ALF Liberates Dolphins

23 July 2013 2 dolphins were set free from Yevpatoria dolphinarium as a result of special operation with diving equipment. 

During the night of the full moon on 20/07/2013 we covered 2 km under water and breached security perimeter: we cut the nets and entered dolphin containment pools.

23 July 2013 2 dolphins were set free from Yevpatoria dolphinarium as a result of special operation with diving equipment. 

During the night of the full moon on 20/07/2013 we covered 2 km under water and breached security perimeter: we cut the nets and entered dolphin containment pools.

In the next hour we cut large part of perimeter barrier. Dolphins encouraged our efforts with clicks and whistling. Their support filled us with joy and excitement.

This has been an unforgettable meeting and encouraging experience for us. Our job done, we left the area of operation.

By the way, the prison was equipped with night-vision cameras, but their red eyes were turned on the catwalks and audience seats. 

Nobody expected our approach from below. As soon as dolphins got wind of freedom and open water, they escaped into the night sea.

– ALF/FAI SEALS on tour

Paddlers Charge Silver River, Protesting Expected Cattle Ranch

Paddlers charge the iconic Silver River, protesting Adena Springs Ranch

30 June 2013 Grassfed beef ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Paddlers charge the iconic Silver River, protesting Adena Springs Ranch

30 June 2013 Grassfed beef ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Take Adena Springs Ranch, a proposed cattle ranch being developed by billionaire Frank Stronach in Florida. The beef project is expected to span 10,000 acres and, according to their website, hold up to 15,000 cattle. Adena Springs Ranch plans to raise the cattle on a grassfed diet, calling their industrial farming practices “healthier” and “better for the environment.”

This past Saturday, individuals concerned with the proposed ranch gathered alongside the iconic Silver River, a river formed from the discharge of Silver Springs, one of the largest natural artesian wells in the world. Silver Springs historically discharged over 550 million gallons of water per day. In recent years, though, its flow has decreased significantly. According to the New York Times, the “flow rate has dropped by a third over 10 years.” If Adena Springs Ranch gets the go ahead from state officials, its farming practices will have a direct impact on the flow and water quality of Silver Springs.

A flyover by the Putnam County Environmental Council showing the Adena Springs Ranch property

A flyover by the Putnam County Environmental Council showing the Adena Springs Ranch property. Photo: PCEC

Adena Springs Ranch is currently applying for a consumptive use permit that will allow them to draw 5.3 million gallons of water per day from the Floridan Aquifer, the underground reservoir of water that provides drinking water to Florida residents, draws tourism money to the state and encourages residents and visitors to get out into the wilds of Florida and experience its natural beauty.

The permit, if approved, will allow the ranch to draw water from the area surrounding Silver Springs, impacting the entire springshed, all for the purpose of watering the grass that will feed the cattle. When asked about the impact their water withdrawals would have, Adena engineer – and Frank Stronach puppet – William Dunn said that “they do not consider current hydrological conditions when they do their calculations.”

About the only thing natural in this intensive cattle operation will be the release of cow shit and urine into the 130-acre grazing lots. Adena Springs Ranch says they will complete regular soil tests to ensure that they’re “not sending runoff downstream to neighbors or nearby waterbodies.”

The Floridan Aquifer, however, can be thought of as a giant limestone sponge forming the foundation of the state. Rainwater and runoff seeps through topsoil and permeable limestone and slowly flows through the Aquifer until it rushes out through natural springs or is drawn up for drinking or irrigation purposes. If cow manure – a nitrogen-rich fertilizer sold in garden shops everywhere – coming from Stronach’s cows somehow manages to have a neutral effect on the environment, and on the nutrient levels of the surrounding area, than the makeup of that cowshit would defy vegetable gardeners everywhere.

A paddler on the spring-fed Silver River.

A paddler on the spring-fed Silver River. Photo: Matt Keene

Find out more information about the protest and the issues surrounding Adena Springs by checking out the Water Action Team website.

