Animal Liberationists Attack University of Utah Primate Researcher's Home

RIVERTON, Utah -- An Animal Liberation Front (ALF) group attacked the home of a vivisector, apparently in April, according to an anonymous communique received by the North American Animal Liberation Press Office (NAALPO) on April 26.

According to the communique, activists attacked Audie Leventhal's home while it was vacant. It "was simply a recipe for easy direct action," reads the communique. The communique's author(s) claims that the group glued "every single lock on the house," "smashed out" the front window, and spray-painted slogans "all over his (Leventhal's) deluxe jacuzzi." In addition, the group poured a "salt-saturated solution all over his front lawn. This will kill the lawn and force Audie to lay down fresh soil. Not cheap."

The communique continues: "Total damages are estimated to be in the thousands of dollars. Audie is a ruthlessly violent alcoholic. This is a man who has sewn kittens' eyelids shut. This is a man who has experimented on conscious primates. This is a man who has beaten within inches of her life. Only a society corrupted by money and so unbelievably tolerant to the suffering of others would allow a man like this to still be free on the streets. The ALF does not share this corruption or tolerance. Audie can rest assured that we will be back."

Audie Leventhal is a professor of neurobiology at the University of Utah. He faced a domestic violence hearing in January. However, the author of the communique does not offer documentation of its allegations against the scientist.

Leventhal is one of the so-called "filthy four" University of Utah faculty members that a small animal rights group, Utah Primate Freedom (UPF), led by Jeremy Beckham, has targeted in protest of their allegedly cruel animal experimentation practices. (One of the four professors, Robert Donahoe, confirmed in a December e-mail to the group that he had stopped vivisecting monkeys and has since left the university. The other two targeted researchers as Alessandra Angelucci and Jennifer Ichida.)