The Animal Rights Militia (ARM) is a banner used by animal rights activists who engage in direct action against people or entities that they consider to profit from animal suffering. ARM are known to have a more harsh approach. Unlike other direct action organizations in the field, they don't have any guideline warning against the physical harm to human beings.

ARM activists believe "the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) does not go far enough...", regarding the ALF's guidelines of strictly non-violent resistance. In contrast, the ARM does not have guidelines, instead carrying out political violence and/or property destruction in an attempt to further the animal liberation movement. This includes letter bombs, contaminations, death threats, hoaxes and destroying cars and shops using arson; targeting animal testing, bloodsports, other animal industries, political representatives, hunters, animal researchers and other individuals.

The ARM is not a group, but an example of a leaderless resistance, as a banner for autonomous, covert cells to use. The name has most often been used in the UK, Isle of Wight, and USA, with cells active in over a dozen countries. The name was first known when signed letter bombs were sent to 10 Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament in London, England, harming Margaret Thatcher's colleague in 1982. The ARM formed the same leaderless-resistance model as the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) 6 years later in 1982, which consists of small, autonomous, covert cells acting independently in; Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Holland, Isle of Wight, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA.^[3][4] A cell may consist of just one person.

1982

The first action became known on November 30 when five letter bombs were sent to Margaret Thatcher, then British Prime Minister, the Home Office minister responsible for animal legislation, as well as the leaders of Britain's three main opposition parties, signed by the Animal Rights Militia.^[14][15] The office manager to Thatcher suffered superficial burns on his hands and face when opening the package that burst into flames. It was later reported that the 8-by-4 inch package filled with gunpowder that exploded evaded Post Office scanners, causing a tightening in mail security at 10 Downing Street. Scotland Yard led the investigation stating, "We are now connecting all five letter-bombs with the same organisation".

1983

In February, four months after the attack against politicians, five more letter bombs were sent to different addresses in London, England, claimed again by the ARM. In an action apparently to protest the annual seal slaughter in Newfoundland, Canada, the explosives were delivered to the Canadian High Commission, the then Agriculture minister, a surgeon and a furrier. This time however, as the padded envelops were defused, there were no injuries.

1985

In September, incendiary devices were placed under the cars of two animal researchers for BIBRA (British Industrial Biological Research Association) in South London, which completely wrecked both vehicles. Neither man was injured, with the ARM telling The Sutton Herald that "We will go to any length to prevent these animal abusers' murderous activities, if it means killing an individual, we will not shy away from action."

ARM then claimed the contamination of Mars products, claiming it was because of their animal experiments relating to tooth decay which ARM claimed the company had no intention of ending. ARM then claimed the contamination was a hoax and they had not carried out the action. But claimed that it had caused huge financial damage which was the intention.

1986

Three months later in January, ARM claimed responsibility for placing incendiary devices under cars of four individuals involved in animal research at Huntingdon Life Sciences. The explosives were placed in Harrogate, South London, Staffordshire and Sussex, timed to explode an hour apart from each other. This time, also the last time according to the cell, the bomb disposal team were alerted, who deactivated the devices that were confirmed to be live. The next attack the ARM claimed was intended to kill Dr Andor Sebesteny, an animal researcher for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF). However he noticed the device that was attached under his car which saved his life, since no warning had been given. ARM also claimed responsibility for sending more letter bombs to individuals involved in vivisection.

1987

On the 1st September, at San Jose Valley Veal & Beef, Santa Clara, California, the ARM claims responsibility for an arson which costs $10,000 in damages.

1992

On January 4, 1992, the Edmonton Journal reported of an ARM action claimed by a letter and sent to the journal, as well as the Canadian Press news agency. The cell said they injected 87 of the month-old food bar, the Canadian Cold Buster, with liquid oven cleaner, resulting in the product being pulled from shelves in Alberta, Canada. The ARM claimed in the letter, along with two bars, the contamination was due to the slaughter of thousands of rats, injected with various drugs, frozen and starved, "...because of the decade-and-a-half-long history of animal suffering that is this candy's history." The police at the time advised against consuming the food bar, unsure whether the action was genuine. The candy bars sent to the media were later confirmed to have been injected with saline solution (harmless sterilised table salt), proving to be a hoax.

1994

On the 6th July, it was reported widely that the Cambridge store of Boots and also the Edinburgh Woolen Mill in the centre of the city had caught on fire. The Boots branch burnt for four hours completely destroying the building and the wool clothing store was badly damaged with the entire stock ruined. Two more devices were then found, both leather shops, one of which was in the pocket of a sheepskin coat. The ARM claimed all four devices, causing Cambridge city centre to be cordoned off whilst officers searched for two more devices that the cell claimed would explode the following day at 12pm. After an extensive search, it was concluded that the additional two devices claimed were a hoax, with no further devices exploding the following day. A month later, another leather shop was destroyed and the same wool mill suffered minor damage after devices went off, with two more recovered in leather shops and one in a fur shop.

