On April 5, 1999, the Animal Liberation Front (A.L.F.) claimed responsibility for the liberation of 116 animals from the University of Minnesota campus (27 pigeons, 48 mice, 36 rats, and 5 salamanders). "The University of Minnesota tortures 130,000 animals every year with wasted taxpayer money," stated the A.L.F. Press Office.

In addition to freeing these animals, the A.L.F. damaged cages and equipment used to torture animals in both Elliot Hall and the Lions Research Building. Research documents were also taken for review, and photos and video footage of the conditions the animals are kept in will also be forthcoming. University officials estimate their financial loss to be in the millions of dollars.

Video footage of the action was also taken by the A.L.F. and a portion thereof is available online from a Minnesota newspaper, the Star Tribune.

All in all, this looks to be one of the most effective anti-vivisection actions in many years. University officials have estimated the financial damage of this raid to be in the millions of dollars.

In a desperate attempt at damage control the University's PR group is attempting to spread the claims that:

1. Important research was set back by years

Of course, as anti-vivisectionists, we know that medical progress in this country has happened in spite of, not because of the abuse of animals. Since the time of the raid, a number of prominent physicians have stepped forward to point out that vivisection is bad science.

2. Local cancer patients are outraged and fighting back

The university has found a front-man who has donated a "share" of the $10,000 reward being offered. There's little doubt that the majority of this money is actually coming out of the pocket of vivisectors who want to keep on torturing animals behind closed doors.

3. The animals were released into the wild and are going to die

The University has now gone so far as to state that they've found some of the liberated rats in a field in a town miles away. The idea that University officials could have tracked down the rats so far away is absurd. Have you ever tried to track down a rat in an area even as small as your own house? The claim they're making that they were able to positively identify the rats because they're white is even more ridiculous.

The vivisection industry has its strength in its financial wealth (stolen from the tax-paying public), which it uses to finance PR firms to hide the truth from the public. But the truth is still more powerful than slick lies told by PR executives. We need to get out there to combat their lies, to speak out in support of the A.L.F. and to condemn vivisection as the heartless abuse it is.

The messages boards on the website of a local television station have also been flooded by posts from anti-animal extremists.