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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Animal Rights Activists Arrested For Terrorst Acts Against UC Scientists

Federal authorities have arrested four suspected animal rights activists in connection with violent protests in Santa Cruz and Alameda County, police reported Friday.

Three of the four were linked to the Riverside Avenue home police raided after the home invasion attack of a UC Santa Cruz researcher a year ago, according to Santa Cruz police spokesman Zach Friend.

Nathan Pope, 26, of Oceanside and Adriana Stumpo, 23, of Long Beach were arrested by the FBI and the Charlotte Joint Terrorism Task Force at an airport in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday when they returned to the U.S. from Costa Rica, police reported. They appeared in federal court in Charlotte on Friday.

The two other suspects – Joseph Buddenberg, 25, of Berkeley and Maryam Khejavi, 20, of Pinole – were arrested by the FBI, the San Francisco Joint Terrorism Task Force and UC Berkeley police Friday afternoon. Khejavi was arrested in Oakland and Buddenberg, the only one of the four not tied to the Riverside Avenue house, was arrested at the Alameda County Courthouse, according to authorities.

Santa Cruz Police Chief Howard Skerry said the arrests came “due to the tenacity of investigators,” but declined to speak specifically about the probe, evidence collected or any future arrests. Santa Cruz police were involved in the investigation, but the FBI was the lead law enforcement agency handling the case.

Still, he said he was pleased with the progress made in the past year.

“A lot of cases are very complex,” Skerry said. “We don’t give up on the cases. If it takes years, it takes years.”

Pope, Stumpo, Buddenberg and Khejavi will be charged at least in part under the federal Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, police said. The act carries a penalty of up to five years for each violation. It wasn’t immediately clear how many counts the suspected animal activists face. They are expected to appear in U.S. District Court later this month.

via Source

UC Davis Researchers Face Bomb Threats

An animal rights group has claimed that it has sent letter bombs to two University of California, Davis researchers, the school said.

The UC Davis Police Department, Davis Police Department and other agencies are investigating the claim, and no suspicious packages have yet been detected.

The claim was made late on Saturday in a posting on an activist Web site, but the group was not named by authorities. Police notified the two researchers named in the posting — both who are affiliated with the California National Primate Research Center — early on Sunday morning.

“Such threats against our researchers are unacceptable, and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms,” said Stan Nosek, vice chancellor for administration at UC Davis, who is responsible for oversight of animal research and care on campus.

The university advised all researchers, faculty and staff to be vigilant in handling and opening mail, and to look out for suspicious packages, such as parcels that are unusually shaped, wrapped with a lot of tape or have excess postage.

via NorCal University Faces Bomb Threat – NBCBAYAREA- msnbc.com.