Huge Victory For Sea Lions!

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Huge Sea Lion Victory, But So Many Marine Mammals Still Need Your Help Don’t forget - donate by December 31 to deduct on your 2010 taxes! Save marine mammals and save on your taxes at the same time! Dear Anne,  We are thrilled to tell you about a monumental victory. For three years, IDA campaigned against the killing of sea lions in the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington. Dedicated IDA members like you wrote tens of thousands of letters to stop the senseless killing.  Since the lethal removal program began in 2008, IDA worked to protect the sea lions in the Columbia River and hold state and federal agencies accountable. We 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. Unfortunately, we lost that case and Willy languishes in captivity in a zoo in Texas. Now, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled to halt the National Marine Fisheries Service’s killing of federally protected sea lions! But even though Willy’s siblings and cousins in the Columbia River now appear safe, so many other marine mammals need our help. We’re now planning our 2011 campaigns to help marine mammals like Willy. We need your support NOW to help us continue our campaign to stop the cruel captures, and senseless killing or, for some, a lifetime of captivity. Campaigns like our opposition to the cruel annual slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan, depicted in the Oscar-winning film The Cove. IDA’s Kim Flaherty just returned from a nightmarish visit to that very same cove: “Standing atop a promontory in Taiji, Japan, I’m enduring an agonizing wait to see if today will bring another merciless slaughter of dolphins. I’ve been in Taiji for four days now and have witnessed over 60 dolphins lose their lives at the hands of the Taiji fishermen. On November 29, a large pod of more than 50 spotted dolphins were killed, while a pod of 10 Risso’s dolphins were destroyed the following day.” Read the rest of Kim’s blog from Japan here! Can we count on you to donate today, so we can continue our work to stop the cruel captures of marine mammals, and senseless killing or incarceration into a lifetime of captivity? As always, thank you for your continuing confidence in IDA, and with your generous help we will achieve even greater victories for sea lions, seals, dolphins, whales, and other marine mammals in 2011! Respectfully, and with the deepest of appreciation, Elliot M. Katz, DVM IDA Founder and Chairman of the Board In Defense of Animals, located in San Rafael, Calif., is an international animal protection organization with more than 100,000 members and supporters dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by protecting their rights and welfare. IDA's efforts include educational events, cruelty investigations, boycotts, grassroots activism, and hands-on rescue through our sanctuaries in Mississippi, Mumbai, India, and Cameroon, Africa. In Defense of Animals is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. We welcome your feedback and appreciate your donations. Please join today! All donations to IDA are tax-deductible. In Defense of Animals 3010 Kerner, San Rafael, CA 94901 Tel. (415) 448-0048 Fax (415) 454-1031 idainfo@idausa.org To unsubscribe, or to change your email preferences, please click here.

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