Christmas trees, biofuels, luxury homes and coal fired power stations have at least one thing in common – environmental extremism.
Many of us have an opinion on GM crops, carbon foot prints or the expansion of Heathrow and we let our thoughts be known by writing letters, voting or perhaps demonstrating peacefully. Environmentalists have been lobbying for many years and most have used lawful tactics to try and persuade or dissuade governments throughout the world.
In 2006, 600 people gathered at Drax in North Yorkshire for a mass day of action against the Drax coal fired power station with their stated aim to, “kick-start a social movement
to tackle climate change”. In 2007 a ‘Camp’ was organised at Heathrow to try and stop BAA from building a third runway. Now, in 2008 ‘Climate Camp 08’ was held at Kingsnorth in Kent to demonstrate against E.ON building the UK’s first coal-fired power station in 30 years.
Freedom to demonstrate, freedom of the press and freedom of movement are some of the rights we enjoy in a democratic society and must be protected. Recently, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph Prince Charles exercised free speech when he presented his views on GM crops, “And if they think its somehow going to work because they are going to have one form of clever genetic engineering after another then again count me out,
because that will be guaranteed to cause the biggest disaster environmentally of all
time.” He added that small farmers, in particular, would be the victims of “gigantic
corporations”. Action against “gigantic corporations”, in an effort to protect the
environment, is not new. A ‘Battle-Mart primer’ is offered for free download on the
To work for a world in which all humans respect and live in harmony with all other
members of the animal kingdom is the vision of the RSPCA; to achieve this they
clearly set out their mission to prevent cruelty, promote kindness to and alleviate
suffering of animals by all lawful means. Few would disagree with the mission of the
RSPCA but unfortunately even some strong supporters of the ‘vision’
have moved away from the Society’s mission of “by all lawful means” and turned towards violent methods of persuasion. When individuals or groups use tactics beyond what is reasonable, in their attempt to persuade or dissuade, they move away from exercising their freedom of expression towards terrorism. Those who moved away from the mission of the RSPCA by carrying out acts of violence, such as animal rights extremists, turned
towards terrorism. In Britain an act of terrorism is defined as a threat designed to influence the government or to intimidate the public. In the United States Title 22
of the U.S. Code defines terrorism as “premeditated, politically motivated
violence” against “noncombatant targets by subnational groups” usually with the goal to
influence an audience. Just like the animal rights extremists, such as the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), some environmentalists, the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), are turning towards terrorism to pursue their objectives. Like the ALF, the ELF is a ‘cell based’ group with no hierarchal leadership and therefore difficult to infiltrate and investigate. The similarity between the groups does not end with an acronym; in the 1990’s both groups in the USA shared the same spokesman. In his book ‘The Animal Research War’, Dr. P. Michael Conn identified the connection when he said of them, “Members of the ELF and its sister group, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) don’t carry identification cards or have meetings.” In that same book, Dr. Conn mentioned
the contribution payment of $1500 in 2001 by the People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals (PETA) to the ELF. The ELF and the ALF have carried out attacks in concert in both the US and in Europe; fur farms in Spain and in Pennsylvania have been subject
of arson attacks. (See the chart below with examples of ALF and ELF attacks).
In Britain the police have been instrumental in suppressing the activities of animal
extremists with successful prosecutions resulting in prison sentences. However,
in Europe and in the US extremists have continued with terrorist tactics; in June the German drug maker Bayer AG came under attack at its offices in Athens and in California in August incendiary devices were used against researchers in Santa Cruz. Whilst we applaud the police action in Britain we should remember the terrorists learn from their mistakes and they will change tactics in response to the police success. Those in prison will have studied their prosecution files to identify loops in the law or investigation methods and will have shared that knowledge. Undoubtedly, the ELF and the ALF have learned valuable lessons and we must be prepared for more sophisticated action in the future such as infiltration into companies and/or political parties. Indeed, the UK Government
introduced its Baseline Personnel Security Standard in 2006 to raise awareness of the
requirement for a robust pre-employment screening process.
