IDA's Bay Area Events

1. Gopher Gardening at Ocean Beach This Saturday 2. Foie Gras Outreach Event in Walnut Creek 3. Foie Gras Protest in Marin 4. Attend Canadian Seafood Boycott Protest at Red Lobster 5. Join the San Francisco Green Party Animal Working Group 6. IDA's May 2005 Auction for the Animals Extended for One More Week!

1. Gopher Gardening at Ocean Beach This Saturday

Join the San Francisco Wildlife Protection Project, a joint effort by IDA and the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, to create a wildlife "sanctuary" along the Great Highway. By landscaping the area according to the Parks Department's specifications, volunteers create a habitat for native gophers and prevent them from being trapped and killed.
This is an ongoing monthly effort, and happens on the first Saturday of each month. Please give us a hand so we can help the gophers.

What: Gopher Gardening
When: Saturday, June 4th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
Where: Corner of the Great Highway and Wawona Street, San Francisco, at the small brick Recreation and Park maintenance building. Click here (http://tinyurl.com/4hnh2) for directions to this event.

For more information, please contact Kevin Connelly at (415) 388-9641, ext. 226 or kevin [at] idausa.org.

2. Foie Gras Outreach Event in Walnut Creek

California lawmakers approved a bill that will make foie gras illegal by 2012, yet many restaurants continue to serve this cruel dish because wealthy customers are willing to pay top dollar for it. That's why IDA started our sustained presence outreach and education campaign: to show restaurants that they will actually lose valuable customers by continuing to serve foie gras.

Join activists for an outreach event in Walnut Creek to convince upscale restaurant Le Bistro to permanently remove foie gras from their menu.

What: Foie Gras Outreach Event
When: Saturday, June 4th - meet at 11:30, protest begins at noon
Where: Le Bistro, 1606 N. Main Street, Walnut Creek - please call (925) 788-8296 to RSVP and get the precise meeting location

If you are unable to attend, please write or call Proprietors Jean-Paul and Kathleen Peluffo to politely let them know that you will not dine at Le Bistro until they stop serving foie gras.

Le Bistro
1606 North Main Street
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
Tel.: (925) 407-8000
Fax: (925) 407-8002
Email: info [at] lebistro.fr

3. Foie Gras Protest in Marin

Please join IDA, the Animal Rights Committee of the Marin Peace & Justice Coalition, and Animal Rights Marin (ARM) for another foie gras protest at the Lark Creek Inn Restaurant in Larkspur.
Signs and literature will be provided, so all you need to do is show up!

The Animal Rights Committee of the Marin Peace & Justice Coalition has repeatedly contacted the Lark Creek Inn Restaurant with information and respectful requests for a meeting. They have even offered to postpone the protest if management agrees to discuss the foie gras issue with activists at any time prior to June 9th. The Lark Creek Inn Restaurant has so far ignored these attempts at civilized communication. However, if they do agree to meet with the group before June 9th, those who want to attend the protest will be promptly informed that it has been postponed or (if management agrees to stop selling foie gras) cancelled. Contact ARM to RSVP at (415) 459-1149.

What: Foie Gras Protest
When: Thursday, June 9th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Where: The Lark Creek Inn, 234 Magnolia Avenue, Larkspur (click
http://tinyurl.com/bftv2 for directions)

If you are unable to attend, please write or call Chef/Owner Bradley Ogden to politely let him know that you will not dine at the Lark Creek Inn Restaurant until he stops serving foie gras.

Lark Creek Inn Restaurant
234 Magnolia Avenue
Larkspur, CA 94939
Tel: (415) 924-7767, ext. 15
Fax: (415) 924-7117

4. Attend Canadian Seafood Boycott Protest at Red Lobster

The horrific slaughter of over 300,000 harp seals each year by Canadian fishermen continues despite massive worldwide protests.
Now is the time to put an end to this atrocity once and for all by hitting the seal hunters where it hurts: their paychecks.
While Canadian exports of seafood to the U.S. are worth at least
$3.3 billion, Canadian fishermen make a mere $16 million from the seal hunt every year - a fraction of a percent of their total annual income. By boycotting the Canadian seafood industry, we can ensure that Canadian fishermen pay a high price for choosing to continue the cruel seal hunt.

A boycott against Canadian seafood is already well underway, with restaurants and retailers such as Legal Sea Foods, Down East Seafood and Whole Foods Market on board. Now it's time for Red Lobster - one of the largest importers of Canadian seafood - to stop supporting the seal hunt.

What You Can Do

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is coordinating a day of action against Red Lobster on June 25th, when activists will be organizing demonstrations at Red Lobster locations across North America. Please join IDA at a protest in the Bay Area to let the public know that the franchise's purchasing decisions directly subsidize the inhumane seal massacre.

What: Canadian seafood boycott protest at Red Lobster
When: Saturday, June 25th from noon to 1:00 p.m.
Where: The Red Lobster at 1210 El Camino Real in San Bruno (click http://tinyurl.com/98wng for directions)

For more information and to RSVP, contact Alicia Moore at (415)
388-9641 ext 228, or Alicia [at] idausa.org. You can learn more about HSUS's campaign to stop the seal hunt at http://www.protectseals.org .

5. Join the San Francisco Green Party Animal Working Group

The Green Party of California's (GPCA's) political platform
(http://cagreens.org/platform/ecology.htm#ethical) is quite unique in taking a strong stance for the ethical treatment of animals in society. Phasing out animal experimentation, ending the abuse of farm animals, outlawing fur farming and trapping, and banning the use of animals in "entertainment" are just a few of the pro-animal positions outlined in the GPCA's manifesto.

Inspired by the GPCA's Ten Key Values, local activist and longtime Green Party member Rosalind Lord is seeking activists to start an animal working group within the San Francisco Green Party. (Click http://www.sfgreenparty.org/workinggroups/workinggroups.gem to see the working groups that already exist.) The mission of this group would be to become a voice for animals within the Green Party, and to support, work with, and represent animal advocacy groups such as IDA. To find out more, write to Rosalind at rclord [at] seaserpent.com.

6. IDA's May 2005 Auction for the Animals Extended for One More Week!

IDA's May 2005 Auction for the Animals has been so successful that we're giving our supporters one more week to bid on the wide selection of items donated to IDA for this very special online fundraising event. We've added many more exciting items this week, so check them out at http://www.ebay.com/ida and place your bids!

We are also still accepting donated items to sell during the auction, so if you have something 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 http://www.missionfish.org , the partner of eBay Giving Works.
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