Peter Daniel Young is an American animal rights activist. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in 1998 on charges related to fur farm raids in Iowa, South Dakota, and Wisconsin in 1997. He was in hiding for seven years, before being arrested in San Jose and sentenced to two years' imprisonment in 2005. [1] Young was released in February 2007. [1] [2]
Young grew up in Los Gatos, California. At the age of nine, he moved to Mercer Island, Washington, near Seattle, where he graduated from Mercer Island High School in 1995. [3] He became vegan in 1994. [4] Young describes himself as becoming more active after being shocked by his visit to a chicken slaughterhouse in the Seattle Chinatown-International District. [5] He participated in a campus animal rights group at the University of Washington, but was not a student there. [5] Young describes himself as being strongly influenced by mid-1990s vegan straight edge bands like Vegan Reich, Earth Crisis, and Raid: "The vegan straightedge scene is directly responsible for the course my life has taken." [4] [6]
In the fall of 1997, Young and a friend, Justin Samuel, set off from Washington with the plan to release animals from fur farms in the Midwest on their way to Florida. A two-week period in October saw the release of at least 8,000 mink and fox from six fur farms in Iowa, South Dakota, and Wisconsin, along with the destruction of the breeding records at each farm. On October 28, police officers pulled over Young and Samuel in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, after officers received a call from fur farmers who suspected that the two were surveying farms. Their vehicle was impounded, and a search warrant application was granted the following day. The search of their vehicle yielded animal rights literature, fur farm addresses, and other suspicious items. [7]
In September 1998, a federal grand jury indicted Young and Samuel each on four charges of "Extortion by Interfering with Interstate Commerce", and two charges of "Animal Enterprise Terrorism". [8] Young remained wanted by the FBI for over 7 years.
Samuel was arrested on September 4, 1999 in Belgium and was extradited to the United States to face trial. He agreed to cooperate with the government in exchange for a reduced sentence of two years. Young was arrested in San Jose, California on March 21, 2005 on charges of shoplifting CDs from a local Starbucks and was extradited to Wisconsin to face trial for the fur farm raids. [7]
In August 2005, prosecutors were forced to drop the extortion charges against Young because a Supreme Court ruling had changed the definition of "extortion." [9] In September 2005, Young pleaded guilty to conspiracy to release mink from six fur farms in South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Iowa; and the actual release of 2400 mink from a farm in Medford, Wisconsin. [2] Prosecutors argued that Young had acted on behalf of the Animal Liberation Front, but Young's attorney denied this. [10]
Young was sentenced to two years in federal prison; 360 hours of community service at a charity "to benefit humans and no other species"; $254,000 restitution; and one year probation. He was released from Victorville, California's federal prison on February 1, 2007. Before being sentenced, he told the court, addressing fur farmers, that he would "forever mark those nights on your property as the most rewarding experience of my life." [11] [12]
Since his release, Young has been giving speeches, selling merchandise on Earth Crisis's reunion tour, and helping to release a vegan straight edge hip hop compilation. [13] [14]
Young has also done numerous speaking engagements and continues to be involved in the animal rights movement. He has been a featured speaker at animal rights conferences held in the United States and has spoken at animal rights conferences in Europe. [15] Young serves as an advisor for the North American Animal Liberation Press Office. [16]
Young also operates a website named Animal Liberation Front-line. The website reportedly is intended to, "report on the Animal Liberation Front (A.L.F.) and all actions for animals carried out above the law." [17]
Young had a cameo appearance in the film Bold Native, a film concerned with the topic of animal liberation. Young played the role of "Peter" in the film. [18] Young has also been featured in documentaries, including Skin Trade, [19] Edge - The Movie, [20] and Speciesism: The Movie . [21]
In March 2010, the FBI served a search warrant on Young's home. It was reported that cell phones, computers and other electronic items were confiscated by the FBI. Young believed the FBI raided his home in an attempt to connect him to a 2004 Animal Liberation Front raid at the University of Iowa and because he was a supporter of the ALF. Young stated, "The message is if you vocally support ALF, we're coming after you." [22]
In August 2010, Young's home was raided by the FBI. The search warrant alleged Young and his roommates had harbored Walter Bond, an individual suspected of setting fire to a leather shop and restaurant. Young denied that Bond stayed at the home. [23]
Young has been a vocal supporter of the ALF. As a result, he has continued to come under scrutiny from law enforcement, as demonstrated by the raids on his home. This scrutiny not only resulted in raids on his home, but law enforcement has also used confidential informants to monitor Young. [24]
Rodney Adam Coronado is an American animal rights and environmental activist known for his militant direct actions in the late 1980s and 1990s. Born to Pascua Yaqui indigenous ancestry, Coronado loved nature as a child and became an activist as a teenager. As part of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, he sunk two whaling ships and destroyed Iceland's sole whale-processing facility in 1986. He led the Animal Liberation Front's Operation Bite Back campaign against the fur industry and its supporting institutions in the early 1990s, which was involved in multiple firebombings. Following an attack on a Michigan State University mink research center in early 1992, Coronado was jailed for nearly five years. He later admitted to being the sole perpetrator. The 1992 federal Animal Enterprise Protection Act was created in response to his actions. The operation continued with a focus on liberating animals rather than property destruction. Coronado also worked with Earth First.
