IDA - Bay Area Events

IDA EVENTS
1. TV Personality Bob Barker Pledges $300,000 to "Rescue Ruby"
2. IDA Places GO VEGAN Billboards in Bay Area
3. Spread Compassion this Holiday Season with Good Food & Cheer

OTHER BAY AREA EVENTS TO HELP ANIMALS
1. Lunchtime Advocacy in Downtown SF
2. Attend CA Coastal Commission Meeting to Stop Destructive Navy Activities
3. March in SF to End Canadian Seal Slaughter
4. Last Vigil For Animals in UCSF Labs for 2006
5. Urge Lunardi's Supermarket to Drop Battery Cage Eggs
6. Compassionate Cooks' January Cooking Class: "Healthful Resolutions"


IDA EVENTS

1. TV Personality Bob Barker Pledges $300,000 to "Rescue Ruby"

During a Town Hall Meeting in Los Angeles this week hosted by California Assemblymember Lloyd Levine on "The State of Captive Elephants in California," IDA and Los Angeles Alliance for Elephants announced a $300,000 pledge by Bob Barker ( http://www.cbs.com/daytime/price/about/bios/cast_bios_bbarker.shtml ), the famed host of TV's The Price Is Right, in support of sending Ruby, an elephant at Los Angeles Zoo, to a sanctuary. The funds will provide for her care and maintenance at the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) ( http://www.pawsweb.org/site/homepage.htm ) sanctuary in Northern California.

"We are very grateful that Mr. Barker, a great champion for animals, has stepped forward to help Ruby," said Elliot Katz, Founder and President of IDA. "It's crucial that Ruby be sent to a sanctuary now."

For over four decades, Ruby has endured the many pains of an elephant's life in imposed captivity. Taken from her family in the wilds of Africa when she was only a baby, Ruby was shuffled first from an adventure safari to a circus, and then to the Los Angeles Zoo in 1987. After 16 years of forming a close bond with her enclosure-mate Gita, Ruby was shipped to another zoo in Tennessee, but was transferred back to L.A. only a year and a half later because she got along poorly with the other elephants there.

Upon her return to L.A., it was apparent that Ruby was a changed elephant. Whereas before she was easy-going and playful, Ruby now displayed abnormal repetitive behaviors and aggression toward other elephants and zookeepers. Separated from Gita by a fence in a tiny, off-exhibit pen, Ruby no longer expressed the tenderness and affection for her friend that she once did. In June 2006, Gita died from captivity-related causes, the third of Ruby's close companions to pass away before their time at L.A. Zoo. Today, Ruby lives utterly alone, deprived of the company of her kind, and has not been seen by the public in over two years.

Keeping an elephant in isolation is torture for members of this exceptionally social species, yet L.A. Zoo may be able to offer Ruby nothing more than perpetual loneliness for the remainder of her life. As the lone African elephant at an institution that specializes in exhibiting Asian elephants, Ruby has no place at L.A. Zoo, and transferring her to yet another zoo is likely to only make matters worse. Anyway, no zoo in the world can provide the wide open spaces, stimulating natural habitat and extended social groups that elephants need to thrive.

Only an elephant sanctuary can offer Ruby the environment and time she needs to reclaim her health and connect with other elephants. The PAWS sanctuary can give Ruby the stable, permanent home she deserves after a lifetime of upheaval and forced separations. The 45-year-old Ruby is at an age that, for many elephants in zoos, represents the final years of their lives. It would be a terrible tragedy if Ruby ended her life a sad and broken elephant, a shadow of her former self. A sanctuary would extend Ruby's life and give her a chance to regain what she has lost so she can be happy once again.

In February 2006, at IDA's request, Bob Barker spoke out for elephants at a Los Angeles City Council meeting. "There's only one solution to the tragic, the embarrassing elephant problem going on at the Los Angeles Zoo," Barker told the Councilmembers, "and it's to release those elephants from captivity and place them in a sanctuary." Now, in the generous spirit of the holiday season, he is offering a special gift to help send Ruby to a better home.

