Violent animal rights activists set fire to scientist home - very little protection available for scientists

Animal rights activists set fire to the home of Dr. David Feldheim, a molecular biologist on the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz.  This event, which may have resulted in the death of the family, and taken together with similar incidents at laboratories and educational facilities, has resulted in considerable disruption, concern and expense. The victims of radical animal activists have even included a branch of a national office supply company which sold stationary items to Huntingdon Life Sciences.

Police spokespersons in Santa Cruz and Berkeley have not specifically identified any activist group as being responsible for the latest episodes but the two organizations under suspicion include Stop Animal Exploitation Now! (SAEN) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) (It is evident that animal rights activists belong to a number of splinter organizations under the aegis of the Animal Liberation Front.) The spokesperson for this latter group Dr. Jerry Vlasak, a physician, virtually condoned the action by stating “This is historically what happens when other revolutionaries begin to take the oppression and suffering of their fellow beings seriously, whether human or nonhuman.”  He added, “It is regrettable that certain scientists are willing to put their families at risk by choosing to do wasteful animal experiments in this day and age.”  The report which appeared on the website of the ALF also includes a quotation from communist playwright Bertolt Brecht--“Only force can help where force prevails.”

[read more . . . Violent animal rights activists set fire to scientist home - very little protection available for scientists]