IDA Blog

Posts Tagged ‘New York’

This is Baker, a squirrel monkey who was one of the first animals to survive a NASA spaceflight. Photo Credit : NASA

On Tuesday, IDA released letters from seven celebrities opposed to upcoming animal experiments funded by NASA. The experiments are part of a study entitled “Long-term Effects of Space Radiation in Nonhuman Primates” and they would involve irradiating squirrel monkeys at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), a Department of Energy facility in New York State.

The celebrities signed on to the IDA-drafted letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr., and Brookhaven National Laboratory Director Dr. Samuel Aronson. Those who have signed to date include Alicia Silverstone, James Cromwell, Zachary Quinto, Allison Janney, Woody Harrelson, Kristen Bell, Emily Deschanel, and Elizabeth Perkins. Click here to send your own message to Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Department of Energy.

NASA’s proposed experiment would expose these tiny monkeys – only a foot tall – to one massive burst of gamma radiation equal to a three-year journey to Mars and back. Since the 1950s, thousands of monkeys have been exposed to various dosages of radiation, including radio frequency, microwave, X-ray, gamma, electron, proton, neutron and other particle radiation. Scientists have already shown that gamma radiation can cause depressive behavior, immobility, hyperirritability, convulsions, vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, hair loss, open sores, skin hemorrhages, and even death.

Previous research has also proven that animals of different species – even of different strains of the same species – react differently to radiation, which calls into question the proposed experiment’s scientific value for human astronauts. These objections and more were included in an official complaint to NASA and BNL sent jointly by IDA and the International Primate Protection League (IPPL). IDA’s anti-vivisection team worked with Shirley McGreal of IPPL on the complaint – challenging the experiments on scientific grounds and citing fatal flaws, such as redundancy, species differences, and available alternatives already in use.

NASA has already committed $1.75 million in taxpayer money to the experiment. BNL is expected to conduct the radiation portion of the experiment, but BNL has not yet made the final decision on whether it will do so. According to conversations with PR officials at BNL, the experiment is currently being reviewed by BNL’s safety, science, and animal welfare committees. If you have not already done so, please take the time to send a letter condemning these experiments to Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Department of Energy.

Thanks for standing with us against these experiments. We will provide updates when we know more.

In the dead of winter this fur season, IDA  launched a new life-affirming ad campaign, and with your help we are making real difference for fur bearing animals. These eye-catching ads depict a lone, beautiful fox with the poignant message, “Fur is only elegant if you are born with it.” The ads appeared on the exterior and interior of hundreds of buses in New York City and Chicago, reaching more than 300,000 commuters and pedestrians last month. The simple message effectively brings the fur issue back where it belongs—to the animals—and directs people to our site, furkills.org for facts about the brutal fur industry and what compassionate consumers can do to help end it.

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.

Watoto at the Woodland Park Zoo waiting to get out.

IDA just released its 2009 list of the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants, which exposes the hidden suffering of elephants in zoos. In its sixth year, the list highlights how confinement of these giants to tiny enclosures wreaks havoc on their physical and psychological health and leads to premature death for many. For the first time, the list includes a Canadian entry, the Toronto Zoo.

We’ve already been inundated with calls from the media from cities across North America including Honolulu, Toledo, Houston, Chicago (Brookfield Zoo) and Toronto, helping to bring attention to the plight of elephants suffering in zoos.

See the full list of zoos, plus two new inductees into the Worst Zoos for Elephants Hall of Shame, by clicking here.