In response to several recent attacks on University of California, Los Angeles researchers, the school is suing three animal rights groups and several people associated with the groups.

"Enough is enough," UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a university press release. "We're not willing to wait until somebody is injured before taking legal action to protect our faculty and administrators from terrorist tactics, violence and harassment."

A preliminary hearing is set for today (Feb 21) in Santa Monica's Los Angeles County Superior Court. The University of California Board of Regents will seek a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction to prohibit the groups - the UCLA Primate Freedom Project, the Animal Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Brigade - along with five individuals associated with these groups, from harassing UCLA scientists and from disseminating the researchers' personal information.

The UCLA Primate Freedom Project's website posts photographs, home addresses and phone numbers of UCLA researchers who conduct experiments using animals, and the Animal Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Brigade have claimed responsibility for previous attacks on such researchers.

Hat tip to Abel Pharmboy over at the Terra Sigillata blog.