Press Release  - September 10, 2006
For information contact:  National Animal Interest Alliance (NAIA)
http://www.naiaonline.org/
naia@naiaonline.org
503-761-1139          
                                        

NAIA applauds Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee for introducing the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) S 1926.

This bill targets the growing number of homegrown terrorists who have planted firebombs everywhere from university research labs, to private homes and corporate offices…right here in the USA.

"This bipartisan bill is desperately needed so that the U.S. Department of Justice can respond to changes that have occurred in animal rights terrorist tactics since the last comprehensive legislation was passed,” said NAIA National Director Patti Strand. “Earlier legislation criminalized direct attacks against animal enterprises. Today’s terrorists shield themselves from prosecution under that law by attacking indirect targets, third parties doing business with these enterprises.” 

“Closing these loopholes is necessary to protect law-abiding Americans from violence and threats of violence. The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act will do so without compromising our precious civil liberties,” said NAIA President Dr. Larry Katz. “We believe that passage of AETA could mark a turning point in the fight against animal rights and eco- terrorism."

NAIA urges you to contact your senators now and ask them to support S 1926. Click here to contact them easily:  http://capwiz.com/naiatrust/issues/alert/?alertid=9000716&type=CO

Since NAIA was founded in 1991, we have worked non-stop to expose the ties between the underground criminals that attack in the name of animal rights and the above-ground animal charities that promote their cause.  We lobbied for passage of the first Animal Enterprise Protection Act (AEPA) in 1992 and in the interim have endorsed and participated in several efforts
to strengthen this law. (1)

In the mid-1990s, the FBI named militant animal and environmental groups as domestic terrorists. In 2002 Congress stiffened penalties in the AEPA. (2) Last year the FBI listed animal rights and eco-terrorists as the country’s leading domestic terrorism threat. (3) Law enforcement agencies have launched far-ranging investigations into the activities of the Animal Liberation Front, the Earth Liberation Front, and other aggressive groups (4) The results have been superb: In the past few months, grand juries issued numerous indictments leading to several guilty verdicts.

In January, the FBI announced 65 indictments of 11 suspected eco-terrorists for arsons and other crimes against legitimate businesses, including the $12 million firebombing of a ski resort in Vail, Colorado.(5)

In February, convicted arsonist Rodney Coronado (6) was indicted for teaching radicals how to make and use incendiary devices. Coronado has presented his tutorial to several fanatic audiences; arsons and other raids often punctuated his appearances.(7)

In March, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty and six of its members were convicted of terrorism against Huntingdon Life Sciences. (8) U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie hailed the verdict as one of national significance. "There is no place in a democratic, law-abiding society for extremists who incite or use violence and intimidation as a means to an end," he said.

SHAC and its members were found guilty of direct action against HLS, but they and other militant groups and individuals were also implicated in crimes against employees of securities companies, the New York Stock Exchange, pharmaceutical firms, and other businesses that maintain business relationships with Huntingdon. The use of these third-party attacks, which were not covered under the existing AEPA, makes it clear that extremists will exploit any loopholes in the law to continue their assaults on companies and individuals who use animals. These reprehensible attacks resulted in personal traumas, financial loss, and property damage against innocent people pursuing lawful careers and lifestyles. (9)

Skip Boruchin, a market maker for Legacy Trading Company, told a Senate hearing committee last October that his family, his neighbors, and his company had been the targets of constant harassment because he traded in HLS stock: (10)

“Daily thousands of obscene and threatening phone calls, to home and office at all hours, day or night; outright slander calling me a ‘child pornographer’ in the media and all over the internet,” he told the senators. “When these threats and actions did not work, SHAC moved to far more dangerous and insidious tactics. Describing me as the ‘dreaded Legacy,’ SHAC brought their crimes of terror to my home, office and family. One day I awoke to find that SHAC had been in my yard. They spray-painted large messages like ‘Puppy Killer’ ‘Drop HLS’ all over the entire house. They wrote ‘Skip is a murderer.’ ‘Nine Million Dead’ on my garage door.”

