The Animal Liberation Front marked “World Week for Animals in Laboratories,” with animal thefts on the east and west coasts of the US. ALF admitted it stole more than 230 ducklings from the Cornell Duck Laboratory on Long Island, New York. In a communiqué distributed by spokesman David Barbarash, ALF said the birds were taken on April 28 to “liberate these beautiful creatures from exploitation, abuse and terror, and to provide a damaging blow to factory duck farming industries.”

The thieves left graffiti in the manner of other ALF raids. Painted on the lab walls were “Saved from torture by the ALF,” “No more animal tests,” and “Liberated,” investigators said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is working on the case with local police.

Tirath Sandhu, director of the laboratory, said that the ducklings were used in research on viruses that could help duck farmers and wild ducks. The ducklings were on a special diet but were not infected with any disease that could harm other animals, Sandhu said. However, they cannot fly or protect themselves in the wild.

The ALF press release said that the ducklings were taken to a sanctuary.

In California, ALF stole more than two dozen rabbits that were being raised to develop antibodies used to detect disease in plants and animals. The rabbits were housed at ICRC Company in Castroville, California. The managers were elsewhere on the property with the crime occurred.

The ALF communiqué released by spokesman David Barbaresh said that the raiders cut through a fence and dodged motion-detecting lights to reach the rabbit building, then quietly took as many of the animals as they could and gave them to “loving homes.”

California’s ALF also raided an egg farm in Beaumont in March and stole more than 400 chickens.