains massive amounts of new fur farm intelligence, such as:

• Over 100 new fur farms.
• 90+ closed farms.
• Updated analysis on industry vulnerabilities.
• Much more…

Download the PDF
Download here

Buy in book format
Buy on Amazon ($6.95)
Buy on 40+ other sites (slightly more)

Reviews:

“The Blueprint is…. a terrorist handbook.” Utah mink farmer

“A how-to guide for carrying out attacks against mink ranchers.” Park Record

Table of Contents

Part I: The Foundation
How To End the Fur Industry

Part II: Weak Links
State Of The Industry: Why We Are Close To Winning
Feed Suppliers
Processors
Research
Aleutian Disease
Melatonin Implants
Vaccines

Part III: Fur Farm Addresses
History of Fur Farm Intelligence
Fur Industry Address List

Part IV: Addendum
Closed Farm List
Small Farm List
Data Sources
Fur Farm Numbers
Most Wanted List
Adopt A Fur Farm / Further Research

In 2009, The original Blueprint compiled the largest-ever collection of fur industry address and intelligence to date.

Updated for 2020, the new Blueprint compiles all fur industry information gathered in the last 10 years: Over 100 newly discovered farms, updated list of closures, and 17 pages of analysis on the top 6 weaknesses in the industry (vaccines, melatonin implants, more).

From the preface to the updated edition:

“The number of new addresses that have come to light since the original Blueprint are massive. This updated Blueprint offers many times more new info than the original Blueprint (without this editor spending a summer driving to farms).

Here is a rough breakdown of what is new for the updated Blueprint:

• 100+ new fur farm addresses.
• 90+ confirmed farm closures.
• 100+ updated details: addresses, owner names, more.
• More detailed analysis of weaknesses.

Whatever leap forward the first Blueprint offered, the 10th anniversary update offers in vastly greater numbers.

The Blueprint was released in December 2009. Countless hard copies were distributed at animal rights conferences, it was downloaded tens of thousands of times, and it helped introduce to a new generation of activists that the fur industry was comprised of farms and other entities that had physical addresses.

The broader history of fur farm intelligence gathering is traced on page 30, but The Blueprint’s place in it was defined in part by the following:

• Dozens of new fur farm addresses made public.
• Operational status of over 200+ farms confirmed.
• Hundreds of new details on fur farms and other industry sites published (specific addresses, notes on layout, species imprisoned, photographs etc).

The 2009 Blueprint compiled fur industry addresses, weaknesses, analysis, and specific detail on industry targets that had never been compiled in such detail in one place (the original fur farm list The Final Nail deserves original credit for the concept). Much of the details The Blueprint contained were either previously scattered, or altogether unknown.

Among the greatest testimonials to the efficacy of efforts like The Blueprint came from this paraphrasing of the Fur Commission USA’s head of security in Capital Press:

“The days of finding security by keeping a low profile in a rural location are over.”

After its 2009 release, The Blueprint had a cascading effect – both direct and speculative. In the former category, it set off a surge of anonymous research, document leaks, and other industry information coming to light at a pace I have not seen in the 15 years I have tracked the industry. Both myself and platforms like FinalNail.com received anonymous submissions regularly in the years that followed.

If The Blueprint accomplishes nothing else, it’s this small bit of accountability: There’s nowhere to hide, your vulnerabilities are laid bare, and only the reason you still exist is that a small group of dedicated people have yet to apply the knowledge contained here to its maximum impact.”

The Blueprint: Ending The F… by fur_industry_docs on Scribd

The post Out now: New “terrorist’s handbook,” updated for 2020 appeared first on Animal Liberation Front-Line: Animal Liberation Front (ALF) / animal rights news.

Over the last decade, I have been slowly (very slowly) compiling writings and lecture transcripts into book form, and that book has arrived.

“Liberate: Animal Liberation Above The Law, Stories And Lessons On The Animal Liberation Front, Animal Rights Activism, & The Animal Liberation Underground“

Liberate comes in at nearly 400 pages with essays spanning nearly 20 years.

