Timeline of Earth Liberation Front actions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling. You can assist by editing it now. A how-to guide is available. (January 2007)

This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of the article are generally not sufficient for a Wikipedia article. Please include more appropriate citations from reliable sources, or discuss the issue on the talk page. This article has been tagged since March 2008.

The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) has performed a variety of direct social actions since 1992. Actions were rarely publicised prior to 1996 and are therefore difficult to find.^[2]

Contents 1 1997 2 1998 3 1999 4 2000 5 2002 6 2003 7 2004 8 2005 9 2006 10 2008 11 See also 12 External links 13 References

[edit] 1997

• March 11, 1997; Sandy, Utah: A series of pipe bombs and one firebomb claimed jointly by the ALF and the ELF destroyed four trucks and leveled the offices of the Agricultural Fur Breeders Co-Op, causing about $1 million in damage.[1]

• March 14, 1997. Near Eugene, Oregon. Tree spiking at Robinson-Scott timber harvest site in the Mackenzie River watershed, Willamette National Forest. Joint ALF / ELF claim.^{[citation needed]}

• March 18, 1997; Davis, California: The "Bay Area Cell of the Earth X ALF" took credit for setting fire to the University of California, Davis, Center for Comparative Medicine facility, which was still under construction.[2]

• July 21, 1997; Redmond, Oregon: Arson of Cavel West meat packing plant which was in the business of slaughtering wild horses rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management and then shipping the meat to Europe to be sold there. Estimated cost over $1 million. The plant was never rebuilt. Joint ALF / ELF claim.^{[citation needed]}

• November 29, 1997: Fire at the Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse Corrals in Burns, Oregon, destroys a horse barn, chutes, pens and equipment and 400 horses released. ELF and ALF claimed joint responsibility. Damages: $474,000.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 1998

• June 2, 1998; Olympia, Washington: The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal Damage Control building and another U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife station, miles apart, go up in flames on the same morning. The Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front take joint responsibility for both actions. Damages: $1.9 million.^{[citation needed]}

• June 28, 1998; Boston, Massachusetts: Defaced the Mexican Consulate in Boston with red paint in support of the indigenous Zapatista Army of National Liberation uprising in Chiapas, Mexico. The E.L.F. painted blood red hand prints on the walls, spilled pools of red paint on the ground and painted "VIVA E.Z.L.N." [3]^{[citation needed]}

• July 3, 1998; Middleton, Wisconsin: Break-in and release of 171 mink and ferrets from United Vaccines laboratory during a daylight raid. Holes in the fence were cut and 310 ferrets and mink were released. Equipment and windows were also destroyed. The slogan 'Independence Day for Fur Farm Prisoners' was painted at the United Vaccines laboratory during the daylight raid. Joint ALF / ELF claim. [4]^{[citation needed]}

• October 10, 1998; Rock Springs, Wyoming: Saboteurs cut the locks off horse pens at a BLM corral, freeing about 40-100 wild horses. Failed incendiaries are found next to a pickup truck and a building. The ELF and the ALF take joint responsibility.
• October 19, 1998: The ELF claimed responsibility for burning five buildings and four chair lifts on the Vail Mountain ski resort in Vail, Colorado, caused in excess of $12 million in damages. The action came only five days after a court had ruled that Vail resorts could proceed with its planned Category III expansion into the Two Elks Roadless Area, despite the objections of local environmentalists. In a communiqué ELF claimed that the fires were set on behalf of the lynx. "If there is any critical lynx habitat in the state, this is it!" [5]

• October 26, 1998; Powers, Michigan: About 5,000 mink are released from the Pipkorn farm in the Upper Peninsula. Damages: $100,000.^{[citation needed]}

• December 26, 1998; Medford, Oregon: Fire ravages the headquarters of U.S. Forest Industries. An ELF communiqué issued weeks later says the strike was payback to the company for razing forests and killing wild animals for profit. Damages: $700,000.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 1999

