Dozens of Pheasants Freed From Oregon Game Farm

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Animal Liberation Front frees birds from farm outside Portland.

In a communique posted by Bite Back, the Animal Liberation Front took credit for releasing “dozens” of pheasants from Primrose Pheasant Farm in Canby, Oregon. The communique alluded to the purpose of the farm: breeding birds for both their flesh, and canned hunts.

In March, the ALF freed 100 pheasants from another farm in Oregon. The raids mark a small  but emerging trend in ALF actions: targeting facilities that breed wildlife. Whereas in the past the ALF’s wildlife-related actions were dedicated to fur farms, over the past several years numerous other wildlife facilities have been raided – including farms breeding pheasants, elk, and deer.

Locating and targeting wildlife operations is a logical progression in ALF tactics. Focusing on animals that survive in the wild relieves activists of a  major burden present in actions such as laboratory liberations: having to find homes for animals. Removing this step means anyone with a car and a pair of wire cutters can free hundreds or thousands of animals from farms that breed anything from woodchucks to quail.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife does not appear to publish a list of licensed game farms like the one raided this week, however a company called “Game Birds R Us” in Scio, OR; holds a “Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO)”  permit.

The full communique reads:

“On the night of September 21, 2012, saboteurs tore open a lone flight pen located at the newly incorporated Primrose Pheasant Farm (27368 S. Primrose Path Canby, Oregon), releasing dozens of slaughter-bound ring-necked pheasants into the countryside.

Naturalized populations of ring-necked pheasants have resided in the Willamette Valley for hundreds of years and the surrounding farm land serves as ideal habitat that these captive bred non-domesticated birds can undoubtedly survive in. Destined otherwise to be killed by butchers and sport hunters, these sentient beings will now get the chance to live out the rest of their natural lives in the wild.

For the silent ones..

A.L.F.”

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Fur Farmers Release Guide to Preparing for ALF Raid

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To prepare for “fur farm raiding season”, a fur farming group distributes an ALF-raid preparation flier.

Historically, June is the beginning of “fur farm raiding season”, when mink born in March mature to a state where they can be liberated. To prepare, the Fur Commission USA is distributing a two-page document titled “Trespass Season Is Coming. Are You Ready?”, to help mink farmers prepare for possible raids by the Animal Liberation Front.

The concern over ALF raids is well-warranted. Since 1995, there have been over 90 raids on fur farms across the US.  A (well-done) chart included in the flier traces the rise and fall of ALF fur farm raids, from the peak of 1997 and 1998, to a whole year without a documented action in 2006, to another small surge in 2008 (and 2011, not shown in the chart).

These are some of the more interesting notes from the document:

*The flier instructs fur farmers that “we must be on guard from June to October, the period ALF’s The Final Nail calls the ‘window of time advisable for fur farm liberations’.”

*It instructs fur farmers to report any suspicious activity to the FCUSA for their “Neighborhood Watch Report”.

*Quote: “Should your farm be hit by terrorists, call 911. This is an emergency.” Second, farmers are instructed to call their breeder’s association to solicit other farmers to round up mink; and third, to call the Fur Commission USA directly at 541-595-8568.

*Especially interesting, the Fur Commission offers these resources directly to law enforcement:

“• A Neighborhood Watch Report detailing suspicious activities, license plates, and “criminal acts”.
• A large library of documents on animal rights and eco-terrorism in the Press Kit section of the FCUSA website and in a password-protected section.
• A “Netwatch e-mail news service of articles, press releases and alerts relating to eco-terrorism”.

Here is a full scan of the flier (click to enlarge):

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Four Chickens Liberated from an Oregon Egg Farm

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Egg farm in Oregon is raided by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) for the second time this year.

This week, Bite Back received an anonymous communique from the Animal Liberation Front claiming responsibility for the liberation of four chickens from an Oregon factory farm. The ALF communique stated this was the same farm from which six hens were liberated in January.

The communique reads, in full:

“During the second week of May 2012, two activists entered an egg farm located in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. 4 hens were removed from the premises and placed in good homes where they will live out the rest of their natural lives. This is the same farm where 6 hens were liberated last January.