What You Can Do:

Join Bob Barker by making a donation to strengthen IDA's ongoing fight for Ruby's release.


2. IDA Places GO VEGAN Billboards in Bay Area

IDA has recently launched a new campaign to spread awareness about veganism with GO VEGAN billboards in major urban areas, including the California cities of San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Los Angeles, as well as Philadelphia, Pa. and Atlanta, Ga. These billboards are a great way to get people thinking about how eating meat impacts their health, the environment and animals.

IDA's billboard design emphasizes the positive, life-affirming values that are synonymous with a plant-based diet, including better health, environmental stewardship and respect for all sentient life forms. The image of IDA Vegan Spokesperson Kenneth Williams gently cradling a newborn baby chick on his muscular arm embodies both physical vitality and moral strength: The strength of the protector, the defender, the rescuer, the nurturer, the courageous person who chooses kindness and rejects unnecessary killing.

We all embody this strength whenever we do something that helps animals, and those who choose veganism usually find that aligning their actions with their deepest principles gives them access to an amazing source of inner strength. IDA's GO VEGAN billboard campaign aims to give people a glimpse of an alternative perspective, one that will appeal to anyone who wants to make life better for themselves and others. Sometimes all it takes for a person to change is a single moment of clarity that carries through their awareness from that moment forward. Just seeing IDA's message on the freeway has vast potential to change people's minds and plant seeds of compassion that may someday blossom.

What You Can Do:

- Help IDA spread our compassionate message by donating to our billboard campaign ( https://secure.ga0.org/02/idadonations_in_honor ). Please indicate "Vegan Billboard" in the "in honor of" field of the donation form.

- If you see one of IDA's billboards in San Francisco (Post and Jones - http://tinyurl.com/y2o2wr ), Oakland (Telegraph and 37th - http://tinyurl.com/ujg8f ) or San Jose (Monterey and Bellevue - http://tinyurl.com/v8cdo ), please send pictures to lisa [at] idausa.org.

- Learn more about the benefits of a vegan lifestyle -- for your health, the animals, and the environment ( http://www.idausa.org/veganism_campaign.html ).


3. Spread Compassion this Holiday Season with Good Food & Cheer

Holiday meals can be stressful for vegetarians because they are murder on animals killed for food. While family members and friends gush about how great the "traditional" turkey centerpiece or Christmas ham tastes, the vegetarian may be wondering how people can be so oblivious to the lives and deaths of millions of innocent birds, pigs and other animals needlessly slaughtered for such meals. This can be especially troubling during the holidays, a time when people gather to celebrate life - ironically, by consuming exceptional quantities of animal flesh.

On the other hand, holidays also offer vegetarians excellent opportunities to help loved ones understand why we choose not to eat animals. Whether you are concerned about animal abuse on factory farms, eating healthy, protecting the planet from pollution, or all of these important issues, the reasons that people become vegetarians are profound. That makes each vegetarian who can clearly convey these reasons a potentially powerful convincer for others who haven't yet connected their diets with larger concerns.

Being able to express one's most deeply-held principles and be heard by others is often a great relief for vegetarians who may feel misunderstood by and disconnected from meat-eating family and friends. To help vegetarians and vegans have an enjoyable holiday where they can both relax and express their values, we offer some communication and coping strategies.

Lead by example

In social situations, a gentle, even indirect approach is often the most effective way to reach people. This is especially true with regard to family members, particularly during the holidays, when people's main objective is to relax and have a nice time with one another.

On this interpersonal level, people are more likely think about adopting an animal-friendly lifestyle if they see vegetarians as happy, healthy and reasonable people. In contrast, an angry vegetarian who accuses family and friends of murdering animals is likely to make everyone uncomfortable, defensive, and increasingly resistant to thinking about their actions in a new light - the opposite of what the animals need. Therefore, exercising patience and a non-judgmental attitude will serve you personally along with your cause.

