IDA eNews: 11/07/07

IDA ACTION ALERTS
Take IDA's Thanksliving Pledge!
bebe Agrees to Go Fur-Free…but Not Quite Yet
Sponsor IDA's Anti-Fur PSA for Fur Free Friday

CAMPAIGN NEWS & UPDATES
IDA's November 2007 Guardian of the Month - Christine Dorchak
IDA-Project Hope Adoption Spotlight - Dottie
Victory: Cape May Adopts Plan to Protect Both Feral Cats and Endangered Birds


IDA ACTION ALERTS

Take IDA's Thanksliving Pledge!
Go turkey-free to save lives & win prizes this holiday season

Let's talk turkey: Did you know that more than 300 million turkeys are slaughtered for meat every year? That's about one bird per American. They are hatched in incubators and never meet their mothers or live in nests, but are raised instead in huge windowless sheds called grow houses where they never see the sun. Factory farmers cut part of the birds' beaks and toes off, without anesthetic, and genetically breed them to grow so fast that often their legs actually break under their ballooning weight, and many young birds die from heart attacks because of the physical strain.

Hopefully, the cruelty forced on innocent birds is enough to turn you off of turkey flesh for good, but in case you need some extra incentive, this year IDA is offering some very appetizing prizes just for taking our Thanksliving Pledge!

Tofurky Vegetarian Feast ( http://tofurky.com/products/tofurkyfeasts.htm )
Take the pledge and you could win a delicious Tofurky Vegetarian Feast for four that includes an organic soy Tofurky Roast, Cranberry Apple Potato Dumplings, Giblet and Mushroom Gravy, Wild Rice Stuffing, and Jurky Wishstix -- all of it 100% vegan, easy to prepare, and utterly delectable!

The Vegetarian Meat & Potatoes Cookbook ( http://www.robinrobertson.com/Meat_and_Potatoes.htm )
You could also take home a copy of The Vegetarian Meat & Potatoes Cookbook by Robin Robertson that will help make your Thanksgiving truly fabulous. With 275 healthy recipes for vegan burgers, steaks, stews, casseroles, and other hearty favorites, this book is tailor-made to convince those "meat-and-potatoes people" in your life who say they could never go vegetarian!

To take the Thanksliving Pledge, just fill in your name and email address here ( http://ga0.org/campaign/thanksliving2007/naydxx7it? ). If you're already planning a turkey-free thanksgiving, you can still help turkeys by inviting your friends and family to sign the pledge ( http://ga0.org/campaign/thanksliving2007/forward )!


bebe Agrees to Go Fur-Free…but Not Quite Yet
Take Action to urge fashion retailer not to wait until 2008

With the majority of mall shops and top designers dropping fur, it is increasingly obvious that fur is becoming more of a nightmare for retailers than a fashion must-have. Over the past few years, labels such as Ralph Lauren, Ann Taylor, Forever 21, Wet Seal, Kenneth Cole, Gap, and J. Crew (to name but a few) have all chosen not to sell anything made from real animal fur because of the inherit cruelty involved in its production. Yet in spite of competitor's compassionate pro-animal policies, the fashion chain bebe still hasn't gotten the point.

The fur products on bebe's store shelves range from purses to key chain accessories to collar accents. bebe sells fur taken from rabbits raised in China, where there are no animal welfare laws, and rabbits spend their entire lives in wire cages, often exposed to freezing weather. To cut costs, fur farmers crowd as many rabbits as possible into each cage so they can barely move. When it comes time for slaughter, workers break the rabbit's necks and bash in their skulls before decapitating and skinning them.

Although bebe admits that fur sales only make up 3% of the company's profits, the company has no intention of pulling fur from their shelves until 2008. Their corporate policy on the sale of fur proclaims that the company "strongly believes in the humane treatment of animals." So how can they justify profiting from the abuse and killing of rabbits this fall and winter ( http://www.furkills.org/bebe.shtml )?

We really want an answer to this question, so IDA sent a letter to bebe President and CEO Manny Mashouf in which we wrote, "We are sure that if your consumers were made aware of the undeniable cruelty associated with the fur products you sell, most would be appalled." IDA has yet to receive a meaningful response from bebe explaining how selling fur promotes "humane treatment" of animals.

Buying and selling fur inherently causes pain and suffering for animals. Please join IDA in urging bebe to immediately eliminate all real fur from their stores.

What You Can Do

1) Please Take Action ( %takeaction-bebe2% ) to let bebe's CEO know that you won't shop at their stores until the company stops supporting the bloody fur trade. For best results, always be polite and respectful with those whose awareness you want to raise.

bebe Stores, Inc.
Manny Mashouf, President and CEO
10345 West Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Tel. (877) 423-2303, ext. 2396 (Note: this is the number for Mr. Mashouf's assistant)
Fax: (213) 362-2300
E-mail: MMashouf [at] bebe.com

2) Put the heat on bebe by organizing an outreach event outside of a bebe store. There are over 250 outlets throughout the U.S., so find out if there's one in your area ( http://www.bebe.com/gp/store-locator/102-2975051-3327343?ie=UTF8&bbBrand=core ). An outreach event can be as large or small as you want: just a few people standing outside of a bebe store for a couple of hours every week with signs and leaflets can educate hundreds of thousands of people in your community about fur. It also sends bebe's executives a message that their customers care about animal welfare, and that the company will lose customers if they continue to market fur.

Visit http://www.furkills.org for more ideas and to order literature. For assistance, contact IDA campaign coordinator Annie Judah at (757) 374-8112 or annie [at] idausa.org .


Sponsor IDA's Anti-Fur PSA for Fur Free Friday
TV spot shows viewers the animal cruelty fashion industry tries to hide

With Fur Free Friday coming up on November 23rd, IDA plans to air our TV ad about the bloody fur trade ( http://www.idausa.org/psas/vid_fur.html ) on stations in select cities across the nation. You can help reach us reach the masses with a message of compassion for animals by donating to IDA's Commercial Campaign.

Paying stations to air IDA's 30-second anti-fur spot is a cost-effective and strategic way to expose millions of viewers to the horrors animals endure on fur farms ( http://www.furkills.org/true_price_of_fur.shtml ), where mink, foxes, and other fur-bearing species spend their lives in tiny cages before being brutally executed. IDA's anti-fur PSA exposes people -- many for the first time ever -- to the shocking truth obscured by the fashion industry's multi-million dollar marketing campaigns. IDA's PSAs are available online, but airing them on TV puts images of a rarely-seen and potentially life-changing reality right where the average viewer can see them.

What You Can Do:

Donate to IDA's "Anti Fur Commercial Campaign," and we guarantee that 100% of your contribution will be used to buy air time on TV stations nationwide. While airtime prices vary from city to city, the average cost per impression is just pennies, so your tax-deductible gift of any amount will go a long way toward helping animals!

IDA has big plans to help animals this Fur Free Friday ( http://www.furkills.org/feature_071010.shtml ): what about you? Please be a hero to animals this November 23rd by taking part in this important annual day of action aimed at putting the brutal fur trade out of business. If you would like more information on getting involved, please contact furfree [at] idausa.org . Find an event in your area or register one ( http://www.furkills.org/events ). We hope you will consider planning an event in your area so we can promote it and urge our supporters in your area to join you.


CAMPAIGN NEWS & UPDATES

IDA's November 2007 Guardian of the Month - Christine Dorchak
Greyhounds' best friend has the dog racing industry on the run

Christine Dorchak's life completely changed the day she was hit by a speeding train and thrown under the wheels. EMTs responding to the accident put her body into their ambulance thinking she was dead, but incredibly, Dorchak's vital signs returned on the ride to the hospital. This unusual near-death experience transformed the 26-year-old Dorchak into the canine crusader supreme that she is today, for it was a dog she says who saved her life.

Dorchak had been walking her dog Kelsey, a Black Russian Terrier, along the tracks that day in 1992. Dorchak had already saved Kelsey's life by adopting her from a shelter in Lowell, Mass. on the very day she was scheduled to be put down, and now the dog returned the favor. Had Kelsey not pulled her guardian slightly off course, the train would have struck Dorchak head on, leaving no chance of survival.

When Dorchak awoke from a coma in the intensive care ward several weeks later, she felt closer than ever before to her special dog, and the first words she said upon regaining consciousness were "Where's Kelsey?" despite having complete memory loss from severe head injuries. "Kelsey became my Best Friend in the fullest sense," says Dorchak. "It was my desire to see her again that gave me the strength and will to overcome my injuries and walk again, throughout the many months of hospitalization that were to follow, and it was because of her that I realized my life's calling: To help other animals."

