Bite Back is a Malaysian-registered website and magazine that promotes the cause of theanimal liberation movement, and specifically theAnimal Liberation Front (ALF).[2] According toThe Sunday Times, the name is inspired by an arson campaign targeting the American fur industry throughout the 1990s.[3]
Its founder and editor,Nicolas Atwood, has said thatBite Back's mission is to "support animal rightsprisoners of conscience and report on current events in the struggle."[4]
The website also receivesanonymouscommuniques ofpolitical Justice, including those by theAnimal Rights Militia (ARM),Justice Department andAnimal Liberation Brigade.[5]
Bite Back was set up in 2001 by Atwood, an animal rights activist inWest Palm Beach, Florida.[6] In March 2005, Atwood set up a Florida-based company, Bite Back Inc, to operate the site and magazine sales.[3]
As of February 2021, the magazine's website notes that the magazine is being published on an irregular schedule and no new subscriptions are being accepted.
Bite Back acts as a forum for ALF activists, and a place they can leave claims of responsibility fordirect action taken in pursuit ofanimal liberation.[7] In 2006, it was used to encourage attacks againstOxford University, publishing personal details of academics and calling on supporters to "do whatever it takes" to "blow these fucking monsters off the planet".[4]
In 2007, when incendiary devices were found atTempleton College, Oxford,Bite Back reported a claim of responsibility on behalf of the Animal Liberation Front: "This latest action is part of an ongoing fight against the University of Oxford and its continued reign of terror over the unseen victims inside its animal labs."[8]
TheFBI, while reportedly aware of the site, say action against it would breach theFirst Amendment protectingfreedom of speech.[4]
In 2005, Bite Back published a "Direct Action Report," listing action carried out by activists on a global scale. It writes that, in 2004, 17,262 animals were liberated, and 554 acts ofsabotage, vandalism andarson were carried out.[2]
