Mink farmers call The Blueprint a “terrorist handbook” and claim armed overnight patrols of their farms.
Fur farmers are going on the defensive in response to The Blueprint – a list of fur farm addresses for activists. In an article last week in the Park Record (Park City, UT), one fur farmer stated in response to The Blueprint:
I have a target on my back.
The Blueprint – subtitled “the largest collection of fur industry intelligence to date” – is a 62-page document recently published by Voice of the Voiceless and Bite Back Magazine. It is an up to date, state-by-state directory of mink, fox, and lynx farms for activists. The document was released at the conclusion of the two-month Fur Farm Intelligence Project, where activists visited and compiled data on over 200 fur farms.
While the Park Record calls The Blueprint “a how-to guide for carrying out attacks against mink ranchers”, a look at the document shows this to be tabloid-style sensationalism. The document is made up of a short introduction explaining the value of names and addresses in legal animal protection campaigns, followed by a state-by-state listing of all known fur farms. Not only is The Blueprint absent of any “how-to” information on illegal activity, it is absent of any “how-to” information at all.
Collect data at each location relevant to legal campaigns: including species seen, farm size, and more.
Regardless, fur farmers spoken to in the Park Record claim the disclosure of their addresses has put them on the defensive. A Coalville, Utah fur farmer interviewed for the article stated:
The Blueprint is a little disturbing…. We spend many sleepless nights on the ranch.
Animal abusers appear to be so depraved, they reject the first amendment of the Constitution entirely. One mink farmer had this to say about the address list:
All this is is domestic terrorism.
The concern relates to a document of raw data, listing names and address of businesses. Calling this protected speech activity “domestic terrorism” places the burden on activists for the fur farmer’s guilt-complex, and operating a business the majority of the public finds morally abhorrent.
Despite being named in the article as the editor, I was not contacted for an interview to explain the intention behind The Blueprint.
A second paper – the Medford Star News – will be running an article on The Blueprint this week, and conducted a lengthy interview in which I was able to accurately represent my intention behind the fur farm directory. In number of mink farms, Medford, Wisconsin is second only to Morgan, Utah.
Animal abusers require only a little secrecy to do their work. The Park Record article highlights the power of “coordinative outreach”, and that a necessary step in dismantling any animal abuse industry is knowing the names and addresses that make up its architecture.
18 months later mink are still found living near Utah farm where William BJ Viehl liberated 650 animals.
Media reports of William “BJ” Viehl’s sentencing last week for the liberation of 650 mink never neglected to mention Fur Commission USA lies about the mink’s fate: Nearly all liberated mink recaptured, the rest “hit by cars” or dead from “exposure”. Take note of this TV report which recites the “death by exposure” fur industry stock-response, while showing open sheds which are clearly not climate controlled (as mink sheds never are). A lie, hidden in plain sight.
This recent blog post by a woman in Utah vindicates BJ, and the action for which he now serves a prison sentence. Here, she writes of finding a mink in her yard, near (from what we can extrapolate from details in the blog) the McMullin Fur Farm in South Jordan, Utah:
The mink kept coming back to check out what I was doing and I kept chasing him off. Luckily he ran into our garage so we trapped him inside and Clint and I armed ourselves with nets and after lots of banging and chasing caught him. He escaped about 5 times but we finally got him in a box.
Sadly, the heartless woman returned the mink to the prison from which the animal likely came:
We debated on killing him but I wanted to give him to a mink farmer so we found one and he was happy to take the mink…
Such reports are not uncommon. Regardless of the opinion of our “justice system”, reports of what are likely liberated mink are sufficient vindication for BJ’s actions, and the nightime efforts of the Animal Liberation Front.
Judge quadruples the recommended sentence for A.L.F. activist.
Calling him a “terrorist” and following through on his threat to more than quadruple the recommended sentence, judge Dee Benson Thursday sentenced William Viehl to two years in federal prison. It is the first sentence handed down under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.