A sample of the subjects I cover:

• Breaking into farms and labs.
• Researching ALF targets.
• Fugitive stories of being hunted by the FBI.
• History of ALF lab raids.
• How to liberate animals from farms (and more).
• Prison survival for activists.
• Anecdotes and lessons from being targeted law enforcement.
• The outlaw’s guide to security culture.
• The “seven laws of militance.”
• Actionable lessons and tactics from the Animal Liberation Front.

…and more.

• Order on Amazon
• Order from 30+ other sites

Table of Contents

The story of Liberate

Even at a glacial writing and speaking pace, over 10 years the material adds up. But I never thought I was within a light-year of having a books-worth of content, and never considered doing one.

Then several years ago, a book editor asked me to submit an article specifically on how people are caught for Animal Liberation Front actions. As it happened, I had given a talk on this exact subject many years prior. So I went into my archives to locate my notes. But with the passing of many years, the hunt was fruitless. And with no known recording of the talk and forced to write from scratch or decline the invitation, I choose the latter.

I was left to lament the transience of messages delivered from a podium. All that remained for the effort was a stack of boarding passes, cheap applause, occasional audience feedback, and a cobbled- together folder on my computer of video recordings and audio files from the rare organizer (with more initiative than me) who thought ahead to preserve the moment.

This inspired me to take steps to preserve what content I did have in my possession, mostly written. The mission took me across eight retired computers, dozens of boxes, email accounts with forgotten passwords, and even college libraries to photocopy published essays I had no backup of.

Despite my clear failure as an archivist, I was able to cobble together about 150 pages of material – most of it unpublished or seen by few.

When I saw the material came in at a combined 150 pages, I had a brief thought that there could be a book here. But it wasn’t enough.

I advanced to Phase Two of my archivist mission: rounding up the very few lecture recordings that existed from my time speaking at colleges and elsewhere. The recordings were few, but I did preserve about a dozen records that I thought had been lost forever (or never knew existed at all).

At some point I learned you can pay people $1 a minute to transcribe recordings. After handing off my files to them, they returned a megafile of over 15 hours of edited transcriptions. I edited these transcripts down by over 80%, and pushed the project to over 300 pages of material.

The transcripts – along with other loose ends comprised of published writings, unpublished writings, and podcast interviews –  came together to form Liberate.

In Part One, I immediately betray the book’s central mission of “actionable content” with an assemblage of personal interviews & writings, absent of any tactical guidance and merely contextualizing what’s to come.

In Part Two, the action. The principles of moving from idea to execution. When many talk but few strike, what is the exact architecture of beliefs that creates the warrior mindset? I’ve spent years looking at this question and deliver specific insights.

In Part Three, two short entries on the subject of Research & Investigation. Because you can’t shut down what you can’t find.

In Part Four, I move from high-level mindset to hyper-specific: Working outside the law to rescue animals, and the history of those who have. From the laser-focused tactical (“How They Got In”) to the esoteric and editorial (“The Enemy Within”), this is the section specific to those who have broken the law – or want to.

In Part Five, guerrilla media-generation. When an action (of any kind) happens, the work doesn’t end there. You insure an impact that extends far beyond by accessing the media through a secret back door. This is the poorman’s public relations formula: what to do when you have no money, no contacts, perhaps not even a story. I open up my media playbook to generate massive publicity without PR firms or media connections.

In Part Six, what happens after you get caught: prison. Few subjects relevant to the animal liberator are both so under-reported and so willfully misrepresented when they are.

In Part Seven, how to respond to attempts by the government to stop ourmwork. Passivity will always find an excuse. The true threat we face isn’t “government repression,” it’s how we respond to it.

Then, Outtakes. With so much left on the editing room floor across dozens of lecture transcripts and interviews, I offer a small sampling of excerpts acrossm many years. When I felt an item had value that wasn’t covered elsewhere – eitherma useful point, historical curiosity, or engaging anecdote – it was included (in 9-point font) here.

The book ends with a deliberately-positioned message to any animal liberation activist advancing in years, and how the greatest threat to your long term efficacy isn’t the FBI, it’s irrelevance through blind conformity to your “radical activist” identity.

