The State - News from March 28, 1988

The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for a “Happy Easter” raid at a rabbit-breeding company near Hayward to protest the slaughter of rabbits for medical research, furs and meat. The underground group said it freed 73 rabbits from the Nitabell Rabbitry in the unincorporated area near the Bay Area city, because it has a “moral responsibility to end all forms of animal abuse.” The president of Action for Animals in San Bernardino called the Associated Press in San Francisco to read a statement she said she received from the ALF stating the raid was intended to save rabbits “destined to be tortured in painful experiments.” Mike Westervelt, owner of the rabbitry, said the animals are used for research in cancer, kidney diseases, AIDS and birth defects and the ALF is “just out there to . . . make it seem like we’re killing the Easter bunny.”