Background
Viehl was charged last year under AETA for the release of 650 mink from the McMullin Fur Farm in South Jordan, Utah after cell phone records and a car key found at the scene were used to tie him to the raid. Graffiti found at the scene read “A.L.F.” and “We are watching”. Over one year later, mink are still being found living wild in the vicinity of the farm.
After an 11-month court battle, Viehl accepted a non-cooperating plea bargain in which the prosecution agreed to recommend a sentence of 6 months. In November the judge threw out the deal, stating the recommendation was “too low” and did “not match the severity of the crime”. The sentencing was held over for February, where Thursday he sentenced Viehl to 24 months in prison.
The Sentencing: Report From Court
Court convened Thursday at 11:30am in downtown Salt Lake City. The prosecution first addressed the court. Refraining from the theatrics of past hearings such as a slide show showing firebombed cars from previous A.L.F. actions, the prosecutor made a very brief statement again recommending a six month sentence, and sat down.
Viehl’s attorney addressed the judge, also asking for a six month sentence. She highlighted previous animal rights cases where the “crimes” alleged would legally be considered more serious, yet resulted in sentences lower than or equal to the sentence being threatened by the judge (at previous hearings, Benson threatened a sentence of two years or more).
Judge Benson talked about the attention the case has received, and restated that he felt the recommended sentence was too low.
Lodder and Blackridge fur farms: guilt by association
He expressed his belief Viehl was involved with more Animal Liberation Front actions than those he was charged with, making clear he would be sentencing Viehl for crimes to which little to no evidence linked him, and for which he has not been charged.
He began this point by bringing up the A.L.F. raid of the Lodder fur farm in Kaysville, Utah. 6,000 mink were released from this farm in September, 2008. The judge pointed out Viehl was pulled over near the farm several weeks before the raid. The judge cited a police report which stated he was stopped dressed all in black, and a second occupant of the vehicle was seen stuffing a ski mask under a car seat. A subsequent (warrantless) search of the vehicle allegedly turned up wire cutters. Weeks later, 6,000 mink were released from the fur farm.
He also mentioned an alleged “attempted” mink release at Blackridge Farms in Hyrum, Utah. Viehl and a second person were allegedly followed by a mink farmer after they were seen passing the farm late one night in October, 2008. The judge stated that after noticing he was being followed, Viehl pulled the car over and approached the farmer’s vehicle to ask why she was following them. Benson pointed out the vehicle was the same vehicle said to be used in the McMullin raid.
The evidence
The judge admitted the only evidence against Viehl was a car key found at the farm the morning after the raid, and cell phone records which placed Viehl’s phone near the McMullin farm the night of the mink release. He stated that even with the cell phone records, “without that key, we may not be here right now”.
Benson retreated to the emotive language both him and the prosecutor have made familiar in this case, stating Viehl “caused terror”, and that he knows of no other word for releasing animals from cages than “terrorism”.
“We have so many rights to properly change laws” in this country, he said. This was a naive or deliberately misleading statement while two SHAC 7 defendants and Kevin Olliff remain in jail for attempting to affect change in a legal, above-ground fashion through protest and outreach.
Judge: Viehl “heavily involved” in other A.L.F. raids
Consistent with previous statements from the judge, he linked Viehl to a broader conspiracy, stating he had “no doubt [Viehl] was heavily involved” in other Animal Liberation Front actions. He called him a “copycat”, and said the sentence would be aimed towards deterring future activists from carrying out A.L.F. actions.
With that, he handed down his sentence: Two years in prison, three years probation, nearly $66,000 in restitution, and no contact with the Animal Liberation Front.
With credit for time served, good time, and halfway house, Viehl expects to be released in August.
– Peter Young
Write William “BJ” Viehl:
William James Viehl
Inmate #2009-05735
Davis County Jail
800 West State St.
Farmington, UT 84025
It has been one week since a man set himself on fire outside a fur store in Portland and died. In the responses from activists that followed, there has been what I see as insulting disregard, and the few standing up to say there is a greater significance to his death.
