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In Defense of Animals News
IDA would like to thank everyone who has generously donated money to the tsunami disaster relief fund for animals. The massive tsunami that devastated Asia five weeks ago has so far claimed at least 175,000 human lives and untold numbers of animals.
The disaster's aftermath has also left millions homeless and destitute. Rescue organizations are desperately trying to help those in the most deeply impacted areas who have no food or shelter, including animals whose guardians were killed or displaced. The need is overwhelming and the work continues.
Please offer any financial support you can to allow volunteers and workers to carry on their life-saving efforts to cope with the sheer number of hungry, sick and abandoned animals. As you know, we are supporting a coalition of animal rescue groups tirelessly aiding dogs, cats, horses, donkeys and other former companion animals across Asia.
To help save animals threatened by the tsunami's aftermath, please mail checks to: Animal People, P.O. Box 960, Clinton, WA 98236. You can also donate using your credit card via PayPal on the Animal People website at http://www.animalpeoplenews.org or by phone at (360) 579-2505.
We greatly appreciate your kindness and everything that you do for animals.
The disaster's aftermath has also left millions homeless and destitute. Rescue organizations are desperately trying to help those in the most deeply impacted areas who have no food or shelter, including animals whose guardians were killed or displaced. The need is overwhelming and the work continues.
Please offer any financial support you can to allow volunteers and workers to carry on their life-saving efforts to cope with the sheer number of hungry, sick and abandoned animals. As you know, we are supporting a coalition of animal rescue groups tirelessly aiding dogs, cats, horses, donkeys and other former companion animals across Asia.
To help save animals threatened by the tsunami's aftermath, please mail checks to: Animal People, P.O. Box 960, Clinton, WA 98236. You can also donate using your credit card via PayPal on the Animal People website at http://www.animalpeoplenews.org or by phone at (360) 579-2505.
We greatly appreciate your kindness and everything that you do for animals.
Table of Contents
1. How Can Your Unique Skills Help Animals?
2. March Guardian of the Month - Urban Tulsa Magazine
IDA Action Alerts & Events
1. World Week for Animals In Laboratories
2. URGENT - Protest Arctic Oil Drilling
3. The 2005 Great American Meatout is Coming!
4. Stop Factory Farms from Labeling Dairy Products "Organic"
5. Oppose the Use of Chimpanzees in Entertainment
Campaign News & Updates
1. IDA Staff Member Rita Anderson In the News
2. Victory: High School Drops Greased Pig Chase
3. Tiger Shooting Sparks Debate About Big Cats as Pets
4. Investigation Exposes Cruelty of "Animal Care Certified" Eggs
5. Effective Armchair Activism
1. How Can Your Unique Skills Help Animals?
Every person has at least one special talent - so what's yours?
IDA wants to know. Each day you apply your skills and talents in a variety of ways at home, at work and in your community. How can you naturally use those skills to help animals? Our national animal protection campaigns cover a wide range of issues and offer many opportunities to help animals. We need to attack animal abuse from all angles. To do so, we need people with expertise in legal issues, graphic design, video production, public education and outreach, lobbying, people skills: the list goes on and on. Please also let us know if a particular campaign is close to your heart: Guardian Campaign, fur, animal experimentation, foie gras, veganism, etc.
Are you a writer? Then join IDA's writers' group by clicking here (http://ga0.org/indefenseofanimals/join.html). Opinion pieces and letters to the Editor do make a difference for animals and encourage readers to think about animal issues differently. It provides new perspectives and sparks awareness.
If you are looking for something more challenging, send us some writing samples. We welcome volunteer writers.
Do you have legal experience? Are you comfortable working with local and state officials? Then you're a perfect candidate for helping us get the city ordinances changed to include guardian language in your community.
Are you a parent, teacher or school administrator? Then help bring our humane education programs to your community's schools, or promote healthy food options for students through the IDA-sponsored CHOICE program.
Are you a photographer? Videographer? We are always looking for high quality images and footage to use in campaign materials that expose industry abuse of animals from fur farms to slaughterhouses.
There is a comfortable and natural fit for everyone. Using your talents and energy to help animals can be one of the most meaningful ways to spend your free time. The billions of animals being exploited every day can't advocate for themselves, and they need all the help they can get.
To learn about IDA's many campaigns, visit http://www.idausa.org/campaigns.html . Then think about what you are good at, and let us know what kind of activities appeal to you
most: we'll do our best to help you find your niche on the IDA team. Email Kristie [at] idausa.org for more information.
2. March Guardian of the Month - Urban Tulsa Magazine
This winter, Tulsa residents opened up their free copies of Urban Tulsa Weekly - an alternative newspaper read by over 106,000 people in the Tulsa Metro and surrounding areas every week - to find an in-depth feature detailing how animals help make life better for humans. Another article asked the question, "Are we being good keepers of these little creatures?" The
answer: we could do a lot better by them.
But Urban Tulsa didn't stop at challenging readers to think about their relationship to animals. They also introduced their commitment to using the term "animal guardian" in their own newspaper, and urged readers to learn more about IDA's Guardian Campaign by visiting our web site or calling our main office.
