On June 20th (that’s a week from this Saturday, folks), In Defense of Animals will be holding the first-ever International Day of Action for Elephants in Zoos (IDAEZ for short).

IDA describes IDAEZ as

a global event aimed at bringing mammoth attention to the plight of elephants in zoos and ending their suffering. On Saturday, June 20th, pro-elephant advocates will turn out en masse at their local zoos, holding outreach events and demonstrations to educate the public about the tragic effects of keeping elephants in small, impoverished zoo pens where they are suffering and dying prematurely.

Elephants are highly intelligent, complex and self-aware individuals who have evolved for long distance living. In the wild they range tens of miles a day, live in large, tight-knit family groups, and communicate with one another at great distances. Yet zoos keep elephants in tiny exhibits of a few acres or less, where lack of movement and standing on hard surfaces cause painful foot infections and arthritis, the leading causes of euthanasia in captive-held elephants. The stress and boredom of intensive captivity results in abnormal behaviors such as repetitive swaying and head bobbing. [...]

The elephants need your help! By participating in this event, you become part of a global community of pro-elephant advocates joined together on June 20th to end the suffering of elephants in zoos. We urge you to organize or join an event at your local zoo, write letters, educate your friends and family. It’s all about taking action. United, we are a powerful force for change!

Backed by an army of public relations personnel, the zoo industry has been largely successful in convincing the general public that zoos work for the public good: breeding endangered animal species which might otherwise go extinct; fostering in children a love and appreciation for nature and its inhabitants; throwing their weight behind sundry conservation efforts so that, one day, animals need not live in captivity for their species to survive. This is a lie.

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Saturday marked the beginning of World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL), which is being held from April 18th through the 26th this year.

In addition to emailing the White House Office of Public Liason (OPL) (see below), you can find additional ways to take action at www.wwail.org. You can view a list of 2009 events here, or register your own. IDA helpfully provides a bevy of literature, posters and stickers for your events - no matter how big or small - which you can view and download here.

Striking at the Roots’ Mark Hawthorne also offers his suggestions for 5 Things You Can Do to Help Animals in Labs.

Are you participating in WWAIL? Share your action and outreach ideas in the comments!

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: In Defense of Animals
Date: Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 11:31 AM
Subject: Take Action Today For World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL)

World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL) Is Here!

April 18 - 26 - Scroll down for an important message you should send to President Obama

In February 2009, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) received an additional $10.4 billion in funding. This money is in addition to NIH’s 2009 budget of $30.3 billion.

Although technology has progressed and there is broad acknowledgment of the flaws of animal models, NIH funding for animal research has remained unchanged and the numbers of animals used has increased.

Please join IDA in contacting the White House Office of Public Liaison during World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL) to ask that the $10.4 billion in stimulus money be designated exclusively for non-animal research. Click here to read IDA’s letter to President Obama.

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle - kinshipcircle [at] accessus.net
Date: Jan 9, 2009 10:27 PM
Subject: Billy’s Last Chance [FRIENDS OF KC ALERT]

FRIENDS OF KINSHIP CIRCLE ALERT – PERMISSION TO CROSSPOST

COMING SOON: Friends Of Kinship Circle Blog

LOOK FOR THE DEBUT OF OUR NEW BLOG, FRIENDS OF KINSHIP CIRCLE…
Where your alerts will reach a huge web readership. We’ll keep you posted!

Kinship Circle does not write/research these alerts. We’re not responsible for their accuracy. Please do NOT hit reply! Contact the source directly.

FRIENDS OF KINSHIP CIRCLE ALERT
1/9/09: Last Chance To Close L.A. Elephant Display & Free Billy

SOURCES / REPLY TO:

FOR QUESTIONS, CONTACT: zoos [at] idausa.org or 323-301-5730
Bettina, brosie96 [at] yahoo.com
Los Angeles Alliance for Elephants, davidkca [at] earthlink.net

BILLY’S LAST CHANCE

City Council member Tony Cardenas has presented a motion to stop the L.A. Zoo’s $42 million elephant exhibit renovation. Despite its mammoth expense to taxpayers, it still will not provide the space elephants need, and elephants will continue to suffer and die painfully and prematurely at the Zoo. Fifteen elephants have died at L.A. Zoo. More than half never lived to age 20. Elephants have a natural lifespan of 60-70 years.

