ALF: Tactics are "non-violent"

The Animal Liberation Front, an animal activist group, claimed responsibility late Wednesday for the fire that destroyed a Sims Poultry truck on May 3. The group said they aimed to cause economic sabotage to the business.\nDavid Barbarash, spokesman for the ALF, described the group's tactics in the poultry attack.\n"The truck is worth money," he said. "The business may have to deal with high premiums. People have to understand that this group is not a bunch of kids that say, 'Hey, what are we going to do today?' These are serious political activists who have a serious understanding of what they do."\nBarbarash said the area was surveyed for days so that no humans or animals were hurt. He emphasized in a May 15 press release that the group did not use explosives in the sabotage mission. \n"The ALF does not use explosives in its actions as the ensuing shrapnel in such an action would undoubtedly cause either harm or death to others nearby," he said. "The ALF abides by strict non-violence guidelines and in their 23-year history have never injured or killed anyone in the course of their actions. The fires at Sims were well-planned to fall within these guidelines, and they have."\nThe group uses incendiary devices, which are containers filled with flammable liquid and then set to ignite.\nBarbarash further elaborated on the "non-explosive, non-violent" issue in a phone interview Friday.\n"The setting of a fire and the use of explosives are two entirely different things," he said. "Explosive force creates shrapnel if you wanted to blow up a concrete structure you wouldn't be setting it on fire. In a controlled fire situation, you can guarantee what you want to burn."\nNo arrests have been made in the Sims case since ALF members remain anonymous in their dealings. Barbarash doesn't even know the names of individuals within the organization. Since the FBI wants a number of members, his connection with the ALF has led to authorities monitoring his activities. \n"I've found listening devices in homes and vehicles (but) they know the communications I get are anonymous."\nHe said he didn't know about the Sims attack until after it occurred and received information involving the incident.\n"Physical security (is) a major concern of everyone as it always should be," said former ALF member Darren Thurston in an interview with No Compromise, an animal liberation newspaper. "You have to assume that every word you say over a telephone is being heard, pay telephones included. Never talk inside anyone's home or vehicle, both can be and are bugged very easily. Every ALF activist must be ready to go to jail rather than incriminate other ALF activists or do anything that would put the animals' freedom at risk."\nJust down the street from Sims Poultry at Pursell and Clayton Gun Shop, co-owner Floyd Clayton views the anonymity tactics used by the group as wrong. \n"If they're right, why do they hide?" Clayton asked. "They aren't really standing up. That's not the American way to protest. They could have killed someone. I mean, there's a house right across the alley."\nThough Sims Poultry doesn't deal with live chickens, the ALF has attacked poultry farms and other places where live animals are held in captivity. \n"Just look at the description of a factory farm chicken," he said. "If you're not tossed into a grinder at a young age, then you get to have your beak cut off and sheared. Six weeks later you get sent to the slaughterhouse in a cage with five other chickens. There's mice running everywhere. It's a really disgusting situation. Just go into a chicken farm and see for yourself. And if you don't get admission into one, ask yourself why."\nBefore a liberation effort, the group is sure to calculate its actions precisely and find homes for the animals.\n"There's care taken into preparation for what we do," Barbarash said. "Homes are found prior to the animals being rescued. People agree to take these animals in and let them live out the rest of their lives."\nIn hearing the claims made by Barbarash, Clayton wonders what extremes members of the ALF really take.\n"I was a meat cutter for years, and people don't just waste the animals. They eat the meat, they use the hides," he said. "I mean, heck. They even use intestines and whatnot for medical purposes. If those guys needed medical help, would they refuse it?"\nDespite what the activists have to say, Clayton scoffs at their actions and rationalizations. \n"They knew they wouldn't get caught. They've just got nothing better to do"