Michelle Oakley, Urban Tulsa's Office Manager, explains why the paper decided to actively promote IDA's Guardian Campaign.
According to Michelle, "The issue is of great community concern and deserves the most complete coverage possible. Our readers expect us to lead by example and to keep them informed and involved in the affairs of the metro area so that they, in turn, can do their part to become more active in the community." This sentiment is especially fitting, given that community activism is the heart of IDA's Guardian Campaign.
Thank you, Urban Tulsa, for setting such an inspiring example of social responsibility, and congratulations on being named IDA's Guardian of the Month for March.
IDA honors an extraordinary guardian each month in our e-news.
You can learn about past Guardians of the Month on the IDA Website at http://www.guardiancampaign.com/guardianofmonth.htm .
IDA Action Alerts & Events
1. World Week for Animals In Laboratories
Each year, millions of animals are dissected, infected, injected, gassed, burned and blinded in hidden laboratories on college campuses and research facilities under the guise of improving human health. But public ignorance of the horrors that take place behind locked laboratory doors is anything but bliss for animals used in experiments. You may have an animal testing lab in your own neighborhood and not know it. Vivisection labs intentionally keep a low profile to hide their abuses, but IDA can help you find out more about the hidden experiments occurring in your community. As the saying goes, "Think Globally and Act Locally." Help us expose the cruel truth about animal experiments being conducted in your back yard by taking part in this year's World Week for Animals In Laboratories (WWAIL) events from April 23 through 30.
What You Can Do
Animal advocates are taking a stand against animal cruelty by planning WWAIL events around the globe. Contact event organizer Kristie Phelps at Kristie [at] idausa.org to find out what events are planned in your area or for assistance in organizing your own.
IDA will gladly provide you with free materials and help you plan events. Together, we can make "Not In My Backyard" a more compassionate reality.
2. URGENT - Protest Arctic Oil Drilling
Strong public opposition has so far defeated several attempts by the Bush Administration to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling. Having failed to get their way through a straightforward vote on the Senate floor, House and Senate members are now quietly planning to win drilling rights in the ANWR by circumnavigating the normal legislative process. They plan to attach the measure to upcoming budget legislation, making it almost impossible to stop because budget bills are exempt from filibusters and open debate.
A recent bipartisan national survey found that Americans oppose drilling in the ANWR by a margin of 53 to 35. Bill Meadows, president of the Wilderness Society, said, "Not only does this type of backdoor maneuver endanger the Arctic Refuge, its wilderness and wildlife, it also poses a genuine threat to the integrity of our democratic process."
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service describes the ANWR's 1.5 million-acre coastal plain - where drilling would take place - as the "biological heart" of the entire refuge. This area is home to some 250 animal species - including caribou, polar bears, grizzlies, musk oxen, wolves and millions of migratory birds - whose very survival will be threatened by oil drilling operations. What's more, since any oil pumped from the ANWR would take up to 10 years to reach the market, drilling in the ANWR would do nothing to ease America's current energy crisis.
What You Can Do:
There is still a chance to save the ANWR from oil drilling, but we must act now. Please contact your Senator and Representatives and urge them to fight any measure allowing oil companies to drill in the ANWR, even if it comes buried in a budget measure.
Click here (http://ga0.org/indefenseofanimals/home.html) to find contact information for your legislators. Phone calls and personal letters on this issue will have the most impact.
However, you can also send an automatic e-mail via the web site of the Wilderness Society by clicking here (http://ga1.org/campaign/Arctic).
3. The 2005 Great American Meatout is Coming!
On March 20, thousands of caring people across the U.S. and around the world will celebrate the Great American Meatout, an international educational campaign sponsored by the Farm Animal Reform Movement (FARM). Every year on the first day of spring, people from all walks of life educate their communities and ask their friends, families and neighbors to "kick the meat habit"
(at least for a day). This year marks Meatout's 20th anniversary, making it the largest and longest-running annual grassroots diet education campaign in history.
Please join in by attending (or better yet, organizing) a Meatout event in your area. Examples of Meatout events include festivals, lectures, public dinners, cooking demonstrations, feed-ins, leafleting, street theater, information tables (i.e., "steakouts"), farm animal walks, and a Congressional Reception in Washington, DC.
Visit http://www.meatout.org to find out what events are being held in your community and for information about planning and registering your own Meatout event.
4. Stop Factory Farms from Labeling Dairy Products "Organic"
The battle to safeguard organic standards is coming to a head this week as the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) meets in Washington, DC to discuss whether "factory dairy feedlots"
should be able to market their products as "organic." Few people know that intensive confinement operations in Idaho, Colorado and California already sell dairy products that they unscrupulously label as "organic," ignoring U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic food standards requiring cows to have regular access to natural pasture.
What You Can Do
It is important that the NOSB hear from as many people as possible on this issue, not only to maintain meaningful organic standards for consumers, but to preserve at least some basic animal welfare standards for organic dairy cows. To learn more and to sign a petition urging the NOSB not to allow dairy products from factory farmed cows to be labeled organic, click
here:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/nosb.htm .
