Last Chance for Animals

Last updated
Last Chance for Animals
Founded1984;39 years ago (1984)
FounderChris DeRose
Type 501(c)(3)
Focus Animal rights
Location
Revenue
$1,062,056 (2010)
Website www.lcanimal.org

Last Chance for Animals (LCA) is an international non-profit organization that advocates for animal rights. It is known for its documentary, Dealing Dogs , and for its investigations against the use of animals for testing purposes.

Contents

Formation

The organization was founded in 1984 by Hollywood actor Chris DeRose as a group to oppose vivisection. In the organization's early years, DeRose led teams of activists employing non-violent strategies modeled after social movements led by such leaders as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

Mission

Last Chance for Animals seeks to eliminate animal exploitation through direct action, education, investigations, legislation, and media attention. LCA opposes the use of animals in food and clothing production, scientific experimentation, and entertainment. LCA also promotes a cruelty-free lifestyle and the ascription of rights to non-human beings. They support veganism and oppose animal testing.

As their budget and staff increased from 2000 and on, LCA has expanded its focus beyond vivisection. LCA also now focuses on pet theft, the fur trade, and circuses, and it has also focused on animal use in other forms of entertainment, as well as on large-scale "factory" farming issues. The organization also provides money and support for the animal rescue mission occurring in areas heavily affected by the 2011 tsunami in Japan.

Investigations

Their special investigations unit performs stings, investigations, and under-cover camera work. In 2012, in an effort to lure alleged kitten torturer (and convicted murderer of Lin Jun) Luka Magnotta into contacting them, they posted a "fan video" of Magnotta online. [1] [2] At the time, Magnotta was in hiding in Europe with law enforcement in Canada and Europe searching for him. According to LCA, they were in contact "with several individuals who may have been Luka, or close associates of Luka" and "that information was turned over to Law Enforcement." [1]

In 2004, due to increased pressure from LCA supporters, the Supreme Court of New Jersey canceled the bear-hunting season before it started in December.[ citation needed ]

In 2007, their investigation into cockfighting in Arkansas led to the nation's biggest cockfighting ring bust.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

A shock site is a website that is intended to be offensive or disturbing to its viewers, though it can also contain elements of humor or evoke sexual arousal. Shock-oriented websites generally contain material such as pornographic, scatological, racist, antisemitic, sexist, graphically violent, insulting, vulgar, profane, or otherwise some other provocative nature. Websites that are primarily fixated on real death and graphic violence are particularly referred to as gore sites. Some shock sites display a single picture, animation, video clip or small gallery, and are circulated via email or disguised in posts to discussion sites as a prank. Steven Jones distinguishes these sites from those that collect galleries where users search for shocking content, such as Rotten.com. Gallery sites can contain beheadings, execution, electrocution, suicide, murder, stoning, torching, police brutality, hangings, terrorism, cartel violence, drowning, vehicular accidents, war victims, rape, necrophilia, genital mutilation and other sexual crimes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbi Twins</span> American identical twin sister models

Shane and Sia Barbi, popularly known as The Barbi Twins, are identical twins, cover models, co-authors, and frequently nude spokespersons as part of their animal rights advocacy.

Cruelty Free International is an animal protection and advocacy group that campaigns for the abolition of all animal experiments. They organise certification of cruelty-free products which are marked with the symbol of a leaping bunny.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Vlasak</span> American animal rights activist

Jerry Vlasak is an American animal rights activist and former trauma surgeon. He is a press officer for the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, a former director of the Animal Defense League of Los Angeles, and a former advisor to SPEAK, the Voice for the Animals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal rights movement</span> Animal consideration social movement

The animal rights (AR) movement, sometimes called the animal liberation, animal personhood, or animal advocacy movement, is a social movement that seeks an end to the rigid moral and legal distinction drawn between human and non-human animals, an end to the status of animals as property, and an end to their use in the research, food, clothing, and entertainment industries.

Animal welfare and rights in Israel is about the treatment of and laws concerning nonhuman animals in Israel. Israel's major animal welfare law is the Animal Protection Law, passed in 1994, which has been amended several times since. Several other laws also related to the treatment of animals: Rabies Ordinance, 1934; Fishing Ordinance, 1937; Public Health Ordinance, 1940; Wildlife Protection Law, 1955; Plants Protection Law, 1956; Criminal Procedure Law, 1982; Animal Disease Ordinance, 1985; National Parks, Nature Reserves, National Sites and Memorial Sites Law, 1991; the Law of Veterinarians, 1991; Dog Regulation Law, 2002; Rabies Regulations (Vaccinations), 2005; and Prohibition on declawing cats unless for reasons vital to the cat's health or owner's health, 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Ruesch</span> Swiss racing driver, novelist, and activist

Hans Ruesch was a Swiss racing driver, a novelist, and an internationally prominent activist against animal experiments and vivisection. Ruesch has been described as a pioneer of the anti-vivisection movement.

