IDA/SHARK Starbucks-Rodeo Protest TONIGHT

IDA has teamed up with national animal protection organization Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) to target Starbucks Coffee for sponsoring rodeos. Sadly, many animals are injured and killed every year in these violent competitions, so it's no wonder that Starbucks Customer Relations Representatives at first told concerned consumers that the company did not place an ad in the 2005 Cheyenne Frontier Days Souvenir Program. Yet following their denials, SHARK later discovered that Starbucks has also sponsored the Miss Rodeo Washington, the Belton Rodeo in Texas and the American Royal Rodeo in Kansas City, Mo.

Hundreds of coffee drinkers have contacted Starbucks to point out that sponsoring rodeos is the equivalent of endorsing animal abuse, yet the company refuses to stop subsidizing this "sport" that epitomizes human domination over animals.

IDA and SHARK will be holding protests outside of Bay Area Starbucks stores in the coming weeks, so please join us as we educate their customers about the company's disregard for animal welfare. SHARK founder and President, Steve Hindi, has been exposing rodeo cruelty for years, and is one of the key national figures in the fight to end the use of animals for sport and entertainment. He will lead the demonstrations and bring his Tiger Truck, a customized multi-media vehicle with large-screen televisions in the windows that can be seen from a distance. We will play footage of rodeo brutality for pedestrians and motorists to see as they pass by, and hand out leaflets to people on the sidewalk.



Participate in IDA/SHARK's Bay Area demonstrations against Starbucks:

- San Francisco (Union Square): Friday, March 3rd from 6:00 -7:00 p.m.
- Sacramento: Saturday, March 4th, Call or email for time and location

To learn more about participating and to RSVP, contact Program Coordinator Melissa Gonzalez at (415) 388-9641, ext. 228 or Melissa@idausa.org.

Also visit http://www.idausa.org/campaigns/sport/rodeo/alert.html for other ways you can help us stop Starbucks' support for rodeos. Action ideas include contacting Starbucks, signing our petition and distributing leaflets outside of your local Starbucks.