• August 7, 1999; Escanaba, Michigan: Two fishing boats were set ablaze in the driveway of a veterinarian who once worked as a mink rancher. A garage door was tagged with graffiti 18 inches (460 mm) high: "FUR IS MURDER. E.L.F." The ELF later claims in an Internet posting it targeted the veterinarian after finding a "Fur is Enough" sign outside his home. Damages: $15,000.[6]

• December 25, 1999; Monmouth, Oregon Fire destroys the main office of the Boise Cascade logging company costing over $1 million. ELF claim responsibility in a communiqué.^{[citation needed]}

• December 31, 1999; East Lansing, Michigan: Arson of the offices of Catherine Ives, Room 324, Agriculture Hall at Michigan State University. The offices were doused with gasoline and set afire. ELF said the fire was set in response to the work being done to force developing nations in Asia, Latin America and Africa to switch from natural crop plants to genetically engineered sweet potatoes, corn, bananas and pineapples. Monsanto and USAID are major funders of the research and promotional work being done through Michigan State University. According to local newspapers, the fire caused some over $1 million in damage.^[3] "Cremate Monsanto, Long live the E.L.F. On to the next GE target!"

[edit] 2000

• January 23, 2000; Bloomington, Indiana: Arson destroys a partially constructed luxury home. Investigators found message spray-painted in black on a sign near the house: "No Sprawl ELF." The ELF later issues a communiqué saying it torched the home because it was in the Lake Monroe Watershed, which provides drinking water to the city of Bloomington. Damages: $200,000.^{[citation needed]}

• February 9, 2000; Saint Paul, Minnesota: University of Minnesota, ELF Crop Destruction, $1000+ damages.^{[citation needed]}

• March 24, 2000; Minneapolis, Highway 55 reroute, $500,000 in damages done to construction equipment.^{[citation needed]}

• April 30, 2000; Bloomington, Indiana: At least six pieces of logging and heavy construction equipment are sabotaged and a trailer full of wood chips is set ablaze at a road construction site just outside the city. A communiqué from the Earth Liberation Front states its plan was to punish those developing wooded areas around Bloomington, which "have turned what was once forested land into parking lots, luxury houses for rich scum and expanded roads." Damages: $75,000.^{[citation needed]}

• July 20, 2000; Rhinelander, Wisconsin: Vandals hack down thousands of experimental trees, mostly poplars, and spray-paint vehicles at a U.S. Forest Service research station. The ELF claims the attack was against bioengineering, although researchers say the trees were bred naturally to grow faster and resist diseases. Damages: $1 million.^{[citation needed]}

• September 9, 2000; Bloomington, Indiana: Fire erupts at the headquarters of the Monroe County Republican Party Committee headquarters. Investigators say a flammable liquid was poured on the building and ignited. The arson was a reminder, according to the ELF communiqué, that it would not sit quietly as politicians pushed for plans to extend Interstate 69. Damages: $1,500.^{[citation needed]}

• October 18, 2000; Shoals, Indiana: Vandals find four pieces of heavy logging equipment in the Martin State Forest and cut hoses, slash seats, destroy gauges and pour sand in the engines, fuel tanks and radiators. They leave spray-painted graffiti including, "Earth Raper," "Go Cut in Hell," and "ELF." Damages: $55,000.^{[citation needed]}

• November 27, 2000; Niwot, Colorado: Arson hits one of the first luxury homes going up in a new subdivision. The ELF later sends a note, made of letters clipped from magazines, to the Boulder Weekly newspaper: "Viva la revolution! The Boulder ELF burned the Legend Ridge mansion on Nov. 27th." The underground group explains in a follow-up communiqué that the arson was driven by defeat of a statewide ballot measure to control growth. Damages: $2.5 million.[7]

• December 9, 2000; Middle Island, New York: Fire erupts in a Long Island condominium under construction. The ELF claims responsibility, saying the homes were "future dens of the wealthy elite." The group, announcing "an unbounded war on urban sprawl," claims it checked for occupants -- human and animal -- in 16 condos before setting incendiaries in them. Damages: $200,000.^{[citation needed]}

• December 19, 2000; Miller Place, New York: A Long Island house under construction goes up in flames. "Building homes for the wealthy should not even be a priority," the ELF writes in its communiqué. "Forests, farms and wetlands are being replaced with a sea of houses, green chemical lawns, blacktop and roadkill." Damages: $50,000.^{[citation needed]}