The experience eventually led Dorchak, in 2001, to found GREY2K USA ( http://www.grey2kusa.org/ ), a non-profit that stands today as the country's premiere greyhound advocacy organization. Like many other dog lovers, Dorchak (who is also a longtime vegan) has a soft spot for greyhounds because they are among the most naturally gentle and affectionate dog breeds. Yet every year, more than 30,000 greyhound puppies are bred for commercial dog racing. Living at the track, these dogs spend most of their lives -- between eighteen and twenty-two hours a day -- in cages.

Greyhounds are forced to race in all weather extremes, ranging from sweltering heat to freezing cold, making them especially vulnerable to tissue injuries and bone fractures, as well as spinal injuries, seizures, and death from cardiac arrest. Dogs who can no longer win races (because of injury, illness, or advancing age) are "retired," which for many amounts to being summarily killed. Greyhound rescue and adoption groups are able to spare some dogs from that fate by placing former racers in caring homes, but they do not have nearly enough resources to save all the greyhounds in need.

Dorchak asserts that "Dog racing is cruel and inhumane, and should be outlawed," and is doing everything in her power to achieve this goal. Her latest and most ambitious effort to date is to place a proposition on the November 2008 ballot in Massachusetts called the Greyhound Protection Act that seeks to ban commercial dog racing in the state by 2010. To accomplish this, GREY2K USA and the Committee to Protect Dogs are leading an effort to gather the requisite number of petition signatures (66,593) by November 21st.

One of Dorchak's most effective volunteers is Zoe, her beloved canine companion and spokesdog for the campaign. Zoe, a greyhound and former racer, acts as a sort of poster child for the Greyhound Protection Act. As Dorchak hits the streets with clipboard and petition in hand, Zoe sits right at her side wearing a smart red, white, and blue jacket with the catchy slogan "Vote for the Dogs" printed on the side.

In addition to Zoe, Dorchak is the guardian of four rescued cats: Doodlebug, Samo, Bello, and Buttercup. She believes that "Guardian language reflects the important role that dogs and all non-human animals play in our lives. Greyhound dogs are treated like so many cards in a deck, routinely shuffled from one race track to another, evaluated for their winning potential and discarded when no longer profitable. This is a result of the 'owner' mindset, and must stop."

Greyhound racing is already illegal in 34 states, and if Dorchak and her colleagues are successful, Massachusetts could become the 35th by next year. IDA salutes Christine Dorchak's tireless efforts to end the suffering of dogs being exploited by the greyhound racing industry, and we are honored to name her our Guardian of the Month for November 2007.

What You Can Do:

- Massachusetts residents: Get involved in the effort to pass the Greyhound Protection Act to ban dog racing in your home state by volunteering to collect petition signatures ( http://www.protectdogs.org/ ).

- Learn about adopting a former racing greyhound from a local rescue organization in your area ( http://www.grey2kusa.org/adoption/links.html ).


IDA-Project Hope Adoption Spotlight - Dottie
Darling Dalmatian is one of 28 animals recently spayed/neutered by vet students at the sanctuary

Hello again from Project Hope ( http://www.project-hope.net ), where we were recently privileged to host a professor, a vet tech, and three students from Mississippi State University Veterinary School who provided our animals with a vitally important service -- spay/neuter surgeries. On a grant from MSU, the team drove over in their awesome eight-ton mobile spay/neuter clinic and, despite cold, rainy weather, performed surgeries on 28 dogs and cats! We were thrilled to host these animal-loving folks, and we are so grateful to them for undertaking this extremely helpful mission.

Spaying and neutering companion animals is so crucial to our work. One look around our sanctuary (and pretty much any animal shelter in the country) will tell you why: there are still many more cats and dogs being born than loving guardians willing and able to provide homes for them. Project Hope is just one sanctuary that is constantly overloaded with animals, but it's a reflection of the companion animal homelessness crisis we face as a nation. It is a sad fact that between six and eight million cats and dogs enter animal shelters every year in the U.S. -- and that about half of them are put to death, even though the vast majority are perfectly healthy and adoptable.

Seeing the next generation of veterinarians at work on this problem is truly inspiring, and gives me -- and the animals -- great hope for the future. One of the dogs who was spayed by our visitors was Dottie, a timid but wonderful Dalmatian. She's in heartworm treatment right now, but otherwise healthy and expected to be just fine. She is not at all aggressive, and loves to pal around with other quiet dogs. When she recognizes that you are her protector, it is a relationship that can't be beat, and I am sure when she finds her guardian, they will be very happy together.

What You Can Do:

- If you are interested in adopting Dottie, call me at (662) 237-0233 or email doll [at] idausa.org . Or pay an online visit to the other animals at Project Hope who are in need of loving guardians ( http://search.petfinder.com/shelterSearch/shelterSearch.cgi?shelterid=MS05&preview=1 ).

- There are still many more animals at the sanctuary who need spay/neuter surgeries, a service for which we could use financial support. You can make a real difference in an animal's life and help reduce animal homelessness by making a donation to Project Hope ( https://secure.ga0.org/02/idadonations_project ).

The animals and I thank you for supporting Project Hope! As always, yours in faith,

Doll Stanley
Director, IDA's Project Hope


Victory: Cape May Adopts Plan to Protect Both Feral Cats and Endangered Birds
IDA joins coalition that helped convince New Jersey town to preserve TNR program

Every year, the New Jersey beach town of Cape May hosts the Audubon Society's World Series of Birding ( http://www.njaudubon.org/WSB/ ), when bird watchers from around the world compete for various awards. Home to some of the rarest birds in North America, Cape May is also a committed cat community with a model Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program that has successfully reduced the feral cat population by 75% since 1995. However, the TNR program was recently threatened when the town council wanted to trap and euthanize feral cats to protect endangered Piping Plovers, Least Terns, and Black Skimmers from predation.

When the Cape May City Council first announced a plan to outlaw TNR in the town, IDA's East Coast Director Valerie Sicignano immediately banded together with several organizations to form a coalition that would protect both feral cat and bird populations. The coalition opposed the plan on the grounds that it would unnecessarily condemn Cape May's feral cats to death, as they would all be taken to shelters and killed. At a meeting attended by several dozen animal advocates representing different organizations in the coalition, the council members voted unanimously to adopt a new plan that includes:

- Creating a 1,000-foot buffer zone between cat colonies and the beaches where birds nest on the ground;

- Making microchips mandatory for cats; and

- Enforcing hefty fines for abandonment of cats in the town.

IDA commends Cape May for choosing a humane solution that will serve as an example for others to follow.

What You Can Do:

In our eNews last week, we reported that the Port Authority is capturing feral cats living at New York's JFK Airport and turning them over to shelters to be killed. If you haven't done so yet, please Take Action ( %takeaction-jfkcats% ) to urge New York State officials to immediately put a stop to the feral cat roundups at JFK, and to order the Port Authority to work with feral cat experts to implement a humane TNR program. If you have already participated in the alert, please politely contact these officials by mail, phone, fax, or email.

Anthony R. Coscia, Chairman
Board of Commissioners
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Tel: (732) 846-2120
Fax: (732) 846-8877
Email: acoscia [at] windelsmarx.com

Robert E. Wan Etten, Inspector General
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Tel: (973) 565-4340
Fax: (973) 565-4307
Email: InspectorGeneral [at] panynj.gov

The Honorable Eliot Spitzer, Governor, New York
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
Tel: (212) 681-4580
Fax: (518) 474-1513
Webmail ( http://161.11.121.121/govemail )

The Honorable Mary Donahue, Lieutenant Governor, New York
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
Tel: (518) 474-4623
Email: Ltgovernor.correspondence [at] chamber.state.ny.us

The Honorable Helen Marshall
Queens Borough President, Chairman - Airport Community Advisory Board
120-55 Queens Boulevard
Kew Gardens, NY 11424
Tel: (718) 286-3000
Email: info [at] queensbp.org


IDA's Auction for Animals Starts November 17th

Support IDA by bidding on fabulous items in our eBay Auction for Animals starting on Saturday, November 17th. We are working closely with Silent Partners ( http://silentpartnersinc.com/ ) fundraising consultants to offer our supporters more than 200 tantalizing auction items worth over $30,000, including signed celebrity memorabilia, vacation hotel accommodations, spa and beauty treatments, wine tasting tours, fine dining experiences, tickets to cultural and sporting events, fun family activity packages, and much more!

IDA's Auction for Animals will consist of four waves of 10-day auctions, with new items launching each week from November 17 through the third week of December. You will be able to view the items up for auction at http://www.ebay.com/ida as the November 17th launch date gets closer. Stay tuned for more details!

If you have items that you would like to donate for IDA's Auction for the Animals, we are currently accepting donations. For more information about making tax-deductible donations for our auction, please contact Nicole Otoupalik at (800) 338-4451 or nicole [at] idausa.org .


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