CANYON COUNTY — Federal agents will seriously consider a message
from anti-fur and animal rights activists claiming responsibility
for Monday morning’s fire at Rocky Mountain Fireworks and Fur in
Caldwell.
Officials could not say if arson was involved in the blaze, ATF
assistant special agent Mark Leiser said. But he said items
recovered from the fire would be sent to a forensic lab in
California for analysis.
“It is enough of an investigative lead that ATF and the sheriff’s
office will explore (it),” Leiser said. “Their taking
responsibility is a lead that will be completely and fully
exhausted.”
The message claimed activists pumped fuel into a storage space at
the business and then ignited it.
The message from a group claiming to be animal rights activists
came in an email to the media through the North American Animal
Liberation Press Office in Woodland Hills, Calif. Rocky Mountain
Fireworks and Fur buys coyote and bobcat pelts and sells trapping
supplies, including equipment that helps drown beavers. It also
sells knives, predator calls and scents to help lure bobcats.
The message, signed by “The Arson Unit,” warns the business that by
“oppressing innocent life, you’ve lost your rights. We’ve come to
take you down a notch. Stay in business, and we’ll be back.”
The email also goes into detail about how the fire was set.
The fire was reported at about 5 a.m. Monday morning. Firefighters
from six different agencies, including Nampa, Caldwell and
Middleton, responded to the blaze in the 14000 block of U.S.
Highway 20/26.
A spokesman with the North American Animal Liberation Press
Office said the action was consistent with other animal rights
activism. He said he does not recall such an incident taking place
in Idaho before.
“There’s still a few people who are not willing to give up the
profit or what they call the fashion statement of wearing the fur
of dead animals on their backs,” Jerry Vlasak said. “It’s about
helping animals. Some people want to hear the other side of the
story, and that’s what we’re here for.”
Vlasak said he did not know who specifically claims to have set the
fire. He said animal rights groups are not concerned about backlash
from such actions, because he said they are carried out in the name
of justice.
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Radical activist groups, including the Earth Liberation Front, and
the Animal Liberation Front have been blamed for a string of 17
arsons across the West dating back more than a decade, including at
ski resorts in Colorado and university laboratories in Washington
state. Fourteen people have been convicted of crimes related to
those fires. Such groups are classified as domestic terror threats
by the FBI.
The FBI also said it’s helping track down leads in the case.
“We are assisting the ATF to see if there’s a connection to
domestic terrorism,” said Deborah Bertram, an FBI spokeswoman in
Salt Lake City.
Vlasak declined to say exactly how he received Monday’s
message.
“Somebody with a shop full of fireworks and fur at the same time is
just kind of asking for it,” Vlasak told the Associated Press on
Monday, adding that while he supports such actions, “there’s a
firewall between those who are actually willing to break the law to
help animals and those of us who are just serving as a press
office.”
The fire was contained without significant damage to fireworks or
fur articles, fire official Marty Ogan said.
“It was stopped relatively quickly,” he said. “Overall, there was a
minimal amount of damage.”
Canyon County Sheriff Chris Smith referred questions Monday to the
ATF.
The fire closed the westbound off ramp on Exit 26, the Exit 26
overpass and Old Highway 30 between Helen Lane and Town Circle, a
Canyon County dispatcher said.