Most sentiments on the death of Daniel Shaull fall on the side of “just another crazy person taking their life”. Activists have run for cover to deny or distance themselves from this act. I question if these responses come from an action that confronts us with some uncomfortable truths. I think we all wish our actions were as commensurate with the urgency of 10 billion non-human animals killed each year as those of Daniel Shaull, that we were capable of such a sacrifice to awaken the world to their plight.
Debates over the strategic value of self-immolation are irrelevant. As are discussions of Shaull’s mental health. I don’t think it is the place of anyone, myself included, sitting behind the safety of a computer to cast stones at someone who broke out of that safety zone and did something. Especially someone who is dead.
When someone takes their life in solitude, and in a way devoid of larger impact, we call it “tragic”. When a man takes his life outside a fur store to give his death greater significance, we call it “crazy”.
I will not rob Daniel Shaull of his last statement to this earth with such dismissiveness.
– Peter Young
The below article covers these points better than I could.
Searching for the Significance of a Life and a Death
By: Cat
Yesterday, a man set himself on fire outside Ungar Furs, and burned himself to death. We know his name now: According to the Alliance, it was Daniel Shaull. And we know that what he did appears to have been in solidarity with the animals who continue to die horrible deaths, day after day after day, to keep Nicholas Ungar in business. We know that, even as he was on fire and undoubtedly in terrible pain, he mustered great strength and tried to go inside the fur store to spread the flames to the coats and garments and blood-stained profits of the last fur store in Portland.
I would like to know more.
Indeed, it was strange to find out he was someone most of us did not know. Those of us who were not there yesterday, who scrambled to find out who it was, we each had a fear in the pit of the stomach, each of us sure we would know him, each of us having someone or other in mind that it might be. I know I did. When I finally heard his name, a small sense of relief washed over me, because it was a name I did not know. But someone knew him. And he deserves his story. If you knew Daniel Shaull, please post your stories of his life here.
If you did not know him but you just want to offer your critique of self immolation as a tactic, please just keep your useless judgments to yourself. This is the morning after, the place where all the bone-pickers will come in and make dismissive claims about this man and his last act of sacrifice. You know what I’m saying. “This is going too far,” “he was just crazy,” “he was a terrorist,” “this tactic is too extremist,” and perhaps the most unforgivable of all, “this will make us all look bad.”
I’m not ready to dismiss the significance of this man’s last act so easily.
Every year, more than 50 million animals – many of them dogs and cats – die for the fur industry. They die needless, painful, and suffering deaths so that people like Nicholas Ungar can make a lot of money, and so that vain, selfish, irredeemably thoughtless people can wear those animals’ skins. Fifty MILLION beings, every single year, killed in horrific and unceasingly bizarre ways. For nothing. Absolutely nothing. Some of them are picked up by their hind legs and pounded against the cement until they die. Some have metal bars shoved into their mouths, and electrodes pressed against their anus, and are electrocuted. Some are gassed. Some are trapped in the wild, and spend days on end struggling to free themselves. Terrified, dehydrated, hungry, cold, and mutilated, they wait for the trapper to come. I have personally witnessed a fur trapper approaching a frightened little bobcat like this, right here in the woods of Cascadia, and then unceremoniously beating her over the head, repeatedly, with a baseball bat. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. Until she finally died.
Sometimes, these animals are beaten unconscious, and they awaken while they are being skinned alive. This is not just some far off, urban legend thing. This is something real and immediate and horrible. I have seen this happen, and watched as the trapper just laughed and taunted the half-skinned, dying animal. Her last screams jeered at, the violation of her being complete. Her bloody little body went into a pile of bloody little bodies just like hers. Her skin was sold in someone’s garage, on the first leg of the journey to Ungar or Schumachers, or Nordstroms.
This is what Nicholas Ungar sells.
