SALT LAKE CITY – The moniker of a radical animal rights group was found early Thursday morning after firefighters doused a suspicious fire in a recycling building on the Brigham Young University (search) campus in Provo.
The letters "ALF," thought to represent the Animal Liberation Front (search), were found spray-painted in red at seven locations near the building, said BYU Police Capt. Michael Harroun.
Fire damage was limited to a corner of the building where bundles of recycled cardboard were stored to be shipped, and in a nearby stall where two small tractors also were set on fire. No animals were kept in the building.
"Obviously, the fire appears suspicious," he said.
A damage estimate was not immediately available.
The letters "ALF" were found on a bed of a truck, outside a nearby horse barn, a concrete ramp, on a trailer, on the sides of two sheds and on a roll-up door, he said.
It's the third incident BYU police have attributed to the sister organization of the environmental radical group Earth Liberation Front (search). The ELF took responsibility last month for a $1.5 million lumberyard fire in West Jordan.
Within the last six weeks at BYU, Harroun said someone broke into a horse barn and released animals, and later equipment that researchers were using to test the breeding habits of fish were removed from an aquarium.
"We don't really understand why they've chosen BYU to make a statement," Harroun said.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox