We have received notice
that the ALF took action at
VEDDAS has been present in
the city of
Learn more about the case:
www.veddas.org.br/anapolis.htm
VEDDAS is pursuing the issue by legal means in the courts along with
other non-profit organizations, in addition to having organized a protest on
June 4th,
In the early morning hours following the protest, a group of activists
of Animal Liberation Front (ALF) took action through illegal means. While
we do not encourage such methods, we can not help but admire the courage of
these activists who risked their own life and freedom for
the liberation of these animals who were destined to an unjustified death.
The pictures below were taken from communities on Orkut, where they
began to circulate in the afternoon of June 5th, 2007. The report is ours, based on the testimony of residents and employees in
the region near the hotel, where we were this morning to gather more facts.
Report
(all the facts stated were obtained by the
testimony of others, with the exception of some which were based on our own
observations on the morning of June 5th, 2007)
According to employees of the neighboring properties, the hotel’s property
was trespassed on the early morning hours of June 5th,
2007 by people not identified by either the hotel staff or the police. The eye-witnesses in the area attributed the act of vandalism to people
related to the actions related to the issue of the animals that are being used
on the vivisection course which is being held at the hotel. As these
eye-witnesses talked to us, they frequently referred to the ALF activists as “you”
(it appears that in their view all of those who work
for the animals form one single group). For the record,
we inform that VEDDAS is not related to illegal actions of this type and our
members are not either.
According to the reports, the hotel property was trespassed after
the sound of bomb explosions. There
is a report that the police were on standby in the
immediate area of the property and that the explosion distracted their attention
while the trespassers entered. The objective of the break-in was to free the
animals that were being kept captive to be used for vivisection on the
following morning.
During a visit to the area on the morning of June 5, 2007, we were
able to verify a cut-up fence and the wall of the area which held the dogs spray-painted
with the words: “animal liberation”, “vivisection”, “free at last”, “experiment
on yourselves”, “ALF” and “to the shac
According to eye-witness accounts the dogs were freed from their
enclosure with the use of tools to open the fencing mesh and padlocks. In
an investigation done on June 3, 2007, IBAMA reported that 121 dogs were
kept. According to neighbors, all four
of the enclosures which held the animals were opened by the activists. It was reported that some were recaptured,
while others ended up in neighboring properties and up to
As soon as I arrived this morning in the public area that is on the
perimeter of the hotel property, in order to clarify the reported facts, I was
immediately accused by employees of the hotel as having participated (because
of the fact that we had been present at the peaceful protest on the previous
day). Because of this we were unable to obtain more information about the
situation and number of animals that still remain on the property as of this
morning.
Rumor in the region is that the action was done by a professional
and well-organized group, because they were able to get past both the hotel
security and military police who were (reportedly)
present in front of the hotel property that night. In
addition, it is reported that there were gunshots and a chase by the police. We were not
able to obtain any information about where the alleged bombs were set off and
what damage they may have caused. We
were also unable to obtain information about the police
investigation.
What we do know for sure is that in the early morning hours of June
5,
The message they leave us is that there are many paths towards the
goal of animal liberation and there is not a single one that is more effective
the other. While some may choose to
simply adopt a diet that respects the rights of other sentient beings, others
work in the area of animal rights education (by writing articles or doing outreach
on the streets). While some work in the
legal field, pursuing legal actions which protect animals, others put their
lives and freedom at risk in order to save those animals who
would have had little chance otherwise. Whether it be any one of these methods
or a combination of these approaches (diet, education, legal action and direct
action) or even all at the same time (as there must be those who pursue all approaches
at once), all courses of action that have animal liberation as their true
purpose are valid., as one approach is not better than the other.
We are happy to have met people (even though it was not appropriately
a meeting) with courage and determination to fight the same battle that is
being carried out here at
George Guimarães (reporting directly from
The pictures taken on the day following the direct action (obtained
from animal rights activism communities on Orkut on June 5, 2007) can be seen
at www.veddas.org.br/anap2.htm.
To learn about the outcome of the VEDDAS action at