Primate Products Inc. Facility Closes Down after Smash HLS Campaign

Gary Serignese, Executive Director of South Florida Smash HLS, leads a demonstration outside Primate Products, Inc

Gary Serignese, Executive Director of South Florida Smash HLS, leads a demonstration outside Primate Products, Inc. in Doral, near Miami International Airport. (CRISTOBAL HERRERA / Sun Sentinel SoFlaShare / September 22, 2011)

A South Florida holding center for imported research monkeys [sic] that had been the target of animal rights protests has shut down, with the company moving its operations to a remote location north of the Everglades.

Primate Products Inc. has closed a fenced, cage-filled building near Miami International Airport that had been the focus of an animal rights campaign involving picketing, demonstrations against participating airlines and smuggled photos of bloody monkeys. The company has laid off 10 employees and moved its remaining operations to a complex near the Collier County town of Immokalee.

 

Dr. Thomas Rowell, a veterinarian who is the company’s president, said the closure represented a long-planned consolidation that had nothing to do with the demonstrations. He said Primate Products had obtained federal permission to quarantine monkeys at its other facility and planned to reduce its import and sales business in favor of service and support.

Gary Serignese, of Boca Raton, executive director of the animal rights group South Florida Smash HLS, said he doubted this explanation.

“We know that they would not have made this change without our aggressive protest campaign,” he said. “An import company would not abandon a facility close to the international airport unless it felt it had no choice.”

During the campaign, activists held demonstrations at the Pembroke Pines home of the company’s previous president. Using email, phone calls and picketing, they pressured local freight airlines into refusing to carry primates. They obtained photos of injured monkeys from inside the facility and provided them to the news media.

In arguing for the company to close, they said the monkeys were headed for lives of boredom, pain and fear, with dubious benefit to human health. Primate Products has said its work provides essential research subjects to scientists, who are the best judges of their biomedical value.

“We are here to assure you and others that PPI is committed to our mission to serve the biomedical research community and to provide products and services specifically designed to enhance the conservation, care, and use of nonhuman primates for advancing public health,” Rowell wrote in an email.

Friends of Badgers Hack into NFU Mutual

www.savethebadger.com
11/06/12: received anonymously:

www.savethebadger.com
11/06/12: received anonymously:

"NFU Mutual is the commercial arm of the National Farmers Union (NFU). They provide a huge part of the income for the NFU and enable it to be a lobbying powerhouse in UK politics. The funding they provide to the NFU is used to ensure that animal welfare regulations on farmers remain lax; that farmers continue to receive huge subsidies; that the horrific live export trade can continue and also ensure that they are able to get the government to allow them to persecute wildlife such as badgers in complete disregard to the law which has them as a protected species. The NFU and NFU Mutual are so closely linked that NFU reps are also sales agents for NFU Mutual. NFU Mutual makes the profit that greases the wheels of political lobbying to allow the slaughter of our innocent wildlife. Last September we decided to come out of our sett and get hacking NFU Mutual, our biggest target.

Since the beginning of May we have exploited vulnerabilities on NFU Mutual systems to allow us to download almost all of their customer files including full financial details, claims and account history. Our access is so complete that we were able to make subtle modifications to the accounts of several people we know are involved in the badger cull.

As more people are identified as being part of the badger cull we will exploit the details we have on them. We will show the same mercy to their finances that they show to the lives of badgers. We already have plans to use the details we have on some of the more high profile supporters of the cull.

This is Bodger and Badger. NFU Mutual bodged their security and so we are now badgering them.

Badgers have friends, and those friends are hackers.

BrockCyberClan – saving wildlife one bit at a time."

Sea Turtle Activist Murdered in Costa Rica 4th June

Jairo Mora Sandoval, a 26 year-old sea turtle conservationist and activist, was murdered late last week in Costa Rica. According to news reports from Central America, Sandoval and four other sea turtle volunteers, including three American women and a woman from Spain,  were kidnapped on Thursday,  May 30, by armed men.

Sandoval was found tied up, beaten and shot dead in the head on the beach the following day. The four volunteers had escaped or been released.

Initial reports on the police investigation point to the murders being poachers after sea turtle eggs.

Sandoval is yet another in a long list of fallen warriors murdered for defending life on Earth.

