USA FUR INDUSTRY ON ITS KNEES, SALES DROPPING AND FRESH TARGETS – THE FRONTLINES.

The fur industry keeps receiving blows. From aboveground campaigning with CAFT in the USA and throughout Europe by many autonomous groups to underground activity by anonymous folks who during the pelting season last year released mink in multiple farms across USA and who kept striking through sabotage over winter.

Now, NAALPO has released last year’s sales figures and things are looking quite bleak:

“The US Department of Agriculture has just released statistics on US fur production for 2022. There has been a 15% reduction in the number of animals killed for their fur since 2021. Total value of the animal skins was down 17% from the previous year, and the price per skin was only $29.40, down another $0.60 from 2021.

Importantly, the number of female mink bred to produce the 2023 population was down 31%, foretelling another significant decrease in deaths expected for 2023.

The fur industry in the US is on the ropes, and we can finish it off. More economic sabotage and farm liberations, combined with continued forceful campaigning to stop designers and retailers from dealing in this barbaric trade will abolish the fur industry in the US.”

Meanwhile, an anonymous submission to Unsalted CounterInfo leaked a list of smallholding fox fur farms in the USA:

“An estimated 25 to 50 fox farms remain in the United States. These are a few of the backyard operations confining and killing foxes, a genetically wild species native to North America:

Schmuecker Fox Farm
7796 15th Avenue Trail
Luzerne, IA 52257

Price Fox Farm
4850 Highway 141
Norris City, IL 62869

Natural Fibers (Joe & Marie McFadden)
17519 L Drive S
Marshall, MI 49068

Fox Haven (James & Judith Brown)
1806 E Hinchman Road
Berrien Springs, MI 49103

Matthew Kieffer Fox Farm
6896 Partridge Road
Pierz, MN 56364

Coats of Many Colors Fox Ranch (Jean Glass)
37493 378th Street
Richville, MN 56576

Fredrick Halvorson
39306 Highway 52
Cannon Falls, MN 55009

Mid-Missouri Fox Farm (David W. Moyer)
12640 Derstler Road
Richmond, MO 64085

Sky Dog Ranch (Sky & Eileen Halsey)
6913 US Highway 12
Martinsdale, MT 59053

John and Peggy Smeal
963 County Road F
Scribner, NE 68057

Circle R Fox Ranch (William Ridenour)
1895 Riggle Road
Bellville, OH 44813

Grand River Fur Exchange (Mark Gutman)
6310 US Highway 6
Rome, OH 44085
Fox farm & urine farm (urine is collected from captive coyotes and foxes to create lures for trappers.)”

With so much ramping up against fur farming, how much longer does the fur industry have before it collapses? What are the most important targets that would bring it down? What is the critical infrastructure that upholds the fur industry, and how can you fight to send it into oblivion? 



Fight back! 



UA.

SOME VALVE TURNERS CLOSE ENBRIDGE’S LINE 5 PIPELINE.

25th July, Anishinaabae Land.

via: Unsalted CounterInfo

[photo unrelated to the action]

“Reportback from some valve turners:

It is with a heavy heart and hazy skies we announce that 2 different pipeline valves were turned off along the Line 5 route on Anishinaabae land in the great lakes region.This was done on the 13th anniversary of the Kalamazoo River oil spill.This was the 2nd largest inland oil spill in amerikkkan history, dumping 1,000,000 gallons of tar sands crude oil into the river and causing untold damage to the water, land and those who live on it.

Currently, Enbridge is preparing to construct a concrete tunnel beneath the waters of the so-called Great Lakes to house a dual pipeline system in order to increase flow rates and carry even more tar sands from the lands of the north to refineries in the south.The Straits tunnel project is meant to replace a 70 year old pipe that is hastily secured to the bottom of the lake bed, even free floating in some areas.

Enbridge claims that the tunnel is safe, but a tunnel project beneath the straits is a resource intensive project. The tar sands would continue to be extracted, desecrating the land in northern geographies. The refineries in the south still pumping out toxic fumes that pollute nearby Black neighborhoods. The camps of workers near both the straits and the Bad River reroute still disappearing Indigenous women and relatives.The companies that rely on Enbridge oil still operating in the towns and cities, underpaying workers and enacting anti-Black and anti-Indigenous violence in nearby communities.The tunnel itself, bored through the bedrock beneath the water, containing two high-volume pipelines transporting millions of barrels of oil monthly, operated by a company with a long history of environmental catastrophe.

