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Operation Bite Back: Rod Coronado's War to Save American Wilderness

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The topics of this book are all of high interest to me, including radical environmentalism, animal ethics issues, one man's attempt to live by his values and fight for what he believes to be right, alternative ways of life, and the insanity of current law with regard to "terrorism".

The author, like me, seems generally sympathetic with Coronado's values if not all of his actions so I expected to love this book but it seemed a little off to me, and it started right on the cover. While Coronado certainly cares about the wilderness mentioned, the actions of Operation Bite Back in the early 90s were not about wilderness but about fur farms and animals being used for research. It's an inaccurate subtitle.

The book runs through Coronado's life in an episodic style, hitting the highlights of his early life and involvement with Sea Shepherd and Earth First!. The most detail comes in the time period of the title, describing his double life as prospective fur farmer and anti-fur activist, methods of entry to buildings and how he burned them, some close calls both of capture and possible injury to others. During this period the many characters in the book referred to as we'll call him Joe or let's call her Amy, while understandable, get a little tiring. We read about where Coronado lived while a suspect and then with a warrant out for his arrest (seemingly as often right out in the open as in remote locations).

As the book goes on, there's more about Coronado's growing interest in Native American history and lifestyle which I suspect will be of less interest to most readers but is necessary in following his life. Not at all necessary are a couple events from the author's life which don't involve Coronado.

There are inevitably holes in this type of history, but some seem unnecessary. For instance, at the time of his arrest Coronado was deeply involved in life on a reservation apparently shifting to a different life. But after he gets out of jail five years later, we're told he's back working at the Earth First! office with no explanations from the author. How much of that previous change was internally real and how much an outward necessity? The same question could be asked of what Coronado professes to believe now but these type of questions are never addressed by the author who seems content to accept Coronado's word.

The book ends with a summary of the outlandish changes in laws which have come about in part because of Coronado's actions and the resulting uproar from those who engage in various forms of animal abuse for profit, and in part because of post 9/11/01 hysteria. Why is it that the government considers property destruction to be terrorism while not applying the label to the actual killing of doctors by anti-abortionists, or to the many death threats received by people who fight for animals and nature? The values displayed in that discrepancy are exactly what lead people to ALF and ELF.

A 3.5 moved up to a 4 for subject matter.

As many other authors have stated, I too have problems with the title of this book.

I do think that there are holes in this book also, but I'm not sure that Ron would let anyone write a book that exposes everything. So, again, as a previous poster wrote, we know more than we did perhaps, but not all.

The reason that I think this book is a must-read is because now we have the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) hanging over the head of any activist in this country.
We now have animal and environmental people being arrested because they sent a fax. And once arrested, they are put in secret prisons, with no chance to communicate to anyone like they could have in a regular prison, ie phone calls, visits, etc. Interestingly, so-called Arab terrorists are in the same type prisons.

This Act, which will be overturned with help from the ACLU and others as it violates freedom of speech, etc., now has led to an animal rights activist being put on the 10 most wanted posters, his face next to Bin-Laden sympathizers, as he is labelled "vegan" as if that was a dirty word.

Shame on Obama for not fixing the mess up Bush left in Homeland Security.

This is a well researched even handed biography of Rod Coronado and the Animal Liberation Front. There is also some information on activities of the Earth Liberation Front. Dean Kuipers has reported on Coronado and other environmental activists for 18 years and that shows. His access to this movement over a long period of time gives him insights that many biographers lack. Kuipers does not present Coronado as any kind of saint. He reports the actions and emotions of both Coronado and of people who whose property was damaged by his vandalism and arson. The book has a real ring of truth to it.

I must admit I wonder why the sub-title is "Rod Coronado's War to Save American Wilderness." While Kuipers reports that Coronado cared about wilderness, nearly all of Coronado's criminal acts, which are the core of the book, were focused on saving the lives of captive animals--not on preserving wilderness.