We urgently need your help to close the L.A. Zoo elephant exhibit and send its lone elephant, Billy, to a sanctuary. We are so close to freeing him from his lonely existence in a miserable, barren zoo pen — please don’t let him down! This is our last chance to make a difference. There are two very important meetings next week + other actions to take:

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The Saturday before x-mas is reportedly “the biggest puppy buying day of the year,” according to In Defense of Animals (IDA). In response, the group has designated today the 1st Annual Nationwide “Adopt, Don’t Shop!” Day:

The Saturday before Christmas is the biggest puppy buying day of the year. This year, In Defense of Animals is teaming up with activists in dozens of cities around the country to educate the public about the horrors of pet factories and encourage people to adopt a homeless animal from a shelter or rescue group instead of buying one from a pet store.

What: December 20th, 12-3 pm
Where: Your local pet shop

Almost all pet stores around the nation are supplied by inhumane commercial breeding facilities (aka pet factories) where the breeding animals are imprisoned for life and used as breeding machines. Meanwhile, it’s estimated that nearly 5 million healthy cats and dogs (many of them purebred) are euthanized in American shelters every year simply because there aren’t enough homes for them. Make a commitment today to take action for the victims of pet factories and companion animal overpopulation today!

Join In Defense of Animals and friends at your local pet store to help end the abuses of pet factories.

You can find a list of events here.

Over at Vegan Soapbox, Elaine has a list of suggestions for online activism, including posting profiles of animals available for adoption on Petfinder and such. Which is a great idea; but first, let’s tackle a few myths about adopting vs. buying animals.

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: In Defense of Animals - takeaction [at] idausa.org
Date: Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 4:25 PM
Subject: Fourth of July Animal Safety Tips

Keep Your Animals Safe On July 4th!

Photo via Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton

The Fourth of July can be one of the most dangerous and frightening holidays for animals. Loud explosions are terrifying to animals who don’t understand them.

With proper planning and some common sense, your companion animals can remain safe and secure on Independence Day. Here are some tips:

* First and foremost, leave your companion animals at home when you go to see fireworks! Resist the urge to take them to fireworks displays.

* Before you leave home for the fireworks, make sure your animals are indoors in a sheltered, quiet area. Some animals become destructive when frightened, so be sure that you’ve removed any items that your companion animal could destroy or that would be harmful if chewed or swallowed. Leave a television or radio playing at normal volume to keep him/her company.

* Make sure your animals are wearing identification tags (and it’s even better if they’re also microchipped!) so that if they do become lost, they can be returned promptly.

* Do not leave an animal in your car. With only hot air to breathe, your animal friend can suffer serious health effects, even death, in a few short minutes. Partially opened windows do not provide sufficient air or cooling, but they do provide an opportunity for your animal to be kidnapped.

* If you know that your animal becomes seriously distressed by loud noises, consult with your veterinarian before July 4th for ways to help alleviate the fear and anxiety he or she will experience during fireworks displays.

* Never leave your animals outside unattended, even in a fenced yard, and especially not on a chain. With explosions occuring, animals who normally wouldn’t leave the yard may escape and become lost, or become entangled in their chain, risking injury or death. (There are lots of other reasons to never leave your dog chained! Contact us if you want more information about the negative effects of chaining dogs.)

* If you find somebody else’s companion animals running at-large, either take them to the address on the tag, if you feel comfortable doing so, or bring them to the local animal shelter, where they will have the best chance of being reunited with their human families.

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle - kinshipcircle [at] accessus.net
Date: Thu, May 15, 2008 at 7:54 PM
Subject: 5/16: PROCTER & GAMBLE CALL-IN DAY (if you miss it, still write)

KINSHIP CIRCLE PRIMARY - PERMISSION TO CROSS-POST AS WRITTEN

5/15/08: MAY 16, 2008 IS PROCTER & GAMBLE CALL-IN DAY

EMAIL kinshipcircle [at] accessus.net FOR WORD DOC OF A FORMATTED LETTER.
Easily modify letter and copy/paste it into an email or print out to fax or mail.

Call, email, fax or write — on May 16, from 9:00am to 5:00pm EST — to politely ask Procter & Gamble to end ALL animal experiments. P&G utilizes SOME animal-free tests. Ask them to go 100% cruelty-free.