• December 29, 2000; Mount Sinai, New York: Three Long Island luxury homes under construction are set ablaze, and a fourth is spray-painted with graffiti: "If you build it we will burn it." The ELF issues a communiqué saying: "Recently, hundreds of houses have been built over much of Mount Sinai's picturesque landscape and developers now plan to build a further 189 luxury houses over the farms and forests adjacent to Island Estates...This hopefully provided a firm message that we will not tolerate the destruction of our island." Damages: $160,000.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 2002

• January 26, 2002; St. Paul, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Microbial and Plant Genomics Research Center soil-testing lab and construction trailer burned down, construction equipment, including a bulldozer damaged, $630,000 damages Claimed by ELF.

• January 29, 2002; Fairfield, Maine: ELF announced they had sabotaged a “Biotech Park” in a communiqué that read:

“

We are writing to inform you that there is a Biotech Park being built in Fairfield, Maine. We went there some weeks ago and put a sand/quickcrete mix in the engines, gas, and hydraulics of an excavator and a roller. These were the only machines there, plowing up the land, building bridges over creeks. So we left no trace so when the operators came to work the machines would run and then seize, costing big bucks. Now, we are letting the people know. The park is being pushed by Paul Tessier, a representative of Fairfield, and others. It is in cohoots with Jackson Labs, which is the largest breeder of mice. They grow mice with human ears there! How sick! These people want the park to be an incubator to bring more biotechnology into Maine. We oppose this for the following reasons... Biotechnology is one more tool by the ruling class to control our lives and make more money. Only the rich can produce biotechnology and even if that wasn't so, we would want no part of it because it sees the wild as incomplete, or as lacking, needing manipulation. Our ancestors lived in harmony on this planet for a long time, now all of humanity's progress is making us sick. And we're gonna trust those that gave us cancer to create new technologies to cure it. No way! We want to be left alone. No more development. We enjoy life here and are sick of business men coming in and trying to dupe us into trading the good life for their wage slavery. People!!! Take action!!! The Biotech Park is on route 201 near Kennebec Valley Technical College in Fairfield. KVTC is in on it too. Solidarity to those fighting against the greedy! ELF...ALF...Together with all”[8]

”

• February 12, 2002, Washington DC: FBI testimony before the House Ecoterror Hearing. "Domestic terrorism is the unlawful use, or threatened use, of violence by a group or individual based and operating entirely within the United States (or its territories) without foreign direction, committed against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives...During the past several years, special interest extremism, as characterized by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), has emerged as a serious terrorist threat. The FBI estimates that the ALF/ELF have committed more than 600 criminal acts in the United States since 1996, resulting in damages in excess of 43 million dollars." [9]

• March 24, 2002; Erie, Pennsylvania: Hundreds of trees spiked in Wintergreen Gorge, crane, generators and pumps torched, other equipment monkey wrenched, $500,000 damages Claimed by ELF. [10]

• May 12, 2002; Harbor Creek, Pennsylvania: 200 mink released from Mindek mink farm Claimed by ALF and ELF.[11]

• August 11, 2002; Irvine, Pennsylvania: A device, containing gasoline, was thrown onto the roof of the Northeast Research Station in the Allegheny National Forest. The ensuing fire caused nearly $700,000 in damages. An e-mail from ELF's office said "While innocent life will never be harmed in any action we undertake, where it is necessary, we will no longer hesitate to pick up the gun to implement justice, and provide the needed protection for our planet that decades of legal battles, pleading protest, and economic sabotage have failed so drastically to achieve." and that "all other US Forest Services administration and research facilities, as well as all Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) buildings nationwide should now be considered likely targets."