Rod Coronado is a beautiful man that cares deeply about life. He spent most of his adult life defending the helpless, and for this he was hunted down and caged. He never killed anybody-he valued the lives of even those who hated him, and actively tried to kill him. In generations to come, Rod will be remembered as one of the greatest Americans who ever lived.

Kuipers' book explores a world known to few, but intensely followed by environmentalists on one hand and the FBI on another. Actually, it is not fair to paint this as an us vs. them book, since the actions of Rod Coronado, the subject of the book, splits even the environmentalists.

Coronado is an environmental activist who eventually began breaking into areas where animals were held and freeing them before burning down research centers. His radical beliefs have made him a folk hero among some, a terrorist to others, and an enigma to still more. Kuipers traces Coronado's life in such a way that we see his eventual criminal acts as a natural development of his ideals. He is raised with a love of nature, but moves from a hunter and fisher to become a vegan devoting his life to saving animals.

Coronado's radical beliefs are fostered early by Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd organization. Along with another member. Coronado sank two whaling boats in Iceland, although they made sure no people were on board at the time. This daring action quickly propelled him to fame and he escaped prosecution since Watson claimed credit to protect the two involved. We then see Coronado's involvement with Earth First! and the Animal Liberation Front, two more aggressive organizations aiming to undermine industries exploiting nature.

Eventually Coronado develops Operation Bite Back, which focused on fur farms and the fur trading industry. The book takes off in Kuipers' descriptions of the operations, which read at times like spy thrillers as Coronado stakes out his targets and avoids detection. Kuipers is clearly an environmentalist himself, and his journalism has focused on this area, which may explain his ability to get so many people to talk about illegal activities. The reader gets a full description of the rationale, the action, and the reactions behind the different attacks.

One of the more interesting aspects of the book surrounds Coronado's "disappearance" from society once the FBI identifies him and his picture begins adorning post office walls. A Native American, Coronado takes the time to begin fully examining his own roots, which not surprisingly support his approach to life. Yet these new experiences lead him to a new understanding of himself and he begins to rethink some of his positions. We also get to see the paranoia which develops in someone who realizes that every new person could be an undercover agent or that a friend may turn him in for a reward. Coronado does not always handle the pressure well, but before he can break the FBI finally captures him.

Coronado's story is also caught up in the political debate of what constitutes terrorism, and after the 9/11 attacks his past actions are viewed in a new light. However, Kuipers paints the FBI as some evil force going after an innocent man, when in fact they are tracking down a multiple arsonist. Agree with Coronado or not, his work clearly fits something which the FBI does track down on a regular basis.

This is a story which has not ended, and Kuipers struggles with how to end the book which tends to fizzle out. Coronado is still actively involved in the animal rights movement, but some of his beliefs have changed. What Kuipers shows very well is that Coronado is a person who acts on his beliefs, but is also all too human. He makes mistakes in his work, in his relationships, and even in how he treats himself. While Kuipers clearly admires his subject, this is no hagiography.

For those unfamiliar with the radical environmental movement, this book will be eye opening and enlightening. For those who are part of that movement, they will find a person to emulate. For those somewhere in between, this book will leave you with more questions than answers, which is always the sign off a good book.

The following was taken from my blog. To read the entire review, please visit [...].

The book is a must-read for environmental and animal-rights activists. Regardless where one stands on the use of property destruction within the movements, activists should read the book to learn about the movements' histories and where they are heading -- especially with regard to the terrorism legislation that was created in 1992 in response to Coronado's work and which has since been added upon.

[...]

The scenes of the direct actions -- breaking into and burning buildings -- are suspenseful, and I found myself rooting for Coronado. But after a while I felt he was getting out of control, taking unnecessary risks, becoming addicted to the actions.

And I kept tossing the notion of arson -- and burglarly and theft -- back and forth, debating whether it helped or hurt the cause. That's one of the goals of the book, though: to get readers to think about it.

Because we live a rural self sufficient lifestyle I was interested in the book because often those who I call radical environmentalists and radical animal rights people, have no idea what rural or wilderness living entails. And often I notice they don't shun all meat or leather shoes which makes me see many of them as hypocrites. Not to mention they have no problem with killing the human animal but have no problem with non human animals killing other animals.

