Berkeley animal-rights vandalism may have Santa Cruz connection

MediaNews via CoCoTimes ^ | 2/29/8 | J.M. Brown

[SmithL]

BERKELEY -- Berkeley police detectives investigating a two-month string of animal rights-related vandalism targeting the homes of UC Berkeley scientists will begin probing possible connections to a spate of similar crimes in Santa Cruz, including last weekend's attempted home invasion of a local biomedical researcher.

Sgt. Mary C. Kusmiss, a Berkeley Police Department spokeswoman, said detectives have not identified suspects in the rash of sidewalk chalking, brazen daylight trespassing and bullhorn-powered yelling incidents that have unfolded every Sunday afternoon since New Year's Day outside the homes of at least six Berkeley researchers who use cats, mice, rats and other animals in their research.

Kusmiss said detectives are investigating leads based on license plate numbers and photographs of masked protesters captured by residents or officers as suspects fled. A Feb. 17 case -- during which protesters wearing bandannas to hide their faces smashed a flower pot and dumped garbage in a backyard -- closely mirrored Sunday's demonstration at the home of a UC Santa Cruz researcher, whose husband fought off six masked intruders after they banged on the porch and shook the door during their 8-year-old daughter's birthday party.

The Berkeley incidents have not been widely reported by police or UC officials until Thursday, and there is no immediate evidence they are related to the Santa Cruz cases, though Berkeley detectives and Santa Cruz city police have yet to compare notes, Kusmiss said. However, officials said university police in Santa Cruz and Berkeley campuses have been working together to determine possible links, as have Berkeley campus and city police.

"It's always prudent and intelligent to collaborate and share information with each other," Kusmiss said.

Animal rights protesters also have targeted UCLA researchers in recent weeks, prompting the university to seek a restraining order against animal liberation groups with suspected involvement. No groups have taken responsibility for the Santa Cruz or Berkeley incidents.

Several targeted Berkeley professors -- whose names have been posted by protesters on activist and social networking Web sites -- did not immediately return messages seeking comment Thursday. Some of the Web sites have published home addresses and phone numbers of the researchers, as well as graphic descriptions of the alleged animal testing protesters say the professors conduct.

Santa Cruz scientists, four of whom have been targeted by a series of chalking and other vandalism during the past two weeks, say their work with animals, mostly mice, is not harmful and furthers vital cancer research. In a 1999 university news release discussing her work recording signals from "deep within the brain of a cat," one of the targeted Berkeley professors, Yang Dan, said "Fundamental understanding of brain processes is crucial to understanding illness and eventually could help us come up with treatments."

Santa Cruz police have declined to disclose the content of chalking scrawled outside local researchers homes say, but Kusmiss said the messages scribbled in front of Berkeley residences said: "bird killer" and "animal killer lives here."

Berkeley professors first reported vandalism incidents in December, but it wasn't until after Jan. 1 that detectives realized they were dealing with serial demonstrators. Every Sunday afternoon in 2008, nearly the same set of professors or their relatives have called Berkeley police to report incidents at their homes, prompting police to station officers near the houses every Sunday.

Kusmiss said some targeted professors leave their homes to avoid the weekly harassment, but "others feel strongly that their homes are their protected places and sanctums for them and their family, and therefore they should have the right to live peacefully and not be bullied into leaving every Sunday."

Kusmiss said professors and family members have reported that demonstrators using megaphones have stood outside their homes yelling "bird killer" or "cat murderer," and written in chalk on the sidewalk. Protesters also have affixed 3-by-3 inch stickers to front windows and mailboxes that show a rat behind jail bars and carry this inscription: "Unseen they suffer, unheard they cry, in agony they linger, in loneliness they die."

Kusmiss said all of the incidents have happened during the day.

"Their activities have been quite public," she said. "Part of their approach is to not only share their message to a particular researcher, but to other homeowners to get attention for their cause."

The incidents have been what Kusmiss called "minor" until Feb. 17, when a faculty member reported that 15 protesters entered his property at 3 p.m. and smashed a flower pot on the front porch before turning over a garbage can in his backyard. He and his family were in the residence, and told police protesters had visited 10 other times.

"We are concerned about any form of escalation," Kusmiss said.

Berkeley has a long history of animal rights advocacy, including among student populations, but Kusmiss said it is not clear if students are involved in the recent vandalism or trespassing cases. After Sunday's incident in Santa Cruz, police raided a home where three UCSC students live but have not named them as suspect

[ElkGroveDan]

detectives have not identified suspects in the rash of sidewalk chalking, brazen daylight trespassing and bullhorn-powered yelling incidents

Sidewalk chalking?

[Doctor Raoul]

It's the same basic crowd of thugs that protested the Marines in Berkeley.

They are bullies. One good ass kicking and they'll stop. As long as they keep getting away with it, protected by liberal judges that decide their violence is just "free speech" it will only get worse.

STOP THE LEFT WING VIOLENCE

[jazusamo]

The incidents have been what Kusmiss called "minor" until Feb. 17, when a faculty member reported that 15 protesters entered his property at 3 p.m. and smashed a flower pot on the front porch before turning over a garbage can in his backyard.

Sounds like Jerry Vlasak could be branching out in recruiting more nutjobs, Lord knows there are many in Beserkeley.

[george76]

Those nice people...

/s

Jerry Vlasak ...

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

It would be a toss up between Santa Cruz and Berkeley to determine which was more extreme left wing.

[SmithL]

It’s probably a toss-up when it come to resident moonbats. But the Peoples Republic of Berkeley is much easier to get to, and as such, it tends to attract a lot more rent-a-radical types.