• September 2002; Harbor Creek, Pennsylvania: more than 50 mink released Mindek mink farm Claimed by ALF and ELF.[12]

• September 28, 2002; Richmond, Virginia: 25 windows etched at 1 Burger King and 13 windows etched at each of 2 McDonalds Claimed by ELF

• November 1, 2002; Richmond, Virginia: Vandals who left messages crediting ELF damaged SUVs in several incidents recently. Twenty-five SUVs on the lot of a Ford dealer were permanently defaced with a glass-etching cream. A week later, SUVs parked near homes were severely damaged with an ax or hatchet. Vandalism and attempted arson have also been reported recently at highway and home construction sites in the area.

• December 28, 2002; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: ELF activists attacked a housing development, severely damaging construction vehicles and the model home on the property.

[edit] 2003

• January 1, 2003; Girard, Pennsylvania: Jugs of gasoline were set under three vehicles at Bob Ferrando Ford Lincoln Mercury and set ablaze. Two pickup trucks, one Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) and a car were destroyed causing $90,000 in damages. The ELF claimed responsibility for the attack.^[4]

• January 20, 2003; Seattle, Washington: Arson at a McDonalds caused $5000 worth of damage. In September, 2005, Christopher W. McIntosh of Maple Shade, NJ, admitted he set the fire by pouring several gallons of gasoline on the roof on behalf of ALF-ELF. In an anonymous phone call he said

“

[t]here was an E-L-F-A-L-F hit at McDonald's across from the Space Needle. There will be more. ... As long as Mother Earth is pillaged, raped, destroyed. As long as McDonald's keeps hurting our furry brothers, there will be more.

”

He was sentenced to eight years in prison. [13]

• March 21, 2003; Superior Township, Michigan: Two luxury homes set on fire in a Superior Township housing development in an action against urban sprawl. Claimed by the ELF. Damages estimated at $400,000. [14]

• March 28, 2003; Montgomery, Alabama: Five government vehicles were vandalized and one truck was set on fire at a Naval Recruitment Headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama. The ELF claimed responsibility for the attacks both in a communiqué and by spray-painting their initials at the scene. Messages that read, "Stop the War," "Stop killing" and "Leave Iraq" were also found along with the ELF initials. [15]

• April 8, 2003; Santa Cruz, California: The ELF claimed responsibility for 65 SUV's. The vandalized SUV's included about twenty private vehicles as well forty at the North Bay Ford and Lincoln Mercury car dealership. Messages were spray-painted on the vehicles denouncing the war in [Iraq].[16]

• April 15, 2003; Santa Cruz, California: ELF activists attacked 15 SUVs with bright orange paint, and in an ELF press release, complained that the local paper did not cover the story. [17]

• June 3, 2003; Chico, California: ELF claimed the attempted arson of a new home. The fire burned through a PVC pipe holding water, dousing the flames so the damage was minimal, about $100. "Save our bio-region ELF" was painted on the sidewalk.[18]

• June 4, 2003; Macomb County, Michigan: ELF sets fire to two luxury homes in a Macomb County housing development in an action against urban sprawl. "ELF" and "Stop sprawl" were spray painted on nearby construction equipment. Damages estimated at $700,000.[19]

• June 5, 2003; Chico, California: An arson attempt was made at a shopping center under construction. Workers found remnants of several small fires, and ELF spray-painted on the door of a work truck at the site. The FBI was exploring connections with arson attempts at two McDonalds in March, and SUVs in May, in Chico. [20]

• June 14, 2003; Santa Cruz, California: Environmental activists scratched the slogan ELF into ten new SUVs, causing $15,000 worth of damage.[21]

• July 2, 2003; South Windsor Connecticut: Signs of the Earth Liberation Front, "ELF" and "no sprawl," were spray-painted on a newly completed. An unidentified man called police and said the graffiti was done by an ELF activist. [22]

• August 1, 2003; San Diego, California: A 206-unit condominium being built in was burnt down causing damage in excess of $50 million. A 12-foot (3.7 m) banner at the scene read "If you build it, we will burn it," signed, "The E.L.F.s are mad." [23] — sympathizers often refer to themselves as "elfs" or "elves".

• August 22, 2003; West Covina, California: The ELF attacked several car dealerships in east suburban Los Angeles, burning down a warehouse and vandalizing several cars, with such phrases as "I love pollution" written on the cars. All told, more 125 SUVs and Hummers, which were targeted due to their lower than average fuel efficiency, were damaged or destroyed causing $2.3 million in damages.