My mission with Liberate is explicit: To write the book I wish I had access to when I was 18 and eager to shortcut past the learning curve of taking effective action.

Thanks for reading.

-Peter Young

Where To Order…

The book is about a cheap as it gets for something almost 400 pages: $9.95 on Amazon, and a little more everywhere else.

The post New Book: Liberate – Animal Liberation, Above The Law appeared first on Animal Liberation Front-Line: Animal Liberation Front (ALF) / animal rights news.

Since Animal Enterprise Terrorism charges were filed against Kevin Olliff & Tyler Lang in July, the FBI has released new information outlining the evidence against them.

Background

In August 2013, the pair were pulled over eight miles from a fox farm in rural Illinois. The night before, 2,000 mink were released from a fur farm several hours away, in Morris, Illinois. Both were charged with and plead guilty to “Possession of Burglary Tools” for various items found in their vehicle, the most “serious” of which was a pair of wire cutters.

A year later, in July 2014, the two were charged on the federal level on charges of “Animal Enterprise Terrorism” for the Illinois mink release.

New evidence unveiled last week

The lawyer for Kevin Olliff filed a motion for release on bail last week, prompting the government to file an 11-page response that gives the first glimpse into specific evidence being used against them. Among the most absurd: satirical hip hop lyrics and baseball hats.

The evidence

• “Animal extremist” publications.” Quote:

“A flash drive which contained two known and widely circulated publications amongst animal rights extremists. Agents reviewed the publications, which revealed that the authors of the publications advocated the release of minks and foxes from fur farms and also advocated vandalism of the farms. The publications set forth instructions on how to accomplish the release of the animals, including by suggesting the use of new bolt cutters for each act of vandalism, to turn off cellular telephones leading up to and during the act of vandalism, and to obtain police radio scanners to detect law enforcement presence in the area.”

• Lists of fur farms.
• “Cutting tools, bolt cutters, and smaller snips”
• Cell phones that records show were “turned off in the days leading up to the mink farm vandalism.”
• A radio frequency scanner. Quote:

“A search of the radio frequency scanner recovered from the vehicle determined that the radio had been set to detect radio frequencies used by law enforcement in both Morris, Illinois, and Woodford County, Illinois.”

• “Items consistent with committing a vandalism” (sic) including rubber gloves, ski masks, ball caps, bolt cutters, and miscellaneous cutters.
• Aircraft paint remover.
• Various books.
• “Mink fur” traces recovered from clothing.

The most outlandish of the claims

The most erroneous of the government’s claims is that acid, bleach and peroxide allegedly found in the car are “necessary components to build an incendiary device.” The specific quote:

Five bottles of muriatic acid; two bottles of Clorox bleach; one container of hydrogen peroxide. These substances taken together are necessary components to build an incendiary device.

A cursory Google search (which I don’t recommend on your home compuster) shows this claim to be completely false. These are simply not ingredients in incendiary devices.

The government doesn’t hesitate to use conspiracy charges against suspects, and if they could in any way substantiate their claim there was an arson plot, or even that the items found could be used in one, they would have done so.

Hip hop is not a crime: Satirical rap lyrics used as evidence

In an odd lack of concern for looking stupid, the FBI is attempting to use a handwritten note allegedly retrieved from Kevin’s pants pocket, containing satirical hip hop lyrics.

An (edited) sample:

“According to the courts, I’m doing something deeply illegal.

So many warrants I’m bored of ducking police vehicles.

The devil told me that I’m fundamentally evil.

I get my protein when I hunt and eat people.

Sicker than a vivisector stuck with a diseased needle..

My only vegan recipes start with gasoline and diesel.”

From court documents filed last week.

While the FBI has never been accused of having a sense of humor, or being versed in hip hop, they should either:

• Get clued in to traditional lyrical stylings of rap music, which these lampooning rhymes are consistent with, or-
• Be consistent and criminally indict every hip hop artist using criminal-themed fantasy lyrics since the beginning of recorded rap music in 1979.

