IDA - Bay Area Events

IDA EVENTS
1. Bid on Special Celebrity Items During IDA's Online Auction This Week!
2. Attend Fur Protests as Saks Fifth Avenue Presents their Fall/Winter Fur Collection
3. Volunteers Needed to Help Stop Extermination of Exotic Deer at Point Reyes
4. Join IDA for Fur Free Friday on November 25th

OTHER BAY AREA EVENTS TO HELP ANIMALS
1. Compassionate Cooks' November Cooking Class: "Thanksgiving for the Birds"
3. "Yappy Hour" Cocktail Party to Benefit San Francisco's Animals
3. Roberta Kalechofsky Reading and Book Signing


IDA EVENTS

1. Bid on Special Celebrity Items During IDA's Online Auction This Week!

IDA is proud to announce an exciting new online auction to benefit our work to help animals that will take place from November 9th through November 23rd. We have partnered with Charity Folks ( http://www.charityfolks.com ), a leading online auction venue, to offer an amazing array of TV, film and sports celebrity memorabilia and other tantalizing auction items.

IDA is grateful to Emmy-nominated television actress Wendie Malick for helping us make this auction a success for the animals. Wendie, a long-time vegetarian and self-described animal lover, extended a request to her famous friends to donate items for IDA's online auction.

"IDA is a terrific organization doing critically important work to help animals across the country and around the world," writes Wendie in her personal letter. "I can say unequivocally that IDA is an effective advocate for animals and is more than worthy of support."

For your chance to bid on exciting items, such as tickets to see Stacked, starring Pamela Anderson, which includes a meet-and-greet with cast members and an autographed copy of the script; tickets to see David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O'Brien, and B.B. King; lunch with Kirsten Bell from TV's Veronica Mars; original artwork from Pierce Brosnan; limited lithographs of The Beatles; and much, much more, please click https://www01.charityfolks.com/cfauctions/auction_vertical.asp?catname=In%20Defense%20of%20Animals .

If you would like more information about the auction, please contact Nicole Otoupalik at (800) 338-4451 or Nicole [at] idausa.org .


2. Attend Fur Protests as Saks Fifth Avenue Presents their Fall/Winter Fur Collection

It has just come to our attention that this weekend, Saks Fifth Avenue is inviting shoppers to meet fashion designer Helen Yarmak and view her fall/winter fur collection. Their recent ad in the San Francisco Chronicle shows a glamorous female model in profile wearing a full-length fur coat. The suffering endured by animals killed for fur goes unmentioned of course: any hint that fur comes from the bloody carcasses of abused animals would be bad for business.

Most consumers don't realize that in fur mills, wild animals like mink, chinchilla, raccoon, lynx and foxes spend their lives in cages, denied their most basic natural behaviors, and are killed by anal or vaginal electrocution to preserve their coats. Millions of coyote, raccoon, bobcats and other species are caught in the wild using spring traps with metal teeth that smash bone and crush muscle. About one quarter of trapped animals escape by chewing their own limbs off (only to be killed by predators).

The fur industry makes a point of denying animals' suffering so that they can continue to make a profit. It is up to caring people such as you to call fur sellers on their complicity in violence against animals and convince the public to boycott fur products.

What You Can Do

IDA plans to hold protests outside Saks Fifth Avenue during the display of their fall/winter fur collection at the following times. Please contact us beforehand if you will be able to attend to confirm there are no changes to the below dates and times.

What: Anti-fur protest
When: Friday, November 11th and Saturday, November 12th from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Where: Saks Fifth Avenue, 384 Post Street (near Powell), San Francisco (click http://tinyurl.com/a8f26 for directions)

To RSVP, contact Karen Steele at karen [at] idausa.org or (415) 388-9641, ext. 217, or Melissa Gonzalez at melissa [at] idausa.org or (415) 388-9641, ext. 228.


3. Volunteers Needed to Help Stop Extermination of Exotic Deer at Point Reyes

The National Park Service (NPS) is planning to shoot 1,150 White Fallow and Spotted Axis deer at the Point Reyes National Seashore simply because they are not native to the area. However, the NPS's Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) does not present any scientific evidence that the exotic deer are negatively impacting the environment or other species in the park. Their management plan also does not include a non-lethal alternative such as managing or reducing the number of deer using contraception alone.

If you would like to work with others toward a humane and sustainable solution to managing the deer, please attend one of the two community meetings in Marin co-sponsored by IDA and the Marin Humane Society and supported by the Jane Goodall Institute. The purpose of the meetings is to recruit volunteers for the effort to stop the NPS from exterminating the exotic deer. Professor Susan Shideler from UC Davis, an expert in immunocontraception who has experience with Fallow deer, will attend the November 17th meeting.

East Marin
What: Community meeting to stop extermination of Point Reyes deer
When: Tuesday, November 15th, 6:00 p.m.
Where: Marin Humane Society, 171 Bel Marin Keys Blvd., Novato (click http://www.marinhumanesociety.org/main_contacts.html#anchormap for directions)

West Marin
What: Community meeting to stop extermination of Point Reyes deer
When: Thursday, November 17th, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Dance Palace Community Center, 503 B Street, Point Reyes Station (click http://tinyurl.com/bqsqm for directions)

If you plan to attend one of these meetings, please contact IDA's Bay Area Coordinator, Karen Steele, at (415) 388 9641, ext. 217 or karen [at] idusa.org to RSVP.


