In Defense of Animals

Last updated
In Defense of Animals
Formation1983;41 years ago (1983)
FounderElliot M. Katz
PurposeAnimal protection
Location
Website www.idausa.org

In Defense of Animals (IDA) is an animal protection organization founded in 1983 in San Rafael, California, US. The group's slogan is "working to protect the rights, welfare, and habitats of animals". [1]

Contents

IDA has become known, in particular, for its campaigns against animal experiments conducted by the U.S. military, and experiments in which baby monkeys are separated from their mothers. [2] Journalist and author Deborah Blum has described its strategy as "pure pit bull. It picks a target carefully and refuses to let go". [2]

History

Elliot M. Katz, a veterinarian, presided over IDA from founding of the organization in 1983 and remained President Emeritus until his death in 2021. [3] [4] Katz was a graduate of Cornell University's School of Veterinary Medicine. [5] [6] He became involved in animal rights issues when his help was sought by activists wanting to end animal experimentation at the allegedly overcrowded and unsanitary laboratories of the University of California, Berkeley. In response, Katz helped set up Californians for Responsible Research, which campaigned for the university to provide better care for the animals. [7]

Programs and campaigns

IDA works for the protection of animals used in scientific research, food and clothing production, entertainment and sport, and other areas. Its early methods included coordinating protests and nonviolent civil disobedience actions including sit-ins, lock downs and banner hangings. Today the organization is led by Marilyn Kroplick M.D. and focuses on pressure campaigns, education, and hands-on animal rescue in Mississippi, South Korea, and India.

Ongoing programs include a campaign to end the dog and cat meat industry in South Korea and a campaign aimed at improving conditions for elephants in zoos and circuses. IDA was one of many animal protection organizations that helped shut down the Coulston Foundation, once the largest chimpanzee research center in the world. [8] [9] [10]

The organisation's other achievements include the following:

Action against elephants in zoos

IDA believes that zoos lead to the premature deaths of elephants [ citation needed ] and that "urban zoos simply don't have enough space for these magnificent, intelligent animals". [26] IDA's campaign against elephants in zoos is also supported by animal rights group PETA. [27] IDA publishes an annual list of the "10 worst zoos for elephants". [28] [29]

IDA claimed it pressured the San Francisco Zoo to transfer its elephants to a sanctuary in 2004. [30] However, the zoo claimed IDA had "little to do" with the decision to transfer the elephants. [31]

This is part of a wider campaign in which the IDA has claimed a number of American zoos such as the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., have violated the Animal Welfare Act. [27] [32] IDA claims that the US Department of Agriculture has acknowledged "the gravity of concern over the poor conditions for elephants in our nation's zoos" [27] However, Woodland Park Zoo have said in response to IDA that "the limited-space argument is simplistic and ... that elephants in accredited zoos receive the best possible care." [26]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chimpanzee</span> Great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa

The chimpanzee, or simply known as the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close relative the bonobo was more commonly known as the pygmy chimpanzee, this species was often called the common chimpanzee or the robust chimpanzee. The chimpanzee and the bonobo are the only species in the genus Pan. Evidence from fossils and DNA sequencing shows that Pan is a sister taxon to the human lineage and is thus humans' closest living relative. The chimpanzee is covered in coarse black hair, but has a bare face, fingers, toes, palms of the hands, and soles of the feet. It is larger and more robust than the bonobo, weighing 40–70 kg (88–154 lb) for males and 27–50 kg (60–110 lb) for females and standing 150 cm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheeta</span> Fictional character

Cheeta is a chimpanzee character that appeared in numerous Hollywood Tarzan films of the 1930s–1960s, as well as the 1966–1968 television series, as the ape sidekick of the title character, Tarzan. Cheeta has usually been characterized as male, but sometimes as female, and has been portrayed by chimpanzees of both sexes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver (chimpanzee)</span> Chimpanzee falsely promoted as a chimpanzee-human hybrid

Oliver was a former "performing" chimpanzee once promoted as a missing link or "humanzee" due to his somewhat human-like appearance and a tendency to walk upright. Despite his somewhat unusual appearance and behavior, scientists found that Oliver was not a human-chimpanzee hybrid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Angeles Zoo</span> Public zoo and botanical garden

The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens is a 133-acre (54 ha) zoo founded in 1966 and located in Los Angeles, California, United States. The city of Los Angeles owns the zoo, its land and facilities, and the animals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden</span> Zoo and botanical garden in Oklahoma City, United States

The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden is a zoo and botanical garden located in Oklahoma City's Adventure District in northeast Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The Born Free Foundation is an international wildlife charity that campaigns to "Keep Wildlife in the Wild". It protects wild animals in their natural habitat, campaigns against the keeping of wild animals in captivity and rescues wild animals in need. It also promotes compassionate conservation, which takes into account the welfare of individual animals in conservation initiatives. Born Free also creates and provides educational materials and activities that reflect the charity's values.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edinburgh Zoo</span> Zoo in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Edinburgh Zoo, formerly the Scottish National Zoological Park, is an 82-acre (33 ha) non-profit zoological park in the Corstorphine area of Edinburgh, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoenix Zoo</span> Non-profit zoo opened 1962 and located in Phoenix, Arizona, United States