5. Oppose Cruel Use of Chimpanzees in Entertainment
One of the most popular television commercials in recent times aired during this year's Super Bowl and continued during the Academy Awards. The series of ads for CareerBuilder.com features chimpanzee performers dressed in suits and working in an office to symbolize the absurdity of the modern workplace. The campaign's huge success has convinced other companies to produce their own ads featuring chimps, orangutans and other primates.
If advertisers and the general public knew the truth about the sad reality endured by great apes behind the scenes of the entertainment industry, most wouldn't be amused.
Chimpanzees used in the entertainment industry are separated from their mothers as infants, a loss for which they grieve deeply. Only young chimpanzees are used on TV because one adult chimpanzee has the strength of five or six human beings, making them difficult to control and dangerous. As performing chimpanzees age, they may be fitted for electric shock collars or even have their teeth pulled to protect human trainers and actors.
- While it may be possible to train chimpanzees using kindness and positive reinforcement, there is no time for patience in the fast-paced world of show business. Instead, animal handlers force chimpanzees to perform through painful beatings and other abusive methods.
- The appearance of "happy" primate performers seen on screen is purely illusion. Ironically, the wide, toothy chimpanzee "smile"
so often seen on TV is, in a natural context, an expression of terror.
- Chimpanzees are an endangered species: at current rates of poaching, human encroachment and habitat destruction, in 15 years there will be no chimpanzees left in the wild. Yet when the public sees chimpanzees routinely displayed on TV, people come to view them as plentiful and protected. This distorted perception seriously hampers the work of chimpanzee conservationists.
What You Can Do
Please write to Careerbuilder.com and let them know that you are concerned about the use of chimpanzees and other great apes in entertainment. Exploiting an endangered species to boost sales is irresponsible and, simply put, just isn't funny.
Click here (http://www.fuzeqna.com/careerbuilder/consumer/question.asp)
to provide online feedback to Careerbuilder.com. Be sure to ask for a reply.
You can also contact the following individuals by mail, phone or
fax:
Richard Castellini
Vice President for Consumer Marketing
CareerBuilder Inc.
8420 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Ste. 1000
Chicago, IL 60631
Tel.: (866) 438-1485
Fax: (773) 399-6313
Jennifer Sullivan
CareerBuilder.com Media Department
Tel.: (773) 527-1164
jennifer.sullivan [at] careerbuilder.com
Campaign News & Updates
1. IDA Staff Member Rita Anderson In the News
IDA staff member Rita Anderson's effort to close a research facility that is studying Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) next door to the city's wastewater treatment facility has been in the news lately. The Coloradoan - a Fort Collins, Colorado newspaper
- ran an article on the subject last week, and Channel 9 News in Denver covered the story on Thursday night.
CWD is a brain illness that fatally strikes deer and elk. It is related to mad cow disease, which in humans can cause variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). Because it is not yet known whether humans are susceptible to specific animal prion diseases, the Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) claims that drinking water recycled from the research facility does not pose a health risk to humans. However, due in part to Rita's efforts, they are considering removing the water from the drinking supply as a precautionary measure to reassure to the public. Fort Collins Utilities General Manager Mike Smith said Friday that the city may even ask the DOW to move their operation further away from the water treatment plant.
Keep up the great work, Rita!
2. High School Drops Greased Pig Chase
When Jessica Myers heard that one of the events planned for Gladstone High School's upcoming Spirit Week was a contest to see who could catch a greased pig the fastest, the 15-year-old Oregon sophomore raised her voice in the poor animal's defense.
She immediately tried to talk to school officials about canceling the event, but they were unavailable and it was a Friday, so she contacted IDA for help. By Monday, school district officials and Gladstone High School Principal Stu Evans had received so many phone calls and e-mails from IDA members from around the country that they decided to call off the pig chase. Thank you to everyone who responded to IDA's e-alert - your actions made a difference.
While there was no conscious intent on the school's part to harm animals during Spirit Week, pigs can and do suffer torn ligaments and broken bones from being repeatedly chased and dropped in the course of such contests. Jessica - along with IDA and our caring members nationwide - is glad that the school has set a compassionate example by considering the pig's point of view. Now she can enjoy Spirit Week even more than usual. Thank you, Jessica, for taking the animals' side!
3. Tiger Shooting Sparks Debate About Big Cats as Pets
Following the shooting death of a tiger in Moorpark, Calif., the Los Angeles Daily News printed an article about the national controversy over keeping big cats as pets. Trackers sought the 350-pound male tiger - who apparently escaped from a private home - for a week before finding him in a children's park in a suburban neighborhood. Officers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) shot and killed the tiger instead of using a tranquilizer dart because he could have remained conscious for 10 to 30 minutes after being sedated, and they feared he might attack someone in that time. Yet compassionate local residents were devastated by the tiger's death. Over 400 people attended a vigil for the fallen animal, and mourned together by singing "The Tiger Sleeps Tonight."
What You Can Do:
Please write a letter to the Los Angeles Daily News in support of a ban on keeping big cats and other "exotic" animals as pets.