• August 29, 2003; Fairbanks, Alaska: ELF spray-painted concrete walls and construction equipment at a [Wal-Mart] construction site.[24]

• September 04, 2003; Santa Fe, New Mexico: ELF action against SUV dealer in New Mexico - SUVS spray-painted with messages naming the seven deadly sins. 1/3 of the dealership's stock was marked, leaving thousands of dollars in damages.

• September 12, 2003: Federal agents arrested Pomona, California resident Joshua Thomas Connole in connection with the August 22nd 2003 Los Angeles area arsons. [25] Apparently, the FBI profiled Connole based on his anti-war protest activities. [26] He was soon released due to lack of evidence. [27] The FBI awarded Connole $100,000 and agreed to give him an apology after he filed a lawsuit against the agency.[28]

• September 19,2003; San Diego, California: ELF action against urban sprawl at three separate construction sites in the upscale Carmel Valley neighborhood of San Diego, causing an estimated $1 million in damages. Four unfinished houses were destroyed, two others were damaged and a condominium under construction sustained minor damage. A banner at the site of the first fires read, "Development = destruction. Stop raping nature. The ELFs are mad." [29]

• September 22, 2003; Martiny, Michigan: The ELF claimed responsibility for planting plastic bottles containing flammable liquid at an Ice Mountain Spring Water Company (a subsidiary of Nestle) pumping station. The devices were intended to start a fire at the premises but were discovered by maintenance workers before they were set ablaze.

In a written statement, the ELF stated:

“

We will no longer stand idly be while corporations profit at the expense of all others. To this end, we have taken action against one of the pumping stations that Perrier uses to steal water… Clean water is one of the most fundamental necessities and no one can be allowed to privatize it, commodify it, and try and sell it back to us.

”

Two months later a Judge ordered the company to halt pumping water from the wells. Nestle had been removing 200 gallons of water from the ground per minute and was lowering the water table.[30]

• October 6, 2003; Jemez Mountains, New Mexico: Construction equipment belonging to the US Forest had electrical wires cut, tires cut and windows broken by ELF. [31]

• October (mid), 2003; Portland, Maine: The Acadian Green Brigade of the ELF slashed the tires of 8 Boise Cascade delivery trucks and two trailers, glued locks and painted slogans across the building's main entrance. [32]

• October 24, 2003 Martinsville, Indiana: ELF activists sabotaged a Wal-Mart construction site. Survey stakes were removed, and walls and machinery spray-painted. Over a dozen pieces of heavy machinery and vehicles were vandalized, with slashed tires, cut fuel hoses, and sand poured in fuel tanks. [33]

[edit] 2004

• January 22, 2004 Fayetteville, Arkansas: Five Hummers were vandalized. The letters ELF were spray-painted on the vehicles, tires were slashed and windows broken. [34]

• February 7, 2004; Charlottesville, Virginia: The ELF set fire to a bulldozer and caused damage to other equipment that was parked off Route 29. This site is to be developed into a retail, commercial and residential community. On their website, the ELF writes that the site was "targeted as part of the ELF's ongoing actions against large-scale developments going up at the expense of what little green space is left in North America." A banner left on the site read "Your construction = long term destruction - ELF" The action caused over $30,000 in damages. [35]

• February 17, 2004; North Lima, Ohio: Vandals broke windows in a construction trailer, sprayed a fire extinguisher and scratched the initials "ELF" on the side of a piece of construction equipment at the construction site of a new showroom for a fireworks company. [36]

• April 20, 2004; Snohomish, Washington: Two homes were destroyed and attempts were made to burn two others at a housing development. A note found at the site of one of the fires was signed "ELF" and reportedly contained statements condemning suburban developments. As well, bottles of flammable liquid were found at two different housing development sites in the area caused an estimated $1 million in damages. [37]

• July 30, 2004 Charlotte, North Carolina: Activists vandalized a fleet of utility trucks owned by Utiliquest. Utiliquest is a national utility locating service provider that locates and marks underground infrastructure for large electric, gas, telecom and cable utility companies, and municipalities prior to excavation. All the trucks were marked with “ELF” and all had their tires slashed. [38]