Throughout history countries have had extremist groups with local political motives e.g. ETA and PIRA and very often they are able to use the democratic process to stop terrorism. Environmental extremism, like animal rights extremism, does not have
boundaries and it will be more difficult to deal with. Only by incorporating more
sophisticated methods ourselves will we be able to identify the terrorists who live and
work within our communities.
Alan Fletcher CAS
Alan Fletcher is the Head of the Security
Division for Agenda Security Services.
If you would like any further information about the issues raised above or would like further information about Agenda’s pre-employment screening services visit www.agenda-secruity.co.uk or e-mail info@agenda-security.co.uk.
- 1/26/02 Minnesota University arson attack Machinery torched at building site of genomics research center. ELF claims guilt.
- 3/24/02 Arson at road construction site, PA $500,000 crane burned, trees spiked. ELFclaims guilt.
- 8/11/02 Forest Service station torched, PA US Forest Service Research Station in Irvine burned down. ELF claims guilt.
- 12/29/02 Hunt supplier torched (UK) Fire razes feed supplier to Herts fox hunt.
- 4/27/03 Chicken hatchery vandalized (Sweden) Machinery wrecked at Gimranas Inc. hatchery, Herrljunga
- 6/4/03 New homes torched, MI Two homes destroyed in Macomb County. ELF claims guilt.
- 8/1/03 Condo project torched, CA ELF claims 206-unit condo arson in San Diego.
- 8/22/03 Arson at four SUV dealerships, CA 125 autos, mostly SUVs, destroyed or damaged around LA. ELF claims guilt.
- 8/25/03 Mink farm raided in WA 10,000 mink released in Snohomish.
- 9/19/03 Homes under construction torched in CA Four San Diego homes destroyed. Banner indicates ELF guilt
- 9/22/03 Fur farm raided (Finland) 7,000 mink released and abandoned at a Kokkola farm
- 9/24/03 Research lab ransacked in Louisiana LSU School of Veterinary Medicine lab vandalized. ALF claims guilt.
- 4/20/04 New homes torched in WA Two homes gutted, one damaged in Lobo Ridge, Snohomish. Evidence of ecoterror.
- 6/14/04 Arson at Utah lumber yard. Storage house in West Jordan destroyed. ELF claims guilt.
- 11/12-15/04 Science building extensively damaged Over $1 million in damage to building under construction at University of Minnesota Duluth.
- 11/14/04 Lab ransacked, animals released (Iowa, USA) University Psychology Dept. vandalized, animals stolen. ALF claims guilt. Damage: $450,000. 4/13/05 Homes firebombed in WA Arsonists burn one new house, attempt another near Seattle
- 7/8/05 Logging gear burned in NH Equipment torched on land owned by T.R. Dillon Logging in Success.
- 11/20/05 Housing development torched in MD Four townhouses set ablaze in Hagerstown. ELF claims guilt.
- 1/7/06 Luxury house torched in WA Mansion on Camano Island gutted. ELF message found
- 1/27/06 Farmed fish released (UK) 50,000 young trout released in Kent.
- 7/14/06 Construction vehicles sabotaged (Canada) Dozen vehicles wrecked at Toronto condo development. ELF claims guilt.
- 9/13/06 Fish farm attacked (UK) 15,000 halibut released, gear vandalized, in Oban, Scotland.
- 12/18/06 Bird farm attack in NJ 2,500 quail released in Somerset County. All die.
- 5/6/07 Arson at cattle farm (UK) Firebombs at Oxfordshire farm wreck equipment kill animals. ALF claims guilt.
- 6/5/07 Mink farm attacked in PA 2,800 mink released in Boyers, hundreds die. Two pet dogs killed.
- 1/23/08 Research staff poisoned (New Zealand) Two staff at Victoria University drink milk spiked with formaldehyde. E-mail warns them to “stop killing mice”.
- 3/3/08 Fires gut model homes in WA Four multi-million-dollar model homes are torched in Seattle. ELF graffiti found.
