Activists in Phoenix taking to the street!

This year’s International Day of Action for Elephants in Zoos (IDAEZ) was a huge success, featuring events in 34 cities in 7 countries and our first-ever virtual protest that used social networking technology to circulate nearly 10,000 messages about how elephants suffer and die prematurely in zoos.On Saturday, dedicated activists organized and attended demonstrations that reached thousands of people in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Croatia, France, South Africa and Spain. Elephant advocates held colorful banners and posters and educated the public by handing out more than 30,000 informative flyers, opening people’s eyes to the lifetime of misery elephants endure in inadequate zoo displays. Reports on demos are still coming in, and we’re seeing record numbers of people attending this year’s events. (Stay tuned to this blog and our IDAEZ information page for event reports and photos.)

IDAEZ’s first virtual protest, also held on Saturday, was an outstanding success. This special cyber-demo allowed everyone to participate in IDAEZ by Tweeting zoos and posting informative messages on zoos’ Facebook pages describing how Earth’s largest land mammals physically and psychologically suffer in small, unnatural exhibits. Participants replaced their Facebook images with eye-catching IDAEZ protest “signs,” drawing even more attention to their messages. Rather than allow their members to read the truth, Brookfield Zoo (Chicago), Toledo Zoo and the Bronx Zoo shut down their Facebook pages for comments for four hours and blocked new fans from joining.
IDA thanks all the committed and compassionate advocates who participated in IDAEZ in person and on-line. You helped educate people worldwide about the terrible plight of elephants in zoos and brought us a step closer to ending their suffering.

We also thank our IDAEZ celebrity supporters for their words of encouragement and belief in this very special event: Lily Tomlin, Steve Guttenberg, Jorja Fox, Elaine Hendrix, Dick Donner and Kathy Joosten.

The success of IDAEZ proves what we’ve been saying all along: United we can end the elephants’ suffering!

Please visit www.HelpElephants.com for more information on our campaigns for elephants in zoos and circuses.

Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary/photo credit: Karla Goodson

Throughout my 20 years in the animal protection field I have admired the work of In Defense of Animals, and I’m truly honored to accept the position of President of this esteemed organization. I feel very fortunate to have inherited a solid foundation created by Dr. Elliot Katz, and look forward to building on this platform of excellence in order to expand IDA’s positive impact for animals.

More than two decades ago I realized the common thread in the network of animal cruelty – the cage. The cage represents the imprisonment and mistreatment of the animals of this world. I have focused my career on tearing down these cages in their many forms and uses.

The cage is a fundamentally flawed contraption that causes rapid emotional, social and physical decline of its inhabitants. In my experience any animal confined to a cage goes through three phases of decline; typically starting with high anxiety, leading to depression, and resulting in psychological turmoil. Putting an animal in a cage is a violation of that creature’s innate right to live naturally and without suffering. This type of confinement also forces animals to eat, sleep and defecate in a space often only a few times the size of their body. This causes human and animal health problems and can ultimately lead to death in some species.

I conceptualized and built a revolutionary cageless animal shelter that set global humane standards. I lobbied for the adoption of guardian language to change people’s ideas concerning our relationships with animals. I lead the rescue of tens of thousands of animals from puppy mills, dog and cock fighting, hoarding cases, equine farming and countless other cruel instances of confinement and mistreatment. I have liberated hundreds of thousands of animals from the confines of cages and the grip of man-made cruelty.

Throughout the centuries, humans have used cages to take non-human animals out of their natural habitats and confine them for enjoyment or financial gain. This phenomenon flows through many forms of animal cruelty. Unnatural confinement is central to puppy mills, vivisection, the dog-meat trade in South Korea, zoos, circuses, aquaria, the exotic bird trade, fur farms, and most of the other exploitative industries IDA fights against.

Puppy mills are one of the most obvious incarnations of this imprisonment. Breeding dogs are often confined to small wire cages for their entire lives, forced to live in horrific conditions while producing litter after litter. These dogs are treated more like a cash crop than living beings capable of pain, loneliness and fear. They live in feces-caked enclosures without proper veterinary care and often only feel the touch of a human hand when they are being forced to breed or their puppies are being taken from them. In this miserable existence they become one with their cages – many have never felt solid ground beneath their feet – only the hard grate of their metal enclosures. One of the most disturbing examples of this abuse I have seen was a Pekingese I rescued from a puppy mill in Arkansas. His severely matted hair had grown around the bars of his tiny cage. I actually had to cut him out of that dank prison to free him.

Another nightmarish example of the cage’s cruel impact is vivisection. Animals are held in laboratories across the country and forced to undergo unimaginable suffering in the name of science. These innocent primates, dogs, cats, rabbits, rats, and other animals cower in the corners of their cages as rough gloved hands reach in to inflict torture. Animals in laboratories are commonly dissected, infected, gassed, burned and blinded. I don’t think that we can fully comprehend the terror of such an existence. For these animals every human interaction is filled with confusion and suffering.