The issue of rap lyrics being used in criminal cases has been put before the courts many times, as an NPR story from August covers well: “Court Says Rap Lyrics Can’t Be Used As Evidence In A Criminal Trial.”

To quote a lawyer interviewed in the above article:

“One would not presume that Bob Marley, who wrote the well-known song ‘I Shot the Sheriff,’ actually shot a sheriff, or that Edgar Allan Poe buried a man beneath his floorboards, as depicted in his short story ‘The Tell-Tale Heart,’ simply because of their respective artistic endeavors on those subjects.”

Later this year, the Supreme Court is set to take up this issue when it hears arguments in a case in which rap lyrics were used in a man’s conviction.

Other details revealed

The government is claiming 400 of the 2,000 mink released in Morris, Illinois were not recovered. These figures are always to be considered extremely suspect, as they originate from the fur farmers themselves.

The government motion also gives a look at the impact of even a “small” mink release, particularly the expense of lost breeding data, and that the financial impact of a mink release extends far beyond the animals not recovered:

Even for the recovered mink, however, the farmers were harmed in that they were unable to determine the original breed for re-sale. The damage to the mink, which was the sole livelihood of the farm, together with the physical damage to the vehicles, the barn, and the fence, devastated the farmers, resulting in a loss in excess of $125,000.

Kevin’s release uncertain

The judge has yet to rule on the dueling motions, which determine whether he will be released on bail at the conclusion of his state sentence on October 15th.

Stay up to date on developments in the case on the Support Kevin & Tyler website.

The post Hip hop is not a crime: Lyrics used as evidence in mink release case appeared first on Animal Liberation Front-Line: Animal Liberation Front (ALF) / animal rights news.

In a communique received by Bite Back, the Animal Liberation Front took credit for releasing 30 foxes from the fur farm owned by Robert Roman in Anamosa, Iowa on September 25th, 2014.

According to the communique, fencing on the east and west side were cut away, and cages opened, allowing 30 foxes to escape.

Fur farmer detects raid at 2am

According the fur farmer Robert Roman, he detected the break-in at 2am when his dogs began barking.

 “Their activities were disrupted,” he said. “I think they fled.”

Media continues to quote fur farmers on animals’ likelihood of survival

In a message aimed at the media to head off erroneous claims of released animals dying due to lack of survival skills, the Animal Liberation Front gave them these words:

“We encourage the media to maintain their professional integrity by seeking comment from actual wildlife biologists about the survivability of farm-raised fox, not fur farmers or their trade groups.”

However, the media continued to solicit quotes from fur farmers on this subject, and not those with qualified opinions.

Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act may not be applicable

According to an Iowa FBI agent, the damages may not have exceeded $10,000, which, according to the agent, is the threshold for an AETA prosecution. As such, this may not be a case prosecuted by the Department of Justice, and if those responsible are caught, the case may be prosecuted locally-

” The law that enables FBI involvement in the crime requires at least a $10,000 loss that has not yet been established in this case, she said.”

First fur farm raid of the year

After ten releases of fur farm animals in 2013, this is the first fur farm liberation of 2014.

All animals recaptured, say police

According to police and the fur farmer, only two animals actually left their pens, and both were recaptured. There are reportedly 300 foxes held captive at the fur farm.

An aerial view of the Rob Roman fox farm.

The communique

The full ALF communique reads, in full:

“The Animal Liberation Front is taking responsibility for the release of 30 foxes from a fur farm in Anamosa, Iowa in the late-evening of Thursday, September 25th 2014. 10 years after the 2004 raid of the University of Iowa, the ALF has returned to east-central Iowa.

The farm targeted was:

Robert Roman
23778 Fairview Road
Anamosa, IA 52205

The majority of fencing on the farm’s east and west sides were stripped away. The fencing on the north was enveloped in heavy brush and unlikely to be a point of passage, while the south abutted a shed retrofitted with living quarters, with lights on and a car outside, indicating we were not alone.

