I'm fairly certain that it is ALF that does all the break-ins at farms/labs/etc and releases the animals. Not my idea of being nice to animals. Most of those animals are going to die terrible deaths being abandoned in the "wild" (or suburbs, or city). I may not agree with something like mink farming, but I also don't think releasing them to starve to death makes their lives any nicer.
I have no respect for anyone who does crap like that.
And yes, ALF is animal rights, not animal welfare. Someone who cared about animal welfare wouldn't do the things they do. They are actually MORE extremist than PETA; in the documentary, IK basically says that she likes ALF doing all her dirty work. ALF is a terrorist group according to the FBI.