This action was done to save these individual animals from the torture and misery intrinsic to industrialized egg production, as well as to demonstrate that although we may not be able to free every animal, we can free some. This was done in full solidarity with the anarchists and animal liberationists facing state repression here on the west coast and abroad.

Freeing the prisoners.
ALF

**We are intentionally omitting the name, address, and specifics of the farm targeted. The relatively small number of animals taken will most likely, once again, go unnoticed by the farmer and will hopefully allow us to take advantage of the non-existent security on this farm for future raids and investigations.”

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Bite Back Magazine Publishes 2011 Year End Report

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New report from Bite Back covers an entire year of direct action and the ALF.

The new 2011 direct action report by the editors of Bite Back is out. The 12-page publication summarizes an entire year of actions by the Animal Liberation Front and other groups who work outside the law to save animals. The report includes:

*Full color photos of animal liberations and sabotage actions (great photo of the torched Rocky Mountain Fireworks and Fur in Idaho + more)

*”Ten Best” of 2011 list (including “most destructive” and “best camera work”)

*A complete list of every reported ALF action (and actions claimed by other groups) worldwide.

Get a copy by sending $1 to:

Bite Back Magazine
222 Lakeview Ave
Ste. 160-231
West Palm Beach FL 33401

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Why Would Farmers Claiming to Fear “Eco-Terrorists” Publish A Map of Their Farm?

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When farmers post detailed maps of their farms, “eco-terrorism” fears are exposed as hype.

After the Animal Liberation Front burned 14 trucks at a large stockyard in California, local farmers repeated ad nauseum that they lived in fear of  militant animal rights activists and “eco-terrorism”. With literally tens of thousands of stockyards, farms, and slaughterhouses in the Central Valley alone, and only one ALF arson, these cries of an activist “siege” sound suspiciously fake.

To understand that animal abusers are lying about “living in fear” of the ALF, look closely at the website for Metzer Farms. The company breeds birds for laboratories, pets, and meat. As such, it would be a prime target for the Animal Liberation Front. But there is one thing a business legitimately afraid of “eco-terrorists” doesn’t do…

Publish a detailed map of their farm – including which animals are in which buildings. (Click to enlarge)

Below this image on the Metzer Farms site is this list:

1 – Hatchery
2 – Greenhouse (holding many of our small breeder duck flocks)
3 – Brooder Room (for small numbers of birds)
4 – Building 1 (duck breeders)
5 – Shavings and Hay Bunkers
6 – Building 2 (duck breeders)
7 – Building 3 (duck breeders)
8 – South Goose Breeder Pens
9 – Tool/Maintenance Shed
10 – Mallard Pens
11 – North Goose Breeder Pens
12 – Red Barn (brooder building for large flocks)
13 – Our Home (for our brood)

View the full blog post here.

Metzer Farms is in central California, approximately 85 miles from Harris Ranch, the target of the recent ALF action that has elicited so much “fear” from California farmers. This is the region farmers claim are “under attack” by “agri-terrorists”. Their manufactured fear-frenzy has included:

*Offering large rewards for information leading to the capture of the Animal Liberation Front

*Proposed laws that would charge anyone arrested for ALF arsons at stockyards with the same crimes used for fires that kill people.

*An “Agri-Terrorism Seminar“, where farmers will learn from the “experts” how to “protect” their operation.

Bottom line: Animal abusers are exaggerating the threat of the Animal Liberation Front and “eco-terrorism” to further their offensive against all facets of the animal liberation movement.

If they were really afraid, they wouldn’t be handing the world a blueprint of their farm.

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Nine Chickens Liberated in Two Northwest Egg Farm Raids

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According to Bite Back, the Animal Liberation Front has taken credit for two egg farms raids which saw the rescue of nine chickens.

According to the communique, the first was in January, where six chickens were liberated from an unspecified farm in Oregon. The second was in February, where three chickens were liberated in Washington, also from an unspecified farm.

The ALF communique describes the actions as “small”, but I disagree.

The full communique reads:

“Some small actions:

January 2012: 6 hens were removed from an intensive egg farm located in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

February 2012: 3 chickens were rescued and re-homed from a broiler farm in Washington state.

Escaping the horrors of the factory farm, these individuals will live out the remainder of their lives in freedom in open fields.

Solidarity with non-cooperating green scare prisoners and those on the run.

Every life counts,

ALF”

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Animal Liberation Front Releases Pheasants From Breeding Farm

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ALF takes credit for cutting fences and releasing 75 to 100 birds in Oregon.

In the latest of a string of ALF actions in Oregon over the past several years, the Animal Liberation Front stripped away 200 feet of fencing from an aviary at a pheasant breeder in Scio the night of March 14th. Between 75 and 150 pheasants were released into the wild.

The target was a breeding farm, where birds were bred to be sold to canned hunting operations.

Owner Gary Bochsler confirmed that his farm had been raided and 75 pheasants released. He said his farm was nearly empty at the time of the raid, because it was near the conclusion of the hunting season and most of the animals had already been sold to be killed by fake hunters in canned hunting operations.

Scio was the site of another ALF action in 2008. The S&N Mink Farm was targeted in that action, and pproximately 150 mink were released. An investigation of the farm shortly after in 2009 revealed it to be empty, and most likely closed.

In the most colorful way possible, Bochsler expressed concern over his ability to prevent the Animal Liberation Front from returning:

“The problem is now I’ve got to stop it somehow… I’ll have to put up lighting and booby traps: Try to catch them just like I catch the varmints, like I catch the skunks.”

The full ALF communique reads:

“Last night, the night of March 14th, we infiltrated the property Queener Ridge Pheasant Company (40485 Queener Drive, Scio, OR) which breeds ringneck pheasants primarily to be murdered in commercial canned hunts. After jumping a barbed wire fence, we made our way to the main breeding facility where we dismantled a huge section of an aviary that held between 75-150 pheasants; liberating them into the night sky. Although the number of animals freed represented only a tiny fraction of the thousands more still held captive on this farm, we feel that every life saved–no matter how few–is a victory.

Ringneck pheasants are a naturalized species to this region and are specifically bred to retain their wild characteristics and instincts, so we have no doubt that these animals can survive in the wild upon release. Otherwise doomed to a life of confinement and brutality these sentient animals now have a fighting chance at survival.

For an industry whose only purpose is the infliction of violence against sentient animals for entertainment and pleasure, the only ethical choice we can make is to set your animals free.

Against all domination,
–Animal Liberation Front”

 

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Read the Original Typed Communique from 1986 Oregon ALF Raid

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Read the rare ALF communique copied from the University of Oregon’s files

Recently I had the good fortune of getting access to a rare ALF document retrieved from the University of Oregon’s internal files. Someone had found the original typed communique sent to the school by the Animal Liberation Front after their raid of the U of O’s labs in 1986, and offered it for publication here – to be read in full, maybe for the first time since the 1980s.

Over 200 animals were rescued in the raid, equipment destroyed, and photos confiscated. The ALF issued this communique in response to misinformation about the raid spread by the university.

The person who found the communique scanned the original document, which I am posting here. To my knowledge, this communique has not been published in full for 25 years – if ever.

The entry for this raid from the ALF Diary of Actions reads:

October 26th, 1986
Eugene, OR
University of Oregon raided. Overnight
break-in at two buildings. 264 animals
(12 hamsters, 28 cats, 24 rabbits, 100
rats and pigeons) liberated. $120,000 in
damage to the labs.
A.L.F. Unit #5, Pacific Northwest

The only person to admit to a role in this raid is Jonathan Paul, recently released from prison after serving 4 years for another ALF action: burning down the Cavel West horse slaughterhouse in Redmond, Oregon. As part of his (non-cooperating) plea agreement in that case, Paul admitted to a role in a host of other Animal Liberation Front actions, including the raid of the University of Oregon labs.

Take inspiration from this well-written, powerful, and little-seen ALF document.

Read the communique here.

University of Oregon ALF Communique

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After ALF Closes Horse Slaughterhouse, Plant May Return

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Congress reverses federal ban on horse slaughterhouses, plans for new slaughterhouses in a dozen states.

