A contingent from the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) snuck into the parking lot of Chicago seafood distribution company Supreme Lobster early Sunday morning and cut the four brake lines on all but two of the company’s 40-truck fleet. When a trucker pulled out of the still dark parking lot a few hours later, he discovered the hard way that he had no brakes. Luckily, no one was hurt. But it looks like ALF hoped otherwise.
The only reason to believe the animal rights fanatics didn’t want to hurt people was a spray-painted message on a door near the parking lot that read “ALF — No Brakes.” But this note was more likely a calling card for the police than a warning to Supreme Lobster employees. How would the truckers know? They begin work before dawn, so they were unlikely even to see the message.
There is other evidence that ALF may be turning away from its stated practice of targeting property only. Last August, ALF’s sister organization, The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) set fire to a forest research station and proclaimed that “where it is necessary, we will no longer hesitate to pick up the gun to implement justice.” And ALF’s UK press officer Robin Webb calls the cause of animal liberation “A war! A long, hard, bloody war!” As with any war, there may soon be human casualties.
It’s even possible that the thugs in Chicago were taking their cues from ALF’s most prominent militant, Rodney Coronado. Exactly one week before, Coronado told a crowd of hundreds at American University in Washington, DC: “You know, those people – I think they should appreciate that we’re only targeting their property. Because frankly I think it’s time to start targeting them.”