Unimaginable suffering, for nothing. A lot of people just don’t care. A lot of people think wearing fur is acceptable, and that making a living off this kind of unending suffering is tolerable. It’s the people who care that are labeled “terrorist.” The killers are just “businessmen.” Some people actually defend the practice, many more just don’t care enough to do anything about it. Still others like to get all philosophical and “tolerant” and pretend to be above it all. (I have seen a lot of that here on this site in recent days. These are the people who also defend slaughter houses, and lab experiments. Cold, academic justifications for horrific acts of violence. Disembodied philosophizing and dismissive tomes meant to put those who actually give a damn “in their places.” Here, for example: http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2010/01/396920.shtml, and here: http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2010/01/396920.shtml, and here: link to portland.indymedia.org.)
Is it really all that hard to understand, that someone could find that they just can’t take it any more? They just can’t stand by and do nothing, even when there is nothing left to do? Is it really so difficult to comprehend that this man could be so profoundly moved by such an unimaginable injustice, that he would be willing to actually sacrifice his own life in a last desperate act?
Not to me. I get it. I can understand that frustration and pain and desperation. I have felt it myself, and I think that any one of us who was born with the ability to empathize with non-human animals in this cold-hearted world has felt it too. We might not be lighting ourselves on fire, but deep down inside, I think we understand Daniel Shaull’s desperation and despair. Even if we did not know him, we know what it feels like to bear witness, day after day, to the intentionally inflicted pain and suffering of others, and to feel so mutely powerless to make it stop. We watch in horror as a never ending stream of animal victims is poured into the maw of human hatred and indifference. We cannot understand how humans can be so needlessly, thoughtlessly, cruel. And we cannot understand why their eyes cannot be opened to the pain and suffering they are causing. Sometimes, even our “friends” turn out to be the kind of people who either cause this suffering, or try to excuse it. God, it gets so frustrating after awhile… and it never ends.
If you care about animals in this human world, it’s easy to feel like you are alone in a sea of inexplicable hatred. It isn’t even just the people wielding the metal pipes in the slaughter houses, or the electrodes on the fur farms. It’s not just the people with the guns and the deer heads tied to the front of their “rigs.” It’s not just the people shoving load after load after load of cats and dogs into gas chambers, or the people gouging baby mice out of their mothers’ bellies in laboratories. It’s not just the assholes offering “chicken chokin” classes, or the old men making money selling furs. It’s also all the mind-numbingly cold people who build word monuments to themselves over it – defending it and justifying it and dismissing it. It’s the overwhelming awareness of all the suffering in the world, and the strange ostracism of anyone who can see it, who tries to point it out.
This can be a cold, hard world for people of compassion for the animals. Even radicals often just don’t get it.
It may actually turn out that Daniel Shaull suffered from mental illness. But in this world, I sometimes think mental illness and desperate acts might be the only sane response.
Vegan prisoner Marie Mason’s health worsens as prison continues to deny her vegan food.
Marie Mason is asking for all supporters to send letters and faxes to the prison and request she be provided with vegan food.
Marie Mason is serving nearly 22 years for pleading guilty to numerous A.L.F. and E.L.F. actions, including an arson at a chicken distributor, and the torching of a mink farmer’s boat.
We cannot lend our lip-service support for the Animal Liberation Front if we are not there to support them when they are caught. Please take a moment and contact the warden of Marie’s prison. A sample letter is below.
– Peter Young
From Marie Mason’s support group:
We are calling on all supporters of Marie Mason to contact the warden’s office at Waseca prison and ask that she be provided with vegan food. Mason is a vegan for ethical, medical and spiritual reasons, but the prison has denied her vegan meals since her incarceration. Because of this, she has been in ill-health, suffering from symptoms like dizziness and extreme pain in her hands.
We call on all supporters to contact the warden’s office and ask that her request for vegan food be approved. Please be very polite. Also note that currently (as of Wednesday, February 3) there is no Warden at Waseca. We expect that Warden English will be starting this position next week.
Sample letter:
Dear Warden Rios,
I am writing this letter concerning Marie Mason, #04672-061, who has requested the prison provide her with vegan meals to meet her health and dietary needs. I strongly encourage you to grant this request.