• August 3, 2004; Spokane, Washington: A fire that heavily damaged one $55,000 Hummer and nearly burned two others at the George Gee Hummer dealership. One H2 Hummer had its windows broken and was spray painted with messages that oppose the Iraq war and President Bush. An e-mail sent to local media outlets claimed credit for the Eastern Washington Chapter of the Earth Liberation Front [39]

• December 27, 2004; Lincoln, California: Incendiary devises were located in three houses under construction at the Verdera Models construction site on Flores Court in the Twelve Bridges development. Graffiti was discovered on another house under construction in the same development. The graffiti found at the scene included notations such as "Enjoy the world as is - as long as you can", "U will pay", "Evasion", "4 Q" and "Leave". This house also sustained broken windows. The letters "ELF" were printed in the cul-de-sac where these homes were located. Across the street from this house a tractor had been vandalized with the notation "Disarm or die". [40]

[edit] 2005

• January 12, 2005; Auburn, California: Five un-ignited incendiary devices were located in a commercial building under construction that, upon completion, were to be rented as doctor's offices. A letter claiming responsibility for "the actions taken in Placer County (CA)" was received by several media outlets. The return address on the letter indicated it was from "Emma Goldman." Emma Goldman is a major figure in the history of anarchism.

The rambling, two-page letter, which appears to have been computer generated, generally decries various aspects of modern life, including real-estate development, and promises that "We are setting a new precedent, where there will be at least one or more actions every few weeks.” The letter concludes, "With sincere love, 'Agent Emma Goldman and the Crimethinc Senior Officers of the Earth Liberation Front' " and also references eight websites, including http://www.crimethinc.com." The latter website describes itself as an "ex-workers' collective" and generally expresses an anarchistic philosophy. [41]

• February 7, 2005; Sutter Creek, California: The ELF set fire to the new Pinewoods apartment complex, about 45 miles (72 km) east of Sacramento. Sutter Creek Chief of Police Robert Duke said "there were seven individual fires and some kind of incendiary device with very, very crude triggering mechanisms." graffiti found near the fire said: "We will win -- ELF." [42]

• March 6, 2005; Fair Oaks, California: Three vehicles – two full-size pickup trucks and a Ford Expedition – were spray-painted with the initials "ELF," and their rear license plates were painted over. A total of at least seven SUVs were vandalized in the Sacramento area during the week. [43]

• April 13, 2005; Sammamish, Washington: The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) partially burned downed one of two buildings it targeted in a King County, Washington development. David Ammon, a developer whose property was burned, had planned on constructing two more homes in the area. Police discovered an incendiary device which had failed to ignite in a second house nearby along with a sheet condemning the rape of the Earth, clearing of trees, and claiming responsibility on behalf of ELF. It read "Where are all the trees? Burn, rapist, burn. E.L.F" The homes targeted were new ones located in a golf course subdivision. [44]

• May 17, 2005; Fair Oaks, California: Several SUVs and trucks were spray-painted with “ELF” and “polluter”, and many also had their tires slashed. A short distance away “bomb the White House” was found spray-painted on a real estate sign. FBI, Secret Service, and a joint terrorism task force are investigating, and trying to find out if the two attacks were related. [45]

• July 27, 2005; Whatcom County, Washington: Arsonists damaged two homes under construction. The first caused $100,000 in damages. The second, a few days later, completely destroyed another home being built in the area. ELF has taken credit for other arsons in the area earlier in the year that police are investigating.[46]
• September 11, 2005; West Old Town, Maine: The ELF vandalized at least a dozen large machines at the West Old Town Landfill, which is one of New England's worst polluters. Last winter ownership of the landfill was transferred from the Georgia-Pacific timber company to state hands, in a behind closed doors deal which resulted in the expansion of the site and a sweet deal for Georgia-Pacific and Casella Waste Systems who now run the site. The machines had their ignitions ripped out, or superglue poured into them, tires were slashed, two buildings and many vehicles were spray painted, and the fuel in the equipments' tanks may have been tampered with. Officials say the damage will cost tens of thousands of dollars to repair. [47]

• October 3, 2005; Bozeman, Montana: U.S. - A construction site owned by the Kenyon Noble lumber company was vandalized by the Earth Liberation Front causing about $3000 in damage. [48]

• November 19, 2005; Hagerstown, Maryland: claimed responsibility for setting four fires in newly-constructed unoccupied homes built by the McLean, Virginia Ryan Homes in the Hager's Crossing subdivision. One building was burned to the ground but the other three may be salvageable. The developer estimated the damage at more than $300,000.