Also thank them for their extensive coverage of the tiger's story. Send e-mails to http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200%257E21664%257E,00.html.
Please limit your letters to 100 words or send your message within 48 hours. Be sure to include the title and date of the
piece: "Death of a Tiger: Big Cat's Shooting Spurs Debate" by Eric Leach, printed February 27, 2005. Sorry, there is no hyperlink to the article.
4. Investigation Exposes Cruelty of "Animal Care Certified" Eggs
When you see a carton of eggs in the supermarket adorned with a logo that says "Animal Care Certified" (ACC), you might automatically assume that the chickens who laid these eggs were treated humanely and had a decent quality of life. This is exactly what the egg industry's primary trade association, United Egg Producers (UEP), would like consumers to think, but a new investigation by Mercy For Animals (MFA) documents that the "care" of these chickens is anything but humane.
In November 2004, MFA investigators paid an after-hours visit to Ohio Fresh Eggs, one of the largest egg-producing factory farms in the Midwest. Once inside, they videotaped hens crammed together in battery cages that were so small they couldn't even stretch their wings, much less engage in other natural chicken behaviors like nesting, perching, dust-bathing or foraging for food. They also witnessed birds with bloody open wounds, as well as untreated growths and infections, and hens caught in cage wire unable to reach the water trough. ACC farms also routinely burn off part of baby chicks' beaks with a hot blade and starve birds for up to two weeks in order to force them into another laying cycle. Click here (http://www.animalcrueltycertified.com) to see photos and videos of the investigation.
5. Effective Armchair Activism
Maybe you're the kind of person who prefers a quiet evening at home to an intense night of protesting, or maybe you live in a remote rural area and can't easily get to demonstrations.
Regardless of disposition or where you live, if you have a computer with Internet access, you can be an effective armchair activist on behalf of the animals.
A recent issue of the Independent, a British newspaper from the United Kingdom, included an in-depth article entitled "Become An Armchair Activist: Online technology gives protesters real power to change the status quo - without taking to the streets." If you want to learn which online petitions are for real, which companies are most vulnerable to boycott, how to join a smart mob or what culture jamming is, then click here:
(http://www.news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=611402).
______________________________________
Meatout Monday
If you know someone who says they'd like to cut meat out of their diet but thinks it's too hard, then tell them about Meatout Mondays, a free weekly e-newsletter designed to help those who don't want to quit "cold turkey" kick the meat habit one day at a time - starting with Mondays! Easy and fun to read, Meatout Mondays encourages individuals to make changes at a pace that is comfortable for them, and is an excellent tool for introducing vegetarianism to anyone.
Every week, Meatout Mondays includes tasty vegan recipes, new product and book reviews, important health information, and inspirational stories of people who have changed their lives for the better by cutting animal products from their diets. This week's Meatout Mondays reminds people to start planning their Meatout events for March 20, and includes a brief review of a new book called "The Fast Food Craze: Wreaking Havoc on Our Bodies and Our Animals." Click here
(http://www.meatoutmondays.org/05-02-28.htm) to read the latest issue.
Please visit http://www.meatoutmondays.org to review past issues and to subscribe your friends and family members. Meatout Mondays is a free e-newsletter, and individuals can easily unsubscribe at any time.
______________________________________
Join IDA's President's Circle
Become part of a special group of people who help animals each month.
Twenty-one years ago Dr. Elliot Katz and a motivated group of animal advocates came together to stop cruel animal experiments at the UC-Berkeley research laboratories. From this initial call to action through the formation of IDA as a non-profit organization and over these many years, IDA has expanded the circle of caring and compassionate individuals. Our growing numbers have helped us achieve many amazing victories for animals.
We could not do our vitally important work on behalf of our animal friends if it weren't for the time and financial support that you and our other supporters so generously provide to us.
We are very grateful for all that we have accomplished together.
We are dedicated to continuing our mission to defend the rights, welfare and habitats of animals and we know that we will have many more victories in the coming years thanks to your support!
Pursuing the promise of continued success, we invite you to join Dr. Katz in a special group of supporters by becoming part of IDA's President's Circle.
President's Circle members are IDA donors who support our critical efforts to help animals by making a regular monthly contribution. Your monthly gift, along with those of the other President's Circle members, will afford us the resources necessary to act in defense of animals quickly. In addition, your monthly gift will provide a pool of stable funding that Dr.
Katz and our staff can count on whenever an emergency need to help animals arises. It will also help us maintain the critical on-going campaigns we carry out in support of our mission.
The President's Circle makes giving easy. Giving automatically through your credit card each month lets you save time while conserving IDA's resources.
To find out more and to join the President's Circle, please visit our web site at: http://www.idausa.org/supportf.html and scroll down to the President's Circle section. From there you can click the link to our secure on-line enrollment form.
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Team IDA encourages teammates to take part in local athletic events to raise awareness of animal issues and much-needed funds to rescue and protect animals from cruelty and abuse. You don't have to be an avid runner or a serious athlete to sign up. Just by cheering and wearing your Team IDA apparel you can show your pro-animal attitude.