An advantage of releasing foxes over mink is that foxes are silent. As a result, the proximity of fox pens to a farmer’s house is irrelevant, as we have shown.

Future visitors to fox farms should be aware that foxes are extremely timid. Unlike mink they should be encouraged to exit their cages as a vital ingredient of any fox rescue.

A point worth repeating: This entire action required $40 in gas, $20 in tools, and only a few hours to execute.

The past two years has seen a tenfold increase in the number of known fox farm addresses. The animal liberation movement is now in an unprecedented position to wipe out fox farming in the United States. Fox farms represent the softest of targets for these reasons:

• Fox farms are small, with animal numbers usually in the dozens.
• Foxes are silent (mentioned above).
• Foxes are rarely a primary income source for farmers, who can be more easily persuaded to discontinue fox farming.
• There are under 150 fox farms known to exist.

Foxes are genetically wild. There is a large and thriving wild fox population in Iowa. We encourage the media to maintain their professional integrity by seeking comment from actual wildlife biologists about the survivability of farm-raised fox, not fur farmers or their trade groups.

To be clear, our mission extends far beyond fur. We aim to eradicate all animal-exploitation industries – meat, dairy, egg, animal research, and beyond. We encourage the public to adopt a vegan diet first; raid farms second.

A final message to activists: The ALF doesn’t need your passive support. We need your active participation.

Animal Liberation Front

Dedicated to accused mink rescuers currently under federal indictment in the United States, and activists making history in Eastern Europe.”

The post 30 foxes released by the Animal Liberation Front in Iowa appeared first on Animal Liberation Front-Line: Animal Liberation Front (ALF) / animal rights news.

I rarely do reposts, but this article from Sparrow Media is too good to not share.

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“One day while walking on a New York sidewalk, a couple stopped in front of me and embraced. I noticed that as the woman held her partner, she peered over his shoulder, with her eyes affixed to the reflection that they cast in a large plate glass window adjacent to where they stood.

I changed my path and made an effort not to walk between the couple and their reflection in the window. It seemed as if the woman wanted nothing more than to capture this reflection and emotional embrace in her memory. Who was I to stand—metaphorically (and literally)—in the way of that?

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I began to feel like a bloated water balloon, still affixed to a running tap: bursting was inevitable, and I was already leaking…

One day shortly thereafter I was taking my son and our dog Morgan for a walk to the park. Morgan’s eyes are starting to glaze over with age, and it’s only in a vast open field at the rear of the park that I let her off her leash. In the field she does not have any risk of running into anything and every time I unhook her leash, she dashes off, running as fast as she can, usually in a giant figure eight pattern. On this day she did the same but unexpected to me, in that very moment, seeing her run free and unhinged my balloon popped. I found myself crying and adrift in a whirlwind of emotions.

I thought to myself of just how many days I spent talking about negative things (state repression, court cases) or reciting bewildering and often disheartening statistics about human consumption of animals, and just how few days I spent talking about freedom, about liberation, and about this beautiful and deeply spiritual idea of animals as individuals.

I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on some of these individuals.

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Renee

Renee was a rhesus macaque monkey. Renee had spent 11 years in confinement, her health was ailing, and her future uncertain. She was never experimented upon, but rather was listlessly awaiting experiments at another facility. I sat for two hours in a thunderstorm before jumping the gates to the compound where she was held and bringing her to sanctuary.
Every year I think about Renee. I’ll never forget how Renee, despite being in an animal carrier, still managed to tear up the back seat of my mother’s car. I’ll never forget about how her prolonged poor health rendered her barren, and I’ll never forget about how her inherent desire to be a mother made her the perfect guardian for an infant monkey who ended up at her sanctuary a year later. I’ll never forget this selflessness in Renee. Renee gave something priceless to that little monkey and moreover, years later she would give me something priceless.