Enjoy and share delicious food

The fact that meat is so hardwired into most people's minds as an essential part of the holidays is evident in the amount of animal products people consume at seasonal celebrations. Similarly, you may have noticed the many how-to articles appearing around this time of year about losing the extra pounds gained from holiday indulgence. Meanwhile, meat-eaters often suffer from bloating, indigestion and other gastrointestinal side effects immediately following their heavy meal.

By bringing delicious dishes made without animal products to holiday meals, vegetarians show people they don't need to eat meat to enjoy the holidays. Make sure you bring extra food to share, as the holiday meal is a great time to introduce people to new foods. Feel free to mention that with healthier and lower fat vegetarian options, they can enjoy their food with less worry about gaining unwanted weight or feeling uncomfortably stuffed afterwards.

Try Compassionate Cooks' ( http://www.compassionatecooks.com ) special recipes ( http://www.idausa.org/campaigns/vegan/feature_061213.html ) for such delicious holiday fare as Mushroom Walnut Pate, Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies and Kalamata Olive Tapenade. Include a Tofurky ( http://www.tofurky.com ) or new Garden Protein vegan turkey ( http://peta.org/feat-newveganturkey.asp ) from the deli case at Whole Foods Market ( http://www.wholefoods.com ), and even your meat-eating guests will be astounded.

Save advocacy for after the meal

Bringing vegetarian food to the table may provoke some people to ask questions about why you are vegetarian, but it is best not to discuss your reasons during dinner. For most people, the very presence of meat at the meal legitimizes the act of killing for food, making it seem normal and natural. If the topic comes up during the dinner conversation, just politely explain that you don't want to ruin anyone's appetite, but that you will be glad to talk about it later with anyone who is interested. Bring literature (such as our Vegan Starter Guides - http://www.idausa.org/vegandays/vegan_kit_order.htm ) with you that you can give to people so they can have something to take home. This will provide them with essential information about vegetarianism and let them absorb it when they feel receptive.

For more in-depth advice about interpersonal advocacy during the holidays and throughout the year, get a copy of Carol Adams' book Living Among Meat Eaters: The Vegetarian's Survival Handbook ( http://www.amazon.com/Living-Among-Meat-Eaters-Vegetarians/dp/0609807439/sr=8-2/qid=1165889321/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-8558083-7495205?ie=UTF8&s=books ).

From all of us at IDA, have a happy, healthy and compassionate holiday.


OTHER BAY AREA EVENTS TO HELP ANIMALS

1. Lunchtime Advocacy in Downtown SF

Practice speaking up for animals and improve your eating skills at the same time! Join Bay Area Vegetarians (BAV) ( http://www.bayareaveg.org ) for a short-and-sweet lunchtime event tailored to downtown San Francisco office folks. Hand out Vegetarian Starter Kits and finish up with a vegan lunch at Kearny Street Pies ( http://www.bayareaveg.org/ug/display.htm?id=723 ). If you're new to vegan advocacy, you can just watch at first, to see how positive, fun and effective leafleting can be.

What: Lunchtime advocacy (includes vegan lunch)
When: Friday, December 15th, noon - 1:30 p.m.
Where: Meet at the big water fountain sculpture at Justin Herman Plaza ( http://tinyurl.com/y2jvdm ), then leaflet for an hour while walking to Kearny Street Pies) for lunch

Leaflets will be provided. For more information, contact Alex Bury at AlexB [at] petaf.org .


2. Attend Calif. Coastal Commission Meeting to Stop Destructive Navy Activities

At the California Coastal Commission ( http://www.coastal.ca.gov ) meeting this Friday, the U.S. Navy will seek approval of their inshore training program, which includes the use of highly destructive explosives and sonar devices off of California's southern coastline. Despite the Navy's claims that these activities are compatible with the California Coastal Plan under provisions of the federal Coastal Zone Management Act, their training exercises would in fact severely traumatize sea life in marine ecosystems. It is therefore necessary for concerned citizens to appeal to the Commissioners directly and urge them to postpone voting on this issue until all the facts are known.