The feature character Rodney Coronado reminds me in some ways of Christopher McCandless who the book and movie Into The Wild was all about.

And the author does more than a decent job of telling the story of Rodney Coronado. And in a fair way.

[...]

FUR COMMISSION USA BOOK REVIEW, JULY 24, 2009
Operation Bite Back: Rod Coronado's War to Save American Wilderness, by Dean Kuipers

Bloomsbury Publishing, June 2009. ISBN13: 9781596914582; ISBN10: 1596914580

Reviewed by Teresa Platt, Executive Director, FCUSA

Rodney Coronado and his rap sheet have generated thousands of column inches over the years, so what more is there left to say? But Dean Kuipers' new book, Operation Bite Back: Rod Coronado's War to Save American Wilderness, does reveal a few new tidbits for those following the crime sector called eco-terrorism.

In a surprising turn of events, we learn Coronado started out life hunting with his Dad, became an extreme vegan vigilante, but has now come full circle. No longer vegan, he even broke with his mentor, Sea Shepherd's Paul Watson, over the Makah's treaty right to hunt up their own animal protein via a sustainable take of whales off their coast.

Rodney Coronado: Omnivore? Conservationist?

Coronado's criminal history

Kuipers relates how, "As part of his plea, [Coronado] was privately deposed by U.S. attorneys and admitted his role in all of the Bite Back crimes" - a multi-million-dollar crime spree complete with eco-terror threats targeting researchers and farmers in multiple states. Kuipers explains that Rodney "never mentioned accomplices or anything that could be used against anyone else. This information was sealed and has never been released, but it did alleviate the need for continued exhaustive federal investigations into his role in these crimes. In return, he would not be prosecuted for them."

Maybe it's time to open the plea deal to the public as Coronado is now talking. To Kuipers.

Until Kuipers' book, Coronado lied - in public at least - by sticking to his story that he was simply a courier for 32 years of research stolen from the February 1992 Michigan State University arson and delivered to PeTA as prearranged. But now, in Operation Bite Back, Coronado admits he sat in a hotel room and made incendiaries and, with the assistance of a team, personally trashed and torched the lab.

We also learned that Coronado's prints were all over documents held offsite by PeTA, in the basement of a Bolivian immigrant named Maria Blanton. Kuipers reported, "Now the FBI knew for sure that Rod had been snooping around the Tulane facility in the swamp in early 1990. It just didn't know he'd been all over the inside of it night after night."

This break-in at Tulane was part of a PeTA plan to later steal lab animals and who knows what else.

Ties to "charities"

For the bulk of the book, Coronado travels the world aboard the Sea Shepherd boat, enjoys illegal drugs, engages in an active sex life, harasses hunters, commits a pile of crimes, writes lots of angry "communiqués" by night and pens scathing rants by day for publication by eco-anarchist zines such as the EarthFirst! Journal, No Compromise and others.

Except for the "green" sheen, it's pretty shabby stuff.

Coronado seldom interacts with the for-profit tax-paying world except when he attacks it. He was the recipient of funds from tax-exempt charities such as Sea Shepherd, Fund for Animals, PeTA, Friends of Animals, the Earth First! Journal and more. Kuipers did not connect the dots that Coronado worked for PeTA from 1987 to 1990 infiltrating research labs, the same time he was trashing them. "It was the easiest time I had," Coronado has said, remarking on the regularity of his wages.(1)

Mentors figure in the story: Fund for Animals' Cleveland Amory and Sea Shepherd's Paul Watson (which received funding from Fund for Animals, now part of the Humane Society of the United States). There is no mention of anyone directing Coronado to a peaceful path, to a life that builds rather than destroys.

His mentors appeared well aware of how far they could go legally. They were happy to support young Coronado and seemed to turn a blind eye when it was obvious he was crossing the legal line and throwing away years of his life to certain jail time.

