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SANTA CRUZ (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― The FBI is investigating two firebombings targeting University of California, Santa Cruz scientists as the latest in an outbreak of attacks against UC researchers who experiment on animals.

Authorities called the weekend firebombings "acts of domestic terrorism."

Santa Cruz police said a firebomb was lit on the porch of a molecular biologist's home in the west part of the city on Saturday at 5:45 a.m. 

It forced the man, his wife and two small children to flee out a second story window as the house filled with smoke. The family then managed to escape down a fire ladder from the window, according to police.

One adult family member was treated at a nearby hospital for injuries and released. Police said they consider the case to be an attempted murder.

"This is nothing less than a case of attempted homicide,'' Santa Cruz Chief of Police Howard Skerry said.

"That device had a real potential to put that family in jeopardy," added police Capt. Steve Clark. He described the bomb as a "Molotov cocktail on steroids."

A sprinkler system and a neighbor with a garden hose helped keep the fire from spreading before firefighters arrived to extinguish the blaze, Clark said. 

About the same time on Saturday, a firebomb destroyed a car belonging to a researcher that was parked outside a faculty housing area on campus.
 
Police Capt. Zack Friend said attacks like those occuring Saturday are often part of a chain of events intended to threaten researchers who use animals in their labs.

The attacks came four days after police obtained threatening animal rights pamphlets left at a Santa Cruz coffeehouse listing the home addresses of 13 UC Santa Cruz biomedical researchers.

The text of the pamphlets read, "Animal abusers everywhere beware. We know where you live, we know where you work."

David Feldheim, whose front door was charred, was among the researchers on the list, the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper reported. According to his Web site, Feldheim's lab uses mice to study the development of brain functions involved in eyesight. 

Authorities would not identify the researcher whose car was destroyed but said that person's name was not listed in the pamphlet.

A spokesman for the North American Animal Liberation press office, which commonly posts messages from groups taking credit for animal rights violence, issued a statement Sunday saying it had not received any claims of responsibility for the attacks.

"It's regrettable that certain scientists are willing to put their families at risk by choosing to do wasteful animal experiments," press office spokesman Dr. Jerry Vlasak said.

Police said they had no suspects in Saturday's incidents followed several attacks by "suspected animal rights extremists'' since March 31, including the firebombing of a police vehicle.

It was the first attack against UC Santa Cruz scientists since February, when animal rights activists showed up at the house of a breast cancer researcher during her young daughter's birthday party.

The masked protesters pounded on the front door, and one threw a punch at the researcher's husband as he tried to chase them away, according to police. The FBI was still investigating that case.

In recent years, three UCLA researchers who use non-human primates have been targeted with firebombs, though two failed to ignite. Animal rights groups claimed responsibility for all three attacks.

More recently, masked protesters targeting the University of California, Berkeley have scrawled graffiti and broken windows at scientists' homes.

FBI investigators said the incidents at different universities are probably not centrally coordinated. But authorities said the attacks do share similar tactics, including the public posting of researchers' personal information and the type of firebomb used.

"These are odious assaults on individuals and on the principles of free inquiry by which we live," UC Santa Cruz Chancellor George Blumenthal said. "These unconscionable acts put the researchers, their families -- including their children -- and their neighbors in grave danger.''

Police said they were offering stepped-up security to the UC Santa Cruz researchers whose names appeared in the pamphlets, but university officials declined to discuss the added security measures.

"We've discussed the week's events with scientists on campus, but any security steps we take to help safeguard our people or protect our facilities are not something we'll be discussing publicly," university spokesman Jim Burns said Sunday.

In addition to Santa Cruz police and FBI domestic terrorism investigators, also investigating the firebombings were the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, UC Santa Cruz police and the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

Authorities urged anyone with information regarding the incidents to call Santa Cruz police investigators at (831) 420-5820 or the anonymous tip line at (831) 420-5995.

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