Last week, Congress lifted the federal ban on horse slaughterhouses. In 1997, the Animal Liberation Front burned down one of the country’s only horse slaughterhouses, in Redmond, Oregon. The plant was forced to permanently close, and only three horse slaughterhouses remained. Soon after, one of the three – a slaughterhouse in Illinois – also went up in flames.

In 2006, Congress ended funding for government inspections at U.S. facilities that slaughtered horses for export, effectively outlawing horse slaughterhouses in the US and shutting down the remaining two. Last week’s move reversed the ban and laid the ground for horse slaughterhouses to reopen in the US.

With this move from Congress, it was reported a horse slaughterhouse would reopen in Oregon. It was not immediately clear if the new slaughterhouse would be built by Cavel West, the company that owned the plant burned down by the Animal Liberation Front in 1997.

Additional slaughterhouses may also be opening in: Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Georgia, Missouri, and four other states.

We can hope activists unafraid to use ALF tactics will be watching these new slaughterhouse constructions closely.

– Peter Young

 

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WSU Mink Researcher and ALF-Target John Gorham Dies

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The notorious fur industry researcher and ALF-target John Gorham dies at age 88.

In a coordinated 1991 attack, the Animal Liberation Front broke into one office and two animal holding facilities at Washington State University, liberating six mink, seven coyotes, and ten mice. The office of John Gorham was also broken into, with documents related to the fur industry taken and others destroyed. Damages in the three-pronged raid totaled $150,000.

The Animal Liberation Front, in their communique, stated the target of the raid was fur industry mink researcher John Gorham, who Fur Rancher Magazine once called “one of the world’s leading researchers in fur farm diseases”. On his passing, the Fur Commission USA stated his “contribution to the North American mink industry is unsurpassed.”

While the ALF raid dealt a blow, the mink research that Gorham oversaw still continues at Washington State University. The best available information the secretive mink research program can be read in The Blueprint fur farm list (download here).

It is unfortunate Gorham did not live to see the day the Animal Liberation Front returned and shut down his sick operation for good.

 

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Iowa State University Names Potential ALF Targets on Campus

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University fears Animal Liberation Front raids on 10th anniversary of Barry Horne’s death.

Iowa State University campus police have issued an alert for all possible Animal Liberation Front targets on campus to be vigilant on the anniversary of former ALF prisoner Barry Horne’s death. The possible targets were named as: the meat lab, rodeo, Office of Responsible Research and Veterinary College.

A spokesperson pointed out the university had received no direct threats. The alert has all the appearance of police attempting to use false flag terrorism alerts to increase the appearance they are “fighting terrorism” (when no ALF raid happens, credit the “intelligence analysis” of the police and vigilance of animal researchers).

Police encouraged everyone who works at animal research labs on campus to:

*question  people who look lost or out of place,

*keep doors closed

*be careful in hiring people and,

*not loan out keys or swipe cards for strangers

According to the alert, faculty and staff should also watch out for letters bombs. The email said if a person receives a suspicious letter, he or she should not touch it and the person should call campus security and leave the area.

– Peter Young

 

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Animal Liberation Front Targets HLS Client in Los Angeles

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Animal Liberation Front defaces vehicle of HLS client Vice President

In a communique received this week by the Animal Liberation Press Office, the Animal Liberation Front took credit for using spray paint, paint stripper and etching paste to deface the home and automobile of a vice-president of Aptium Oncology, a subsidiary of HLS-client AstraZeneca.

The full communique reads:

“On the night of October 27, the ALF decided to help Michele Bollinger, VP of Business Development and Consulting for Aptium Oncology, get into the Halloween spirit. We showed up at the house she shares with her husband Jeremy at [redacted] Pelham Ave [Los Angeles] and redecorated her walls and vehicle, with the aid of a little bit of red spraypaint, stripper, and etching paste. The ALF wants to let all the kids in the neighborhood know about the house of horrors that Michele and Aptium, as an AstraZeneca subsidiary, support at Huntingdon Life Sciences. We are so close to shutting this hellhole down for good, let’s make it happen by hitting AstraZeneca where it hurts. Get out there and get active!”

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