Some were happy to help him break the law. Kuipers reveals that one of Coronado's 1987 crimes was actually Cleveland Amory's idea. Advised by his lawyers that he could not be directly involved, Amory "threw some money to Coronado and told him to 'go for it anyway'," which Coronado did. There is no evidence that Amory or his lawyers at Fund for Animals contacted the police after the crime occurred.

With support and financial assistance, Coronado engineered a multi-million dollar, multi-national crime wave in Canada, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, the UK and multiple US states.

Missing pieces

There are a few key details missing from the book. There is no mention that Coronado violated parole when he worked at the EarthFirst! Journal after his release from federal prison. No mention of Coronado's first arrest - it was in the Faroe Islands in 1985 while crewing for Sea Shepherd. Local lore has it that Coronado pulled a knife on a police officer on the dock, which resulted in a Scandinavia-wide expulsion order which Coronado ignored by returning to the Faroes for more confrontation. "I got to shoot flares and a fire hose at the same Faroese cop who had beaten and arrested me," crowed Coronado. "Very empowering stuff." How did the cop miss Coronado among the crew when the police eventually boarded the vessel? Perhaps he was hidden in a stowaway compartment in which case the entire crew was complicit in another crime.

There is no mention that Coronado worked illegally in the UK while planning crimes to be committed in Iceland - making up "a batch of paint-filled light bulbs" and riding out on "bikes to redecorate London fur shops," no mention that he worked illegally in Iceland before attacking the fishermen/whalers' property.

The book does not mention how Coronado used the Sea Shepherd boat to travel up and down the California coast, all the way into Vancouver, Canada, coming ashore for crime sprees that included arson, theft and vandalism. Ignoring their civic duty, no one from Sea Shepherd reported the obvious crime wave that followed in the vessel's wake.

While Kuipers comments on Sea Shepherd harassing eastern tropical Pacific tuna boats he neglects to mention that its victims were US boats fishing legally with government observers onboard from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). While it shamefully retains its incorporation status as a charitable corporation in Oregon,(2) Sea Shepherd has had vessel registrations revoked by the UK, Belize, Liberia and Canada, and has been rejected by the Cayman Islands. And in 1986 it was banned permanently from attending meetings of the International Whaling Commission - the only non-governmental organization to wear that badge of shame.

Kuipers does not mention the Unabomber murders, two of which were of people selected for targeting on an EarthFirst! hit list.(3) but does detail the 1990 pipe bomb that severely injured activist Judi Bari on her way to Coronado's house in Santa Cruz. There is no mention that Judi Bari condemned tree spiking, a dangerous tactic which Sea Shepherd's Paul Watson claims to have invented and has defended publicly.(4)

And although they were supplied to him, Kuipers makes no mention of the letter of recommendation from FBI fugitive Joseph Mahmoud Dibee that was tucked into Coronado's court files back in 1995, or that Coronado had a high-powered rifle among his possessions when he was arrested.

Since it took us many hours to assist Kuipers in his research, we were pleased to see that the book includes a note of thanks at the end "to Teresa Platt of Fur Commission USA, for outstanding help with context and documents, and deep gratitude to Ron Arnold [of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise], for intellectual rigor and positively straight shooting."

While better than some of Kuipers' previous attempts to transform the lives of eco-anarchist thugs into daring tales of green-tinged heros, Operation Bite Back remains out-of-focus, the work of a writer who refuses to remove his left-wing blinders and green-tinted glasses.

One out of three stars.

Notes:

(1) Quoted in "Man behind the mask makes fur fly in his war," by Paige St. John, Detroit News, Mar. 13, 1995.

(2) Complaints about Sea Shepherd's charitable status (corporate EIN 93-0792021), and requests for an investigation to be opened, can be lodged with the Oregon Department of Justice here.

(3) See "Animal liberation is not lethal? May the myth rest in peace," FCUSA commentary, Sept. 1, 2008.

(4) See "In defense of tree-spiking", by Paul Watson, Earth First! Journal, Sept. 22, 1990.

See also:

In their own words: The Animal Liberation Front has this to say (featuring Rodney Coronado).