Gillian Rose Langley is a British scientist and writer who specialises in alternatives to animal testing and animal rights. She was, from 1981 until 2009, the science director of the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research, a medical research charity developing non-animal research techniques. She was an anti-vivisection member of the British government's Animal Procedures Committee for eight years, and has worked as a consultant on non-animal techniques for the European Commission, and for animal protection organizations in Europe and the United States. Between 2010 and 2016 she was a consultant for Humane Society International.

Chris DeRose is an American animal rights activist, and recipient of the 1997 ‘Courage of Conscience’ International Peace Award and a former actor. He appeared as a regular on the ABC series San Pedro Beach Bums, General Hospital, Cagney and Lacey, CHiPs, The Rockford Files and Baretta. He also had lead or guest roles in 14 feature films. He was an on-camera reporter for the television shows Hard Copy and Inside Edition. Earlier, he worked as a police officer and as an investigator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayne Pacelle</span> American activist

Wayne Pacelle is one of the leading contemporary animal advocates, having founded or led a set of major animal rights organizations, negotiated agreements on animal rights with major American companies, and helped conceive of and pass statewide ballot measures and federal laws. He is also a two-time New York Times best-selling author.

Women have played a central role in animal advocacy since the 19th century. The animal advocacy movement – embracing animal rights, animal welfare, and anti-vivisectionism – has been disproportionately initiated and led by women, particularly in the United Kingdom. Women are more likely to support animal rights than men. A 1996 study of adolescents by Linda Pifer suggested that factors that may partially explain this discrepancy include attitudes towards feminism and science, scientific literacy, and the presence of a greater emphasis on "nurturance or compassion" amongst women. Although vegetarianism does not necessarily imply animal advocacy, a 1992 market research study conducted by the Yankelovich research organization concluded that "of the 12.4 million people [in the US] who call themselves vegetarian, 68% are female, while only 32% are male".

The concept of moral rights for animals is believed to date as far back as Ancient India, particularly early Jainist and Hindu history. What follows is mainly the history of animal rights in the Western world. There is a rich history of animal protection in the ancient texts, lives, and stories of Eastern, African, and Indigenous peoples.

In May 2012, Jun Lin, a university student, was fatally stabbed and dismembered in Montreal, Canada, by Luka Rocco Magnotta, who then mailed Lin's hands and feet to elementary schools and federal political party offices. After a video depicting the murder was posted online, Magnotta fled Canada, becoming the subject of an Interpol Red Notice and prompting an international manhunt. In June 2012, he was arrested in an internet café in Berlin. In December 2014, after eight days of deliberations, a jury convicted him of first-degree murder. Magnotta was given a mandatory life sentence and 19 years for other charges, to be served concurrently. Magnotta was previously sought by animal rights groups for uploading videos of himself killing kittens.

Beauty Without Cruelty (BWC) is an animal issues charity in South Africa, established in 1975. Its initial focus was animal testing, fur and ivory. It has subsequently expanded to include educating and offering kind options in all areas of animal exploitation. Beauty Without Cruelty is an animal rights organisation with a primary objective to educate and inform the public about the exploitation, abuse and suffering of all animals and to offer humane, non-animal alternatives, to replace cruel and harmful lifestyle choices. They receive no government or lottery funding and rely entirely on the generosity of supporters to continue work for animals. Beauty Without Cruelty means living without cruelty.

bestgore.com was a Canadian shock site active from 2008 to 2020 and owned by Mark Marek, which provided highly violent real-life news, photos and videos, with authored opinion and user comments. The site received media attention in 2012, following the hosting of a snuff film depicting the murder of Jun Lin. As a result, Marek was arrested and charged under Canada's obscenity law with corrupting public morals.

Animal welfare and rights in South Africa is about the treatment of and laws concerning non-human animals in South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protect the Harvest</span> American anti-animal rights organization

Protect the Harvest is an American 501(c)(4) non-profit advocacy organization founded by Forrest Lucas which opposes "the radical animal rights movement" and particularly the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), which it calls "a wealthy and successful attack group". The organization has an allied political action committee, the Protect the Harvest PAC, which funds campaigns to assist or defeat candidates for political office.

<i>Dont F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer</i> 2019 American true crime documentary series

Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer is a 2019 true crime docuseries about an online manhunt. It is written and directed by Mark Lewis and was released on Netflix on December 18, 2019. The series chronicles events following a crowd-sourced amateur investigation into a series of animal cruelty acts committed by Canadian pornographic actor Luka Magnotta, culminating in his murder of Chinese international student Jun Lin. It was one of Netflix's Top 5 most-watched documentaries of 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Crowe (vicar)</span> English vicar and animal rights writer

Henry Crowe was an English parish priest and early animal rights writer.

References

  1. 1 2 "Animal Activists Claim Responsibility For Videos Linking Luka Magnotta To Hollywood Sign Killing". New York Observer . June 6, 2012..
  2. "LCA Takes Cutting Edge in Investigation of Accused Murderer and Animal Abuser Luka Magnotta". GlobeNewswire News Room. 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2020-06-26.