As the Center for Consumer Freedom first made public in a February, 2002 Congressional hearing, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) made a $1,500 donation to the North American Earth liberation Front (ELF) in 2001 “to support their program activities.” If ELF’s latest “activities” are any indication, PETA certainly got a lot of bang for its buck.
A four-count indictment was handed down this month in Oregon against four environmental activists for the 2001 firebombing of three log trucks near Portland State University. The investigating U.S. attorney told The Oregonian that the crime was very similar to another 2001 arson, an Easter truck blaze for which ELF had claimed responsibility. “I think this is a major first step in investigating eco-terrorism,” he said.
ELF and its sister group, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), are both considered “domestic terror groups” by the FBI and were jointly responsible for over $17 million in damages last year alone. More recently, following the August 18 release of 1,200 mink from an Iowa farm, an ALF press statement warned that the group planned to continue its violent campaign “to liberate all non-human captives.” ALF’s crime spree, the statement continued, “will continue until every animal confinement operation is empty and every slaughterhouse is burned to the ground.”