And the attacks continue. In July of this year, a UCLA animal research scientist was the target of animal rights terrorists who mistakenly left an incendiary device intended for her at her 70 year old neighbor's house instead. The following month a colleague threw in the towel, citing the constant attacks by terrorists as the cause.

The incidents and stories referenced above, including Skip Boruchin’s, are not unique. Others folded when victimized by SHAC, but Borochin chose instead to tell a Senate committee of his experience as a target. The result was introduction of S 1926 and HR 4239 to address these heinous offenses. Among other goals, these bills:

·    Prohibit the intentional damaging of property of a person or entity having a connection to, relationship with, or transactions with an animal enterprise;
·     Prohibit veiled threats to individuals and their families because of their relationship with an animal enterprise; and
·     Prohibit conspiracies or attempts to commit such damage or threats.

NAIA and NAIA Trust respect lawful protest and individual expression, but when a spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front brazenly states that murder is acceptable in the pursuit of the animal rights agenda, and a Texas philosophy professor publicly declares that property destruction is acceptable as a method of stopping animal use, it is time to increase federal restrictions of behavior that the FBI has labeled “one of our highest domestic terrorism priorities.”
What you can do:

1.  Go to http://capwiz.com/naiatrust/home to find out who represents you at the federal, state and local level. Then go to http://capwiz.com/naiatrust/issues/alert/?alertid=9000716&type=CO and write your U.S Representative and Senators and urge them to support AETA, S 1926, and to sign on as cosponsors of S 1926 and HR 4239 if they have not yet done so.
2.   Pick up the phone and call your senators. Let them know how important this issue is to you.  Here's the Washington DC telephone number. 202-224-3121. You can get your senators' local numbers from the Washington office.
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Notes:
1. "NAIA calls on President Bush to act against animal rights' extremists," 

http://www.naiaonline.org/body/articles/archives/Bushrel(6-1-1)b.htm, and "Action Alert: Anti terrorism bill," http://www.naiaonline.org/body/articles/archives/actionrequest.htm

2. “Terrorism law strengthened but for radicals, it’s business as usual “

http://www.naiaonline.org/body/articles/archives/terror.htm and “Animal rights and environmental extremists use intimidation and violence to achieve their ends,"  http://www.naiaonline.org/body/articles/archives/arterror.htm

3. "USA Patriot Act also covers terrorist acts of radical animal rights, environmental, and anti-capitalist groups," http://www.naiaonline.org/body/articles/archives/patriot_act.htm, and  http://thomas.loc.gov/ for USA Patriot Act.

4. ACLU  FOIA requests/releases by theme, 

http://www.aclu.org/safefree/spyfiles/24011res20060131.html, then scroll down to links for FBI/PeTA investigation.

5. When greenies go nuts: tales of the eco-11 terrorists by By James Vesely, the Seattle Time, January 22, 2006, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002752199_vesely22.html

6. Coronado sentencing memorandum, http://www.naiaonline.org/body/pdfs/coronadosentencingmemorandum.pdf

7. "California arson fits domestic terrorist pattern!"  http://www.naiaonline.org/body/ca_arson_terrorist(8-7-03).htm

8. "SHAC attack: Feds indict animal rights group, seven radicals as domestic terrorists for attacks on researchers," http://www.naiaonline.org/body/articles/archives/shac.htm, and http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/2983.

9. U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works Terrorism Hearing Statements, October 26, 2005, http://epw.senate.gov/hearing_statements.cfm?id=247470

10. Statement of Skip Borochin before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works Terrorism Hearing, October 26, 2005.
http://epw.senate.gov/hearing_statements.cfm?id=247793

11. Article about researchers under attack in California:

http://www.upi.com/HealthBusiness/view.php?StoryID=20060808-042008-5713r

12. Senate’s press release announcing the bi-partisan Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, S 1926:

http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=262681

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About The Author

Patti Strand -
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