OldDog/NewTricks
Well-known member
From: Wozniak, Chris
Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 9:04 AM
To: Reynnells, Richard; '[email protected]'; 'joan wozniak'
Subject: ALF / ELF
The Vocal Point
THE VOCAL POINT: Time for a frontal attack on the Animal Liberation Front
By Dan Murphy on 1/5/2007 for Meatingplace.com
I don't know if you've had occasion to visit the Web site for the notorious Animal Liberation Front — www.animalliberationspressoffice.org — lately. If so, it may have struck you, as it did me, how ironic the group's "liberation" intiatives appear.
For so-called revolutionaries, who say they want to change society's entire relationship with the animal kingdom, they certainly seem to be relying on the same discredited, retaliatory acts of violence that have proven to be counterproductive for the last, what? Two thousand years?
As examples, here are a few snippets from the group's (alleged) "press office," showing clearly that ALF is little more than thugs and terrorists, cloaking themselves in the self-described nobility of their cause.
"Two FLA (Frente de Liberación Animal) strikes very early this morning in Monterrey, Nuevo León (Mexico). The first target was a big fur store, where all locks and doors were glued . . . The second target was a KFC that was painted with paint bombs. In Support of all ALF and ELF cells and dedicated to the SHAC 7."
"A group of indivuals (sic) went to the lower east side of manhattan and glued and tampered with the locks of every fur, leather, and wool store on Orchard Street between Delancey Street and Houston Street."
"In a well coordinated action, 487 bottles of POM Wonderful juices were tampered with along the Eastern seaboard in stores like wild oats, d'agostino's and food emporiums. Those who drink the contaminated juice won't die like the animals in pom labs, but the diarrhea, vomiting and headaches will hopefully send a strong message that people will no longer allow innocent defenseless animals to be tormented and killed . . . to line the pockets of profiteers."
To clarify: SHAC refers to Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, an underground group of activists who spent years stalking, sabotaging and vandalizing the employees and management of Huntingdon Life Sciences, a UK-based medical research company that had the audacity to use animals in its labs. In 2004, an FBI raid nabbed seven members of the group (thus, the SHAC 7), who were convicted and are currently completing federal prison sentences.
POM Wonderful is a Century City, Calif.-based pomegranate juice manufacturer. Meatpackers might ask, what the heck was their crime? Answer: They used lab animals to provide the data necessary to confirm the health claims they make for their juices and teas.
A food company cannot make health claims without data demonstrating efficacy. Such an attempt would be denied by FDA and seared by withering attacks from consumer interest groups. But when you employ standard, scientific protocol on lab rats to ensure the safety and measure the effectiveness of food ingredients marketed to consumers, you put a big target on your back for every ALF member out there.
If it smells like a terrorist
However, all of the above is business as usual for the self-styled outlaws who comprise the paint-spraying, fire-bombing members of ALF's various "cells." (Of course, that last designation is how they identify themselves — but don't call them terrorists!)
But the most egregious of ALF's recent operations occurred late last month. In a communiqué (again, with the pseudo-revolutionary jargon) issued on Dec. 20, ALF bragged that, "Last night we gave an early Christmas present to around two hundred and fifty of our friends at the Griggstown Quail Farm in Princeton, N.J.
"After clipping through the fencing we cut out large sections of the canopy covering three pens, then flushed several hundred quail, phesants (sic) and partridges out into the starry sky and freedom. The farm is located by a waterway and open fields, and we wish our friends the best of luck in establishing new lives.
"To the animal abuse industry, welcome to post-Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act America: not one damn bit different.
"Sincerely, the ALF Putting the Crime back in Christmas since 1984. This action dedicated to the SHAC 7."
The reality, as explained by Carl Brown, the sales manager for feed and seed supplier F.M. Brown's Sons in nearby Birdsboro, Pa., is far different from the warped imaginings of those who vandalized the Griggstown Quail Farm.
"Most of the birds that do escape will probably die as a result of being hit by traffic, or attacked by hawks," Brown wrote in an email responding to the ALF attack. "There is not a lot of cropping or ground cover in the general area of this farm."
Most of the birds will die. That's somehow supposed to be interpreted as animal liberation? As leverage to improve the fate of animals?
I don't fault the hawks, who probably figured that Christmas came a week early this year. And what motorist is prepared to deal with a flock of domesticated quail suddenly bolting across the highway?
The point to all this is that ALF and plenty of other, unaffiliated activists are enthralled with the idea that their criminal attacks can somehow overthrow "the system." Such thinking was ludicrous 40 years ago, when college kids facing the draft were marching in the streets to "smash the state."
Or at least the Selective Service, thank you very much.
Violence in the name of non-violence is even more absurd today. To witness otherwise intelligent people blatantly justify the use of terrorist principles, tactics and language – and then demand they be accorded credibility – is the height of absurdity.
What should meat and poultry companies be doing in response? I'd suggest three countermeasures:
Response. Every company involved in the meat and poultry business ought to have several trained communicators and spokespeople who can reach out to local media – certainly if an animal activist incident takes place here they do business – and offer a perspective that challenges the accusations of abuse, cruelty and whatever else that are always lobbed at producers and packers.
Beyond appearing on local TV news programs (where producers are always looking for a reaction from the business community to news events), how about booking an appearance on radio or cable TV talk shows? If that sounds daunting, trust me: It isn't.
And if you need assistance, call me. I've got the names and numbers of dozens of TV producers sitting in my desk.
Security. All facilities need to be fully secured along the perimeter of the property and at all entrance points, loading docks and employee access points. Video surveillance equipment needs to be installed. Equally important, management needs to proactively reach out to local police and emergency responders to discuss their security plans and make sure the community's first responders are aware of threats posed by ALF and others allied with them.
Support. There are numerous pro-industry groups out there working to counteract the hatred, the violence and the propaganda generated by animal activists. Perhaps your firm is a member. If so, that's great. If not, why not?
But beyond paying your dues, how about getting involved? How about attending meetings, appearing on industry discussion panels, becoming active on the committees most groups have formed to deal with those who oppose the very existence of the industry?
Make no mistake: This is a fight to the finish, and it's one industry cannot afford to lose.
Dan Murphy, former editor of MMT magazine, is communications integrator + principal at Seattle-based Outsource Marketing and author of the forthcoming book, "Meat of the Matter."
Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 9:04 AM
To: Reynnells, Richard; '[email protected]'; 'joan wozniak'
Subject: ALF / ELF
The Vocal Point
THE VOCAL POINT: Time for a frontal attack on the Animal Liberation Front
By Dan Murphy on 1/5/2007 for Meatingplace.com
I don't know if you've had occasion to visit the Web site for the notorious Animal Liberation Front — www.animalliberationspressoffice.org — lately. If so, it may have struck you, as it did me, how ironic the group's "liberation" intiatives appear.
For so-called revolutionaries, who say they want to change society's entire relationship with the animal kingdom, they certainly seem to be relying on the same discredited, retaliatory acts of violence that have proven to be counterproductive for the last, what? Two thousand years?
As examples, here are a few snippets from the group's (alleged) "press office," showing clearly that ALF is little more than thugs and terrorists, cloaking themselves in the self-described nobility of their cause.
"Two FLA (Frente de Liberación Animal) strikes very early this morning in Monterrey, Nuevo León (Mexico). The first target was a big fur store, where all locks and doors were glued . . . The second target was a KFC that was painted with paint bombs. In Support of all ALF and ELF cells and dedicated to the SHAC 7."
"A group of indivuals (sic) went to the lower east side of manhattan and glued and tampered with the locks of every fur, leather, and wool store on Orchard Street between Delancey Street and Houston Street."
"In a well coordinated action, 487 bottles of POM Wonderful juices were tampered with along the Eastern seaboard in stores like wild oats, d'agostino's and food emporiums. Those who drink the contaminated juice won't die like the animals in pom labs, but the diarrhea, vomiting and headaches will hopefully send a strong message that people will no longer allow innocent defenseless animals to be tormented and killed . . . to line the pockets of profiteers."
To clarify: SHAC refers to Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, an underground group of activists who spent years stalking, sabotaging and vandalizing the employees and management of Huntingdon Life Sciences, a UK-based medical research company that had the audacity to use animals in its labs. In 2004, an FBI raid nabbed seven members of the group (thus, the SHAC 7), who were convicted and are currently completing federal prison sentences.
POM Wonderful is a Century City, Calif.-based pomegranate juice manufacturer. Meatpackers might ask, what the heck was their crime? Answer: They used lab animals to provide the data necessary to confirm the health claims they make for their juices and teas.
A food company cannot make health claims without data demonstrating efficacy. Such an attempt would be denied by FDA and seared by withering attacks from consumer interest groups. But when you employ standard, scientific protocol on lab rats to ensure the safety and measure the effectiveness of food ingredients marketed to consumers, you put a big target on your back for every ALF member out there.
If it smells like a terrorist
However, all of the above is business as usual for the self-styled outlaws who comprise the paint-spraying, fire-bombing members of ALF's various "cells." (Of course, that last designation is how they identify themselves — but don't call them terrorists!)
But the most egregious of ALF's recent operations occurred late last month. In a communiqué (again, with the pseudo-revolutionary jargon) issued on Dec. 20, ALF bragged that, "Last night we gave an early Christmas present to around two hundred and fifty of our friends at the Griggstown Quail Farm in Princeton, N.J.
"After clipping through the fencing we cut out large sections of the canopy covering three pens, then flushed several hundred quail, phesants (sic) and partridges out into the starry sky and freedom. The farm is located by a waterway and open fields, and we wish our friends the best of luck in establishing new lives.
"To the animal abuse industry, welcome to post-Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act America: not one damn bit different.
"Sincerely, the ALF Putting the Crime back in Christmas since 1984. This action dedicated to the SHAC 7."
The reality, as explained by Carl Brown, the sales manager for feed and seed supplier F.M. Brown's Sons in nearby Birdsboro, Pa., is far different from the warped imaginings of those who vandalized the Griggstown Quail Farm.
"Most of the birds that do escape will probably die as a result of being hit by traffic, or attacked by hawks," Brown wrote in an email responding to the ALF attack. "There is not a lot of cropping or ground cover in the general area of this farm."
Most of the birds will die. That's somehow supposed to be interpreted as animal liberation? As leverage to improve the fate of animals?
I don't fault the hawks, who probably figured that Christmas came a week early this year. And what motorist is prepared to deal with a flock of domesticated quail suddenly bolting across the highway?
The point to all this is that ALF and plenty of other, unaffiliated activists are enthralled with the idea that their criminal attacks can somehow overthrow "the system." Such thinking was ludicrous 40 years ago, when college kids facing the draft were marching in the streets to "smash the state."
Or at least the Selective Service, thank you very much.
Violence in the name of non-violence is even more absurd today. To witness otherwise intelligent people blatantly justify the use of terrorist principles, tactics and language – and then demand they be accorded credibility – is the height of absurdity.
What should meat and poultry companies be doing in response? I'd suggest three countermeasures:
Response. Every company involved in the meat and poultry business ought to have several trained communicators and spokespeople who can reach out to local media – certainly if an animal activist incident takes place here they do business – and offer a perspective that challenges the accusations of abuse, cruelty and whatever else that are always lobbed at producers and packers.
Beyond appearing on local TV news programs (where producers are always looking for a reaction from the business community to news events), how about booking an appearance on radio or cable TV talk shows? If that sounds daunting, trust me: It isn't.
And if you need assistance, call me. I've got the names and numbers of dozens of TV producers sitting in my desk.
Security. All facilities need to be fully secured along the perimeter of the property and at all entrance points, loading docks and employee access points. Video surveillance equipment needs to be installed. Equally important, management needs to proactively reach out to local police and emergency responders to discuss their security plans and make sure the community's first responders are aware of threats posed by ALF and others allied with them.
Support. There are numerous pro-industry groups out there working to counteract the hatred, the violence and the propaganda generated by animal activists. Perhaps your firm is a member. If so, that's great. If not, why not?
But beyond paying your dues, how about getting involved? How about attending meetings, appearing on industry discussion panels, becoming active on the committees most groups have formed to deal with those who oppose the very existence of the industry?
Make no mistake: This is a fight to the finish, and it's one industry cannot afford to lose.
Dan Murphy, former editor of MMT magazine, is communications integrator + principal at Seattle-based Outsource Marketing and author of the forthcoming book, "Meat of the Matter."