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) was an international animal rights campaign to close down Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), Europe's largest contract animal-testing laboratory. SHAC ended its campaign in August 2014. HLS tests medical and non-medical substances on around 75,000 animals every year, from rats to primates. It has been the subject of several major leaks or undercover investigations by activists and reporters since 1989.
The Justice Department (JD) was founded in the United Kingdom by animal rights activists who declared they were willing to use a diversity of tactics up to and including violence against their opponents. Initially calling for "abusers to have but a taste of the fear and anguish their victims suffer on a daily basis", activists established a separate idea from adhering to the Animal Liberation Front's (ALF) guidelines of non-violent resistance, similar to that of the Animal Rights Militia (ARM).
The animal rights (AR) movement, sometimes called the animal liberation, animal personhood, or animal advocacy movement, is a social movement that seeks an end to the rigid moral and legal distinction drawn between human and non-human animals, an end to the status of animals as property, and an end to their use in the research, food, clothing, and entertainment industries.
Ronnie Lee is a British animal rights activist. He is known primarily for being the Press Officer for the UK Animal Liberation Front (ALF) in 1976. He also founded the magazine Arkangel in 1989.
Operation Backfire is a multi-agency criminal investigation, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), into destructive acts in the name of animal rights and environmental causes in the United States described as eco-terrorism by the FBI. The operation resulted in convictions and imprisonment of a number of people, many of whom were members of the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front.
The Green Scare is legal action by the US government against the radical environmental movement. It alludes to the Red Scares, periods of fear over communist infiltration of US society.
Darren Todd Thurston is a Canadian former animal rights activist.
The anarchist philosophical and political movement has some connections to elements of the animal liberation movement. Many anarchists are vegetarian or vegan and have played a role in combating perceived injustices against animals. They usually describe the struggle for the liberation of non-human animals as a natural outgrowth of the struggle for human freedom.
This is a time line of Animal Liberation Front (ALF) actions since 2005.
Roger Yates is an English lecturer in sociology at University College Dublin and the University of Wales, specialising in animal rights. He is a former executive committee member of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), a former Animal Liberation Front (ALF) press officer, and a co-founder of the Fur Action Group.
This is a time line of Animal Liberation Front (ALF) actions since its formation in 1976 until 1999.
A time line of Animal Liberation Front (ALF) actions describes the history, consequences and theory of direct action on behalf of animals by animal liberation activists using, or associated with the ALF.
This is a time line of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) actions from 2000 to 2004.
The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is an international, leaderless, decentralized political and social resistance movement that engages in and promotes non-violent direct action in protest against incidents of animal cruelty. It originated in the 1970s from the Bands of Mercy. Participants state it is a modern-day Underground Railroad, removing animals from laboratories and farms, destroying facilities, arranging safe houses, veterinary care and operating sanctuaries where the animals subsequently live. Critics have labelled them as terrorists.
The Earth Liberation Front (ELF), also known as "Elves" or "The Elves", is the collective name for autonomous individuals or covert cells who, according to the ELF Press Office, use "economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment".
Jordan Cade Halliday is an American animal rights activist, former political prisoner, instructor, speaker, author, designer, artist and developer. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2009 on charges related to resisting that same federal grand jury. That grand jury was investigating local illegal animal rights activities, mainly concerning fur farm raids in Utah. He was jailed for nearly four months under a contempt of court order to compel him to testify. He was later released and indicted on criminal contempt of court. He pleaded no contest to "Criminal Contempt of Court" on July 27, 2010. The charge is a unique one in that it is sui generis, meaning it is neither a felony nor a misdemeanor. He was sentenced on November 3, 2010, to 10 months in prison with 3 years of probation upon release. He filed an appeal with the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals which was denied. He was accused of violating his terms by allegedly associating with the vegan straightedge. His house was raided by a dozen armed FBI agents and he started serving his sentence early on January 9, 2012. He was released on July 20, 2012, his civil time running concurrent with his criminal time. He was released with 3 years of probation. On August 8, 2013, he was granted early termination of supervision after filing a motion with his lawyer.
The campaign against Highgate Rabbit Farm, also known as the Close Highgate Farm campaign, is a series of direct actions by anti-vivisection activists. Highgate Rabbit Farm in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire in England is licensed by the Home Office to breed rabbits and ferrets for animal-testing facilities, including Huntingdon Life Sciences. Actions have included a raid by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and an arson claimed by the Militant Forces Against HLS. The ALF raid in 2008 saw 129 rabbits removed and £100,000-worth of damage to property. The campaign has been linked to activists involved in Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC).
Gary Yourofsky is an American animal rights activist and lecturer. He has had a major influence on contemporary veganism.
Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) is an international grassroots network of animal rights activists founded in 2013 in the San Francisco Bay Area. DxE uses disruptive protests and non-violent direct action tactics, such as open rescue of animals from factory farms. Their intent is to build a movement that can eventually shift culture and change social and political institutions. DxE activists work to "put an end to the commodity status of animals."
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