Posted on 05/24/2005 4:39:08 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - An animal rights activist pleaded not guilty Tuesday to domestic terrorism charges that he freed mink from Midwestern farms in 1997, causing thousands of dollars in damage and spreading fear through the nation's fur farmers.
Peter Daniel Young, 27, made the plea in U.S. District Court in Madison as he appeared for the first time on the charges after eluding authorities for more than seven years.
Judge Theresa M. Owens ordered Young held without bail, saying he is "a flight risk and danger to the community."
Investigators say Young is part of the Animal Liberation Front, a radical group that aims to destroy animal-related industries. An FBI official said last week ALF and similar groups are the nation's top domestic terrorism threat.
Prosecutors say Young and accomplice Justin Samuel set out to cripple the fur industry in 1997, freeing more than 7,000 mink from their cages at five farms in Iowa, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
The two were indicted in 1998 on four counts of interference with commerce by threat or violence and two counts of animal enterprise terrorism. Young, originally of Mercer Island, Wash., faces 82 years in prison.
Authorities in 1999 picked up Samuel, who agreed to cooperate in exchange for a two-year prison sentence. Young was a fugitive until March when he was arrested on a shoplifting charge after stealing some CDs from a Starbucks in San Jose, Calif.
Authorities extradited Young on Monday to Wisconsin, the nation's largest mink producing state.
Young said nothing during his court appearance but smiled and waved at more than 30 supporters as he left the crowded courtroom. Sympathizers have started a Web site to raise money for his defense.
Teresa Platt, executive director of Fur Commission USA, a trade association for mink farmers in 28 states, said the attacks terrorized Midwestern farmers.
"It's really sad that he made one bad decision after another and compounded it with fleeing for eight years," she said. "He has thrown his life away. As one of my farmers said, he has succeeded in simply caging himself."
Platt noted that ALF claimed responsibility for releasing 58 pens of foxes from a farm in Illinois in April to show solidarity with Young. She urged farmers to be vigilant.
Defense lawyer Chris Kelly, who entered the plea of not guilty, criticized federal prosecutors after the hearing "for seriously misusing the word terrorism."
"What's been charged here isn't close to flying a plane into a building," he said.
Bob Anderson, an assistant U.S. attorney, said Young committed "an act of terrorism" by trying to impose his will on others by using violence. He said the crime spree cost farmers $569,000 in lost livestock and other damages.
Anderson said the prosecution will send a "message to persons either considering these actions or perpetrating these actions that this is not a legitimate form of free expression."
"Sometimes there's a cost to being a folk hero," Anderson said.
Mary Ann Sveom, an animal rights activist from Beloit, said the "government is overreaching in this particular case." She said the case was about "the cruelty of mink farming," not terrorism.
I don't know a thing about fur farming. Do they at least utilize the animal meat?
He'll be out in less than 5.
One mans terrorist is another mans Anal pore.
I think they grind the meat up and feed it to the next generation.
:-)
Well, I guess that is recycling.
Can they give it to a food pantry?
Not sure mink meat would be a big hit, even in the local food pantry.
I thought minks fed on each other if they arent separated.
Mink are very territorial. They can also be very aggressive. As for eating them, I guess if you were hungry enough...
And the mink that weren't recaptured all starved to death in a terribly painful way in the weeks following this criminal destruction of private property. I heard reports at the time that they were so hungry that some were found nipping at the hooves of dairy cows in area pastures.
A mink is a weasel.
And no they dont feed them to the others. At least at the farms I have known. And they are mean, nasty, and stinky critters.
I don't think the farm would want the complications with regulations, inspections, testing, etc., that would arise if the meat was destined for human consumption.
I hate it when laws are misused by applying them to situations for which they were not anticipated by the lawmakers or the people that vote them into office. I would love to see this guy go to jail forever, but 'domestic terrorism'? This is the same category as charging meth labs with manufacturer of weapons of mass destruction, because of the polluting by-products. Please, give me a break.
Yes, domestic terrorism. These environmental groups have well earned those charges. I've followed them for a while and I have no sympathies for this guy or any of the groups.
I'm just asking out of curiousity cause I've not read up on fur farms and I built and host a site for farm related business.
By Daniel Foggo
(Filed: 17/07/2005)
Animal rights extremists gathered secretly in a Kent field yesterday to hear an American activist declare: "We will break the law and destroy property until we win."
Dr Steven Best, a philosophy professor and exponent of the Animal Liberation Front, told about 200 activists at the International Animal Rights Gathering 2005: "Now communism is dead, we are the new spectre in the world. We are named as the number one terrorist threat in the US and UK. Can you believe it?"
This guy teaches @ University of Texas El Paso.
Gotta love that liberal mentality.. thinking they can't be held responsible for their actions.
Thanks for that quote.
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