It’s easy to turn a valve. Every 10 or so miles along the pipeline route there is a pump station. Some of these pump stations are larger than others, some containing more of Enbridge’s infrastructure like work trucks, electrical stations, dynamic machinery, communication systems, and field offices. For us, we found pump stations that simply contained a valve and a small brick structure that contains basic comms and electrical components. Many of these places are remote, with response times that vary from 20 minutes to over an hour. Pump stations often contain a high-definition camera with a motion sensor mounted looking directly at the valve. When the motion sensor is triggered,the structure becomes heavily illuminated by flood lights and begins recording. Nothing some spray paint cant fix! The structures are always surrounded by a fence and are positioned next to or on top of a service road. The pipeline route is easy to see from a satellite image, as it cuts a clear path through the forest. The valve itself sometimes has a nut that is fitted with a large wrench and turned clockwise until you hear a series of musical notes, indicating that the pressure in the pipe has changed. At some valves, there was actually a big red button that just said STOP, which stops flow immediately. For us, we found it incredibly inportant to call the emergency Enbridge number listed on the facility and tell them we were shutting off the valve. The engineer on the other side of the line sounded very panicked, and immediately shut off flow to the entirity of Line 5. We did this 5 minutes before actually turning the valve, to ensure that the shut down would happen safely, obviously oil spills aren’t something we want to happen as a result of our actions.

In order to protect the water, the land and all the relatives that live on it, companies like Enbridge must stop extractive projects like tar sands. They must stop the flow of oil, because all of our lives depend on it.

And if they don’t, we will”

REMEMBERING LOBO, A REVOLUTIONARY, A COMRADE, A FRIEND.

Last week we heard that Lobo, known in Rojava as Elefteria Hambi, was martyred in Syria. After joining the YPJ in 2018 they moved to the mountains where they joined the YJA Star guerrillas and on the 25th of November 2019, they were murdered by the Turkish state during an airstrike. The news of their martyrdom was not made public until today.

Photo credit: IG @nehahirve
photo credit: IG @nehahirve

Lobo was without a doubt the bravest person I have ever met. For security reasons details will be spared on a public forum but we are aware of their involvement in some of the harshest and most catastrophic blows to those involved in the destruction of the earth and those perpetuating fascist ideologies in Europe in the last decade. They understood diversity of tactics not as a reminder that organising a demo or Food not Bombs was also a great way to fight against capitalism. They understood diversity of tactics as an invitation to imagine how much harder you can hit against the enemy that destroys this planet, the enemy that exploits the people in it and the enemy who abuses the animals that inhabit it. They were not worried about raising the bar and making those who destroy us feel what they need to feel.

Lobo was an exceptionally intelligent human being. I met them in Hambacher Forst, where we quickly gravitated to each other. They were reserved and I never learnt much about their personal life, but I slowly uncovered that they spoke six languages (which made for very useful communication when the cops were around!), that they were extremely fast doing maths in their brain and that they had read every book possible, yet they did not speak about theory and instead allowed their fight to embody their philosophy. We spent many days fighting, and many nights dreaming of a better world. We spent many weeks plotting and discovering ways to keep battling against RWE. They were by far my best accomplice in the woods.

One morning, when the police were putting pressure and attempting to evict barricades in the forest, Lobo was arrested. They had glued themselves to the platform of a tripod that stood in the way of the police, so cops had to cut around their hand and arrest Lobo attached to a huge plank of wood. When they arrived at the cop shop they fought multiple cops at once who were trying to remove the plank of wood with baby oil. By the time the plank came off every single cop was on the floor, covered in baby oil, and both of the fingerprint machines the cop shop had were completely destroyed. Even in captivity, Lobo would fight back. I was nicked whilst doing arrest support for them and saw the aftermath of that fight. The cop shop had no way of collecting any biometrics that day.

When we were released, Lobo realised that I had also been nicked just waiting for them outside the cop shop. They said, “That’s cute, let’s go steal some chocolate so I can do arrest support for you!”. Always cheery, savouring every victory, plotting the next solidarity attack.

When the government issued the first attack on Unoffensive Animal Lobo was there, shoulder to shoulder on a laptop, building back up the socials, the website, the fundraising options, and reassuring me that they wouldn’t just take the platform down. They believed in total liberation, they were an animal liberationist, and they embodied solidarity.

They have been missed for a long time, but now being certain of their martyrdom, they will be missed even more. Make no mistake, martyrs never die, but the struggle is going to have to do a lot more effort in order to fill the gap that Lobo leaves in the struggle.

