Timeline of Animal Liberation Front actions, 1976-1999

This is a time line of Animal Liberation Front
Animal Liberation Front
The Animal Liberation Front is an international, underground leaderless resistance that engages in illegal direct action in pursuit of animal liberation...

(ALF) actions since its formation in 1976 until 1999.

1976

Two years after Ronnie Lee

Ronnie Lee

Ronnie Lee is a British animal rights activist. He is known primarily for having founded the Animal Liberation Front in 1976. He also founded the magazine Arkangel in 1989.-Founding the ALF:...

and Cliff Goodman had been charged for the raid on the Oxford Laboratory Animal Colonies in Bicester

Bicester

Bicester is a town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in England.This historic market centre is one of the fastest growing towns in Oxfordshire Development has been favoured by its proximity to junction 9 of the M40 motorway linking it to London, Birmingham and...

, as part of the Band of Mercy, the "Bicester Two" as they were known; Lee emerged even more militant than before. There had been daily demonstrations at the court during their trial, including Lee's local Labour MP Ivor Clemitson

Ivor Clemitson

Ivor Malcolm Clemitson was a British Labour politician.At the February 1974 general election, Clemitson was elected as Member of Parliament for Luton East. He held his seat at the October 1974 election, but at the 1979 general election, when he lost by 847 votes to the Conservative Graham...

. He then collected up the remaining activists from the Band of Mercy upon his release, including another two dozen new willing activists, 30 in all, and the Animal Liberation Front was born.

It was reported that in early operations by the ALF, individuals targeted slaughterhouse

Slaughterhouse

A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food products.Approximately 45-50% of the animal can be turned into edible products...

s, fur

Fur

Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...

riers, butcher

Butcher

A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...

s shops, circuses, breeders and fast-food restaurants, causing £250,000 in the first year alone.

1981

September
In Monkey Business, by Kathy Snow Guillermo, she writes that the first ALF action in the United States was the removal of the so-called Silver Spring monkeys

Silver Spring monkeys

The Silver Spring monkeys were 17 wild-born macaque monkeys from the Philippines who lived inside the Institute of Behavioral Research in Silver Spring, Maryland...

, who were being cared for by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...

(PETA) in a safehouse. They were kept there are after a researcher from the Institute of Behavioral Research in Silver Spring, Maryland, had allegedly acted in violation of the animal cruelty legislation for laboratory practice. The animals were then returned five days later, after learning that legal action against the researcher could not proceed without the monkeys.

1982

December 24
The president of PETA

Peta

Peta can refer to:* peta-, an SI prefix denoting a factor of 1015* Peta, Greece, a town in Greece* Peta, the Pāli word for a Preta, or hungry ghost in Buddhism* Peta Wilson, an Australian actress and model* Peta Todd, English glamour model...

, Ingrid Newkirk

Ingrid Newkirk

Ingrid Newkirk is a British-born animal rights activist and president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals , the world's largest animal rights organization...

, writes that an activist codenamed "Valerie" flew to England, after the publicity triggered by the Silver Spring monkeys case. She was directed by Ronnie Lee to a training camp for activists, who at the time was working for the BUAV

British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection

The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection is a British animal protection and advocacy group that campaigns for the abolition of all animal experiments...

, before returning to Maryland and breaking into Howard University

Howard University

Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...

. Twenty-four cats were removed by the ALF cell she had founded, with some of the cats suffering from back legs that were crippled.

1984

May 28
The Head Injury Lab of the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

is raided by the ALF with $60,000 worth of damage caused, and 60 hours worth of video tapes stolen which shows researchers laughing and joking as they cause brain damage to baboon

Baboon

Baboons are African and Arabian Old World monkeys belonging to the genus Papio, part of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. There are five species, which are some of the largest non-hominoid members of the primate order; only the mandrill and the drill are larger...

s. PETA then released the documentary Unnecessary Fuss
Unnecessary Fuss
Unnecessary Fuss is a film produced by Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals , showing footage shot inside the University of Pennsylvania's Head Injury Clinic in Philadelphia....

, causing the chief veterinarian to lose his job.

December 9
The City of Hope National Medical Center

City of Hope National Medical Center

City of Hope National Medical Center, is a private, not-for-profit clinical research center, hospital and graduate medical school located in Duarte, California, United States...

is raided by the ALF totaling $400,000 in costs.

1985

April 20
Sixteen ALF activists take 468 animals, including a five-week-old macaque

Macaque

The macaques constitute a genus of Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. - Description :Aside from humans , the macaques are the most widespread primate genus, ranging from Japan to Afghanistan and, in the case of the barbary macaque, to North Africa...

named Britches

Britches (monkey)

Britches was a stump-tailed macaque monkey born into a breeding colony at the University of California, Riverside . He was removed from his mother at birth, had his eyelids sewn shut, and had an electronic sonar device attached to his head — a Trisensor Aid, an experimental version of a blind...

