IDA - Bay Area Events

IDA EVENTS
1. World Week for Animals in Laboratories a Success
2. IDA Seeking Communications Manager

OTHER BAY AREA EVENTS TO HELP ANIMALS
1. Compassionate Cooks' April Cooking Class: "A Taste of Thai"
2. Vegetarian Buddhist Outreach This Weekend in SF
3. SFSPCA Classes for Feral Cat Caretakers


IDA EVENTS

1. World Week for Animals in Laboratories a Success

World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL) is happening now through Saturday, April 28th, with events taking place around the world. As part of this global week of consciousness-raising activities, IDA, Vigil for Animals, and Animal Switchboard co-hosted a very successful demonstration at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) on Tuesday, April 24th to protest the school's experiments on animals ( http://www.vivisectioninfo.org/old/ucsf/lisbergerindex.html ). Thank you to all the Bay Area activists who attended this event and bravely stood up for the animals being tortured in UCSF's laboratories.

With about 20 animal advocates, we set up camp with signs, a video monitor, and an eight-by-ten-foot anti-vivisection banner outside of the Millberry Student Union, across the street from the Medical Sciences Building in the heart of UCSF's Parnassus campus, which is also home to one of the city's biggest hospitals. Activists lined the sidewalks on both sides of the street, handing out flyers describing UCSF's cruel animal experiments ( http://www.wwail.org/pdfs/lisberger.pdf ) to the students, doctors, researchers, and patients passing by this busy area between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Numerous individuals, including UCSF employees, thanked us for being there and creating awareness of the animal abuse UCSF tries to cover up.

Bob Linden, host of Go Vegan Radio ( http://www.goveganradio.com ), acted as the emcee for the event, albeit using a bullhorn instead of a microphone and transmitter. As a media personality, Linden catches his listeners' attention by taking an irreverent attitude toward the hypocrisies of those who abuse animals. This same approach translated well to the protest setting, with even the police assigned to monitor the demonstration laughing appreciatively when he called UCSF "the University of Cruelty and Scientific Fraud" and referred to the campus as "a crime scene."

WWAIL events will continue to be held through the weekend, and it is not too late for you to organize your own event to expose the abuse taking place inside university labs or corporate testing facilities, even if it is just you and a couple of friends leafleting on a college campus. Visit http://www.wwail.org to learn how you can organize and register your own WWAIL event. Also visit http://www.vivisectioninfo.org to learn more about the cruelty involved in animal experimentation.


2. IDA Seeking Communications Manager

Have you ever dreamed of working in the exciting world of animal rights activism? If so, IDA is looking for someone with public relations and media outreach experience to be our new Communications Manager. The successful candidate will have excellent writing and editing skills, and serve as a spokesperson for our global campaigns. Click here ( http://www.idausa.org/about/jobs.html ) for more information about this and other job opportunities at IDA and to apply for the position.


OTHER BAY AREA EVENTS TO HELP ANIMALS

1. Compassionate Cooks' May Cooking Class: "A Taste of Thai"

Join IDA-sponsored Compassionate Cooks ( http://www.compassionatecooks.com ) at their next cooking class, "A Taste of Thai." In this class, you'll learn to make five delicious, nutritious dishes, including Fresh Ginger Salad, Pad Thai (Noodles with Peanut Sauce), Basil Eggplant & Tofu, Massaman Curry with Seasonal Veggies, and Tantalizing Thai Slaw.

Using local, in-season, mostly organic ingredients, Compassionate Cooks features easy-to-prepare recipes and debunks myths about plant-based diets. Join the class in May for yummy food samples and a lot of fun!

What: Compassionate Cooks' May Cooking Class: "A Taste of Thai"
When: Saturday, May 19th, 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Where: The First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th Street (at Castro), Oakland ( http://uuoakland.org/directions.htm )

The cost of the class is $45, plus $5 food/materials fee due on the day of class. Fees cover demonstration, food samples, copies of recipes, coupons for restaurants and local groceries, resources, and more. Be sure to register by Friday, May 19th either online ( http://www.compassionatecooks.com/reg.htm ) or by calling (510) 531-COOK. Also check out Compassionate Cooks' class packages (http://www.compassionatecooks.com/deals.htm ), podcasts ( http://www.compassionatecooks.com/audio.html ), and cooking DVD ( http://www.compassionatecooks.com/video.htm ).


2. Vegetarian Buddhist Outreach This Weekend in SF

His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be in San Francisco this weekend, from Friday, April 27th to Sunday the 29th. Thousands of Buddhists will be coming to the city to hear the Tibetan spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient speak, giving animal advocates an excellent opportunity to reach a receptive audience with a message of compassion for all species. Outreach efforts aimed at Buddhists are likely to be especially effective, given the Buddha's historical kindness to animals and the fact that the Dalai Lama and other Buddhist leaders have recently been encouraging practitioners to reduce or stop their consumption of animal flesh.

Please join Bay Area Vegetarians this weekend in an outreach effort to enlighten Buddhists to the fact that they can alleviate the suffering of other sentient beings by going veg.

What: Vegetarian outreach to Buddhists
When: Friday, April 27th (8:00 - 9:30 a.m. & 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.), Saturday, April 28th (8:00 - 9:30 a.m. & 11:30 a.m. -2:00 p.m.), and Sunday, April 29th (1:00 - 2:30 p.m.)
Where: Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove Street (between Polk & Larkin Streets), San Francisco ( directions - http://www.billgrahamcivic.com/home/index.htm )

For more information about this event, visit http://www.rawveg.info/buddhistvegactivism . To learn more about Buddhist vegetarianism, visit http://www.rawveg.info/buddhistvegetarian .


3. SFSPCA Classes for Feral Cat Caretakers

In 2007, the San Francisco SPCA (SFSPCA) ( http://www.sfspca.org/home.shtml ) will offer a number of classes on providing care for feral cat colonies. If you are already a caretaker for a feral cat colony or have been thinking about helping feral cats in your neighborhood, then be sure to check out these workshops:

May 19th - Colony Caretaking
June 16th - Community/Neighborhood Relations
July 21st - Recovery and Aftercare
August 18th - Socializing Feral Kittens

All of these classes will be offered at the SFSPCA shelter at 2500 16th Street in San Francisco ( http://tinyurl.com/2zkswc ) from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. For more information, write to jkipnis [at] sfspca.org .