News About Animals - September 22, 2011 - Breaking News About Fur!

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Click here to view this online. September 22, 2011   Huge Victory - West Hollywood, California Votes To Go Fur-Free! This week the City Council of West Hollywood, California unanimously passed a historic ordinance prohibiting the sale of fur apparel products within the city! This great success followed months of canvassing and rallies spearheaded by the Fur-Free West Hollywood Campaign. Click here to see who was involved. Several stores in West Hollywood had voluntarily removed fur items from their stores prior to the City Council's actions. In 1989, West Hollywood passed a resolution proclaiming the city a "cruelty free zone for animals." Since that time, the city has passed legislation banning the declawing of cats, prohibiting pet stores from selling puppy mill animals, and resolutions opposing cosmetic testing on animals and steel-jaw leg hold traps. In 2001 they adopted IDA's guardian language, which substitutes "guardian" for "owner" when referring to our relationship with companion animals. West Hollywood is the first city in the U.S. to ban the cruel commerce of fur. It is a remarkable victory. Visit our blog to read more and post your own thoughts. Want to act in your town to help animals killed for their fur? Click here for some ideas. And this year's Fur Free Friday is right around the corner. Click here to see what activists around the world did last year and start planning your own events. New Contest - Win A Month's Supply Of Daiya Vegan Cheese! You could win a month’s supply of Daiya vegan cheese simply by participating in our exciting campaign to make vegan eating fun and accessible for everyone. Our Vegan Pizza Takes Over the World campaign is really taking off! Volunteers are approaching dozens of pizza parlors around the U.S. and Canada, asking them to offer a vegan pizza featuring Daiya cheese for World Go Vegan Week, October 24 – 31. Just get a restaurant to offer a vegan pizza for that week and you will be entered into our drawing for a month’s supply of Daiya vegan cheese! Soy-free and gluten-free Daiya cheese melts, stretches, and tastes just like traditional dairy-based cheese. Yum! Daiya will also send free samples for pizza shops to try. We'll provide you with a letter and tips on how to approach the pizzerias. One person can make a major difference changing everyday restaurants into vegan-friendly havens. To help spread the vegan pizza love in your community, and get your name in the drawing, contact Hope Bohanec: hope@idausa.org 415-448-0058 or 707-540-1760. We will announce the winner in an upcoming IDA eNews. Vegan pizza outreach not your cup of tea? Click here for other ideas to promote World Go Vegan Week. Support Classifying Captive Chimpanzees As "Endangered" The U.S. Department of the Interior is accepting comments on a petition to classify captive chimpanzees as "endangered." Click here to submit your comments before the October 31 deadline. Classifying captive chimpanzees as merely "threatened" allows them to be misused and abused as pets, in entertainment, and in laboratories. Seeing them in ads and commercials, allowed because of their "threatened" status, misleads people into thinking they really do not need protection. A 2011 Lincoln Park Zoo/University of Chicago study showed that important conservation efforts may be hampered by these portrayals. Their use in research as human models has proven a waste. After infecting many chimpanzees with HIV, not one developed AIDS, and the entire expensive effort failed. Since plans are underway by some to continue nonscientific efforts, classifying chimpanzees as "endangered" would outlaw such immoral activity, thereby enriching the lives of our genetic cousins, saving taxpayers' money, and freeing researchers to utilize appropriate methods. A 2003 study by Wayne State University scientists provided new genetic evidence that humans and chimpanzees diverged so recently that chimpanzees should be classified as Homo troglodytes, thereby making them full-fledged members of our genus, Homo, i.e., persons. We should give captive chimpanzees the benefit of the doubt, and offer them protection by classifying them as "endangered." Click here to submit comments. Stop ABC Show Glamorizing Ringling Bros. Circus  ABC is developing a new program called Bazirkus, reportedly a soap opera "based loosely" on Nicole Feld of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Feld is the producer of the circus owned by her father, Kenneth Feld. The show would feature a "fictional circus" modeled after Ringling, which is notorious for its abuse of animals, and would likely feature live wild animals in its production. ABC would be promoting or even participating in the abuse inherent in training and using wild animals in entertainment. Click here to read more and tell ABC how you feel about this show's glamorization of circuses that use performing animals. Stop Export Of Elephant Calf From Sri Lanka To Manila Zoo The Sri Lankan government plans to "donate" a baby elephant from a government-run orphanage to the Manila Zoo in the Philippines, to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Help stop this export that may open the door for more Sri Lankan elephants to be sent to other zoos and circuses. The Manila Zoo reportedly confines an elephant named Mali, donated by the government of Sri Lanka in 1977 at age four, in a decrepit concrete enclosure of little more than 200 square feet. This is no way for an elephant to live, and Sri Lanka should not condemn another young calf to a life of deprivation and intense confinement. Click here to send an e-mail urging the Sri Lankan Prime Minister to stop the plan.   Carry your lunch or laptop in style with our spacious messenger bag!   Rest your head or feet on our cool new throw pillow.   Organic cotton Guardian Tote Bag from EcoJoia on sale!   Click here to see our new women's fitted, organic cotton shirts.   Help elephants in Africa - click here to see how.   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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