Animal Rights Activists Terrorize Family Of Los Angeles Mayor

LOS ANGELES MAYOR Antonio Villaraigosa may need to watch his back. On December 4, the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, a leading mouthpiece for animal-rights extremists in the United States, posted on its Web site a “communiqué” from a newly minted outfit called the Cat and Dog Liberation Army. It read: “Villaraigosa deserves to be bumped off like the dogs and cats we witnessed with their eyes wide, terrified before they were bumped off. He got off way to easy.”

The unknown writer of the menacing note also bragged about vandalizing the car and home of Deborah Villar, the mayor’s sister, in Rowland Heights.

THE RECENT PUSH TO RATTLE the mayor of Los Angeles and his sister comes after nearly three years of protests by aboveground activists against the treatment of animals at the city’s six shelters, according to North American Animal Liberation Press Office spokeswoman Lindy Greene. Greene, who has led demonstrations at UCLA, says the mayor’s sister Deborah Villar is now a “tertiary target,” meaning someone who does not have direct influence on city policy but may be pressured to talk to the mayor.

“It’s a brilliant concept,” says Greene unashamedly. “Even though Deborah is not entirely involved, the idea is that she would be very upset and she’ll call Antonio and say, ‘Why do I have to suffer for something you’re not doing?’ There’s a hope that she’ll apply pressure on him, or he would feel guilty for what’s happening to his sister.”

Greene, who lives in North Hollywood and describes herself as “one of the most prominent animal-rights activists” in Los Angeles, has marched in front of Villar’s home with others as they shouted their disgust into bullhorns. Villar never replied to e-mails seeking comment, but Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Steve Whitmore confirmed that an unknown assailant or assailants poured a “corrosive” on Villar’s car and splattered red paint on steps leading to her home, creating total damage worth $3,500. The attack, says Whitmore, occurred sometime between midnight and 7 a.m. on November 13, and Greene believes the Cat and Dog Liberation Army is a “new cell.”