"...a fire was started on the porch of a faculty member's home. Injuries were sustained as the faculty member and his wife and children escaped the residence."
Attack comes after pamphlets were found threatening faculty claimed to use animals in research.
Fires were set at two faculty residences, car in the driveway of one house, and on the porch of another's house.
"Injuries were sustained as the faculty member and his wife and children escaped the residence."
UPDATE: Injury was incurred during escape down a fire ladder, researcher whose house was firebombed identified as Prof Feldheim - works on mammalian cognitive development and visual system in mice.
Earlier this week, pamphlets threatening researchers at UCSC were found at a downtown Santa Cruz coffeeshop.
The pamphlets were turned into police by a customer, and threaten researchers alleged to work on animals, and listed their names, addresses, phone numbers with photos.
"The clear intent of these pamphlets was to terrorize and intimidate through complete cowardice," [police spokesman] Friend said. "They are targeting families that have young children and (other relatives) completely uninvolved in animal testing."
The people writing these pamphlets are not only terrorizing people, they are too sloppy to get their facts right:
"[a UC researcher]...said the crudely made flyers discovered Wednesday at a downtown coffee shop are misleading. As a chemist, he said he can't use animals in his research, which most recently has included creating a nitric oxide compound to treat skin cancer.
"They should have better things to do,"[the researcher] said Friday. "Are they stupid enough not to see that I am a chemist, not a biologist?"
The flyers identify 13 UCSC scientists, some of whom use mice, fruit flies and other nonprimate organisms in their research. Police are investigating the flyers - as well as several vandalism incidents and an attempted home invasion targeting researchers since February - as criminal activity. Police say the intent is to terrorize, but activists from national animal rights groups have characterized the incidents as nonviolent demonstrations.
Setting fire to someone's house is not non-violent, it is attempted murder.
It is possible to disagree about the ethics of using animals in research without trying to burn children alive in their sleep.
The vicious morons who did this are not better than the people who murder doctors and nurses at family clinics, or who kill people for their religion.
They will not convince anyone with tactics like these.
UPDATE: San Jose Mercury News now has the story.
Also, finally, Santa Cruz Sentinel and Contra Costa Times
UPDATE: Animal Liberation celebrates the attack while simultaneously disavowing responsibility.
UPDATE: Orac speaks out
- Log in to post comments
The vicious morons who did this are not better than the people who murder doctors and nurses at family clinics, or who kill people for their religion.
Indeed. No anti-abortion nut had ever murdered an abortion doctor...until one did. It is only a matter of time before the fire-bombing goes bad or the right fanatic is 'reached' with the ARA terrorist message and someone dies.
They will not convince anyone with tactics like these.
You are incorrect. They convinced Dario Ringach to stop. They intimidate countless individuals into not doing animal research, not doing certain types of animal research or engaging in their science in ways that are detrimental to the overall progress of information generation and transmission. That is the goal of these types of actions and it does indeed work to the detriment of science.
It gets even worse....
These people are insane. And that Dr Vlasak should be locked in a small room with padded walls: "If their father is willing to continue risking his livelihood in order to continue chopping up animals in a laboratory than his children are old enough to recognize the consequences. This guy knows what he is doing. He knows that every day that he goes into the laboratory and hurts animals that it is unreasonable not to expect consequences."
Thankfully Dr Vlasak isn't practicing any more. I know I certainly wouldn't want a surgeon touching me who feels that the lives of two children are equivalent to the lives of *fricken mice*.
The US has all these anti-terrorism mechanisms in place now. Are they being used against these ARA people? I can't see how these people fail to qualify as terrorists, except perhaps by not being Arabs.