, after raiding the University of California

University of California

The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...

, and cause $700,000 in damages. After the raid, which the ALF filmed (video), eight of the seventeen projects involving the use of animals at the laboratory, which were currently going on, were stopped, because of the footage. The University said "years of medical research were lost".

1986

October 26
The University of Oregon

University of Oregon

-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...

laboratory is attacked in Eugene with $120,000 worth of damage.

1987

April 15
Two years and two weeks after 500 animals were taken from the University of California, an ALF arson is claimed at the Animal Diagnostics Laboratory, causing $5.1 million, one of the largest and most costly actions yet for the movement.
November 28
"ALF" and "murderers" is spray-painted at V. Melani, which is set on fire causing $200,000 in damages. The company are a poultry distribution company in Santa Clara, California.

1989

April

On the 2nd, one of the laboratories at the Veterans Administration hospital is set on fire, a part of the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...

, causing $500,000 worth of damage.
Timed incendiary device
Incendiary device
Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices or incendiary bombs are bombs designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using materials such as napalm, thermite, chlorine trifluoride, or white phosphorus....

s are left at a meat company on the 13th April, the ALF claim the fire.

July 4
Equipment, computer and records are smashed after the ALF raid Texas Tech University

Texas Tech University

Texas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...

, with an estimated $700,000 in damages.

1990s

1990

March 17
Harlan Interfauna

Harlan (company)

Harlan Sprague Dawley Inc. is one of the world's leading suppliers of animals and other services to laboratories for the purpose of animal testing...

is raided by Keith Mann

Keith Mann

Keith Mann is a British animal rights campaigner and writer, alleged by police in 2005 to be at the top of the Animal Liberation Front pyramid. He is the author of From Dusk 'til Dawn: An Insider's View of the Growth of the Animal Liberation Movement...

, Barry Horne

Barry Horne

Barry Horne was an English animal rights activist. He became known around the world in December 1998, when he engaged in a 68-day hunger strike in an effort to persuade the British government to hold a public inquiry into animal testing, something the Labour Party had said it would do before it...

and Danny Attwood, as part of a small ALF cell. The activists entered the animal units through holes they punched in the roof, removing 82 beagle puppies and 26 rabbits. They also removed documents listing Interfauna's customers, which included Boots, Glaxo, Beechams, and Huntingdon Research Centre

Huntingdon Life Sciences

Huntingdon Life Sciences is a contract animal-testing company founded in 1952 in England, with facilities in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire; Eye, Suffolk; New Jersey in the U.S., and Japan...

, as well as a number of universities. A vet who was an ALF supporter removed the tattoos from the dogs' ears, and they were dispersed to new homes across the UK. As a result of evidence found at the scene and in one of the activists' homes, Mann

Keith Mann

and Attwood were convicted of conspiracy to burgle and were sentenced to nine months and 18 months respectively.

1991

June 10
Rod Coronado

Rod Coronado

Rodney Adam Coronado is a Native American eco-anarchist and animal rights activist. He is an advocate and former activist for the Animal Liberation Front and a spokesperson for the Earth Liberation Front...

, and the ALF, raid Oregon State University

Oregon State University

Oregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are more than 200 academic degree programs offered through the...

and set timed incendiary devices in building, with $62,000 in damage done to the experimental mink farm.
December 15
A mink pelt drying company, Hynek Malecky facility, is set fire by the ALF,with costs estimated at $96,000. The raid is claimed as the ALF and Rod Coronado is later charged with the arson.

1992

February 28
Another mink research facility is attacked, Michigan State University

Michigan State University

Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

, again another arson, this time causing substantially more damage at the cost of $1.2 million. Rod Coronado was charged with the attack, with PETA

Peta

donating $42,000 towards his legal defense.

1995

January
In Henrietta, New York, two trucks belonging to Conti Packing Co are set on fire by the ALF.
April 14
The ALF use an incendiary device, causing $6,000 in damages at Oneata Beef Company, Syracuse, New York.
June 15
Tandy Leather

Tandy Corporation

Tandy Corporation was a family-owned leather goods company based in Fort Worth, Texas. Tandy was founded in 1919 as a leather supply store, and acquired RadioShack in 1963. The Tandy name was dropped in May 2000, when RadioShack Corporation was made the official name.-History:Tandy began in 1919...

, in Utah is set on fire causing $300,000 in damage, the action is claimed by the ALF.
December 24
Three Dutch Girl Ice Cream trucks in Eugene, Oregon, have incendiary devices placed under them by the ALF, costing $15,600.

