Direct action crackdown

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1997:

Noel Molland, 36, of
Okehampton, Devon, Paul Rogers, 33, of
Southsea, Hampshire, Steve Booth, 38, of
Galgate, Lancashire, Saxon Birchnall
Wood, 24, of Sandhurst, Berkshire, and
Simon Russell, 33, of Pevensey, East
Sussex, pleaded not guilty on August 30 in
London, England, to allegedly conspiring
together and with previously convicted
Animal Liberation Front press officer
Robin Wood to incite persons unknown to
commit criminal damage between January
1991 and January 1996. All five, and Robin
Wood, were associated with Green Anarchist
magazine. Booth also produced his own magazine,
Lancaster Bomber, as did Molland,
who called his Eco Vegan. Burchnall Wood
allegedly distributed manuals on making
bombs and sabotaging vehicles, the Crown
said. Russell was for several years the electronic
voice of the British ALF. The group,
whose trial continues, are believed to have
been the core of the British ALF in the 1990s.
Attacks on some targets the defendants
allegedly directed activists toward continue.

In Elland, West Yorkshire, as many as 500
mink were apparently released from a fur farm
on September 18, a week after a police arrested
a man who purportedly shot and killed two
mink there. The escaped mink reportedly
killed about 100 chickens and two guinea pigs
as they fled the farm, which claimed an
inventory of 18,000 mink.
Individuals who may have been
inspired by the British actions continue to
be convicted in the U.S. In Utah, R y a n
Zacharie Durfee, 20, and Jason Troff, 19,
each drew a year each in jail on August 26,
after pleading guilty to second degree felony
criminal mischief and second degree felony
arson, respectively. Cameron M. Kraus,
18, of Centerville, drew 30 days in jail, 30
days of house arrest, a year on probation, a
fine of $555, and an order to pay an as yet
unspecified amount of restitution on August
27 for his part in the March 19 attempted
arson of Montgomery Fur Co., in West
Haven, Utah. Accomplice Bret G. Walton,
18, of Bountiful, got an identical sentence in
June, while another alleged accomplice,
Trev J. Poulson, 19, of Layton, is to stand
trial on October 23.
Alleged fur farm raiders Stephanie
MacDougall, 18, and Jesse Parsh, 19,
both of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, pleaded
guilty August 16 to two counts each of breaking
and entering, two counts of vandalism,
and one count of possession of criminal tools.
Sentencing was delayed. An alleged accomplice,
Matthew B. Coate, 20, of University
Heights, pleaded innocent and is to stand
trial. The trio are accused of twice vandalizing
a mink farm in Lafayette Township,
releasing 41 mink on the second visit.
Earlier, Massachusetts activists
Alex Smolak, 20, of Boston, W a r r e n
Upson, 18, of Lexington, and Jaime Roth,
19, of Somerville were sentenced to pay
$3,100 restitution to a fur farm they allegedly
vandalized in 1996 at Hinsdale, near
Pittsfield. An unidentified 15-year-old was
also to pay a share. Twelve mink were
released in the Thanksgiving 1996 raid. Mink
ranchers Earl and Jeanne Carmel t e s t i f i e d
that three 1996 raids did them, cumulatively,
$150,000 in damage.
The stiffest recent sentence to a
fur farm attacker was meted out to R o b y n
Weiner, 25, of Michigan, who back on June
30 pleaded guilty to releasing as many as
1,500 mink from a facility near Blenheim,
Ontario. She drew two years less a day of
community service, and was ordered to pay
$10,000 to the owners of the mink farm. Four
other participants in the alleged raid are
expected to stand trial.