ALF linked to new anti-sealing campaign

[Animal 0]

Friday, August 4, 2006
ALF linked to new anti-sealing campaign
By JAMIE BAKER AND ROB ANTLE, The Telegram
http://www.thetelegram.com/





The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is promoting a new anti-sealing campaign
targeting Newfoundland tourism and small businesses.
The campaign instructions posted on the ALF website call it an "exciting
new strategy designed to strike a deathblow to the seal slaughter."

The strategy "targets vulnerable, small tourist-based businesses in
Canada's sealing communities" and is "designed to inflict economic pain on a
personal level," the ALF message notes.

The new campaign involves a sophisticated - but fake - Newfoundland and
Labrador tourism website.

The site is constructed to look like a typical tourism portal, with a
typical URL, or Internet address - www.tour-newfoundlandlabrador.com. It
features photo galleries, a section on culture and tradition, and a "people's
welcome."

Each section, however, is largely dedicated to anti-sealing messages -
including purported quotes from Newfoundlanders, and gory photos of dead seals.

Under the "what's new" category, the website features less-than-flattering
stories about "many of the newsworthy highlights about life in Newfoundland and
Labrador."

Those include reports headlined Booze Ban Sparks Mass Resignation at
Newfoundland Fire Hall, along with Fishermen In Need of New Image.

Domestic terrorists?

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security considers ALF a domestic
terrorist group.

In January, the U.S. attorney's office in Portland, Ore., hit 11 people it
classified as ALF and ELF (Earth Liberation Front) members with a 65-count
indictment alleging acts of domestic terrorism over five years in five states.

Last month, six of them pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy and related
arson charges. They will be sentenced Dec. 14.

ALF has had involvement in other anti-sealing campaigns this year.

On April 17, ALF issued a communique claiming responsibility for bomb
threats at Red Lobster restaurants in four American communities.

Some anti-sealing groups have pressured Red Lobster to stop selling
Canadian seafood.

"Consider getting your meal to go next time you support the murder of baby
seals by dining at Red Lobster," the communique said.

While the ALF is promoting the campaign, it's not clear exactly who is
behind it.

ALF's webmaster, Ann Berlin, told The Telegram "it was sent to us as a
site that contained relevant information, so we linked to it."

The creator of the fake tourism website is hiding its identity by using a
privacy-protection firm as an intermediary in the registration process.

The fake site is registered to a company called Domains By Proxy Inc.,
located in Scottsdale, Ariz.

For a fee, Domains By Proxy substitutes its contact information for that
of the site's real creator and owner.

Messages sent to the fake website's Domains By Proxy e-mail address went
unreturned Thursday.

The website claims to be "created in Canada by caring Canadians."

There is no contact information on the website for its creators, however.

The site does allow visitors to send messages of condemnation to hundreds
of tourism-related businesses in the province.

And it also provides contact information for a host of municipal,
provincial and federal politicians.

Two of the highest-profile anti-sealing organizations have denied any
involvement in the campaign.

Rebecca Aldworth of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) says
she has seen the website and made some inquires - especially since some of the
site's layout and photos are similar to those used by the HSUS - but that the
website is "definitely not us."

"I've been asking around and all anyone will say is that it's Canadians -
that's the only thing," she said. "Everybody is being very closed-mouth about
it, so I actually don't know."

Aldworth, referring to the HSUS-driven Canadian seafood boycott, said her
organization prefers to exert economic pressure on Canada via the Newfoundland
and Labrador fishery in its campaign to end the seal hunt.

"That's the only thing in history that we've actually seen change policy,"
she said. "We want to speak directly to the people in charge of the seal hunt,
which is the DFO and the people actually doing the hunt.

"I think one of the things Newfoundland businesses should be concerned
about is that the boycott could spread, as we are seeing it do - but this
(website) isn't us."

A spokesman with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is also
denying any connection or affiliation with the site, saying the IFAW "doesn't
use front groups or 'astroturf-type' sites to disseminate our position on the
seal hunt, or any other issue, for that matter."

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans recently reported this year's seal
hunt was one of the most successful ever, with a landed value between $25
million and $30 million - nearly double the $16.5 million recorded in 2005.

DFO spokesman Phil Jenkins told The Canadian Press that seal pelts fetched
record prices this year, with buyers paying up to $105 a pelt, compared to $40
to $70 the year previous.

Responding to those reports, Aldworth said she hasn't seen any published
evidence that DFO's claims are accurate.