IDA eNews: 4/16/08

Get Active during World Week for Animals in Laboratories
City of Los Angeles Shuts Down Elephant Circus Show
IDA Champions Animals at Olympic Torch Run in San Francisco


Get Active during World Week for Animals in Laboratories
Join or plan an event between April 20th and 26th

World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL) ( http://www.WWAIL.org ) is taking place April 20-26, and activists have so far planned outreach events in seven states and the United Kingdom. IDA strongly encourages everyone to get involved during WWAIL by attending or organizing an event. Find out what is happening in your area ( http://wwail.org/list_event.html ), or contact Caroline [at] idausa.org to plan your own event.

Here are some of the demonstrations that IDA will be directly involved in:

- IDA will hold four demonstrations at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) ( http://wwail.org/ca.html ) for Bay Area activists. Of the many vivisectors at UCSF, researcher Steven Lisberger ( http://www.vivisectioninfo.org/lisberger.html ) is among the most infamous. He has been conducting outdated and useless experiments on animals for more than 20 years, drilling holes in monkeys' heads and strapping them into restraining chairs for up to eight hours a day. Over the years, IDA has held many demonstrations at UCSF to expose the hidden animal abuse to the public.

- On Monday April 21st, IDA will join activists from Last Chance for Animals (LCA) and Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN) at a demonstration against animal research at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) ( http://wwail.org/ca.html ). In Dr. Madeleine Schlag-Rey's project, restraining devices are bolted to the heads of rhesus monkeys. Coils are implanted near their eyes and electrodes are wired into their brains, and they are strapped into restraint chairs for hours at a time. Government inspections of UCLA labs have revealed 82 separate violations of the Animal Welfare Act.

- IDA Northwest Coordinator Matt Rossell spent two years undercover as an animal care technician at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), observing and documenting the cruelty taking place there. He will be coordinating a number of events during WWAIL to bring OHSU's abuses to light ( http://wwail.org/or.html ), specifically targeting Eliot Spindel's cruel and useless nicotine experiments on mother monkeys and their babies ( http://www.vivisectioninfo.org/campaigns/spindel/ ). If you live near Portland, please join Matt and our Northwest Office for these events, including demonstrations at OHSU, leafleting at the March of Dimes, and doorhanger outreach. Also check out the powerful "Field of Flags" Memorial Display ( http://www.wwail.org/planning_events.html#fieldofflags ) we've set up on the OHSU campus.

IDA has served as the international coordinator for WWAIL since 1986, and has watched it grow from a single day of observance to a week-long effort to inspire scores of concerned people across the U.S. and worldwide to action. All of the events held during WWAIL are part of a global effort to end the deliberate poisoning, mutilation, torture and murder of approximately 180 million animals per year who suffer in laboratories around the world. Please join IDA and other animal advocates during WWAIL as we speak out for animals.


City of Los Angeles Shuts Down Elephant Circus Act
Exhibitor with history of animal welfare violations forced to leave town

Enforcing new guidelines adopted to protect exotic animals, Los Angeles Animal Services last week shut down a controversial circus elephant act that is under federal investigation. The elephant act, appearing in Panorama City with Circus Vazquez, was forced out of Los Angeles after the city learned of the act's record of Animal Welfare Act violations and documented elephant abuse, which violated city permit requirements.

The elephants, Tina, Jewel and Queenie, have a long history of being abused and neglected by their "owner" Will Davenport, all of which has been documented in official records. Both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are actively investigating Davenport, who is known to have operated under different names and business aliases in Arizona and Texas, for violations of federal law.

"We commend L.A. Animal Services for taking action to prevent these abused elephants from being exploited in our city," said Catherine Doyle, IDA's Los Angeles-based campaign director, adding that "Tina, Jewel and Queenie have suffered long enough. We call on federal authorities to act as swiftly and decisively as the city has by confiscating these elephants and sending them to the natural habitat sanctuary that stands ready to transport and house them immediately."

IDA has pointed to a number of problems surrounding the elephants, including:

- A history of neglect, inadequate veterinary care, inhumane handling and Animal Welfare Act violations for all three elephants. The USDA, which is responsible for enforcing exotic animal welfare laws, is actively investigating the matter.
- Abuse documented by the USDA, including multiple wounds consistent with ankus injuries, eyewitness reports of beatings, and the "inappropriate and abusive use of the ankus and such use is likely to cause trauma, behavioral stress, physical harm or unnecessary discomfort..."
- Violation of the Endangered Species Act committed in the purchase of Tina and Jewel, highly endangered Asian elephants, by the Davenports from the Cole Brothers Circus, which the USFWS is actively investigating.

Animal Services revoked Davenport's permit under exotic animal handling guidelines passed by the Animal Services Commission earlier this year. One of the dozen new rules prohibits applicants who have violated the Animal Welfare Act in the last five years from holding a permit. By enforcing this law against someone who is guilty of numerous animal welfare violations, Los Angeles has sent a powerful message that cruelty to animals used for entertainment will not be tolerated in their community.

For more information on Tina, Jewel and Queenie, see http://www.helpelephants.com .


IDA Champions Animals at Olympic Torch Run in San Francisco
Activists educate public and media about China's killing of cats and dogs for fur

As China prepares to host the Olympics in the capitol city of Beijing this summer, the country's government has been under heavy international fire lately for human rights violations, from the ongoing repression of Tibet to its economic role in the Darfur genocide. The controversy brought thousands of demonstrators last week to San Francisco, the only city in the U.S. where the Olympic torch appeared. With massive international media coverage drawn to the City by the Bay, IDA took this rare opportunity to raise public awareness of an atrocity being committed against animals in China – the killing of dogs and cats for their fur.

IDA has vigorously protested the Chinese fur industry ( http://www.furkills.org/feature_070214.shtml ) for many years because of its cruelty. Video footage obtained by undercover investigators has revealed dogs and cats being strangled and electrocuted to death, and being skinned alive, remaining conscious for up to 10 minutes afterwards. Only last year, China passed the first animal welfare laws in its history, but these do not apply to fur farms, so the extreme suffering of fur-bearing animals continues, as in the U.S. -- unregulated and unabated.

IDA activists joined protesters and sports fans in downtown San Francisco, setting up huge banners at Justin Herman Plaza to show that China needs to reform both their human and animal rights policies. To avoid potential conflicts and confrontations, city officials chose to change the route of the Olympic torch at the last minute and cancelled a scheduled closing ceremony near IDA’s spot, but that didn't stop us from holding up posters and passing out flyers detailing China's brutal fur industry. Several newspapers -- including the San Francisco Chronicle ( http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/04/09/sports/s015856D12.DTL&hw=fur&sn=003&sc=675 ), the Los Angeles Times ( http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-me-torch10apr10,0,2603370.story ), and the New York Times ( http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/09/us/09cnd-torch.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin ) – brought our concerns to millions of readers around the world.

Thanks to all the Bay Area IDA supporters who helped us bring China's animal abuse to light by joining us at the demonstration.


Adopt An Activist For WWAIL!
How to make a difference even if you can't make it to the demo
( https://secure.ga0.org/02/adoptanactivist )

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