Police check possible threats to UC Davis researcher

nlofing@sacbee.com

Published Monday, Jan. 12, 2009

Police are investigating claims that two UC Davis researchers this weekend were targets of threats from a California-based animal-rights group.

The Revolutionary Cells-Animal Liberation Brigade claimed in a posting on an activist Web site that it sent two letter bombs to UC Davis researchers who work with the California National Primate Research Center, said Andy Fell, a UC Davis spokesman.

The researchers, whom Fell declined to identify, both are members of the university faculty. Much of the work at the center is with rhesus macaques, he said.

Police on Sunday notified the two professors named in the posting and began investigating the claim.

The threat was quickly pulled from the Web site but later popped up on other sites, Fell said.

No suspicious packages have been detected.

"We'll always be concerned about any kind of threat," he said. "Right now, we don't know if it's something real or a kind of hoax."

The amount of animal-rights activity has increased in recent years throughout the U.S., Fell said.

"I think the animal research community is becoming more concerned about (threats) generally," he said.

The California National Primate Research Center, on the western edge of the UC Davis campus, is one of eight centers nationwide funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The center houses about 4,700 monkeys for research and breeding. The majority are rhesus macaques, but the center also has small populations of cynomolgus monkeys and South American titi monkeys, according to the center's Web site.

Research at the center, which is strictly regulated by federal law, includes studies of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, asthma, autism and Alzheimer's Disease, a university news release states.

UC Davis and Davis police officers are investigating the threats and the university has posted information on its Web site to alert the campus community.

Researchers, faculty and staff are cautioned to be careful when handling and opening mail and to watch for suspicious packages, such as unusually shaped or wrapped packages or ones with excessive postage, the release states.

For more information about mail safety, go to http://police.ucdavis.edu/

Anyone who finds a suspicious package should call campus police immediately at (530) 752-1727.