Animal Liberation Front Incident this Month But Less Worries by Animal Owners

Fallow deer ranchers in Jackson County, Oregon, said it would remain business as usual for them despite an act of sabotage against a Molalla deer ranch October 9 claimed by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF). The incident, in which a section of fencing was removed in an unsuccessful attempt to allow the deer to escape, joins a July firebombing at a former Astoria mink farm as two recent crimes claimed on behalf of the ALF, which had strong roots in southern Oregon more than a decade ago. “It never entered into my mind that someone would be interested in that,” said a woman, who has a state license to raise up to 63 fallow deer on her White City farm. The family has been raising and selling fallow deer and butchered deer meat for 10 years. They have suffered no vandalism nor worry about being targeted by animal-rights extremists, despite knowing deer-ranching licenses are public record, she said. In an anonymous e-mail posted by the North American Animal Liberation Press Office Web site labeled a “communique,” the ALF removed the fencing in Molalla so the captive deer could escape into the surrounding forest. An FBI spokeswoman in Portland said agents are investigating.

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