1996

April 2
An Egg Products store in Salt Lake City is burned to the ground, with also the ALF destroying two trucks that were ownded by the company. The damage totaled $100,000.
October

In Detroit, Oregon, 27th, a U.S. Forest Service
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...

truck is set on fire. The claim is a joint one by the ALF and the Earth Liberation Front
Earth Liberation Front
The Earth Liberation Front , also known as "Elves" or "The Elves", is the collective name for autonomous individuals or covert cells who, according to the ELF Press Office, use "economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment".The ELF was founded...

(ELF), a similar movement who formed in 1992.
Three days later, a U.S. Forest Service Oakridge Ranger Station is burned down in Eugene, Oregon, causing $5.3 million, also claimed by both the ELF and the ALF.

November 12
The ALF claim that they have thrown a firebomb through the window of the Alaskan Fur Company, in Bloomington, Minnesota, the damages is estimated at over $2 million.

1997

February 15
Butyric acid

Butyric acid

Butyric acid , also known under the systematic name butanoic acid, is a carboxylic acid with the structural formula CH3CH2CH2-COOH. Salts and esters of butyric acid are known as butyrates or butanoates...

is left in a McDonald's by the ALF, a chemical that leaves a foul smell, and also "McShit, McMurder, McDeath" is spraypainted on the walls of the bathroom in Michigan.
March

Another joint claim by the ALF and the ELF of a series of firebombings on the 11th of March, destroying the offices of the Agricultural Fur Breeders Co-Op and four trucks, in Utah, costing an estimated $1 million.
Three days later, the "Animal Liberation Front - Eco-Animal Defense Unit" claim the spiking
Tree spiking
Tree spiking involves hammering a metal rod, nail, or other material into a tree trunk to discourage logging by attempting to devalue the commercial use of the wood, reducing the economic viability of logging in the long term, while not threatening the life of the tree...

of 47 trees in a clearcut area, Oregon. The action is also claimed by the ALF and the ELF.
On the 18th, nearly ten years after the $5.1 million arson at the University of California by the ALF, the "Bay Area Cell of the Earth and Animal Liberation Front" set fire to the Center for Comparative Medicine facility, which was under construction at the time.
On the same day, Montgomery Furs is torched by the ALF, the store is a trapping supply firm in Utah.

April 19
In Indiana, the ALF set fire to a truck belonging to Archer's Meats.
July 21
A napalm

Napalm

Napalm is a thickening/gelling agent generally mixed with gasoline or a similar fuel for use in an incendiary device, primarily as an anti-personnel weapon...

is used by the ALF and ELF against Cavel West, a horse slaughter

Horse slaughter

Horse slaughter is the practice of slaughtering horses for meat. These animals come mainly from auctions, where they're sold by private sellers and breeders....

ing abattoir based in Oregon, calling the device "vegan Jell-o". The plant is reported destroyed.
August

On the 16th, in Utah, a McDonald's restaurant is completely burned to the ground by four ALF activists, totaling $400,000 worth of damage in total.
The very next day, two Molotov cocktail
Molotov cocktail
The Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, Molotov bomb, fire bottle, fire bomb, or simply Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons...

s are thrown through the window of Cosmo's Furs, in Illinois, claimed by the ALF.
Only a couple of days later, on the 19th of August, the Wildlife Pharmaceuticals in, Colorado, is set on fire by the ALF.
Several trucks are set on fire belonging to Jersey Cuts Meat Co, in New Jersey, on the 26th, with the ALF claiming responsibility. Three of the trucks are completely destroyed, each costing $60,000.

1998

February 28
A window is broken at The Outdoorsman Sport Shop, which is then used by the ALF to set fire to the building in Indiana. Slogans were are also painted at the store.
May 4
The Florida Veal Processors Inc, in Florida, is burned to the ground causing half a million dollars in damage. The ALF then claim to have carried out the action.
June 28
A joint claim is made by the ALF and the ELF for an arson attack at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a control building located in Olympia, Washington.
July 16
Nearly a year after the previous set of meat trucks were destroyed in New Jersey, another truck is destroyed, this time belonging to Steven Corn Furs, the action is claimed again by the ALF. Furthermore, present in this vehicle was a drive-along Barbie truck belonging to Steven Corn's daughter. The truck was destroyed as well.
August
The ALF claimed responsibility for releasing into the wild up to 6,000 mink from a mink farm in Ringwood, UK. About 2,000 of the minks were immediately recaptured, another 2,000 were killed and the rest remained unaccounted-for at the time the incident was reported. Anti-fur activists denounced the action as "a disaster for the [anti-fur] campaign, and it's a disaster for the mink". The action was described by a Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Bird Notes and News was first published in April 1903.The title changed to 'Bird Notes' in 1947. In the 1950s, there were four copies per year . Each volume covered two years, spread over three calendar years...

spokesman as an "act of monumental stupidity," amid fears that the non-native carnivorous minks would cause ecological damage. The ALF said it would continue its campaign until the British government introduced new animal-welfare legislation for animals used by the fur industry.
November

On the 16th, another arson occurs in New Jersey by the ALF, they target a Leather and Fur Ranch van.
The ALF & ELF release 500 wild horses and torch the Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...

in Burns, Oregon, on the 29th November. This is claimed in protest of BLM's intention to round up the wild horses and process them for the sale of horsemeat.

