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Media Work
Media coordination adds impact to an action. Releasing 5,000 animals
brings immediate relief to those animals. National media attention brings
to animal liberation message to millions, deals a public-relations blow to the
fur industry, deters animal flesh or skin consumption among the public,
and keeps the plight of animals a part of the public dialogue. This has the
potential to indirectly save thousands or millions of more animals.
The following can be incorporated into an action to ensure maximum
impact:
Photos
Documenting the conditions on a fur farm with photographs, and documenting
the raid itself, can inspire activists and educate the public when
the documentation is distributed to supportive above-ground groups and
the media.
Video
When clandestine raiders released 2,000 mink from the Scott Nelson
mink farm in Ellsworth, Iowa; they took video of the raid, released it
to the media, and gave millions of people their first glimpse inside a fur
farm. Video is only reasonable at farms so small that one person working
a camera will not directly translate to few cages that will be opened – i.e.
those farms guaranteed to be emptied even with one
fewer hand.
Communiques
Issuing a communique
detailing an action and
the intentions behind
it serve several functions.
One, it gives
those behind anonymous
actions a voice.
The media can and
does broadcast content
from communiques
and incorporates them into their coverage,
making your motivations clear, and countering the industry’s inaccurate
assertions of the ALF’s motives being anything other than compassion.
Two, they serve as an inspiration for others. Three, working information
into communiques can be effective to disseminate valuable info to the
activist community – info such as farm addresses and closures. (Anyone
with new updates for our fur farm list is encouraged to distribute the info
widely, preferably in the form of a communique claiming an action.)
Communiques can be distributed via email using the anonymizing service
TOR, or by mail. (See the Without a Trace section for a list of precautions.)
These can be sent to the media directly, or the Animal Liberation
Press Office (who will take it from there).
Due to the research of a handful of dedicated
individuals, we are closer to a complete
list of US fur farms now than any
point in history. However, there are farms
that have so far flown under the radar.
DIY Research
A few tactics to discover new farms and
supplement this list:
Follow feed supply trucks.
We are including a list of the known feed
suppliers, whose trucks must regularly
visit the majority of fur farms in the US
– those farms known and unknown.
Media reports.
Recently, a new fur farm was learned of
when an empty shed caught fire and the
media made public it’s location. Check
news reports regularly.
Business entity searches.
Every state has a means by which individuals
can review lists of licensed businesses in
the state. Often these are available online.
Social engineering.
Sometimes the best way to learn something
is to ask.
Satellite images.
Farms often cluster together. If you think
there may be undiscovered mink farms in
a particular area. Google satellite images
should reveal their location. Mink sheds
have a very telltale appearance which is
generally obvious from above . One can
aerially scan a large area for sheds in only
a few minutes.
Ingenuity
Ask yourself who has the information
you seek, and how you can get it. The best
intelligence often comes out of the greatest
ingenuity.
Hawkeye Mink Feed Cooperative, Jewel IA
Broken into, fur farm addresses taken 2002
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