Sea Shepherd launches Operation Relentless 9th May

Off the back of Sea Shepherd’s most successful campaign to date, Operation Zero Tolerance that saved 932 whales, Sea Shepherd launches Operation Relentless. Like last season’s campaign, Operation Relentless will be managed and led by Sea Shepherd Australia with campaign leaders Bob Brown and Jeff Hansen.

It will be Sea Shepherd’s 10th Antarctic whale defence campaign defending at risk whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. During the past nine seasons, Sea Shepherd’s direct-action interventions have saved the lives of more than 4,500 whales and exposed illegal Japanese whaling to the world. With the help of Australians and people around the world, Operation Relentless is shaping up to be a monumental success for the whales.

“Australia is now the focus of the biggest whale saving operation on Earth and funding depends on the generosity of whale loving Australians. These whales are Australia’s responsibility. Sea Shepherd is acting where Governments have failed to intervene in the illegal slaughter of these magnificent creatures,” said Dr Bob Brown, Sea Shepherd board member.

“Japan stated that the attempt to kill whales in the Antarctic whale sanctuary was abandoned due to ‘relentless interference’ by Sea Shepherd,” said Jeff Hansen, Sea Shepherd Australian Director.

“Sea Shepherd likes that kind of relentless accusation, we like being relentless in the pursuit of finally bring peace to the whales of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Sea Shepherd knows that this is a David and Goliath struggle. Our past victories show we have one thing that the whalers do not, and that’s the passion and courage of our crew. No matter what the odds, no matter what the risks, no matter how well equipped, funded and Government backed your opponents are, you must never give in, must never surrender.  You must fight for what is right, because the one thing that is worth fighting for on our beautiful planet is life,” said Mr Hansen.

ALF Releases 29 Rabbits from Barcelona Factory Farm 27th April

On the night of April 13, 2013, Animal Liberation Front activists opened the cages of thirty rabbits who were to be killed in a few days.
The initial goal was to get many more out, but when we arrived we saw that because of their enormous size and weight it would be impossible to liberate the number we had thought, so with great effort we carried away our backpacks full of our new and surprised friends.

If you've ever seen the terrified eyes of an animal in a cage and then felt their heart beating next to yours at the time of their release, you know exactly the meaning of Animal Liberation.
After seeing them locked in small cages without soil, and then later see them walk and feel the wild life, you know that while you have strength, you won't stop fighting for Total Liberation.

We're not going to ask for their cages to be larger or comfortable.
We're not going to ask that the conditions in which they are tortured in experiments are 'improved',
We're not going to ask that when they are killed, that it be done 'humanely' …
None of this is ever going to be enough.

We have learned that we can't wait for the social conditions to work in our favor, we can not hope for anything from the exploiters.
They will not change, but neither will we!
We will always be there and we will do what we can to make their lives miserable.

The other night 29 rabbits learned for the first time what it is to feel fresh air and that made us feel free as well. But there are still millions of animals in cages and unfortunately we can't get all of them out.
Anyway … TRY IT!

As a group we also want to say a couple of things. One is that we want total liberation. And the other is that we will fight wherever we can to achieve it, but we will not mix with fascist bastards to do it, in any way! We want nothing to do with them. They can use whatever name they want, we will always consider them our enemies. Appearing to us as part of the systematic domination that sickens this planet, we repeat, we will never accept or allow ourselves to be confused with such garbage.

AGAINST ALL FORMS OF DOMINATION
FOR TOTAL LIBERATION

We want to send a greeting of freedom to Noelia Cotelo, who has suffered alarmingly in recent months the torture and abuse of a system based on exploitation, deception and murder …
'Noelia, the night of April 13, you were in the minds and hearts of those of us who carried out that liberation. We do not care if you're vegan or not, if you approve of our actions or if to the contrary they mean nothing to you. Nonetheless, this night is for you.
STRENGTH!'

Animal Liberation Front – Kodama Cell"

Animal Activists Destroy Years of Research in Italy

Activists occupy and barricade themselves on the fourth floor of a Pharmacology Dept of a vivisection lab in Milano (Italy).

Activists occupy and barricade themselves on the fourth floor of a Pharmacology Dept of a vivisection lab in Milano (Italy).

Over the weekend animal rights activists entered a laboratory conducting animal studies, set loose some of the animals and switched cages, ruining years worth of research, according to lab officials.

