Firebombs target 2 researchers in California over lab animals

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A University of California, Santa Cruz biologist whose home was firebombed over the weekend feared for his family's future Sunday while a spokesman for a radical animal-rights group said the attacks were the consequences for performing research on animals.

The volatile rhetoric left UC-Santa Cruz on edge Sunday, a day after a pair of firebombings on two university biomedical researchers had authorities looking for clues and tightening security around researchers.

FBI officials were expected to join the search today, in what authorities have called an act of "domestic terrorism."

Just before 6 a.m. Saturday, molecular biologist David Feldheim's home was firebombed, forcing him, his wife and their two young children to flee down a fire escape. About the same time, a Volvo station wagon belonging to a different, unidentified researcher was destroyed by another firebomb. Police described the explosives as a "Molotov cocktail on steroids," and said the attack on the Feldheims' house was being investigated as an attempted homicide because the family was at home.

"Obviously, I am upset and worried for my family's safety in the future," Feldheim wrote in an e-mail to the Santa Cruz Sentinel on Sunday. "This incident came close to doing some real harm."

Feldheim said he had installed a security system and motion lights at his home in response to a previous threat, and police were checking whether the cameras could help identify the attackers.

"Once we rebuild our house and move back in, I don't know what more we can do," wrote Feldheim, a UCSC biologist who performs research on mice to understand how brain connections form during development. "I don't think the university can do too much to prevent these kind of attacks. I would like to see the citizens of Santa Cruz and our elected officials [including the mayor] step up and condemn this kind of violence."

Feldheim said he badly bruised his feet while getting out of his house and was taken to the hospital for X-rays. He said he didn't break any bones but will have to walk with crutches for a few days until the swelling subsides.

While a spokesman said he didn't know who committed the act, the Animal Liberation Front called the attacks a "necessary" act, just like those who fought against civil-rights injustices. Spokesman Dr. Jerry Vlasak showed no remorse for the family or children who were targeted.

"If their father is willing to continue risking his livelihood in order to continue chopping up animals in a laboratory, then his children are old enough to recognize the consequences," said Vlasak, a former animal researcher who is now a trauma surgeon. "This guy knows what he is doing. He knows that every day that he goes into the laboratory and hurts animals that it is unreasonable not to expect consequences."