Marie has been committed to a vegan diet in accordance with her personal, moral and spiritual beliefs for many years. Like many vegans, she considers her diet to be an essential part of her life and spirituality. While incarcerated at Waseca, Marie has remained committed to a vegan diet, but has been unable to receive proper nutrition. She has been experiencing bouts of dizziness, nose bleeds, fatigue, and severe pain in her hands. All symptoms associated with an inadequate vegan diet.
I fear that unless the prison provides her with an adequate vegan diet, she will remain malnourished and her health may continue to suffer.
Please grant Marie’s request for a vegan diet. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Sincerely,
_______________
Write:
Warden English FCI Waseca Federal Correctional Institution PO Box 1731 Waseca, MN 66093
In a press release dispatched yesterday, the Civil Liberties Defense Center fired back against the University of Iowa Animal Liberation Front lab raid investigation.
While ostensibly an “ecoterrorism” investigation into the A.L.F. liberation of 401 animals from the University of Iowa’s animal research labs in 2004, in the below statement CLDC lawyers accuse the federal prosecutor of exacting a political agenda, and go on the offensive in the face of this specious prosecutorial assault.
In a future article, I will cover the reasons this A.L.F. investigation is farcical and fraudulent on its face.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Declines to Release 20 Year Old
Carrie Feldman, Jailed For More Than Two Months On Contempt of Grand Jury
Civil Liberties Monitors Charge That Federal Prosecutor Is On Personal Crusade Against Anarchist Ideology; Courts Do Not Rein Him In
Davenport, IA: U.S. Attorney Clifford R. Cronk III is using his office’s investigation of an alleged 2004 animal rights-related break-in at the University of Iowa to harass and punish targets whom he claims identify as anarchists, a political ideology dating back to the early 19th Century. To date, neither his superiors in the Department of Justice, nor the federal courts, have done anything to curtail his abuse of power. In behavior reminiscent of the darkest days of the McCarthy witch hunts, Cronk argues in court documents that anarchists are domestic terrorists who should be locked up for posing a threat to civil society based on nothing but the prosecutor’s unfounded political bias.(more…)
A man set himself on fire Wednesday outside Ungar Furs in Portland, Oregon. After dousing himself with gasoline, he attempted to enter the store, shouting “There are animals dying! Animals dying!” After police extinguished the flames, he was taken to Legacy Emanuel Hospital where he later died.
The man was identified as 26-year-old Daniel Shaull from Kansas. Among the local activists I have spoken to, none are familiar with Shaull by name, nor recognized him as being a part of the active, long-running campaign against Ungar Furs. Yet the location and witness reports strongly indicate this man sacrificed himself to bring attention to the horrific treatment of animals on fur farms.
A news report, which aired prior to Shaull being announced dead, can be viewed here.
Ungar Furs is a retail fur store in Portland which has been the target of a prolific campaign by local activists. Ungar became a target after frequent protests successfully closed another Portland fur store, Schumacher Furs. The owners of Schumacher Furs gave animal rights activists full credit for shutting them down in 2007.
Amidst a range of speculation as to the man’s true motives, I think it is important to assume this is a genuine action by a person driven to make the ultimate sacrifice by the severity of animal suffering. When every legal channel to affect change is closed, people will increasingly be driven to actions which bring both attention to the plight of animals, and a disruptive effect to those who kill them.
Shaull is not the first to give his life in the U.S. animal liberation struggle. This is a time to remember William Rodgers, who took his life in an Arizona jail in 2005 while being held for numerous Animal Liberation Front actions. It is also a time to remember Alex Slack, who took his life while awaiting trial for the A.L.F. bombing of the Utah Fur Breeder’s Agricultural Cooperative in 1999.
If anyone knows Daniel Shaull, please contact Animal Liberation Front-line, so that we can make the full story of this action known.
To those who claim the animal rights movement is “violent”, this action should be yet another reminder that every casualty to date has fallen on our side. Daniel Shaull is just the latest victim.
“If this is what the world has made of us, then let it live with the consequences”.
Former University of Iowa student and barred attorney subpoenaed to testify in Animal Liberation Front investigation.