1999

March 27
Six vehicles are firebombed by the ALF that are owned by Big Apple Circus in New Jersey.
April 5
Dozens of research animals are taken from the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

's laboratories, as well as the property vandalised. The raid is claimed by the ALF.
May 9

The ALF target Chilrder's Meat Co., in Oregon, destroying a refrigeration unit, a shipping dock and a two-story building. The fires are estimated to have caused $150,000 in damage.

June 25
A Worldwide Primates truck is destroyed by the ALF in Miami, Florida.
August

In Wisconsin on the 9th, United Feeds, a feeder supplier to mink farms, is burned to the ground. Gene Myer's Fur Farm is then raided, releasing mink into the wild, with both actions claimed by the ALF.
Forty six dogs are taken from Bio-Devices Inc, California, on the 29th August. The research laboratory
Animal testing
Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments. Worldwide it is estimated that the number of vertebrate animals—from zebrafish to non-human primates—ranges from the tens of millions to more than 100 million...

is also set on fire, causing $250,000 in damages, with the ALF claiming responsibility.
Two days later, the ALF burn down a McDonalds restaurant in Georgia to the ground. It is reported that Bruce Friedrich
Bruce Friedrich
Bruce Friedrich is Senior Director for Strategic Initiatives at Farm Sanctuary.Friedrich serves on the governing board of the Catholic Vegetarian Society, the advisory board of the Christian Vegetarian Association, and is a founding member of the Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians...

, of PETA
Peta
Peta can refer to:* peta-, an SI prefix denoting a factor of 1015* Peta, Greece, a town in Greece* Peta, the Pāli word for a Preta, or hungry ghost in Buddhism* Peta Wilson, an Australian actress and model* Peta Todd, English glamour model...

announces the news on an animal rights website.

September 23
The ALF claim an arson at Phippsburg Sportsmen's Association, Massachusetts, although their attempts fail.
October 22
Four vehicles belonging to Harris Furs are toched by the ALF in Rhode Island.
November

On the 1st, a Gap
Gap (clothing retailer)
The Gap, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and Doris F. Fisher. The company has five primary brands: the namesake Gap banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta. As of September 2008,...

clothes store has four gasoline bombs thrown inside, which the FBI claimed the ALF were responsible for.
British documentary-filmmaker Graham Hall told police and the Mail on Sunday that he was kidnapped and branded with the letters "ALF" across his back after meeting a man claiming to have information on a dog-fighting ring and filming ALF activists "boasting about bomb making and choosing sites for violent attacks." His film was shown on Channel 4 in the UK during the 1998 hunger strike of ALF activist Barry Horne
Barry Horne
Barry Horne was an English animal rights activist. He became known around the world in December 1998, when he engaged in a 68-day hunger strike in an effort to persuade the British government to hold a public inquiry into animal testing, something the Labour Party had said it would do before it...

. Hall said he was taken by several masked men, one of whose voices he said he recognized from a previous gathering of activists, to an unknown house, then was tied to a chair for several hours and branded. No charges were laid as a result of his complaint. In response to the attack, Robin Webb stated "The ALF's policy has always been that there should be no harming life in its work, and we abide by that. There are probably many people with grudges against Mr Hall because of his films over the years, but this attack has nothing to do with us."

For continued article, see Timeline of Animal Liberation Front actions; 2000-2004
Timeline of Animal Liberation Front actions, 2000-2004
This is a time line of the Animal Liberation Front actions from 2000 to 2004.-Background:ALF formedTwo years after Ronnie Lee and Cliff Goodman had been charged for the raid on the Oxford Laboratory Animal Colonies in Bicester, UK, in 1974, as part of the Band of Mercy, the "Bicester Two" as they...

and 2005-Present
Timeline of Animal Liberation Front actions, 2005-Present
This is a time line of Animal Liberation Front actions since 2005.-Background:ALF formedTwo years after Ronnie Lee and Cliff Goodman had been charged for the raid on the Oxford Laboratory Animal Colonies in Bicester in 1974, as part of the Band of Mercy, the "Bicester Two" as they were known; Lee...