If you miss the May 16 date, send comments anyway! Animals are regularly poisoned to test chemicals used in hundreds of Procter & Gamble brands: Tide, Dove, Cover Girl, Olay, Bounty, Crest, Febreeze, Cascade, Pantene, Herbal Essences, Head & Shoulders, Iams/Eukanuba…

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: In Defense of Animals - takeaction [at] idausa.org
Date: Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 9:49 PM
Subject: World Week for Animals in Laboratories is Here!

World Week for Animals in Laboratories is Here!

Call-In Days: Urge NIH to End Cruel Animal Experiments

Many people find this hard to believe, but the U.S. government continues to sink millions of dollars each year into funding cruel and outdated experiments on animals to test the effects of nicotine and tobacco. Please join IDA during this week’s observance of World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL) to call attention to this outrage and speak out in opposition.

IDA’s Up in Smoke campaign highlights the futility and inhumanity of nicotine experiments on newborn and pregnant animals. These are some examples:

- Since 1992, Elliot Spindel at Oregon Health and Science University delivers steady doses of nicotine to pregnant monkeys through pumps implanted into their backs. The babies are cut out of their mothers’ wombs in order to dissect their lungs.

- At Texas A&M University, Ursula Winzer-Serhan forces baby rats to consume nicotine mixed with baby formula at the equivalent of three packs of cigarettes a day. After about a week of being fed nicotine, the babies’ heads are cut off and their brains are dissected.

- Researcher Kent Pinkerton at University of California, Davis, subjects pregnant rhesus monkeys to smoking chambers where they are forced to inhale cigarette smoke for six hours each day, five days a week. When the infants are ten weeks old, they are killed by lethal injection and their lungs are dissected for analysis.

Over the past five years, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has given at least $16.5 million to this category of research. This appalling figure does not reflect the total cost of all nicotine research on animals, but only that which focuses on nicotine’s effect on fetal and newborn development.

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: In Defense of Animals - takeaction [at] idausa.org
Date: Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 6:34 PM
Subject: World Week for Animals in Laboratories

World Week for Animals in Laboratories

Make plans to get active during WWAIL: April 20 - 26

Please join IDA to make this year’s World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL), April 20 - 26, the most compelling and effective year yet in speaking out against the abhorrent use of animals in testing and research.

Although millions of animals still continue to suffer and die in laboratories, there is cause to be hopeful that real change is on the horizon.

A Landmark Agreement

In February, 2008, three U.S. government agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Toxicology Program (NTP), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), signed a five-year agreement to create innovative and animal-free methods to evaluate the safety of drugs and chemicals with the goal of phasing out animal tests entirely.

The NRC’s Groundbreaking Report

In July, 2007, the prestigious National Research Council (NRC) issued a report, “Toxicology for the 21st Century,” which outlines a new approach that would rely less on animal studies and focus instead upon in vitro methods. According to the report, “Over time, the need for traditional animal testing could be greatly reduced, and possibly even eliminated someday.”

Broad and sweeping changes are slowly being realized for animals in labs. Yet millions still remain captive in cages, subject to intolerable cruelty. They will not live to see the day that these changes come about, which is why we urgently need you to join forces with IDA and other animal-protection organizations to vigorously work for such a transformation to happen as soon as possible. While there is reason to celebrate, there are still far too many scientists who adhere to obsolete, imprecise, and heartless animal experiments.

Never-Ending Nicotine Experiments

It may be unfathomable, but in 2008, many animals still die in cruel, archaic, and useless nicotine experiments to tests tobacco’s deleterious effects on the body. That’s why IDA has developed our Up in Smoke campaign, which targets experiments that force pregnant and newborn animals to be pumped full of nicotine. This is just one example of the kind of horrendous animal experiments that we need to stop. Sadly, there are many such vile experiments occurring daily in laboratories.

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: In Defense of Animals - takeaction [at] idausa.org
Date: Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 12:02 PM
Subject: IDA’s April 2008 Auction for the Animals

IDA’s April 2008 Auction for the Animals

Suport IDA’s work by bidding on fabulous items

Support IDA’s mission to defend the rights, welfare and habitats of animals during IDA’s Auction for the Animals on eBay. The auction gives you the opportunity to help IDA help animals while having fun bidding on a wide selection of elegant, exciting and unique items that have been donated to IDA for this very special online fundraising event. Auction items include fantastic travel and accommodation packages, special celebrity memorabilia, tickets for great entertainment and sporting events and much more!