A University of Iowa graduate has been named as the latest person subpoenaed to testify to a grand jury seeking those responsible for the 2004 Animal Liberation Front raid of the University of Iowa.
Leana Stormont, a barred attorney and graduate of the University of Iowa law school, was involved with animal rights activism on campus at the time of the 2004 A.L.F. raid. The action saw the rescue of 401 animals from the Spence psychology labs in an overnight raid by the A.L.F.
A visible animal rights activist on campus, Leana Stormont appears to have been on the FBI’s radar since the Animal Liberation Front break-in. After experiencing harassment in the post-raid FBI investigation, she published an article in the American Chronicle titled “Caring About Animals is Not a Crime” on being surveilled by the FBI and the government’s practice of spying on activists.
With this targeting of a former student activist, the subpoena continues this investigation’s theme of persecuting academic research and expression.
The first person charged in relation to the U of I raid,Scott DeMuth, is not an animal rights activist, but a scholar. 17 years old at the time of the raid, DeMuth appears to have been targeted for his research into the animal rights movements as part of his graduate work at the University of Minnesota. DeMuth was subpoenaed to testify at the grand jury in November after journals were seized in a raid of his home by police attempting to neutralize protests at the 2008 Republican National Convention. In the journals, police claim, were notes on interviews with research subjects indicating to the FBI DeMuth may have privileged knowledge of the animal rights movement. No information specific to the University of Iowa Animal Liberation Front raid has yet been alleged. After refusing to testify, DeMuth was charged with Animal Enterprise Terrorism. He remains out of jail pending trial.
Continuing with this trend – while information at this point is sparse – it would come as no surprise if Leana Stormont is being targeted solely because she was an outspoken University of Iowa animal rights activist at the time of the raid, and was supportive of the A.L.F. in the media. She gave this quote from her op-ed in support of the A.L.F. action, published in the University of Iowa student paper:
As a matter of ethical coherence, I do not believe anyone can condemn the actions at Spence [the laboratory that was attacked by the ALF] without likewise condemning the fact that thousands of animals have been intentionally subject to psychological terror and have lost their lives within the confines of that laboratory. . . .
This new subpoena means the FBI remains on the rampage in pursuit of those who picked locks and broke down doors at the University of Iowa in 2004, giving over 400 animals a second chance at life.
Information is sparse, but word is out that another subpoena has been served in the ongoing investigation into the Animal Liberation Front liberation of 401 animals from the University of Iowa. Any more details at this point – such as the name of the person subpoenaed – are unknown. More information will be posted as it is available, but this should be a strong warning that the storm did not die with the indictment of Scott DeMuth (see this post on his indictment) and the FBI remains on the assault.
I think it is important to circulate word of subpoenas immediately, to give both a strong “head up” that the FBI is moving in on the animal liberation movement, and to bring the secretive, witch-hunt ritual of grand juries into the spotlight.
To date, the grand jury has subpoenaed two people that are known of. Both have refused to testify. Carrie Feldman remains held in jail on contempt charges for refusing testimony (read my pre-jail interview with Carrie), and Scott DeMuth was released upon his formal indictment on Animal Enterprise Terrorism charges, believed to be related to the University of Iowa A.L.F. raid.
More information on the recent subpoena will be posted soon.
-Peter Young
Carrie Feldman remains in jail for refusing to testify to the grand jury investigation the Animal Liberation Front liberation at the University of Iowa. Please send her a letter:
Carolyn Feldman
Washington County Jail.
2185 Lexington Blvd. PO Box 6
Washington, IA 52353
Today I was sent a copy of judge Benson’s ruling in the ongoing case of Animal Liberation Front prisoner William “BJ” Viehl, charged with liberating 650 mink from a fur farm in Utah. In it, the judge lays out his argument for denying Viehl’s motion accusing the prosecution of violating the terms of his plea deal.
According to the plea deal, Viehl was to expect a sentence of six months. At sentencing, the judge threw out the plea bargain, and stated his intent to as much as quadruple Viehl’s sentence to two or more years.
