A security camera anchored in a corner watched silently as masked members of the activist group Animal Liberation Front spray-painted the words “science, not sadness” on the walls of the Spence Laboratories in Iowa City.

Another prominent activist group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, culminated a year-long informational campaign with the release of gruesome footage of the day-to-day operations of a kosher cattle processing plant in Postville.

To many, the tactics of people who identify themselves as animal rights activists have been appalling. To the activists, it’s part of a larger movement toward equality.

Clark Wolf, director of bioethics at Iowa State, a program within the department of philosophy and religious studies, said the animal rights debate is as wide-ranging as the groups themselves.

“Some people are willing to say that animals have the same rights, that animals are just like us,” Wolf said.

For many people, he said, the idea that animals have the same rights as humans is hard to grasp, which has led to another view, often called the animal welfare view.

The view lends itself to the idea that, although animals are not equal to humans, their suffering is something that should be taken seriously.

“Animals have the right to not suffer gratuitously,” Wolf said. “One can think there can be animal rights and still eat meat.”

Martha Hawksworth, junior in veterinary medicine and student representative for the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, said many animal rights activists seem to adopt an all-or-nothing approach to how animals are treated.

“Most animal rights activists tend to look at it as an animals-or-humans aspect,” Hawksworth said.

She said it isn’t necessary to adopt that view — it is possible for people to have animal rights beliefs without having to be as extreme as they are often characterized.

Dan Shannon, senior campaign coordinator for PETA, said the group has developed a mixed view on animal rights. Ultimately, Shannon said, the group believes that animals should not be used for commercial or other practices. In reality, all they can hope for is to increase awareness of animal rights and try to decrease suffering, he said.

“We recognize animals are being used, so it would be irresponsible for us not to address this,” he said.

Instead, PETA works to publicize incidents of animal cruelty or abuse, he said. In June of 2003, PETA began correspondence with AgriProcessors, a major kosher cattle processor in Postville, after receiving word that the company might be engaging in abuse. After nearly a year of investigation, PETA then released footage of the plant’s operations and filed complaints with the United States Department of Agriculture.

Instead of using attacks similar to the ALF, a group based in the United Kingdom, Shannon said, PETA looks to non-violent, legal means of getting its message out. That hasn’t stopped them from using controversial tactics, Wolf said, which include ads depicting ghastly or obscene images and harassing workers at targeted organizations.

Despite their tactics, PETA hasn’t gone to the extremes other animal rights groups have. ALF has carried a reputation of breaking into farms and laboratories to free animals.

In November, the group broke into a lab in Iowa City and freed 401 animals.

Robin Webb, spokesman for ALF, said in a phone interview from London that the group views animal rights as a struggle for equality, similar to the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

In 2002, the FBI identified ALF as the largest active terrorist group in the United States. Webb said the terrorists have been misidentified.

“The terrorists are the ones in the labs who blind, scold, burn and torture innocent animals for pseudo-scientific purposes,” he said.

The group has been subject to international scrutiny for its activities. Recently, British lawmakers moved to pass stricter laws against groups like the ALF.

The organization has resorted to a loose coalition of activists, he said, which can operate independently from one another.

This allows them to operate freely to achieve their main goals, which include animal rescue and economic sabotage.

“Once we achieve animal liberation, we will achieve human liberation,” he said.