4. Join IDA for Fur Free Friday on November 25th

Mark your calendar and save the date: Fur Free Friday is almost here. Every year on the day after Thanksgiving for the last two decades, thousands of people around the U.S. have held demonstrations, marches, vigils and other activities for Fur Free Friday to protest a global multi-billion dollar industry that kills over 40 million animals annually.

IDA always takes an active role in Fur Free Friday, and this year, we will be holding an outreach event in San Francisco's Union Square from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to promote compassion for minks, foxes and all the other fur-bearing animals this holiday season. Watch for more details in upcoming Bay Area Alerts.

To learn more about Fur Free Friday and how you can get involved, visit http://www.furkills.org .


OTHER BAY AREA EVENTS TO HELP ANIMALS

1. Compassionate Cooks' November Cooking Class: "Thanksgiving for the Birds"

Join Compassionate Cooks for their next vegan cooking class, "Thanksgiving for the Birds"
which features a cornucopia of delicious dishes that will impress friends and family members alike while showing reverence to the 300 million turkeys killed each year (45 million of whom are killed for Thanksgiving every year).

Let the Compassionate Cooks show you how to make five delicious, nutritious dishes for your vegan Thanksgiving feast, including Harvest-Stuffed Winter Squash, Sensational Stuffing with Toasted Nuts and Raisins, Mashed Potatoes with Carmelized Onions, Glazed Garlic Green Beans, and Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Crust. Have lots of fun while eating yummy food samples made from local, seasonal and organic ingredients!

What: Compassionate Cooks' November Cooking Class: "Thanksgiving for the Birds"
When: Saturday, November 12th, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Where: The First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. (at Castro), Oakland (click http://www.uuoakland.org/directions.htm for directions)

This is the Compassionate Cooks' most popular cooking class of the year, so be sure to reserve your space while there's still room. Register in advance by November 11th online at http://www.compassionatecooks.com or call (510) 531-COOK. The cost of the class is $40, and includes instruction, food samples, copies of recipes and much more.


2. "Yappy Hour" Cocktail Party to Benefit San Francisco's Animals

"Yappy Hour" is a chic and swanky party with cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, premium "Doggy Bags" (full of gifts) for every guest, doggy treats, and celebrities. Proceeds from the party will benefit the Friends of San Francisco Animal Care and Control so they can continue valuable programs like free microchipping of San Francisco's dogs and cats. All dog lovers, with or without canine companions, are welcome.

What: "Yappy Hour" Cocktail Party to Benefit San Francisco's Animals
When: Tuesday, November 15th, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Where: Hotel Monaco, 501 Geary Street (at Taylor), San Francisco (click http://www.monaco-sf.com/html/mapDirections.htm for directions)

Admission to this event is $50 per person. To RSVP before November 11th: (a) Mail a check or money order made out to FSFACC to P.O. Box 2443, San Francisco, CA 94126-2443. (b) By credit or debit card: Log on to http://www.Paypal.com and transmit funds to HelpAnimals [at] FSFACC.org , indicating "Yappy Hour" in the box provided. (c) Drop off cash, check or money order in an envelope at Animal Care and Control, 1200 15th Street (at Harrison), San Francisco. To RSVP after November 11th: Call (415) 822-5566, then pay at the door with cash, check, money order, credit card or debit card.


3. Roberta Kalechofsky Reading and Book Signing

Attend a reading by Roberta Kalechofsky, author of numerous fiction and animal rights books and founder of Jews for Animal Rights, from her latest collection of short stories, "Job Enters A Pain Clinic," ( http://tinyurl.com/9ny3d ) followed by discussion, book signing and reception with vegan refreshments. A number of Kalechofsky's new stories deal with animal and human experimentation and the impact of modern medical technologies on how we live, themes increasingly reflected in today's headlines (as seen in the recent SF Bay Guardian expose [ http://www.sfbg.com/39/52/index.php ] of UCSF's animal welfare violations).

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (author of When Elephants Weep) called Kalechofsky's stories "remarkable," and Charles Patterson (author of Eternal Treblinka) called her "a fearless chronicler of matters of life and death." Eminent animal rights philosopher Tom Regan once said of Ms. Kalechofsky, "[o]f all the historians of ideas with whom I am familiar, if I had a choice between listening to just one of them, I would not hesitate to choose Roberta. She is that good, that worth spending time with...she truly serves as an inspiration to all of us who aspire to make our ideas clear - and to make them count." You won't want to miss this intriguing literary event.

What: Roberta Kalechofsky reading and book signing
When: Tuesday, November 22nd, 7:00 p.m.
Where: 8425 Bel View Court, El Cerrito (click http://tinyurl.com/7szp3 for directions)

To RSVP, call Karen Steele (415) 388-9641, ext. 217 or write to karen [at] idausa.org and put "RSVP" in the subject line. Ms. Kalechofsky's books will be available for purchase, and $5.00 from the sale of every book will be donated to IDA. Click http://www.utoronto.ca/wjudaism/encyclopedia/e_k.html to learn more about Ms. Kalechofsky, and http://www.micahbooks.com/books.html#veg to read about her books. (Out of consideration for those with chemical sensitivities, please do not wear fragrances or scented products to the reading.)