In the opinion, Benson restates many arguments he made at BJ’s first sentencing, in favor of a sentence far outside the sentencing guidelines. These arguments include:
*BJ was “hailed as a hero on numerous websites.” This highlights something my own experiences echo: Those in the “justice system” become indignant at public support for those those who work to right wrongs outside the law.
*Viehl and codefendant Alex Hall allegedly being stopped near other mink farms in the region, at times when no crimes had occurred.
*Spray-painted messages left at the fur farm the night of the liberation reading “ALF,” “no more mink, no more murder,” and “We are watching”, the last of which the prosecution asserted proves the mink release “….is not just a property crime, it is a threat”.
*The testimony of mink farmer Lindsey McMullin, which the judge cited in BJ’s last court date as being the prime influence in his decision to hand down a sentence of two or more years. McMullin’s testimony was described by the judge as conveying… “the impact of the crime on his family, including the emotional impact on his young children, and the financial impact on his family business.”
The judge’s contempt for animal rights activists and the A.L.F. comes through in this document. Read the full text below.
William Viehl expected to receive 1 to 2+ years for the Animal Liberation Front release of 600 mink. Judge compares A.L.F. mink liberators to 9-11 hijackers.
In an opinion published today, Judge Dee Benson denied William Viehl’s motion for the judge to step down from the A.L.F. case. This is the first guilty plea under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, and the first Animal Liberation Front (A.L.F.) sentencing in over 2 years.
On December 11th, BJ’s lawyer and the prosecutor sparred in court over whether statements and a photo slideshow given by the prosecution in court amounted to a breach of the plea deal. A subsequent motion was filed asking the judge to step down from the case. The slideshow featured numerous photos of A.L.F. arsons, and Animal Liberation Front communiques for actions unrelated to those BJ and Alex Hall are accused of.
On Tuesday, January 12th, the judge issued his ruling: The prosecution did not breach the plea deal, judge Benson would not remove himself from the case, and BJ would be sentenced by him as scheduled.
BJ’s first sentencing date was in November, where he was to be sentenced for the liberation of 600 mink from the McMullin Fur Farm in South Jordan, Utah. The judge at that time announced he intended to sentence BJ to more than quadruple the recommended sentence of six months. BJ entered court expecting a possible sentence of “time served”, yet the judge announced he was “inclined” to give BJ a sentence of up to or above two years in prison.
For BJ, Tuesday’s ruling means Judge Benson will likely give him the threatened sentence of 1 to 2 years, or more. While elsewhere in Salt Lake City people receive less time for violent crimes, abusers of companion animals receive probation, and institutional animal killers like mink farmer Lindsay McMullin walk free, Wiliam “BJ” Viehl is likely to receive two years in prison for the selfless and compassionate A.L.F. liberation of animals from a mink death camp.
Even in the death-machine paradigm of “compassion” for those few species from which little or no profit is derived, and demonizing anyone who acts in defense of other species as “ecoterrorists”, activists in the past received have two years for their role in six mink releases. BJ stands to face the same sentence for his role in just one.
Any activist going before Judge Benson has cause to be concerned: Benson is also presiding over the case of Tim DeChristopher, an environmental activist facing federal charges for placing false bids to derail an oil lease auction near Moab. In both Viehl and DeChristopher’s case, judge Benson compared their non-violent actions to those of Al Qaeda and the 9-11 hijackers.
No sentencing date for BJ has yet been announced. BJ’s codefendant, Alex Hall, has stated his intention to take the case to trial rather than accept a plea bargain and guarantee another exorbitant sentence from judge Benson.
I intend to be present in court for Bj’s sentencing, and will be posting a full report then.
-Peter Young
Please write them both a letter during this difficult time:
William James Viehl
Inmate #2009-05735
Davis County Jail
800 West State St.
Farmington, UT 84025
Alex Hall
Inmate #2009-06304
Davis County Jail
800 West State St.
Farmington, UT 84025
In 1997, the Animal Liberation Front (A.L.F.) detonated explosives at the nation’s largest fur feed production plant. The explosion gutted the building, inflicting over $1 million in damages, and one of the most significant targets in the fur industry was destroyed. A spokesperson from the Fur Commission USA would recently refer to this action as the local fur industry’s “darkest hour”.