Beginning this Saturday, April 5, you can view the auction items on www.ebay.com/ida. Once you find an item that you like, click on the link to view its description, the current bid price, and how much time is left until the bidding ends. Place your bid and keep an eye on it to make sure that, by the time the bidding ends, it’s YOURS. The auction will run in four waves, one wave per week, with new items being added each week.

We are still accepting donated items to offer during the auction, so if you have an item that you would like to contribute, please contact Nicole Otoupalik at (800) 338-4451. All donations are tax deductible. If you already sell on eBay, now is a great time to designate 10-100% of your own auction proceeds to IDA by registering at www.missionfish.org, the partner of eBay Giving Works.

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for IDA’s Action Center.

In Defense of Animals, located in San Rafael, Calif., is an international animal protection organization with more than 85,000 members and supporters dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by protecting their rights and welfare. IDA’s efforts include educational events, cruelty investigations, boycotts, grassroots activism, and hands-on rescue through our sanctuaries in Mississippi and Cameroon, Africa.

In Defense of Animals is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. We welcome your feedback and appreciate your donations. Please join today! All donations to IDA are tax-deductible.

In Defense of Animals
3010 Kerner, San Rafael, CA 94901
Tel. (415) 388-9641 Fax (415) 388-0388
idainfo [at] idausa.org

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts ida in defense of animals auction shopping online ebay donate

FYI: SFAI has apparently canceled the exhibit; according to this article, “a public forum [SFAI] had scheduled to address the controversy” has been nixed as well. I’m assuming that it’s the same forum IDA is referring to in this alert; I don’t think it was canceled until Saturday or Sunday, after the alert was released. Either way, I’m crossposting it as an update. (Sorry for the delay, I still haven’t quite recovered from Thursday’s dental surgery.)

The SF Chronicle article also provides some additional info about Abdessemed and the exhibit:

Art Institute officials said Saturday that Abdessemed had shot the videos at a farm in rural Mexico that routinely slaughters animals in the way he depicted. They said the videos were part of a social critique. “One of the things this exhibition was pointing to was the difference in production of food resources between industrialized production in the U.S. and in poorer countries,” said Bratton.

But the exhibition was a far cry from straightforward exposes like Upton Sinclair’s classic muckraking book, “The Jungle,” or the Humane Society’s video footage.

The show did not mention that the videos were shot in Mexico or provide any historical context. Other parts of the exhibition included large neon sculptures and a video of Abdessemed hanging upside down from a helicopter while creating a drawing based on a 19th century French painting.

“Those killings were done gratuitously, not like someone documenting a slaughterhouse,” Katz said. “It sends a terrible message to Art Institute students that it’s OK to go out and do similar things.”

So I still don’t buy this bullshit about “Don’t Trust Me’s” grand social goals. If Abdessemed wanted to draw attention to animal cruelty, he would have provided some contextual info. A half dozen animals, bludgeoned to death against a quaint brick background, played on a loop with no commentary, is a snuff film. These deaths were staged for the camera, in stark contrast to the thousands upon thousands of undercover videos taken by animal rights advocates over the past few decades. If you want to draw attention to animal cruelty, you use existing footage. If it’s not purty enough for you, rework it. But if you go stage a few cases of animal abuse specifically for your exhibit, you’re an animal abuser, not some kind of visionary.

(You can read the previous alert here.)

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: In Defense of Animals - takeaction [at] idausa.org
Date: Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 1:14 PM
Subject: In Defense of Animals Denounces Snuff Video at Art Exhibition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

In Defense of Animals Denounces Snuff Video at Art Exhibition

Animal Protection Organization calls for public to attend Monday’s SFAI Forum

San Francisco, Calif. - Following an overwhelming public response to an action alert from In Defense of Animals (IDA), the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) has suspended the Adel Abdessemed exhibition of animal torture videos entitled, “Don’t Trust Me.” IDA’s President Elliot M. Katz characterized the exhibit, depicting the bludgeoning deaths of tethered animals, as a snuff video.

IDA and its members will also speak up at SFAI’s public forum, scheduled for Monday at noon, and IDA is encouraging the public to attend and speak.

What: Public forum to discuss this exhibit
When: Monday, March 31st, Noon
Where: San Francisco Art Institute Main Campus (in the lecture hall), 800 Chestnut Street, San Francisco

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