They loved the animals, the trees and the fight.

I will howl at the moon for you every time something goes up in flames. We fight in your memory. We love you greatly.

Şehid Namirin

FIRE DESTROYS A MINK FARM STORAGE BARN.

via: NAALPO

Delayed Report, 21st October, 2022, Oregon USA.

“Delayed Report:

The fire destroyed a storage barn at Ruef Mink Farm, 12305 Ruef Lane, in Mt. Angel, Oregon on October 21, 2022. Officer Rossi said the 20,000 square foot barn was a total loss. The source of the fire remains under investigation. No communique claiming the action has thus far been received by the North American Animal Liberation Press Office.”

EIGHT PEOPLE SENTENCED AFTER THE MBR ACRES PUPPY LIBERATION.

On the 19th of June 2022, people from the Animal Freedom Movement (now Animal Rising) occupied MBR Acres. Five puppies were liberated, and people filmed the awful conditions MBR keeps thousands of dogs in before sending them off to an even worse fate. A large banner reading ‘END ANIMAL TESTING’ was displayed on the property before multiple arrests were made.

During a recent two-day trial, eight people were found guilty of aggravated trespass and have received conditional discharges or fines. It is especially interesting given that the activists who liberated the puppies during this action and later handed themselves in had their charges dropped. Clearly, MBR isn’t keen on a court case that would involve them answering awkward questions about the dogs and the legality of the conditions they keep them in. However, that isn’t stopping them from going after activists for other charges.

We hope the doggos are living their best life and the activists can cope well with the fines. At this time, we have not seen any fundraising to cover legal costs.

SOLIDARITY!

SABOTEURS COORDINATE ARSON ATTACKS AGAINST RWE COAL INFRASTRUCTURE.

5th July, Rhine, Germany.

via: SansNom (translated by ActForFree!)

Hot sabotage of cable ducts: cutting off the juice to RWE!

From de.indymedia, July 13, 2023

On the night of July 5 to 6, we carried out simultaneous acts of sabotage using incendiary devices on three cable ducts in the Rhine lignite mining area. The attacked cables supply, among other things, the coal silos in the Hambach and Garzweiler open-cast mines, as well as the coal silo in the Fortuna mine. The aim of the action was to interrupt the coal supply to the Neurath and Niederaußem power stations and possibly force them to shut down. Unfortunately, according to press reports, we didn’t use enough accelerant to cause serious damage. We’ll have more next time! Nevertheless, this action shows that fossil fuel companies like RWE are vulnerable. And who knows, maybe we indirectly contributed to the Hambach mine transformer fire on July 11, which paralyzed the entire mine.

In particular, coal silos are an important infrastructure for supplying power plants. Most of the power cables between substations and coal silos are open-air and easily accessible. Attached below are maps where the routes of the cables that supply these coal silos are shown in red.

For this attack, we drew inspiration from a similar action that took place in 2016 (see Autonomes Blättchen #25, p. 42). Back then, it was possible to cause damage with a “huge quantity of accelerant under the cables”, which brought operations at the Hambach open-cast mine to a standstill for almost three days.

Capitalist companies like RWE and the government work hand in hand, as the recent eviction from Lützerath showed. With their greed for profit and their attachment to fossil fuels, they are exacerbating the climate crisis, and time is running out: we need to shut down power plants and factories now – climate protection is still manual labor.

The coal infrastructure in the Rhine coalfield is a good target (you can see some of the companies involved in coal mining as subcontractors in the photos), but fossil fuel companies, factories and similar infrastructure are everywhere. The “Switch Off – System of Destruction” campaign offers suggestions and publicizes actions against the destruction of nature. Electricity cables, Internet cables or antennas are often easily accessible and easy to find with a little searching.

We greet “electric pylons” (1), “hooks [on catenary wires]” (2), “transformer fires” (3) and all the other saboteurs of this world. Let’s keep it up!

The resistance won’t stop: Lutzi is alive!

Note of Sans Nom:

  1. Reference to the sabotage of the electric pylon at the Garzweiler lignite mine in March 2023, see here.
  2. Last year, several train lines were sabotaged in Lusatia using hooks placed on catenary wires, see here and here.
  3. In early December 2022, an electrical transformer station and several cables were set on fire near Lützerath, causing RWE to cut the mine’s power supply.”