I am posting little-seen photos of the aftermath to celebrate this action as one of the most strategic and large-scale in the history of the Animal Liberation Front. A few reasons I feel the FBAC action is worthy of notice:
*It aimed for maximum destruction, not minimum damage, and did a thorough job of decommissioning the target.
*It destroyed the feed building, and the trucks which deliver the feed – eliminating both the production and distribution-end of the operation.
*At the time, the building kept in business over 50 mink farms in Utah, making it a crucial lynchpin and weak point in an already weak industry.
Fur Farm Intelligence Unit releases its second communique
In what may be an emerging trend, anonymous activists have made public even more sensitive fur industry info.
Just after The Blueprint was released, an anonymous communication surfaced on the internet from “The Fur Farm Intelligence Unit”, publicizing the address of “Cascade Farms“, a previously unknown Oregon mink farm. This information did not turn up in the 5-month Fur Farm Intelligence Project (see previous post), and is a crucial addition to the fur farm address database.
This week I will be adding this new info to an updated edition of The Blueprint.
This is the second communique from the Fur Farm Intelligence Unit, and may signal the birth of a new angle for clandestine animal liberation activity: leaking or otherwise exposing damaging intelligence on animal abuse industries. While the Animal Liberation Front focuses on liberating animals from imprisonment, The Fur Farm Intelligence Unit appears to focus on the dissemination of sensitive data which will have an indirect, but ultimately no less powerful impact on animal exploitation industries.
Why is this tactic important, and what is the value of an underground “Intelligence Unit”?
To date, the Fur Farm Intelligence Unit have issued two communiques: (more…)
Announcing the release of the largest update of fur farm addresses in nearly 15 years.
After five months of research and investigation, I am announcing the release of a landmark document: The Blueprint– the largest update of fur farm addresses in nearly 15 years.
The Blueprint: Fur Farm Intelligence Project Report is the product of a 13,000-mile investigation of over 75% of the fur farms in the country.
The Blueprint is a 62-page supplement to my 10,000-word narrative on the eight-state Fur Farm Intelligence Project investigation, featured in Bite Back Magazine #15.
Included in the 62-page document:
*Massively updated state-by-state fur farm address list
*Photos of nearly 100 mink, fox, and lynx farms.
*Anonymous reports and photos from clandestine visits to fur farms and industry research sites.
*Updated closed farm database.
*Detailed data and status updates on over 200 fur farms.
*Dozens of newly discovered, unpublished fur farm addresses.
I compiled The Blueprint: Fur Farm Intelligence Project Reportwith the intent of mapping the entire supply-side and infrastructure grid of the industry: from auction houses to feed suppliers, fox farms to research facilities.
The Blueprint contains new addresses and updated data on:
*Fox farms
*Mink farms
*Lynx farms
*Fur industry research farms
*Fur feed suppliers
And much more.
20 years of collected fur farm data has culminated in this document.
(large file – allow up to several minutes to open)
Fur Farm Intelligence Project Mission Statement
Mission statement:
The Fur Farm Intelligence Project will compile the largest collection of hard data on fur farms and fur industry infrastructure in nearly 15 years. The Project is an endgame mission to map the entire grid of the industry, with a primary focus on names, addresses, and other actionable data.
The goals:
1) Verify the operational status of every known fur farm (open / closed)
2) Discover locations of unknown farms, research locations, and infrastructure sites.
3) Collect data at each location relevant to legal campaigns: including species seen, farm size, and more.
4) Publicly disclose all data in a single document.
The phases:
Phase One: A two-month road trip to visit, at minimum, 75% of the fur farms in the country.
Phase Two: Research and compilation of all known data on fur industry locations into one hard document, forming the largest body of raw, site-specific data to date.
Phase Three: Three: The public release of all compiled data in one document titled The Blueprint.
