Last month 14 Harris ranch big rigs were destroyed by arsonists, the estimated loss was about $2 million.
Now a $100,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction. The owner of the beef producer, John Harris, says it’s about more than the financial hit to his company. “And someone could have easily been killed,” said Harris.
Harris says truck drivers commonly sleep in those big rigs. “Fortunately no one was this night, but the terrorists didn't know that and there could very well have been someone in the truck. And the truck went really fast,” said Harris.
After the fires an anonymous message claiming responsibility was posted on the animal rights website North American Animal Liberation Press Office. A representative of the site, Nicoal Sheen, says she's outraged by the reward that's being offered and the claims that the fires could have killed someone.
“I don't answer to hypothetical because that didn't actually happen, what does happen is that million to billions of land animals are slaughtered for their flesh and other products,” said Sheen.
Sheen says the reward money will not deter animal rights activists. and that's exactly what the sheriff's department is worried about.
“We believe that there’s dangerous materials out there that are being accumulated,” said Capt. Jose Flores, with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department.
