Animal Rights Terrorism on the Rise in U.S.

It was 4 o’clock in the morning when David Jentsch, a neuroscience professor at UCLA, awoke to a loud bang and the sound of his car alarm. He hurried to his bedroom window and saw the orange glow of his new Volvo luxury sedan burning in his yard.

He suspected immediately that it was the work of animal rights activists.

“Enough of my colleagues had been attacked that I had a feeling they were responsible,” Jentsch said about the March 7 torching of his car. “Two days later the Animal Liberation Brigade took credit for it. The irony of the whole situation is that no one had ever approached me about my research before, not one harassing e-mail or phone call.”

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Jentsch, who experiments on monkeys and rodents in his studies on mental disorders like drug addiction and psychosis, is one of a growing number of victims in a renewed and intensified campaign by animal rights activists. In what law enforcement officials are calling a wave of militancy, groups like the Animal Liberation Front and another called The Justice Department are going after scientists personally, both at work and at home, and threatening the safety of their families.

“There is an upswing,” said Laura Eimiller, a FBI spokeswoman in Los Angeles. “What’s really concerning is the tactics that are being used. Previously it was non-violent, mostly harassment or vandalism. Now we’re seeing the increased use of incendiary devices to target individuals.”

Over the past 18 months, there have been at least 39 criminal actions undertaken in the name of animal rights, according to data compiled by the Foundation for Biomedical Research, an advocacy group for researchers. That represents a significant rise from 2006 and 2007, when there were only 25 incidents.

Much of the recent activity has been focused in California, which has seen labs destroyed, scientists’ cars firebombed, public officials’ cars vandalized and animals kidnapped and then released into the wild. Activists have claimed to have sabotaged the cars of UCLA football players, and six masked activists burst into the home of a researcher at the University of California-Santa Cruz.

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