After more than three years of campaigning, I am thrilled to announce that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has finally ruled to block the National Marine Fisheries Service’s killing of federally protected sea lions on the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington. In Defense of Animals (IDA) working with a grassroots group the Sea Lion Defense Brigade (SLDB) have organized against the state-sanctioned sea lion killing while the lawsuit that challenged the program languished in court for years. Now all that hard work has paid off and the sea lions are safe from harm!

The court said the government failed to meet the requirements of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and cannot justify killing protected pinnipeds. The sea lion predation of .04 to 4.2 percent of the spring salmon run at the Bonneville Dam could not be considered a “significant negative impact” when the same agencies allow fisherman to take up to 17 percent of the returning fish.

IDA congratulates the prevailing plaintiffs, The Humane Society of the United States, Wild Fish Conservancy and two private citizens. This campaign exemplifies how different organizations, working on legal and grassroots fronts, can reach a common goal for animals.

This is a huge victory for both sea lions and salmon. We are relieved to see an end to the unethical, politically motivated killing of native, protected sea lions and we hope these agencies will now address the human-caused threats to salmon recovery – over-fishing, introduction of non-native fish, dams and habitat destruction.

Since the lethal removal program began in 2008, IDA and the SLDB have worked to protect the sea lions in the Columbia River and hold agencies accountable to the public for this controversial program. Activists organized dozens of demonstrations, met with government officials, and rallied on the steps of the Oregon capital. IDA fought a court battle to free one sea lion named “Willy,” who was misidentified by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and wrongfully removed from the river.

During the 2010 spring salmon season, IDA and SLDB launched a volunteer-based vigil near the Bonneville Dam to track government trapping and killing, and educate the public and fishermen. An RV mobile monitoring vehicle called the “Sea Wolf” kept a round the clock watch over the sea lions.

Among the core campaigners, spirits are very high right now. “I’m overjoyed at the court’s ruling,” exclaimed Bethanie O’Driscoll, one of the plaintiffs and grassroots organizers, remarked after the victory was announced. “It’s been a hard fight, but anyone who has ever looked into the eyes of a sea lion will understand why it was worth it.”

“I’m not going to miss getting up every morning at 5:00 a.m. to try to scare sea lions out of the traps,” joked Julie Farris, a dedicated volunteer who spent months on site at the dam. She reminisced about how our efforts to educate the public and even fishermen really paid off. “We made inroads with people who had thought of the sea lions as a nuisance.”

Our education efforts have set the record straight. These gregarious, intelligent sea lions are a part of the river ecosystem. They belong here as much as the salmon, and should never been killed for simply eating.

This blog was contributed by Matt Rossell, a former IDA employee.

The fur industry has taken a financial hit in recent years, with industry data revealing a reduction in annual global fur sales of roughly $2 billion between 2006/2007 and 2007/2008. These cold financial figures  translate into heartwarming, priceless victories—approximately 10 million animals’ lives saved! And the good news keeps coming. Israel  is on the eve of a global historic precedent for fur bearers, with their government close to passing a bill into law that would ban all fur and make Israel the first fur-free country. This decision will set an example to governments around the world that, here in the 21^st century, there is no excuse for the moral injustice of fur.

IDA knows that when it comes to bringing an end to the fur industry, public opinion matters. Unfortunately, those who profit from torturing and killing these innocent animals share this knowledge, and we still have our work cut out for us. A recent Gallup Poll show an increase in the percentage of American’s who find it “morally acceptable” to buy and wear fur, increasing to 61% in 2009 from 54% in 2008, after a solid three-year decline. One possible contributing factor, the fur profiteers around the world have launched an insidious ad campaign of their own, attempting to greenwash fur as an eco-friendly, renewable, sustainable, biodegradable fabric.  The Fur Information Council of America, for example, misleadingly uses “the natural, responsible choice” as its slogan.

That is why we need your help now more than ever to counter these false claims with our message of empathy that strikes to the heart of this issue, and gives the animals a voice. With one click you can speak up for fur bearing by making a donation to help IDA place more ads like this in cities around the country. These ads are a great investment, with every penny spent representing hundreds of people reached by our message of compassion. Please, donate today. With your help, we will make a difference.

This blog was contributed by Matt Rossell, a former IDA employee.

Fur Free Friday in San Francisco’s Union Square was a huge success! We had over 50 activists on a drizzly morning educating San Francisco shoppers about the terrible cruelty of fur. We had a “bunny” and a “doggy” (activists in costume) in cages with images of the horrors of the Chinese fur trade surrounding the cages depicting the anguish in which animals on fur farms suffer before they are brutally killed. Many people stopped to look at the gruesome photos.

Our huge 12 foot tall banner with images of a fox and a rabbit greeted Macy’s shoppers with the message, “Please, don’t buy fur.” Some activists went to leaflet at Niemen Marcus, some at Sacs Fifth Ave, some at Macy’s and some at IDA’s main target, Nordstrom on Market St. Around 2 pm, we marched around Union Square just as the drizzle turned into a steady rain. But it did not dampen our spirits as we chanted “Compassion is the Fashion, Don’t Buy Fur!”

IDA hosted many events on the West Coast where Fur Free Friday participation peaked, including Portland, Oregon where 200 advocates took over the streets with a police-escorted march. Activists carried signs, chanted and marched peacefully to all downtown locations that sell fur, entertained and educated by cheers from the pom-pom-carrying group called the Radical Cheerleaders for Animal Rights. In Los Angeles 100 spirited activists came out to march in Beverly Hills on the sidewalks of Rodeo Drive, stopping at all the locations that sell fur, and their efforts were covered in news stories on three local networks that evening. IDA staff and volunteers presented an eye-catching demo in San Francisco’s Union Square, complete with giant banners and displays with animal-costumed activists “trapped” inside cages.

In solidarity with suffering animals, activists in Boston came out in harsh weather, even after freezing rain had canceled the local group’s scheduled demo. IDA met a handful of these die-hard activists who leafleted the metro stops for 3 hours, handing out over 900 anti-fur leaflets!

Many Fur Free Friday demonstrations across the country occurred outside Nordstrom stores, where IDA has an ongoing focused campaign, determined to make Nordstrom the first major U.S. upscale department store to go completely fur-free. The Nordstrom Campaign was re-launched on Fur Free Friday, and is off to a great start. Activists will be leafleting outside Nordstrom stores through Valentine’s Day, encouraging Nordstrom customers to speak up about fur, and IDA is looking for volunteers to participate. Please contact IDA’s NW Director, Matt Rossell at matt@idausa.org or 503-249-9996, to find out how you can help, and visit our Nordstrom Campaign site for more information.

IDA’s Director of Outreach Hope Bohanec contributed to this post.