Wear your Team IDA t-shirt whenever you are running, biking, walking, or just hanging around your neighborhood to help promote a cruelty-free world. If you have a Team IDA t-shirt and have received comments about it, we want to hear from you! If you do not already have a Team IDA t-shirt, please call (415)
388-9641 to receive one. Also, if you have participated in any events in your area on behalf of Team IDA, or would like your picture and bio posted on our website, please let us know!
You can also make Team IDA even more successful by spreading the
word: a great way to do this is by distributing Team IDA brochures at races and placing them in athletic stores and clubs. Team IDA brochures are always available free of charge by
(415) 388-9641.
We are always interested in learning more about your experiences and hearing your ideas regarding Team IDA. Please send an email to teamida [at] idausa.org and tell us your story. Visit http://www.teamida.org for more information. Join Team IDA today!
http://ga0.org/join-forward.html?domain=indefenseofanimals
You can sign up for In Defense of Animals Action Center at:
http://ga0.org/indefenseofanimals/join.html
--------------------------------------------------
1. How Can Your Unique Skills Help Animals?
2. March Guardian of the Month - Urban Tulsa Magazine
IDA Action Alerts & Events
1. World Week for Animals In Laboratories
2. URGENT - Protest Arctic Oil Drilling
3. The 2005 Great American Meatout is Coming!
4. Stop Factory Farms from Labeling Dairy Products "Organic"
5. Oppose the Use of Chimpanzees in Entertainment
Campaign News & Updates
1. IDA Staff Member Rita Anderson In the News
2. Victory: High School Drops Greased Pig Chase
3. Tiger Shooting Sparks Debate About Big Cats as Pets
4. Investigation Exposes Cruelty of "Animal Care Certified" Eggs
5. Effective Armchair Activism
1. How Can Your Unique Skills Help Animals?
Every person has at least one special talent - so what's yours?
IDA wants to know. Each day you apply your skills and talents in a variety of ways at home, at work and in your community. How can you naturally use those skills to help animals? Our national animal protection campaigns cover a wide range of issues and offer many opportunities to help animals. We need to attack animal abuse from all angles. To do so, we need people with expertise in legal issues, graphic design, video production, public education and outreach, lobbying, people skills: the list goes on and on. Please also let us know if a particular campaign is close to your heart: Guardian Campaign, fur, animal experimentation, foie gras, veganism, etc.
Are you a writer? Then join IDA's writers' group by clicking here (http://ga0.org/indefenseofanimals/join.html). Opinion pieces and letters to the Editor do make a difference for animals and encourage readers to think about animal issues differently. It provides new perspectives and sparks awareness.
If you are looking for something more challenging, send us some writing samples. We welcome volunteer writers.
Do you have legal experience? Are you comfortable working with local and state officials? Then you're a perfect candidate for helping us get the city ordinances changed to include guardian language in your community.
Are you a parent, teacher or school administrator? Then help bring our humane education programs to your community's schools, or promote healthy food options for students through the IDA-sponsored CHOICE program.
Are you a photographer? Videographer? We are always looking for high quality images and footage to use in campaign materials that expose industry abuse of animals from fur farms to slaughterhouses.
There is a comfortable and natural fit for everyone. Using your talents and energy to help animals can be one of the most meaningful ways to spend your free time. The billions of animals being exploited every day can't advocate for themselves, and they need all the help they can get.
To learn about IDA's many campaigns, visit http://www.idausa.org/campaigns.html . Then think about what you are good at, and let us know what kind of activities appeal to you
most: we'll do our best to help you find your niche on the IDA team. Email Kristie [at] idausa.org for more information.
2. March Guardian of the Month - Urban Tulsa Magazine
This winter, Tulsa residents opened up their free copies of Urban Tulsa Weekly - an alternative newspaper read by over 106,000 people in the Tulsa Metro and surrounding areas every week - to find an in-depth feature detailing how animals help make life better for humans. Another article asked the question, "Are we being good keepers of these little creatures?" The
answer: we could do a lot better by them.
But Urban Tulsa didn't stop at challenging readers to think about their relationship to animals. They also introduced their commitment to using the term "animal guardian" in their own newspaper, and urged readers to learn more about IDA's Guardian Campaign by visiting our web site or calling our main office.
Michelle Oakley, Urban Tulsa's Office Manager, explains why the paper decided to actively promote IDA's Guardian Campaign.
According to Michelle, "The issue is of great community concern and deserves the most complete coverage possible. Our readers expect us to lead by example and to keep them informed and involved in the affairs of the metro area so that they, in turn, can do their part to become more active in the community." This sentiment is especially fitting, given that community activism is the heart of IDA's Guardian Campaign.
Thank you, Urban Tulsa, for setting such an inspiring example of social responsibility, and congratulations on being named IDA's Guardian of the Month for March.
IDA honors an extraordinary guardian each month in our e-news.
You can learn about past Guardians of the Month on the IDA Website at http://www.guardiancampaign.com/guardianofmonth.htm .