The confinement of birds is perhaps the most fundamentally disturbing use of the cage. Birds are gifted with the incredible ability to soar through the air, envied by all other creatures.  Humans, on a whim, fueled by their desire for an exotic, luxurious pet, take these winged creatures from their rainforest and jungle habitats and force them to live in unnatural confines without proper enrichment. An exotic bird who would naturally fly uninhibited through the treetops is forced to live in a cage often only several times his size. This bird, born to be part of an intricate, social flock, is often forced to live in solitary misery. Some species of parrots can live close to 90 years, but inadequate care and constant confinement dramatically decrease the life expectancy of birds kept as pets.  Until humans cease the imprisonment of these regal creatures they will continue to suffer and die behind the bars of their gilt cages.

These are only three of many examples of the cruelty of confinement. But the cage itself  is not the driving force of the cruelty – it is the humans who stand to profit from the suffering. To make a significant positive impact for these victimized animals we must change the mindset of those who profit from their misery. I remain confident that we are in a position to drastically reduce animal suffering. The need to end animal suffering is great everywhere, but the power of compassion is equal to that need.

In my position as president of IDA I plan to continue that crusade to bring animals out of the darkness of caged confinement and into the safety of a more natural and fulfilling life. We can win only if we band together in a unified circle of compassion, not wavering until we realize our vision of a humane society. IDA has the tools necessary to fight this battle, but we need you every step of the way to ensure victory. I call on you as guardians of the sentient beings of this planet to do your part and continue to support IDA in our work to protect the rights, habitat and welfare of animals. On behalf of the animals who benefit from your acts of kindness, thank you.

IDA's Matt Rossell rallying the crowd.

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.

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.

Hope Bohanec contributed to this post.

Jacob and Matt in the early morning sun.

And what a unique ride it was! The eight riders set off at 7am from Sweet Pea Vegan Baking Company in Portland’s vegan mini-mall, and headed to Estacada, Oregon, to Out To Pasture Sanctuary for the first stop. After climbing “the wall,” a ridiculously steep hill, the riders were warmly greeted by a posse of pigs including Rosa, Ramand, Ramone, Raoul, Lolita, Peppi, Iggy and others. Kit and John, the co-directors of the sanctuary, gave a tour and introduced us to the rest of the animal family that includes roosters, bunnies, llamas, sheep, a goat, feral felines and a horse named Singer, before a much deserved break and lunch.

You can almost see "the wall", the worst climb of the day, drop off there behind Heather.

Then we were off on an odyssey of rolling (and not so rolling!) hills another 65 miles through beautiful farm country, past vineyards and woodlands, toward our final destination in Scio, Oregon, to the Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary, where their annual wine and music party was already well under way. After fueling up on the fantastic vegan dinner, there was still enough daylight left to stroll around the acreage to give a scratch and say goodnight to some of the 200 or so chickens, donkeys, goats, sheep, pigs, horses, cows, and other animals that call Lighthouse home. After the long ride, it was so rewarding to get a chance to meet face to face with some of the individuals who were spared from suffering and will benefit directly from this event.

This was about as close as anyone got to Lisa all day - she was flying!

Although IDA’s Project Hope Sanctuary in a rural area of northern Mississippi was too far to include as a stop in the ride, the founder, Doll Stanley, was with us in spirit. Project Hope is home to as many as 150 dogs, cats, horses, emu, goats, chickens and other animals at any given time. Doll works tirelessly with local law enforcement to investigate cruelty cases, bring abusers to justice, and offer a new life for the animal victims in a region of the country where virtually nothing was being done to enforce cruelty laws. Now there is hope.

A special thanks to the riders, Josh and Heather from Herbivore Clothing, IDA’s Eric and Matt, and the other awesome cyclists, Julie, Jake, Lisa and Michael! Everyone did a great job and rode at least 105 miles, a bit more for some who took a creative detour! Overall it was a fun and rewarding day to raise awareness and much needed funds for the animals.

To date we have raised nearly $8,500 dollars for these three sanctuaries! Help us reach our $10,000 goal by going to our donation page or sending a check to IDA; 1732 NE Alberta St. Portland, OR 97211 with RTTL (Ride To The Light) in the memo line.

Stay tuned, because we are doing it bigger and better next year!

(L to R) Jacob, Josh, Lisa, Michael, Matt, Eric, Heather (not pictured, Julie)

Check out today’s Oregonian article for IDA’s comments of opposition submitted to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW).

Below is our statement, made jointly with Big Wildlife, a conservation organization, calling for the hunt to be canceled.

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.