Credit for the arson was claimed via an e-mail originating from the e-mail address tree_beard1234@yahoo.com. Treebeard is the name of a giant shepherd, one of a race called the Ents, in J.R.R. Tolkien's cult fantasy novel "The Two Towers." The message read:

“

Last night we, the Earth Liberation Front, put the torch to a development of Ryan Homes in Hagerstown, Maryland (off Route 40, behind the Wal-Mart). We did so to strike at the bottom line of this country's most notorious serial land rapist...We warn all developers that the people of the Earth are prepared to defend what remains of the wild and the green...We encourage all who watch with sadness while developers sell out the future of us and our children to join us in resisting them in any and every possible way...The Ents are going to war. [49]

”

• November 25, 2005, Bothell, Washington: Two pieces of construction equipment were destroyed by fire, causing more than $100,000 in damage. [50]

• November 29, 2005, Bothell, Washington: One piece of construction equipment was destroyed by fire. [51]

• December 14, 2005, Kenmore, Washington: Two pieces of excavation equipment were burned overnight at a housing development, causing around $180,000 in damage. Apparently this is the second fire at this construction site since November. The earlier fire caused $50,000 in damage. [52]

• December 16, 2005; Valley Springs, California: A window was broken and the letters E-L-F were spray-painted on the garage door of a partially constructed home. There is considerable opposition to new development and the required re-zoning in rural Calaveras County, where Valley Springs is located. [53]

[edit] 2006

• January 17, 2006; Camano Island, Washington - ELF burned down a nearly completed 9,600-square-foot (890 m²), $3 million, trophy house. Investigators said that: someone spray-painted a threatening message on a pink bedsheet and draped it across the front gate. [54]

• January 31, 2006; Guelph, Ontario, Canada - A fire destroyed a partially constructed home. Credit for the blaze was claimed on behalf of the ELF a few days latter in an email in which the group explained that the fire had been "A STRIKE AGAINST DEVELOPERS, FOR THE LOCAL COMMUNITY" and that it was done "in the memory of William C. Rodgers 'Avalon'"[55]

• March 11, 2006; Salem, Oregon - Three newly-constructed upscale homes were vandalized with pro-environmental slogans which read: "Quit building ant farms," "E.L.F.," "Rent is theft," "Viva E.L.F." and "Don't kill my air." Additionally, a window was broken. According to authorities, this is the second time within the past two years that ELF vandals struck in this neighborhood.[56][57]

• June 27, 2006; Guelph, Ontario, Canada - A fire destroyed a partially constructed home at 75 Summit Ridge, in view of the old Eastview Road landfill site, it caused about $200,000 damage. Credit for the blaze was claimed on behalf of the ELF a few days latter in an email which included anti-development slogans.[58]

[edit] 2008

• March 3, 2008; Street of Dreams, Washington - ELF is the primary suspect for the intentional destruction, by using explosive devices, set fire to four multi-million dollar homes from the 2007 Seattle Street of Dreams in Woodinville, Washington, costing $7 million in damage.^[5] Authorities described the act as "domestic terrorism" after finding the initials of the Earth Liberation Front spray-painted in red letters, mocking claims that the homes were environmentally friendly: "Built Green? Nope black! McMansions in RCDs r not green. ELF." ^[6][7]

[edit] See also

• Timeline of ALF actions: 1976-1999 and 2000-Present
• ELF and ALF cooperation

[edit] External links

• Partial list of ELF Direct actions 1996-2003. Do or Die journal

[edit] References

This article does not cite any references or sources. (December 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.