IDA Action Alerts & Events
1. World Week for Animals In Laboratories
Each year, millions of animals are dissected, infected, injected, gassed, burned and blinded in hidden laboratories on college campuses and research facilities under the guise of improving human health. But public ignorance of the horrors that take place behind locked laboratory doors is anything but bliss for animals used in experiments. You may have an animal testing lab in your own neighborhood and not know it. Vivisection labs intentionally keep a low profile to hide their abuses, but IDA can help you find out more about the hidden experiments occurring in your community. As the saying goes, "Think Globally and Act Locally." Help us expose the cruel truth about animal experiments being conducted in your back yard by taking part in this year's World Week for Animals In Laboratories (WWAIL) events from April 23 through 30.
What You Can Do
Animal advocates are taking a stand against animal cruelty by planning WWAIL events around the globe. Contact event organizer Kristie Phelps at Kristie [at] idausa.org to find out what events are planned in your area or for assistance in organizing your own.
IDA will gladly provide you with free materials and help you plan events. Together, we can make "Not In My Backyard" a more compassionate reality.
2. URGENT - Protest Arctic Oil Drilling
Strong public opposition has so far defeated several attempts by the Bush Administration to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling. Having failed to get their way through a straightforward vote on the Senate floor, House and Senate members are now quietly planning to win drilling rights in the ANWR by circumnavigating the normal legislative process. They plan to attach the measure to upcoming budget legislation, making it almost impossible to stop because budget bills are exempt from filibusters and open debate.
A recent bipartisan national survey found that Americans oppose drilling in the ANWR by a margin of 53 to 35. Bill Meadows, president of the Wilderness Society, said, "Not only does this type of backdoor maneuver endanger the Arctic Refuge, its wilderness and wildlife, it also poses a genuine threat to the integrity of our democratic process."
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service describes the ANWR's 1.5 million-acre coastal plain - where drilling would take place - as the "biological heart" of the entire refuge. This area is home to some 250 animal species - including caribou, polar bears, grizzlies, musk oxen, wolves and millions of migratory birds - whose very survival will be threatened by oil drilling operations. What's more, since any oil pumped from the ANWR would take up to 10 years to reach the market, drilling in the ANWR would do nothing to ease America's current energy crisis.
What You Can Do:
There is still a chance to save the ANWR from oil drilling, but we must act now. Please contact your Senator and Representatives and urge them to fight any measure allowing oil companies to drill in the ANWR, even if it comes buried in a budget measure.
Click here (http://ga0.org/indefenseofanimals/home.html) to find contact information for your legislators. Phone calls and personal letters on this issue will have the most impact.
However, you can also send an automatic e-mail via the web site of the Wilderness Society by clicking here (http://ga1.org/campaign/Arctic).
3. The 2005 Great American Meatout is Coming!
On March 20, thousands of caring people across the U.S. and around the world will celebrate the Great American Meatout, an international educational campaign sponsored by the Farm Animal Reform Movement (FARM). Every year on the first day of spring, people from all walks of life educate their communities and ask their friends, families and neighbors to "kick the meat habit"
(at least for a day). This year marks Meatout's 20th anniversary, making it the largest and longest-running annual grassroots diet education campaign in history.
Please join in by attending (or better yet, organizing) a Meatout event in your area. Examples of Meatout events include festivals, lectures, public dinners, cooking demonstrations, feed-ins, leafleting, street theater, information tables (i.e., "steakouts"), farm animal walks, and a Congressional Reception in Washington, DC.
Visit http://www.meatout.org to find out what events are being held in your community and for information about planning and registering your own Meatout event.
4. Stop Factory Farms from Labeling Dairy Products "Organic"
The battle to safeguard organic standards is coming to a head this week as the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) meets in Washington, DC to discuss whether "factory dairy feedlots"
should be able to market their products as "organic." Few people know that intensive confinement operations in Idaho, Colorado and California already sell dairy products that they unscrupulously label as "organic," ignoring U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic food standards requiring cows to have regular access to natural pasture.
What You Can Do
It is important that the NOSB hear from as many people as possible on this issue, not only to maintain meaningful organic standards for consumers, but to preserve at least some basic animal welfare standards for organic dairy cows. To learn more and to sign a petition urging the NOSB not to allow dairy products from factory farmed cows to be labeled organic, click
here:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/nosb.htm .
5. Oppose Cruel Use of Chimpanzees in Entertainment
One of the most popular television commercials in recent times aired during this year's Super Bowl and continued during the Academy Awards. The series of ads for CareerBuilder.com features chimpanzee performers dressed in suits and working in an office to symbolize the absurdity of the modern workplace. The campaign's huge success has convinced other companies to produce their own ads featuring chimps, orangutans and other primates.
If advertisers and the general public knew the truth about the sad reality endured by great apes behind the scenes of the entertainment industry, most wouldn't be amused.
Chimpanzees used in the entertainment industry are separated from their mothers as infants, a loss for which they grieve deeply. Only young chimpanzees are used on TV because one adult chimpanzee has the strength of five or six human beings, making them difficult to control and dangerous. As performing chimpanzees age, they may be fitted for electric shock collars or even have their teeth pulled to protect human trainers and actors.
