Activists sue police over protest at A.L.F. target

Animal rights group sue police after unlawful order to disperse at nation’s largest fur feed cooperative, targeted four times by the Animal Liberation Front.

On May 8th, approximately 15 activists from the Salt Lake Animal Advocacy Movement (SLAAM) converged on the Fur Breeder’s Agricultural Cooperative in Sandy, Utah, the largest fur farm feed cooperative in the country. After 30 minutes of protesting (including chants reminding the FBAC their building was burned to the ground by the A.L.F. in 1996) police arrived and gave an order for activists to disperse.

Fur Breeders Agricultural Cooperative

After capturing the unlawful order on video, this week SLAAM sued the police of unincorporated Salt Lake County. The lawsuit includes a formal complaint against the police, a restraining order against police who issued the orders, and permanent injunction against two officers, as the complaint states the group members are “legitimately afraid” of them.

The Fur Breeder’s Agricultural Cooperative (FBAC) has been targeted by the Animal Liberation Front at least four times, including one arson and bombing which thoroughly destroyed one of its buildings. Other actions at the site have included two releases of mink from the experimental fur farm located at the southwest of the facility, where feed is tested on mink. The book Operation Bite Back also details an attempted arson by Rod Coronado in 1991. The incendiary device he placed failed to ignite.

Activists report that on May 8th, approximately 15 people gathered outside the experimental mink farm, on the south end of the FBAC property. Several employee cars pulled into the facility, parking beside a building with a faded sign reading “Fur Research Laboratory”. One of the people who arrived identified himself as the “owner” of the property. Soon after, police arrived and gave an order to disperse or be arrested. Activists documented the unlawful order on video and turned it over to attorneys. The lawsuit followed soon after.

The Fur Breeder’s Cooperative has been a frequent target because of its position as one of, if not the, most vital lynchpins in among the weakest animal abuse industries: fur. The feed supplier is crucial in keeping the nation’s second-largest mink farming state (after Wisconsin) afloat through the production of inexpensive feed. Feed represents 50 to 60% of the total cost of “producing” a mink. The FBAC plant is so significant, when the co-op stopped delivering to one remote Utah town, several mink farms were forced to close.

They arrest activists when they illegally burn down their buildings. They arrest activists when they legally protest. In this “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” catch 22, it should come as no surprise to police and animal abusers when activists make the reasoned assessment to use those tactics which offer both the highest impact and lowest chance of arrest. When protesting becomes illegal, the only avenue left for change is that which animal abusers fear most. A point best made visually, with a photo from inside the Fur Breeder’s Cooperative the morning after its 1997 bombing by the A.L.F.: