News About Animals - April 7, 2011

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April 7, 2011   Ask The NIH - When Will You Stop Testing On Animals? Please send a quick email to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins, urging him to create a strategic plan to end the use of animals in scientific research. Although Congress ordered the NIH to move towards non-animal methods almost twenty years ago, the NIH has given lip service to these methods with little meaningful progress. That's why we are asking for an agency-wide policy that takes concrete actions to significantly reduce the number of animals in labs each year - eventually bringing that number to zero. Please send NIH a message today and encourage more people to do the same through your World Week for Animals In Laboratories (WWAIL) outreach! Use the "share" button at the top of our alert to post it to your Facebook page. Visit www.wwail.org for more details on this year's events. WWAIL is from April 16 - 24. If Elephants Could Fly ... If the real-life Dumbo (pictured at left) could fly - like the legendary 1940s Disney character who shares her name – she would find her elephant friends held captive in cold, cramped, concrete zoos and squalid circus pens across the country – gentle creatures living year after miserable year at the end of electric prods and painful bullhooks – and she would whisk them away to freedom, to sanctuary. Forever. Dumbo can't help her elephant friends. But you can. Can you envision the constant terror that your skin – thick, but so sensitive it can feel the sting of an insect – will be pierced yet again by the sharp bite of a metal bullhook? Can you imagine being forcibly ripped from your home - from your family - and forced to stand for hours, alone and afraid, in the solitary confinement of a barren and tiny cell? Click here to read about Dumbo and other elephants IDA is trying to free, and to see what you can do to help. Ask Dr. Wilson - Your Vegan Health Questions Answered Dr. Holly Wilson, a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor in South Florida, is available to answer your pressing vegan health questions right here in IDA eNews! Are you thinking about going vegan or are you new to veganism? Are you curious about a particular vitamin, nutrient, or food? Do you want to get the most nutrition from your plant-based diet? Long-time vegan Dr. Wilson can answer your questions. April is National Soy Month, so click here to see Dr. Wilson's answer to an IDA member's question about the health aspects of soy products, particularly tofu. Ask Dr. Wilson is now a monthly feature here in IDA's eNews, so send your vegan health questions to hope@idausa.org. Water For Elephants Outreach Day Friday April 22 The movie Water for Elephants, about a circus, will be released on April 22. Please join us outside theaters to tell movie patrons that the circus cruelty portrayed in the film is very real and continues today. Please help IDA inform the public that there is nothing glamorous or romantic about the kind of animal abuse rampant in circuses today. On Friday, April 22, join one of the many leafleting events already planned around the country – or create your own event. Click here for a list of events or e-mail us for help leafletting on your own or with friends. We'd be happy to provide you with leaflets for distribution. A Farewell To The Elephant Ruby Ruby, the elephant who was a well-known symbol of elephants suffering in zoos, has passed away at the PAWS Sanctuary in northern California at the age of 50. Cause of death is still pending. Ruby was thrust into the spotlight in 2003 when the Los Angeles Zoo decided to separate her from her companion of 16 years, Gita, and send her to the Knoxville Zoo in Tennessee, sparking a lawsuit that made headlines around the world. The plaintiff in that lawsuit, Catherine Doyle, later became IDA's Elephant Campaign Director. Click here to read Catherine's farewell to Ruby.    Click to view IDA's exclusive Four Star Charity Navigator ranking.      $12 commuter mugs - get yours today!    "Go Vegan And No Body Gets Hurt." Shirt $16, buttons $1.     Support IDA with custom greeting cards from CardsDirect!  Sales of this shirt support IDA's campaign for Canada geese!   This message was sent to sweetygirl2002@uol.com.br 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, please click here.

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