- While it may be possible to train chimpanzees using kindness and positive reinforcement, there is no time for patience in the fast-paced world of show business. Instead, animal handlers force chimpanzees to perform through painful beatings and other abusive methods.
- The appearance of "happy" primate performers seen on screen is purely illusion. Ironically, the wide, toothy chimpanzee "smile"
so often seen on TV is, in a natural context, an expression of terror.
- Chimpanzees are an endangered species: at current rates of poaching, human encroachment and habitat destruction, in 15 years there will be no chimpanzees left in the wild. Yet when the public sees chimpanzees routinely displayed on TV, people come to view them as plentiful and protected. This distorted perception seriously hampers the work of chimpanzee conservationists.
What You Can Do
Please write to Careerbuilder.com and let them know that you are concerned about the use of chimpanzees and other great apes in entertainment. Exploiting an endangered species to boost sales is irresponsible and, simply put, just isn't funny.
Click here (http://www.fuzeqna.com/careerbuilder/consumer/question.asp)
to provide online feedback to Careerbuilder.com. Be sure to ask for a reply.
You can also contact the following individuals by mail, phone or
fax:
Richard Castellini
Vice President for Consumer Marketing
CareerBuilder Inc.
8420 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Ste. 1000
Chicago, IL 60631
Tel.: (866) 438-1485
Fax: (773) 399-6313
Jennifer Sullivan
CareerBuilder.com Media Department
Tel.: (773) 527-1164
jennifer.sullivan [at] careerbuilder.com
Campaign News & Updates
1. IDA Staff Member Rita Anderson In the News
IDA staff member Rita Anderson's effort to close a research facility that is studying Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) next door to the city's wastewater treatment facility has been in the news lately. The Coloradoan - a Fort Collins, Colorado newspaper
- ran an article on the subject last week, and Channel 9 News in Denver covered the story on Thursday night.
CWD is a brain illness that fatally strikes deer and elk. It is related to mad cow disease, which in humans can cause variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). Because it is not yet known whether humans are susceptible to specific animal prion diseases, the Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) claims that drinking water recycled from the research facility does not pose a health risk to humans. However, due in part to Rita's efforts, they are considering removing the water from the drinking supply as a precautionary measure to reassure to the public. Fort Collins Utilities General Manager Mike Smith said Friday that the city may even ask the DOW to move their operation further away from the water treatment plant.
Keep up the great work, Rita!
2. High School Drops Greased Pig Chase
When Jessica Myers heard that one of the events planned for Gladstone High School's upcoming Spirit Week was a contest to see who could catch a greased pig the fastest, the 15-year-old Oregon sophomore raised her voice in the poor animal's defense.
She immediately tried to talk to school officials about canceling the event, but they were unavailable and it was a Friday, so she contacted IDA for help. By Monday, school district officials and Gladstone High School Principal Stu Evans had received so many phone calls and e-mails from IDA members from around the country that they decided to call off the pig chase. Thank you to everyone who responded to IDA's e-alert - your actions made a difference.
While there was no conscious intent on the school's part to harm animals during Spirit Week, pigs can and do suffer torn ligaments and broken bones from being repeatedly chased and dropped in the course of such contests. Jessica - along with IDA and our caring members nationwide - is glad that the school has set a compassionate example by considering the pig's point of view. Now she can enjoy Spirit Week even more than usual. Thank you, Jessica, for taking the animals' side!
3. Tiger Shooting Sparks Debate About Big Cats as Pets
Following the shooting death of a tiger in Moorpark, Calif., the Los Angeles Daily News printed an article about the national controversy over keeping big cats as pets. Trackers sought the 350-pound male tiger - who apparently escaped from a private home - for a week before finding him in a children's park in a suburban neighborhood. Officers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) shot and killed the tiger instead of using a tranquilizer dart because he could have remained conscious for 10 to 30 minutes after being sedated, and they feared he might attack someone in that time. Yet compassionate local residents were devastated by the tiger's death. Over 400 people attended a vigil for the fallen animal, and mourned together by singing "The Tiger Sleeps Tonight."
What You Can Do:
Please write a letter to the Los Angeles Daily News in support of a ban on keeping big cats and other "exotic" animals as pets.
Also thank them for their extensive coverage of the tiger's story. Send e-mails to http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200%257E21664%257E,00.html.
Please limit your letters to 100 words or send your message within 48 hours. Be sure to include the title and date of the
piece: "Death of a Tiger: Big Cat's Shooting Spurs Debate" by Eric Leach, printed February 27, 2005. Sorry, there is no hyperlink to the article.
4. Investigation Exposes Cruelty of "Animal Care Certified" Eggs
When you see a carton of eggs in the supermarket adorned with a logo that says "Animal Care Certified" (ACC), you might automatically assume that the chickens who laid these eggs were treated humanely and had a decent quality of life. This is exactly what the egg industry's primary trade association, United Egg Producers (UEP), would like consumers to think, but a new investigation by Mercy For Animals (MFA) documents that the "care" of these chickens is anything but humane.