ARM then set fire to shops on the Isle of Wight two week later, causing £3 million worth of damage. Initially an incendiary device had been found in a fishing tackle shop as a customer tried on a jacket, accidentally discovering the cigarette packet explosive. The police were called and seized the jacket for forensic tests, alerting all other fishing tackle shops in the island. However four further devices had been planted in Ryde and Newport, with the next one found in Halfords, a subsidiary of Boots, that was detonated in a controlled explosion. The three remaining devices then ignited in the early hours of the morning, setting ablaze two leather shops and an Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) shop, as a hundred firefighters attended to the fires.

Throughout the rest of the year extensive damage continued to occur elsewhere, most notably in the other end of the country in North Yorkshire by the ARM. Boots in Harrogate and Fads, another Boots subsidiary, were set on fire, followed by another ICRF shop and a bloodsports shop. In York, a newly refurbished Boots and Fads were again targeted by arsonists, causing a less but still severe damage to the properties.

On Christmas Day, the ARM then claimed in writing to two of Vancouver's biggest chains, Save-On Foods and Canada Safeway, that they had injected rat poison into dead turkeys in supermarkets. Evidence of contamination was however not found, similar to two years ago in Canada which was presumed a hoax.

1998

ARM further came to widespread public attention in the UK in December, during one of Horne's hunger strikes, which lasted 68 days. It was carried out in protest at the British governments refusal to order a commission of inquiry into animal testing, and ARM threatened to assassinate a number of individuals involved in vivisection should Horne die.

Those threatened were Colin Blakemore, later chief executive of the Medical Research Council; Clive Page of King's College London, a professor of pulmonary pharmacology and chair of the animal science group of the British Biosciences Federation; Mark Matfield of the Research Defence Society;^[26] and Christopher Brown, the owner of Hillgrove Farm in Oxfordshire, who was breeding kittens for laboratories.

2004

ARM claimed responsibility for removing, in October, from a grave the body of Gladys Hammond, the mother-in-law of Christopher Hall, part-owner of Darley Oaks Farm, which bred guinea pigs for Huntingdon Life Sciences, and which had been the target of the animal rights campaign Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs. The body was removed from a churchyard in Yoxall, Staffordshire and found buried in woodland on 2 May 2006.

2005

Following the announced in August that the Hall family at Darley Oaks Farm in Newchurch, Staffordshire, were no longer breeding guinea pigs for medical research, the ARM sent letters to the homes of 17 company directors associated with HLS. Most of the companies targeted were building contractors based in Peterborough, Huntingdon and Harrogate. In the letter the cell demanded:^[30]

Two weeks after the letters were sent in late September, nine companies, more than half, severed their ties with HLS to comply with the demands. Director of Most Construction in Harrogate, Ian Bailes, commented in response to the threat "Vocal protests are fine ... That is not a problem. It is the militant ones that are a problem. The police need to wipe them out."

2006

Four people were convicted on 11 May for their involvement in the incident, which was described in The Guardian newspaper as "a six-year hate campaign" that included letter bombs, vandalism, and grave robbing. The judge described the group's actions as "subjecting wholly innocent citizens to a campaign of terror." The campaign included hate mail signed Animal Rights Militia (ARM) and Animal Liberation Front (ALF). Those convicted were Jon Ablewhite, John Smith and Kerry Whitburn each of whom who were given twelve year sentences and Josephine Mayo who was sentenced to four years.

On 14 December, the ARM claimed on the North American Animal Liberation Press Office they had poisoned 487 bottles of POM juice drinks:

Spokesperson for POM replied: "If it is a hoax, it is a form of blackmail. If actual contamination has taken place, with the intention of injuring innocent people, it is an act of terrorism. Either way, the Animal Rights Militia is trying to scare and intimidate innocent people. That is criminal behaviour." It also said that the company conducted a vast amount of research involving human studies and that only a small amount of tests were animal based, which does not include; dogs, cats or primates. The owners the following month then stated: ""POM Wonderful pomegranate juice has ceased all animal testing, and we have no plans to do so in the future.", this was following Whole Foods Market, the biggest grocery chain in natural stores, threatening to stop selling their products, initiated by the PETA campaign.

2007

On 30 August, ARM claimed to have deliberately contaminated 250 tubes of Novartis's widely-used antiseptic Savlon in shops including Superdrug, Tesco and Boots The Chemist who all withdrew sales of the cream. The cell claimed in a communique to Bite Back: