United States - The Animal Liberation Front (ALF)

The ALF (Alfie) originated in Britain in the early 1970s as an outgrowth of an animal rights group known as the Band of Mercy. Over the years, the group has engaged in a wide range of violent and non-violent activities ranging from low-level bombs and arson to protests and raids on farms to release animals. While the animal rights movement has been strongest in Britain, some of its activities have spilled over to the United States and onto continental Europe. Efforts by authorities to identify and neutralize ALF and other animal rights groups have had only partial success as the groups usually operate in small cells, are not tightly organized, and have no card-carrying members. As noted above, their tactics usually involve a wide range of protests, vandalism, product contamination, arson and low-level bombings. ALF slogans promoted in its literature are "learn to burn" and "devastate to liberate." Their targets include all industries engaged in the use of animals for experimentation, food, fur or sport as well as companies engaged in peripheral industries such as the transportation of animals or the use of animal extracts in their products. In the past, universities, research centers, research scientists and chemical companies have been prime targets. And these guys have caused some serious setbacks on some major medical research. On April 5, 1999, Alfie "commandos" ransacked laboratories at the University of Minnesota, taking dozens of research animals and causing an estimated US$1 million in damage. The raid and subsequent damage set back the facility's Alzheimer's research alone by two years.

http://www.animal-liberation.net/