In November 2004, MFA investigators paid an after-hours visit to Ohio Fresh Eggs, one of the largest egg-producing factory farms in the Midwest. Once inside, they videotaped hens crammed together in battery cages that were so small they couldn't even stretch their wings, much less engage in other natural chicken behaviors like nesting, perching, dust-bathing or foraging for food. They also witnessed birds with bloody open wounds, as well as untreated growths and infections, and hens caught in cage wire unable to reach the water trough. ACC farms also routinely burn off part of baby chicks' beaks with a hot blade and starve birds for up to two weeks in order to force them into another laying cycle. Click here (http://www.animalcrueltycertified.com) to see photos and videos of the investigation.
5. Effective Armchair Activism
Maybe you're the kind of person who prefers a quiet evening at home to an intense night of protesting, or maybe you live in a remote rural area and can't easily get to demonstrations.
Regardless of disposition or where you live, if you have a computer with Internet access, you can be an effective armchair activist on behalf of the animals.
A recent issue of the Independent, a British newspaper from the United Kingdom, included an in-depth article entitled "Become An Armchair Activist: Online technology gives protesters real power to change the status quo - without taking to the streets." If you want to learn which online petitions are for real, which companies are most vulnerable to boycott, how to join a smart mob or what culture jamming is, then click here:
(http://www.news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=611402).
______________________________________
Meatout Monday
If you know someone who says they'd like to cut meat out of their diet but thinks it's too hard, then tell them about Meatout Mondays, a free weekly e-newsletter designed to help those who don't want to quit "cold turkey" kick the meat habit one day at a time - starting with Mondays! Easy and fun to read, Meatout Mondays encourages individuals to make changes at a pace that is comfortable for them, and is an excellent tool for introducing vegetarianism to anyone.
Every week, Meatout Mondays includes tasty vegan recipes, new product and book reviews, important health information, and inspirational stories of people who have changed their lives for the better by cutting animal products from their diets. This week's Meatout Mondays reminds people to start planning their Meatout events for March 20, and includes a brief review of a new book called "The Fast Food Craze: Wreaking Havoc on Our Bodies and Our Animals." Click here
(http://www.meatoutmondays.org/05-02-28.htm) to read the latest issue.
Please visit http://www.meatoutmondays.org to review past issues and to subscribe your friends and family members. Meatout Mondays is a free e-newsletter, and individuals can easily unsubscribe at any time.
______________________________________
Join IDA's President's Circle
Become part of a special group of people who help animals each month.
Twenty-one years ago Dr. Elliot Katz and a motivated group of animal advocates came together to stop cruel animal experiments at the UC-Berkeley research laboratories. From this initial call to action through the formation of IDA as a non-profit organization and over these many years, IDA has expanded the circle of caring and compassionate individuals. Our growing numbers have helped us achieve many amazing victories for animals.
We could not do our vitally important work on behalf of our animal friends if it weren't for the time and financial support that you and our other supporters so generously provide to us.
We are very grateful for all that we have accomplished together.
We are dedicated to continuing our mission to defend the rights, welfare and habitats of animals and we know that we will have many more victories in the coming years thanks to your support!
Pursuing the promise of continued success, we invite you to join Dr. Katz in a special group of supporters by becoming part of IDA's President's Circle.
President's Circle members are IDA donors who support our critical efforts to help animals by making a regular monthly contribution. Your monthly gift, along with those of the other President's Circle members, will afford us the resources necessary to act in defense of animals quickly. In addition, your monthly gift will provide a pool of stable funding that Dr.
Katz and our staff can count on whenever an emergency need to help animals arises. It will also help us maintain the critical on-going campaigns we carry out in support of our mission.
The President's Circle makes giving easy. Giving automatically through your credit card each month lets you save time while conserving IDA's resources.
To find out more and to join the President's Circle, please visit our web site at: http://www.idausa.org/supportf.html and scroll down to the President's Circle section. From there you can click the link to our secure on-line enrollment form.
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Team IDA encourages teammates to take part in local athletic events to raise awareness of animal issues and much-needed funds to rescue and protect animals from cruelty and abuse. You don't have to be an avid runner or a serious athlete to sign up. Just by cheering and wearing your Team IDA apparel you can show your pro-animal attitude.
Wear your Team IDA t-shirt whenever you are running, biking, walking, or just hanging around your neighborhood to help promote a cruelty-free world. If you have a Team IDA t-shirt and have received comments about it, we want to hear from you! If you do not already have a Team IDA t-shirt, please call (415)
388-9641 to receive one. Also, if you have participated in any events in your area on behalf of Team IDA, or would like your picture and bio posted on our website, please let us know!
You can also make Team IDA even more successful by spreading the
word: a great way to do this is by distributing Team IDA brochures at races and placing them in athletic stores and clubs. Team IDA brochures are always available free of charge by
(415) 388-9641.
We are always interested in learning more about your experiences and hearing your ideas regarding Team IDA. Please send an email to teamida [at] idausa.org and tell us your story. Visit http://www.teamida.org for more information. Join Team IDA today!
http://ga0.org/join-forward.html?domain=indefenseofanimals
You can sign up for In Defense of Animals Action Center at:
http://ga0.org/indefenseofanimals/join.html
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For more information:
http://www.idausa.org
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