This was forwarded to me by the RPOA!! Will it ever STOP!!! I am sure these people support AB 1634.
Ward

TX-RPOA E-News
From Responsible Pet Owners Alliance,
the reasonable voice regarding animal issues in Texas.
Responsible Pet Owners Alliance is an animal welfare organization,
not "animal rights" and, yes, there is a difference.
Permission granted to crosspost.

July 2, 2007
__________

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ucla29jun29,1,2009703.story?ctrack=2&cse
t=true

FBI probes bomb claim

Animal rights extremists say they planted a device under the car of a UCLA
doctor conducting primate research.
By Larry Gordon, Times Staff Writer
June 29, 2007

The FBI and the Los Angeles Fire Department are investigating an anonymous
claim that animal rights extremists placed an unexploded incendiary device
found under the car of a prominent UCLA eye doctor last weekend. The
incident was similar to one last year in which another UCLA researcher was
the intended target.

A gasoline-filled device was discovered Sunday by the car outside the
Westside home of Dr. Arthur Rosenbaum, who is chief of pediatric
ophthalmology at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute. The device did not ignite
despite evidence of an attempt to light it, authorities said Thursday.

An e-mail on Wednesday signed by the Animal Liberation Brigade said the
group put the device there to stop experiments on animals in Rosenbaum's
laboratory. The message claimed a gallon of fuel was set alight under the
vehicle, but authorities said there was no fire.

Rosenbaum, who has worked at UCLA for 35 years, declined to comment
Thursday.

According to the National Institutes of Health, his lab received federal
funding to, among other things, test tiny implanted electrodes on monkeys to
correct severe cross-eyed conditions. UCLA reported that Rosenbaum's team
has used only one primate for "vision training" and that the lab meets all
federal rules for humane treatment.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said investigators are treating the car
incident as a case of "domestic terrorism."

The FBI and arson investigators in the Los Angeles Fire Department also will
look for possible links to an attempted and still unsolved firebombing a
year ago in which an explosive was lighted but did not ignite outside the
Bel-Air house of an elderly woman.

In that incident, the house apparently was targeted by mistake and was not
the residence of the intended victim, another UCLA professor denounced by
animal rights extremists. UCLA and the FBI are offering a $60,000 reward
leading to an arrest and conviction in last year's case.

In a statement issued Thursday, UCLA's acting chancellor, Norman Abrams,
condemned the weekend incident as part of a campaign of "criminal and
deplorable tactics" against faculty and researchers. Among other things,
faculty members have received threatening phone calls and e-mails, he said.

"UCLA remains steadfast in its commitment to the lawful use of laboratory
animals in research for the benefit of society," Abrams said. The use of
animals in such research is tightly regulated and has led to the development
of lifesaving medicines and procedures, he stressed.

Rosenbaum earlier this month helped diagnose a serious right eye deformity
in the infant son of the Anaheim Ducks' star goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere.
The child underwent a four-hour surgery June 12, led by UCLA retina expert
Steven Schwartz, who was hopeful for a positive outcome.

A Woodland Hills-based group called the North American Animal Liberation
Press Office, or NAALPO, alerted reporters to the anonymous claim signed by
the Animal Liberation Brigade concerning Rosenbaum's car. NAALPO said it had
nothing to do with the incendiary device and does not know who was
responsible.

However, NAALPO spokesman Jerry Vlasak, a trauma surgeon, said he agreed
ideologically with such violent tactics against anyone leading painful
experiments, particularly on primates. When peaceful protests don't work,
"we certainly advocate taking it to the next level," he said.

Vlasak's Agoura Hills home was raided and searched last year by Santa Monica
police and the FBI as part of a probe into activities of animal liberation
groups. No criminal charges have been filed against Vlasak as a result of
that search, officials said.

larry.gordon@latimes.com