This will be the Commission's first-ever opportunity to weigh in on mid-frequency sonar training. Unfortunately, as it stands, the Commission's staff report essentially defers to the Navy, accepting its assessment of impacts and assuming its mitigation is adequate, even though the Commission in the past has expressed strong concern about both.

What You Can Do:

Attend the California Coastal Commission meeting and express your opposition to the Navy's dangerous plans. The Navy is expected to turn out in large numbers at this hearing, so it is important for the public to be there.

What: California Coastal Commission meeting
When: Friday, December 15th, 9:00 a.m.
Where: Hyatt Regency Embarcadero ( http://tinyurl.com/yyslzj ), 5 Embarcadero Plaza, San Francisco (the location is accessible by BART and MUNI Transit from Market Street and Embarcadero Station)

The Navy is third on the agenda. Download the Commission's staff report ( http://documents.coastal.ca.gov/reports/2006/12/F8c-12-2006.pdf ).
For more information, contact Mark Palmer, Assistant Director of the Earth Island Institute's ( http://www.earthisland.org ) International Marine Mammal Project, at mpalmer [at] cal.net or (415) 788-3666, ext. 139.

- Whether or not you attend the meeting, send written comments to:

The California Coastal Commission
45 Fremont Street
Suite 2000
San Francisco, CA 94105-2219
Fax: (415) 904-5400


3. March in SF to End Canadian Seal Slaughter

Every year starting in early spring, Canadian fishermen slaughter more than 300,000 bay harp seals. Seals just a few weeks to a few months old are bludgeoned or shot to death, hooked and dragged while still conscious, and even skinned alive. Their hides are then made into fur coats, gloves, purses, and boots by Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Versace and other upscale fashion corporations.

This annual atrocity has been going on for years, with animal advocates from around the world becoming ever more determined to stop it. One of the most promising efforts is a boycott of the Canadian seafood industry, which has a good chance of succeeding because almost all sealers are fishermen who make only a small part of their income from this off-season activity. The Canadian government has said that the slaughter will not end until the Canadian fishing industry wants it to. A successful worldwide boycott can make the fishermen themselves call for an end to the seal massacre.

American consumers buy about 70% of Canada's seafood exports, so it is essential that we show people the connection between eating Canadian seafood and the slaughter of baby seals. To date, over 40 San Francisco restaurants have joined the boycott, and the Golden Gate Restaurant Association (GGRA) ( http://www.ggra.org ) released an official statement ( http://www.furkills.org/feature_060719.shtml ) against the seal hunt encouraging their more than 800 member restaurants to buy seafood from non-Canadian suppliers.

What You Can Do:

Please join SuperSealWoman (a.k.a. Sky Valencia of the Vegan Vixens - http://www.veganvixen.org/vixengirls/sky.html ), Ian Robichaud (founder of http://www.harpseals.org ) and fellow animal/seal advocates for a march promoting the Canadian seafood boycott and a permanent end to the seal massacre.

The march will start on Bay Street in San Francisco (where a Harpseals.org/SuperSealWoman wall mural will be on display throughout December) and proceed along a several block radius of the mural, passing by Trader Joe's and Safeway, two supermarket chains that have not yet joined the boycott. Along the way, marchers will stop to hand out leaflets, stickers, seal-inspired gifts and other materials promoting compassion for seals.

What: March to end Canadian seal slaughter
When: Wednesday, December 20th, 2006, noon to 2:00 p.m.
Where: Start at 367 Bay Street ( http://tinyurl.com/yn7tws ), stroll on Bay Street between Powell and Taylor

For more information, write to contact [at] harpseals.org, or call Diana Marmorstein at (786) 877-2656 or Ian Robichaud at (310) 266-9009.


