Bite Back
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Bite Back is a website and magazine that promotes the cause of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) and other animal liberation groups. [1] According to The Sunday Times, the name is inspired by an arson campaign targeting the American fur industry throught the 1990s. [2]
It was set up in 2001 by Nicolas Atwood, an activist with a criminal record for animal rights activity, based in West Palm Beach, Florida. [3] In March 2005 he set up a Florida based company, Bite Back Inc, to operate the site and magazine sales. [2] Atwood claims to act as "volunteer editor" for the site and magazine. [4]
Bite Back acts as a forum for ALF activists, and a place individuals leave claims of responsibility for direct action taken in pursuit of animal liberation. According to The Guardian, the site is "the US-based mouthpiece of the ALF" [5]. In 2006, it was used to encourage attacks against Oxford University, publishing personal details of academics and calling on supporters to "do whatever it takes" to "blow these fucking monsters off the planet". The FBI, while reportedly "aware" of the site, claim action against it would breach the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, protecting freedom of speech. [4] [3]
In 2005 Bite Back published a "Direct Action Report", listing action carried out by activists on a global scale. It claims in the previous year, "17,262 animals were 'liberated' and 554 acts of sabotage, vandalism and arson were carried out". [1]
Atwood has said, "Bite Back's mission is to support animal rights prisoners of conscience and report on current events in the struggle. Its editors, designers and contributors, although maybe sympathetic are not responsible for any unlawful act taken in pursuit of such benevolent goals." [4]
[edit] See also
- Animal Liberation Front
- Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty
- SPEAK
- Nicolas Atwood
- Greg Avery
- Animal rights
- Animal testing
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ a b Radical animal rights magazine issues 2004 "Direct Action" report, Law Enforcement Agency Resource Network, January 25, 2005.
- ^ a b Unmasked: animal extremist waging war on Oxford, The Sunday Times, February 19, 2006.
- ^ a b Personal details released as animal rights activists call for direct action, The Oxford Student, February 24, 2006.
- ^ a b c Sandra Laville and Robert Booth, Scientists to speak out for animal tests, The Guardian, February 24, 2006.
- ^ David Fickling, Animal rights activist admits firebombing attempts, The Guardian, August 17, 2006.