The Phoenix Zoo opened in 1962 and is the largest privately owned, non-profit zoo in the United States. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the zoo was founded by Robert Maytag, a member of the Maytag family, and operates on 125 acres (51 ha) of land in the Papago Park area of Phoenix. It has been designated as a Phoenix Point of Pride.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal-made art</span> Art created by non-human animals

Animal-made art consists of works by animals, that have been considered by humans to be artistic, including visual works, music, photography, and videography. Some of these are created naturally by animals, often as courtship displays, while others are created with human involvement.

The International Primate Protection League (IPPL) is a not-for-profit animal welfare organization founded in 1973 in Thailand by Shirley McGreal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leipzig Zoological Garden</span> Zoo in Leipzig, Germany

Leipzig Zoological Garden, or Leipzig Zoo is a zoo in Leipzig`s district Mitte, Germany. It was first opened on June 9, 1878. It was taken over by the city of Leipzig in 1920 after World War I and now covers about 27 hectares and contains approximately 850 species. By 2020 the zoo featured six different theme worlds, aiming at providing habitats appropriate for the species on display.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal testing on non-human primates</span> Experimentation using other primate animals

Experiments involving non-human primates (NHPs) include toxicity testing for medical and non-medical substances; studies of infectious disease, such as HIV and hepatitis; neurological studies; behavior and cognition; reproduction; genetics; and xenotransplantation. Around 65,000 NHPs are used every year in the United States, and around 7,000 across the European Union. Most are purpose-bred, while some are caught in the wild.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal Defenders International</span>

Animal Defenders International (ADI), founded 1990, has offices in US, UK, Colombia, Peru and South Africa; education and public awareness campaigns to protect animals in captivity and wild animals and their environments. ADI 's campaigns focus on animals used in entertainment, sport, for clothing; illegal wildlife trade; and replacement of animals used in research and testing. ADI collaborates with governments on large-scale international rescues of wild animals following legislation to end animal circuses, illegal animal trafficking. ADI owns and operates the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary, South Africa, home to nearly 40 ex-circus lions and tigers from Peru, Colombia and Guatemala.

Monkey Day is an unofficial international holiday celebrated on December 14. The holiday was created and popularized in 2000 by controversial artists Casey Sorrow and Eric Millikin when they were art students at Michigan State University. Monkey Day celebrates monkeys and "all things simian", including other non-human primates such as apes, tarsiers, and lemurs. Monkey Day is celebrated worldwide and often also known as World Monkey Day and International Monkey Day.

Save the Chimps, Inc is a publicly financed 501(c)(3) nonprofit American sanctuary specializing in the care of chimpanzees. The organization was founded by Carole C. Noon in 1997. Save the Chimps is accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries and a founding member of the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance. The mission of Save the Chimps is to provide sanctuary and exemplary care to chimpanzees in need.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gita (elephant)</span> Asian elephant

Gita was a 48-year-old Asian elephant who died at the Los Angeles Zoo on June 10, 2006. Gita's death prompted dozens of animal rights activists, including In Defense of Animals, to accuse the zoo of neglecting and endangering its animals by placing them in unsatisfactory living conditions, and fueled a years-long debate in the city government over the ethics of keeping elephants in a zoo at all.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chimpanzees' tea party</span> Obsolete form of public entertainment

The Chimpanzee tea party was a form of public entertainment in which chimpanzees were dressed in human clothes and provided with a table of food and drink.

The Primate Rescue Center is a primate rescue organization founded by Clay Miller and April Truitt in the late 1980s. The PRC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in Wilmore, Kentucky, United States, approximately 17 miles south of Lexington, Kentucky. The PRC provides lifetime sanctuary for rescued primates from all over the United States, and is home to over 50 primates, including a troop of 11 common chimpanzees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nonhuman Rights Project</span> American non-profit organization

The Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) is an American nonprofit animal rights organization seeking to change the legal status of at least some nonhuman animals from that of property to that of persons, with a goal of securing rights to bodily liberty and bodily integrity. The organization works largely through state-by-state litigation in what it determines to be the most appropriate common law jurisdictions and bases its arguments on existing scientific evidence concerning self-awareness and autonomy in nonhuman animals. Its sustained strategic litigation campaign has been developed primarily by a team of attorneys, legal experts, and volunteer law students who have conducted extensive research into relevant legal precedents. The NhRP filed its first lawsuits in December 2013 on behalf of four chimpanzees held in captivity in New York State. In late 2014, NhRP President Steven Wise and Executive Director Natalie Prosin announced in the Global Journal of Animal Law that the Nonhuman Rights Project was expanding its work into other countries, beginning in Switzerland, Argentina, England, Spain, Portugal, and Australia.