4. Last Vigil For Animals in UCSF Labs for 2006

The year's last vigil for animals incarcerated and exploited in laboratory experiments at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) will be held on the third Thursday of the month (as usual). This will be a candlelight vigil, with candles provided by the organizers. However, participants can feel free to bring their own signs, as well a short poem or piece of prose to recite, as the Vigil will close with a reading regarding individuals of other species and our relationships with them.

What: Last vigil of 2006 for animals in UCSF labs
When: Thursday, December 21st, 4:30 - 6:00 p.m.
Where: UCSF's Parnassus Campus, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco ( http://tinyurl.com/rpyyc )

If you want to take public transportation to UCSF, the San Francisco Muni buses #6 and #43 both go right by the Vigil's venue on Parnassus Avenue; you can also take the N-Judah streetcar, get off at Carl & Arguello streets, enter the UCSF facility and take the elevator up to Parnassus Avenue. From the East Bay, you can take BART, get off at any stop between Embarcadero and Civic Center in San Francisco, and then take an outbound N-Judah streetcar (see above).

For more information, email vigilforanimals [at] yahoo.com or call (415) 751-3756.


5. Urge Lunardi's Supermarket to Drop Battery Cage Eggs

Lunardi's Supermarket, a high-end grocery chain in the San Francisco Bay Area, proclaims it is committed to excellence: "We can explain our prices, but we don't ever want to have to justify our quality." If this is true, then why does Lunardi's still sell eggs from chickens confined in battery cages alongside their free-range and cage-free egg products?

Recently, East Bay Animal Advocates (EBAA) ( http://www.eastbayanimaladvocates.org ) documented conditions at Lunardi's battery-cage egg supplier ( http://www.cal-eggs.com ). The undercover footage shows intensive confinement of chickens in tiny cages. Citing concerns over animal welfare, EBAA has contacted Lunardi's five times this fall without a single response.

As the lead competitor of Andronico's Market, which stopped selling battery cage eggs in October, Lunardi's plays an important role in promoting animal-friendly business practices. In order to advance the company's commitment to excellence, please join EBAA in asking Lunardi's to stop supporting the abusive industry practice of keeping egg-laying hens in battery cages.

What You Can Do:

Help EBAA reach out to Lunardi's customers with information about the suffering of hens confined in battery cages.

What: Weekly outreach campaign at Lunardi's Supermarket
When: Every Saturday starting on December 23rd, 2006 from noon - 1:00 p.m.
Where: Lunardi's Supermarket, 345 Railroad Avenue, Danville ( http://tinyurl.com/ychqlb ) (EBAA will conduct outreach at different Lundardi's locations in subsequent weeks)

- Also contact the company and urge them to drop battery cage eggs.

Lunardi's Super Market, Inc.
432 N. Canal St., Unit 22
South San Francisco, CA 94080-466

Tel: (650) 588-7507
Fax: (650) 588-0811
Email: customerservice [at] lunardis.com


6. Compassionate Cooks' January Cooking Class: "Healthful Resolutions"

Join IDA-sponsored Compassionate Cooks ( http://www.compassionatecooks.com ) at their next cooking class, "Healthful Resolutions," and learn to make five delicious, nutritious dishes, including Homemade Hummus Wraps with Roasted Red Peppers, Creamy Potato Leek Soup, Pasta Primavera with Seasonal Veggies, Fast & Fabulous Fajitas and German Apple Cake. The class will also include a test taste of various types of rice, such as Brown Basmati, Wehani, Forbidden and more.

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 January for yummy food samples and a lot of fun!

What: Compassionate Cooks' January Cooking Class: "A Healthful Holiday Feast"
When: Saturday, January 13th, 2007, 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Where: The First Unitarian Church of Oakland ( http://uuoakland.org/directions.htm ), 685 14th Street (at Castro), Oakland

The cost of the class is $50, 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 much more. Be sure to register in advance by December 7th either online ( http://www.compassionatecooks.com/reg.htm ) or by calling (510) 531-COOK. You can also sign up for a cooking series. Check out class packages ( http://www.compassionatecooks.com/deals.htm ).