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Alice

Alice was born at a breeder for vivisection and lived for six months in a holding pen for reserve research animals, en route to testing facilities. I opened Alice’s pen and carried her to safety. I had to run over a mile and a half with Alice before reaching our exit vehicle and while I was running, Alice threw up on me. Before getting in the car with Alice I put her down. I saw her sway and then land on her side. She was motionless for nearly a minute. In this moment of desperately trying to understand what was happening to Alice my comrades and I began to yell at each other. We fumbled to find her pulse; we thought the worst and my friend to my right began to cry. Then, almost as fast as she fell down, she sprang back up, wagged her tail and licked me in the face. We would later learn that Alice had an ailment that impacted her equilibrium, but would ultimately live a long, happy and healthy life.
This was the first time in Alice’s life she felt anything other than concrete under her feet. It was overwhelming for both her and us, because in that moment we both received something very special.

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Oscar

Oscar was also born into a facility that bred waterfowl for vivisection. Oscar would have but six months before he would end up on a necropsy table, unless someone interceded. It only made sense to intercede.
In our months of advance recognizance, we took notice of Oscar. He had a limp, one leg was shorter than the other, and he was only partially covered with his plumage. He was at a disadvantage from the peers with which he shared his installation, yet we’d watch as every night he and a dozen others would pile together to keep warm. On the night when we freed Oscar from his confines, he rode on a truck with hundreds of those peers.
Our trip was nerve-racking. We hoped to reach the sanctuary by sunrise. The temperature outside was in the 50s but the back of the truck was 80 degrees and climbing. Every stop we made to open the back of the truck to allow cool air in was another risk of being caught and every moment above 80 degrees was another risk to the safety of the birds inside. When we arrived, the walls of the truck were wet with condensed sweat.
We met the sanctuary owner. The man was a saint, and I felt guilty that he actually thought my name was Holden Caulfield. He led us to where we could unload our friends, an adapted Quonset Hut reminiscent of a miniature airplane hanger with a greenhouse top and an exit to an adjacent field and pond.
Oscar’s friends, in a brilliant chorus of noise and motion, ran en masse toward the pond and dove in. It was so brilliant, it almost felt choreographed. But I quickly became concerned and asked the sanctuary owner if the transition from a hot truck to the cold waters of a Pacific Northwest pond were dangerous. He acknowledged these concerns and suggested we wade out into the pond and begin clapping our hands to wrangle our friends back in. Slowly, they made their way from the pond back to the warmth of the hanger, shaking the water off in what looked like celebratory dancing, but then we saw Oscar…

Oscar was stumbling on himself and his breathing was erratic. He was not shaking the water off.

We dried Oscar with towels and moved him to an adjacent warm space by himself. We wanted him to feel safe; we wanted him to feel loved; we wanted him to recover from whatever shock he was experiencing, but he did not. Oscar died that afternoon.

I have never been able to forgive my recklessness of that day. But I also know I will never be able to capture in words the awe of seeing Oscar and his friends celebrate their first day of freedom. Oscar and each of his friends gave me lasting inspiration and insight into the very act of being alive and free.

The post “I Used to Break into Laboratories to Free Animals” appeared first on Animal Liberation Front-Line: Animal Liberation Front (ALF) / animal rights news.

Empty chicken barn goes up in flames at USDA research center

A fire is under investigation at a large USDA agricultural research center in Beltsville, Maryland. A multi-story chicken barn went up in flames at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center on March 14th. No animals were in the building at the time of the fire, and no animals were harmed.

There has been no public speculation by investigators as to the fire’s cause, and the fire remains under investigation.

Lab was target of 1980s raid

The research center was the target of a raid claimed by the Band of Mercy, who broke into the facility in 1987, rescuing 36 cats and 7 pigs.

The facility, run by the USDA, conducts animal research to benefit various animal and non-animal industries, including the meat industry.

Second mysterious fire at the lab in 15 years

The Beltsville Agricultural Research Center was the site of another unsolved fire in 1999. In that incident, an under-renovation research building was destroyed by an overnight fire. 100 firefighters with 35 pieces of equipment battled the blaze, which destroyed the building and caused $4 million in damages. Again, investigators would not speculate as to a cause.

The post Fire destroys building at USDA animal research lab appeared first on Animal Liberation Front-Line: Animal Liberation Front (ALF) / animal rights news.