FBI looks into Crow Canyon horse boarders' 'ALF' graffiti incidents

CROW CANYON - Alameda County Sheriff's deputies are trying to find out who sprayed the initials "ALF," along with some other graffiti, first discovered Saturday at a Castro Valley horse boarding ranch.

"ALF" could stand for Animal Liberation Front, a group that goes after organizations and corporations they suspect of animal abuse. ALF has been called a terrorist group by the FBI.

But Sheriff's Lt. Bill Gaudinier said neither his office nor the FBI have yet connected group members to the vandalism. Sheriff's investigators also have not ruled out involvement by that group.

The first example of graffiti was reported along Crow Canyon Road about 11:15 a.m. Saturday. By Monday morning, graffiti was found at three other spots in Crow Canyon.

Jerry Vlasak, an officer for the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, said his office has not received word of anyone claiming responsibility for the graffiti. Vlasak said the group members usually go after horse facilities that send the animals to slaughter, but added there are some activists who believe humans should not exploit horses in any manner.

"It's not out of the realm of possibility, although (boarding facilities) are not a typical target," Vlasak said.

Investigators also are not sure why these facilities were targeted. Sheriff's Sgt. Scott Dudek said there were no signs of abuse at any of the boarding businesses. Dudek said they are only investigating the vandalism.

Jim Grimes said he discovered the graffiti at his boarding facility after an FBI agent called Sunday afternoon to see if his property had been targeted. "ALF" was spray-painted on Grimes's horse trailer, but nothing else was damaged.

But on one of Grimes' neighbor's for-sale sign, vandals left a message threatening to burn the property if someone buys it.

According to its Web site, ALF liberates animals from their suspected abusers and causes economic damage to those who profit from the abuse. While ALF has no formal membership rolls. "members" are supposed to get their message across via non-violent means that don't harm any animals, including humans.

The Revolutionary Cells, thought to be an offshoot of ALF, claimed responsibility for the bombings of Shaklee Corp. headquarters in Pleasanton and Emeryville based Chiron in 2003. The two companies were targeted because of their affililation with Huntingdon Life Sciences, which does animal testing.

Investigators ask anyone with information about the Crow Canyon incidents to call Dudek at 510-667-7478.

"The latest from Jerry Vlasak ?"

http://www.physicianscam.com/news_detail.cfm?ID=2907

Jerry is one of the kind and gentle souls from Peta.

'Responsible' Doctor To Congress: Kill The Scientists
(10/27/05)

In an October 26 hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, former Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) spokes-doctor Jerry Vlasak waxed not-so-eloquent about the role that animal researchers should play in the search for AIDS and cancer cures. Speaking of scientists whose work requires the use of lab rats, Vlasak insisted that if they "won't stop when told to stop, one option would be to stop them using any means necessary." Asked by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) if he endorsed the use of deadly force, Vlasak insisted that murder "would be a morally justifiable solution." [click here to watch]

Jerry Vlasak was defending his 2003 statement (made as a PCRM spokesperson) that political assassination "could be used quite effectively from a pragmatic standpoint ... for 5 lives, 10 lives, 15 human lives, we could save a million, 2 million, 10 million non-human lives." Great Britain has banned Vlasak and his wife (former child actress Pamelyn Ferdin) because of this and other threats.

Senator Lautenberg -- the same lawmaker who played the skeptic in May 2005 when the Committee heard about connections between the terrorist Animal Liberation Front and the "mainstream" animal rights movement -- emerged as an unlikely hero. He relentlessly grilled Vlasak, calling him "outrageous," "anti-social," and "smug" before exclaiming:

"You're willing to take lives ... You're willing to say somebody that you don't know, somebody's kid, somebody's parent, somebody's brother, somebody's sister -- take that life, that's okay. Teach those S.O.B.'s a lesson."

To which Vlasak replied: "These are not innocent lives."

Lautenberg, unfazed, insisted: "You have no right to intimidate people who are engaged in a proper practice under our laws." He put his finger on the animal rights movement's problem: Shadowy groups like Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC -- the focus of yesterday's hearing) are only part of a larger animal rights movement whose entire strategy involves intimidating and terrorizing ordinary Americans.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which many people think of as tame (at least in comparison to Vlasak's kill-the-scientists rant), aims to get its way by bullying and threatening its enemies in the scientific community. PETA president Ingrid Newkirk told the 1997 Animal Rights Convention: "I wish we all would get up and go into the labs and take the animals out or burn them down. " And in 1999 she told The Chronicle of Philanthropy: "I find it small wonder that the laboratories aren't all burning to the ground. If I had more guts, I'd light a match."

More recently, PETA has begun to engage in the same kinds of tactics that appear to have given SHAC's masked thugs the upper hand over institutions like the New York Stock Exchange. PETA's anti-chicken protesters have begun venting their spleens at fast-food executives at their homes and churches. And this year PETA is using its teen-oriented bulletin boards to arm a large animal-rights mob with home addresses and phone numbers of executives and their extended family members. Given yesterday's gripping Senate testimony from a stock trader who has been similarly targeted by a relative handful of SHAC activists, it's not hard to imagine what PETA has in mind for people who dare to serve up two-piece dinners.

Also in yesterday's hearing, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) announced plans to introduce legislation that would give federal authorities new tools to counter the lawlessness that has become the animal rights movement's currency. For ordinary Americans who don't subscribe to PETA's "total animal liberation" philosophy, this help will come not a moment too soon.

Peta, the veggietarian terrorists.

The FBI is worried about mounting rhetoric from the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), whose members regularly break into labs, destroy equipment and threaten scientists; and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), whose supporters attack SUVs and housing developments.

Consider the words of Jerry Vlasak, a physician who is a well-known activist in the animal advocacy movement in Los Angeles. He said he's not a member of ALF, but makes it his mission to publicize their actions. To Vlasak, anyone who does testing on live animals is a "vivisector."

Vlasak made some incendiary comments at an animal rights conference in 2003. "I think there is a use for violence in our movement," Vlasak was reported as saying.

He called violence morally acceptable at times. "If vivisectors were being killed, I think it would give other vivisectors pause. If there were prominent vivisectors being assassinated, there would be a trickle-down effect ... strictly from a fear and intimidation factor, that would be an effective action."

"You wouldn't need to see too many assassinations" before vivisection declined, he said.

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