MAX MARA RECEIVED A NIGHT VISIT AMIDST A RESOURGENCE OF ANTI FUR ACTION WORLDWIDE

Some folks have anonymously sent us a reportback of a banner drop covering the entrance of a Max Mara store in Italy. Read what they have to say:

“Banner with painted writing “No alle pellicce – No to fur” hung and tied in front of the Max Mara store MaMa (https://www.instagram.com/mama_boutiquefg/) in Piazza Umberto Giordano square.

Max Mara is still one of the biggest offenders when it comes to fur and only recently the activist scene in Italy has picked up the fight against the cruelty of this fashion brand.

It is also the country where activists should strike harder since Italy is the Maramotti family’s home. Let it be known and made clear that exploiting animals for fashion is not a welcome practice, not even in their own turf.

A reminder that any form of activism in any city, not just the big ones like Milano and Bologna, is important to spread the message and intimidate Max Mara. A simple blanket, some paint and zip-ties can help decorate their shopping windows for citizens to see before opening times.

Be relentless, be dedicated to the cause.

Animal liberation is for the victims of this system, not to inflate anyone’s ego or wallet.

Until every cage is empty.”

SO YOU’RE TAKING A PHONE TO A PROTEST: PART 2

[ Previous Tech&Sec articles can be found on our website: https://unoffensiveanimal.is/category/technology-security-101/ ]

Burner phones are sometimes discussed, but rarely used correctly. We need to clarify what a burner phone is. A burner phone is a phone that aims at keeping you as anonymous as possible, not leaking your personal details. A burner phone is a single-use phone. It is turned on, used for what you need to use it, turned off and discarded. It isn’t a “field phone” or a “second phone”. It is a throwaway phone!

If you have decided you must take a phone to a demo but that taking your personal phone does not fit with your threat modelling, using a burner phone might be the best idea. A burner phone does not need to be a brick phone, it can be a smartphone (if you have sticky fingers or unlimited funds!), but if it is paid for, it should always be paid for in cash. The same goes for the SIM card inside the phone, you should buy one that does not require your details (for some folks this might even mean having to ask friends in a different country to send a few SIM cards!), and the credit inside should also be paid with cash. Purchasing burner phones should be done away from your town/city and certainly away from the shops you frequent. You should also consider aging burner phones, so that you always have some in stock for when they are needed, and so that they’ve been purchased quite some time in advance.

Once you have acquired your burner phone, SIM and credit, you should understand that if you turn that phone at home, that phone will ping your specific location, telling the phone provider where you live. For that reason, a burner phone should be turned on AWAY from your home and potentially even your city! Equally, you should remember that if you take your personal phone with you, then turn the burner phone somewhere else and then leave your personal phone in the car to go to the demo with your burner only, those two phones are now pinged in the same location, defeating the whole purpose of using a burner phone.

You should never have the burner and your personal phone together. If you are needing to take a burner phone to a demo because you want to ensure you can call your comrades on OTHER BURNER PHONES they’ve set up in case everything kicks off, you must leave your personal phone at home, turn the burner well away from home, and once the demo has ended, destroy the sim and the device and get rid of it for good. It isn’t enough to turn it off and take it back home, even if you haven’t used it! If it’s been turned on and has gone to a demo, a riot or a spikey action, that phone must disappear.

This is for a very simple reason which we will discuss more in depth in future articles, but your phone has an ID that tells the cell company where you are. If you think “well I never used it so I’ll keep it safe for the next one” and then you are arrested with it at the next demo, they can now connect you to the last demo too! It is not enough with changing a SIM card, you must get rid of both the card and the actual device.

TO SUM UP:

– A burner phone is a single-use phone

– It should be purchased with cash, never card, and never where you normally mingle

– It should only be turned on away from your home and other devices

– It should only talk to other burner numbers

– If you’ve turned it on for a demo, you must destroy device and SIM before returning home.

In the next episode we will talk about IMEI numbers. If you have questions about burner phones, please drop a comment!

Your local anarchist cyber-counsellor.

THE ALF LIBERATES EIGHTY CHICKENS FROM A SMALLHOLDER.

24th July, Trento Italy.

According to local media, the Animal Liberation Front liberated eighty hens from a smallholding. The owner says this is the second time it has happened and that this time they just left the gate open so they wouldn’t destroy anything if they came back, claiming that the first time they cut the metal fence to access the hens. They also claim that other neighbours have had similar visits and then compares the raiders to “Greta Thunberg’s chinese knockoffs” just before laughing at the racist remark.

They claim to have lost about 100 EUR and that the only reason they’ve reported it to the police is to get the money back, as they do not really care about the chickens.

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