Nature reported that the unauthorized entering of the laboratory in the pharmacology department at the University of Milan was part of a protest staged by people with the group Fermare Green Hill (or Stop Green Hill).

Pharmacologist Francesca Guidobono-Cavalchini, who works in the building, said, according to Nature, that they believe five activists obtained a keycard to enter the building illegally. Once inside, the activists set free some animals and mixed up cages and labels. Two even put chains around their necks, attaching the other end to the main double doors of the facility, which could cause bodily harm if the opened by authorities.

“These animals did not choose to be there and have no chance to leave,” the activists stated on their website (translated via Google Translate). “With this unprecedented action we want to document the conditions in which animals live and experiments that are conducted, showing them to the whole society with photographs and films; give visibility to the problem of vivisection and the places where it is practiced, thus giving a name also those who practice it, to start a siege peaceful inside and in front of the laboratory with the request that the animals are released and that the Ministry and the Palaces of an end to the false promises and really started to take steps towards the abolition of animal testing.”

After 10 hours, activists from Contro Green Hill who had occupied the laboratory in the pharmacology department of Milano, RESCUED HUNDREDS OF MICE AND ONE RABBIT. These animals are now safe from the hands of vivisectors.

Nature reported Paola Viani, the deputy director with the pharmacology department, saying he had to work with police to reach a compromise with the activists. They ended up taking almost 100 animals with them and were supposedly told they could take more from the facility later.

“It will take three people at least a year to build up the colonies we had of mouse models of different psychiatric diseases,” neurobiologist Michela Matteoli said.

Guidobono-Cavalchini told Nature the university intends to press charges for the damage done.

On Sunday, scientists issued a letter (translated by Google) stating that the activists damage “goes far beyond the loss of animals illegally removed,” but extends to a loss of scientific discovery and hundreds of thousands of euros.

Acknowledging that there is a controversial component to animal research, the scientists continue in the letter stating that it can be of service to humanity and thus ask that the activists be brought to justice for “the agencies, individuals and families of patients who fund our research.”

 

Harvard Announces Closure of Primate Research Center April 24th

Harvard Medical School has issued a statement announcing that the New England Primate Research Center will be closing within 24 months. Harvard’s New England Primate Research Center has been embroiled in an ongoing controversy following the negligent deaths of at least 4 primates.

Harvard Medical School has issued a statement announcing that the New England Primate Research Center will be closing within 24 months. Harvard’s New England Primate Research Center has been embroiled in an ongoing controversy following the negligent deaths of at least 4 primates. The facility is currently under investigation by the USDA and faces a potentially major federal fine for multiple violations of the Animal Welfare Act. “Harvard wants the public to believe that this closure is due to economics,” said Michael A. Budkie, A.H.T., Executive Director, SAEN (Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!). “That is simply not true. The only way Harvard could quash this scandal is to close the primate center, because even last year’s resignation of the Center’s Director could not end their ineptitude. This closure is the direct result of pressure from activists led by SAEN.” “The closure of Harvard’s Primate Research Center is the best news I have ever heard,” added Budkie. “The potential exists to bring freedom to many monkeys and to redirect millions of dollars into clinical and epidemiological research which will more directly benefit humans.” SAEN has announced plans to contact the Harvard Medical School’s administration to explore the possibility of placing at least some of the primates in sanctuaries. “These primates have suffered enough,” added Budkie. “They deserve a chance to have a new life in another environment where their needs will be put first.”

ALF Destroys 200 Fur Traps in Ontario 19th April

“As of March 2013 we have removed and destroyed approximately 200 fur traps in Ontario. The traps were snares and Conibears intended to murder beaver, rabbits and other innocents. Tragically we were too late for two rabbits and one raccoon, whose bodies and internal organs had already been eaten into by snares. We will be forever haunted by our memories of their bodies, we will forever continue removing traps and we encourage others to get in the bush and help smash the fur industry. Look for tell tale signs of traps and trap lines; flagging tape tied to branches, repeated tracks entering the bush, and poles or sticks protruding from bodies of water especially near beaver lodges, where trapping is frequent. Join the burgeoning ranks of trap saboteurs!

ALF”