A.L.F. The Animal Liberation Front 

ALF GUIDELINES

  As a part of their personal campaign against animal abuse, ALF activists do not eat animal flesh, and many of them use no anumal products at all. They come from all social classes, age groups, professions, races, religious and political persuasions, and all are prepared to go to jail, if that is what it takes to end animal suffering. They are committed to doing all that it tak4es to end animal abuse, short of harming any living being.
  Direct action for animals began in England in the early 1960's when a group called the Hunt Saboteurs Association was formed. Hunt 'sabs' physically disrupt hunts by laying false scents, blowing hunting horns to send hounds off in the wrong direction, and chasing animals away to safety. The Hunt Saboteurs have effectively ended many traditional hunting events all over England.
  In 1972 a group of Hunt Saboteurs decided that more militant action on behalf of animals was necessary and thus the Band of Mercy began. The Band of Mercy, named after a group of animal rights campaigners in the nineteenth century, smashed guns used on bird hunts and sabotaged hunters' vehicles by slashing tires and breaking windows. The group also began fighting other forms of animal abuse, setting fire to pharmaceutical laboratories and burning boats used for hunting seals.
  In 1975 two members of the Band of Mercy, Ronnie Lee and Cliff Goodman, were caught trying to break into a laboratory and were sent to prison. After the arrest, support for direct action grew, and in 1976 the Animal Liberation Front was set up. Since that time, tens of thousands of animals have been rescued and millions of dollars worth of damage has been caused. It has been reported that ALF actions occur at the rate of 75 per week in Britain, ranging from raids on research laboratories to smashing the windows of fur shops. Today there are animal liberation groups in Britain, USA, Australia, Italy, France, Germany, Canada, New Zealand, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden. While there are no formal communications between the groups, they all share the same goal: to save animals from suffering HERE and NOW.

One ALF member put it this way:

I see participating in ALF's raids not as a momentary forfeiture of the highest human values - goodness, generosity, and the like - but rather as an embodiment of them... We feel a sense of urgency for the anumals whose pain and imminent death is absolutely real to them today.


For More information on the Animal Liberation Front, write to:

ALF Support Group
P.O. Box 42, 10024 - 82 Ave.
Edmonton, AB
T6E 1Z3