IDA Blog

Archive for the ‘Northwest Update’ Category

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has reported the first sea lion trap and kill of the season on the Columbia River. Named “Lionel” by students from Redland Elementary School in Portland, but known to wildlife agencies by the brand “C653,” the sea lion was trapped and killed by lethal injection on Wednesday. Sixty-four California sea lions are listed on the government’s kill authority letter and are at risk of being trapped or shot by wildlife officials. IDA is skeptical about the Oregon and Washington state wildlife agencies’ ability to correctly identify and humanely handle targeted sea lions.

Yesterday protesters from IDA and the Sea Lion Defense Brigade confronted wildlife officials responsible for the lethal removal of the protected sea lions, to voice concerns and ask questions about a plan that is misguided, has not met the criteria set forth in Section 120 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, fails to accurately identify specific sea lions as required by law, and will do nothing to resolve issues that endanger salmon populations.

Fishing quotas for salmon on the Columbia River this year were raised to 16 percent from last year’s 13 percent, while sea lions at the Bonneville Dam are being killed for eating what will likely be only about one percent of the 2010 spring run. These wildlife agencies are not making sound, biology-based decisions regarding salmon recovery. And the agencies’ track record has been abysmal, with multiple incidents of malfunctioning traps and seven sea lions who have died unintentionally in state custody.

Over 50 separate Fur Free Friday educational events occurred in 25 U.S. states as well as actions in Canada, Germany, and Spain on the day after Thanksgiving, November 27 the world’s largest day of outreach for animal rights. Be sure and check out the slide show of events from all over the world!

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.

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IDA was proud to host the first annual Ride To The Light, Three Sanctuary Century, which was a very fulfilling Saturday of cycling more than 100 miles to benefit three awesome sanctuaries, Out To Pasture, Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary and our own Project Hope.

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What is an animal rights activist to do when a zoo association conference, the Ringling circus, and Veg Fest all converge in Portland in the same week? At IDA, we got busy! Thanks to all the amazing volunteers who came out and helped make this a fabulously successful week of outreach for the animals!

In the first wolf hunt ever authorized by Oregon officials, federal hunters with permission to kill were tracking a pair of wolves Wednesday, and the hunt resumes tomorrow, Friday. Read the rest of this entry »

On our very first training ride for the upcoming Three Sanctuary Century, we came across two stranded chickens in Forest Park. Watch the video for the full details on this unbelievable rescue.

Thanks to Jane Bicquette for bringing us the nets that truly made this rescue possible and for assisting with the capture. Also, thanks to Leslie Rossell for her support.

After you watch this daring rescue in heavy traffic, race over to our fundraising site and give generously to our benefit for these three amazing sanctuaries. Read the rest of this entry »

Check out Aimee Green’s Oregonian article, Animal rights protester makes peace with Lloyd Center, which details the final chapter, after the permanent closing of the Scamp’s Pet Stores chain, IDA’s Matt Rossell settles his legal dispute with the mall and their security guards who tackled him for 21 seconds of free speech at a Radical Cheerleaders for Animal Rights protest against puppy mills.

A special thanks goes out to the pro bono legal assistance of Stu Sugarman, Rossell’s attorney, who made sure his speech really was free, and continues to ensure that activists are defended when their constitutional rights are challenged. Activists could have long ago been silenced if not for the dilligence of defense attorneys like Stu.

Now its time to celebrate the shuttering of Scamp’s! Join Stu, Matt and the Radical Cheerleaders for the party of the summer, Puppies Vs. Mall Cops, A totally awesome benefit party!, Saturday, August 29th, 7pm. There will be a showing of the film Paul Blart Mall Cop projected onto a 100″ screen in 7.1 surround sound and then from 9:00pm – Midnight: Kickin’ it Old Skool – 80’s Dance Party! Don’t miss it!

Yesterday, in courtroom 708 of the Multnomah County Circuit Court, Judge Adrienne Nelson was smiling while she dismissed Matt Rossell’s case (IDA’s Northwest Director) where he had been aggressively tackled and falsely arrested last February 7th at a puppy mill protest. The arrest occurred after a free speech event where the Radical Cheerleaders for Animal Rights had performed some cheers in protest of the store’s sale of puppy mill puppies in their Lloyd Center Mall location in Portland.

The entire event and arrest was captured on video and the Youtube post has been widely circulated, sparking a flurry of complaints against the mall.

The case was dismissed following a civil compromise that was reached between Rossell and the mall owners, Glimcher Properties Corporation, L.P., where both parties agreed to drop all civil or criminal claims and granted the right for Rossell to go back to the mall for “peaceful use” (they had issued a four-year exclusion prohibiting access.) Rossell was represented by Stu Sugarman, local Portland criminal defense attorney, an activist in his own right, and longtime advocate for activists.

The Portland Mercury’s story, “Dog-piled; mall cops pound puppy protesters” details the events of the day and uncovers the mall’s security company opperating procedures, which show that the mall security acted in direct violation of their own rules of conduct by tackling Rossell to the ground and taking him into custody.

Late last year, Ann Yeager of KGW Channel 8, had conducted an investigation into Scamp’s sale of sick and genetically defective puppies from puppy mills. IDA contributed significantly to that news story, sharing contacts gathered over the years from the ongoing campaign against the chain of pet stores.

But the biggest news that puts a giant exclamation point on the end of this issue, is that the entire regional chain of five Scamp’s Pet Stores have closed their doors forever, declaring bankruptcy this summer, around the same time Oregon’s state legislature had successfully passed a puppy mill bill, that would have forced Scamp’s to disclose the sources of their puppies which they have long kept secret.