International Primate Day, September 1, is an annual educational observance event organized since 2005 largely by British-based Animal Defenders International (ADI) and supported annually by various primate-oriented advocacy organizations, speaks for all higher and lower primates, typically endorsing humane agendas where primates are at risk, as in research institutions or species endangerment in precarious environmental situations.

References

  1. "Group puts Woodland Park Zoo on 10-worst-for-elephants list". Seattle Post-Intelligencer . 11 January 2008. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  2. 1 2 Blum, Deborah (1995). The Monkey Wars. Oxford University Press. p. 86. ISBN   0-19-510109-X.
  3. Blum, The Monkey Wars, p. 114.
  4. . 6 October 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20061006224544/http://www.ci.brisbane.ca.us/Upload/Document/D240000856/cc090605.doc. Archived from the original on 6 October 2006. Retrieved 22 January 2018.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. "Speakers: Dr. Elliot Katz". EcoFoodPrint. 2008. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  6. Saillant, Catharine (8 July 2005). "Activists Seek Halt of Feral Pig Hunt: Animal rights advocates file suit over methods used in Channel Islands Park eradication effort". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  7. "A Study of the Compliance of the University of California, Berkeley, with 198384 Supplemental Budget Language Related to Animal Care" (PDF). California Postsecondary Education Commission. 1 May 1984. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  8. "The History of Chimpanzees In New Mexico". Animal Protection of New Mexico. Summer 2010. Archived from the original on 5 October 2010. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  9. "Florida Sanctuary Retires All Chimpanzees and Monkeys At Defunct Coulston Primate Lab". The Primate Freedom Project. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  10. Revkin, Andrew C. (10 August 1995). "Chimp Research Laboratory Is Taken Over by Foundation". The New York Times . Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  11. Lyke, M.L. (1 August 2005). "Ben White, a fierce defender of animals, dead at 53". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 27 February 2011.[ permanent dead link ]
  12. Sullivan, Patricia (7 August 2005). "Ben White Dies; Had a Passion for Protecting Animals". The Washington Post . Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  13. Morin, Monte (19 January 2000). "Catalina Island Conservancy Resumes Killing Wild Goats". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  14. Schoch, Deborah (12 November 2003). "Island Bison Ship Out for Plains". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  15. "Island bison to come back to the Plains". High Plains/Midwest AG Journal. Associated Press. 2010. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  16. Argetsinger, Amy (16 December 2004). "Returning to a Home on the Range: Buffalo Being Moved from Calif. Island to S.D. Land of Ancestors". The Washington Post. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  17. Jackson, Kristin (5 October 2006). "From Seattle to Cameroon, She is a Champion for Chimpanzees". Seattle Times . Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  18. "IDA Comments on PRNS Non-Native Deer Management Plan Draft Environment Impact Statement" (PDF). National Park Service. 3 April 2005. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  19. Smith, M. Martin (28 May 2007). "The Deer Departed: And the ones that will remain while the National Park Service conducts a controversial mammal birth-control experiment at Point Reyes National Seashore". High Country News. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  20. Revkin, Andrew C. (7 August 1995). "Animal Advocates Protest Plans for a Primate Lab". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  21. Schwirtz, Mira (24 November 1996). "At Rockefeller U., If There Are Pickets, It Must Be Friday". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  22. "Satya April 98: Rockefeller Relents by Barbara Stagno". 29 October 2006. Archived from the original on 29 October 2006. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  23. Hibberd, James (2 August 2001). "Legal Beagles". Phoenix New Times. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  24. "IDA Sues Researcher". National Association for Biomedical Research. 8 August 2001. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  25. O'Reilly, Bill (8 April 2010). "San Francisco Approves Meat-Free Mondays". Fox News . Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  26. 1 2 Marshall, Lynn (25 June 2007). "Elephant's Death Puts Zoos in Spotlight: As Seattle mourns, the loss adds fuel to animal groups' claim that such casualties are linked to city captivity". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  27. 1 2 3 "US to Review Treatment of Zoo Elephants - Science - redOrbit". 9 March 2009. Archived from the original on 9 March 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  28. "Elephant study puts KC Zoo animals in the spotlight - Kansas City Star". 15 December 2008. Archived from the original on 15 December 2008. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  29. "In Defense of Animals (IDA) Announces the "Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants in 2007"". In Defense of Animals. 9 January 2008. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  30. . 18 January 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20090118023922/http://www.parks.sfgov.org/wcm_recpark/RPC_Minutes/041504.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 January 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2018.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  31. [ dead link ]
  32. "LA zoo elephant off to animal sanctuary". USA Today. Associated Press. 15 May 2007. Retrieved 27 February 2011.