In Defense of Animals

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]

In Defense of Animals

Formation	1983; 40 years ago (1983)
Founder	Elliot M. Katz
Purpose	Animal protection
Location	San Rafael, California, United States
Website	www.idausa.org

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:

• IDA investigator Ben White setting free dolphins off the coast of Japan by swimming underwater to cut the nets held them.^[11][12]
• Campaigining against the hunting of goats and buffalo in Santa Catalina Island, California.^{[13][14][15][16]}
• Creating a chimpanzee sanctuary and education center in Cameroon in 1999.^[17]
• Preventing the bow hunting of Tule elk at the Point Reyes National Seashore.^[18][19]
• Ending New York University's crack cocaine experiments on monkeys as part of the Coulston Foundation. In 1995, the US Department of Agriculture backed IDA's claims by accusing the foundation of "keeping several dozen chimpanzees in undersize cages and causing the avoidable deaths of at least five chimpanzees".^[20]
• Campaigning against Rockefeller University's neurophysiology experiments on cats. This campaign was supported by PETA. IDA claimed that cats were fully conscious during experiments. The university has denied this.^[21] After 18 months of protests by IDA, the university ended the experiments in 1998.^[22]
• Ending brain cancer experiments on beagle puppies in 2001 in Phoenix, Arizona, by launching a lawsuit against a scientist.^[23][24]
• Campaigned and eventually convinced the city of San Francisco, California, to have meat-free Mondays.^[25]

Action against elephants in zoos

IDA believes that zoos lead to the premature deaths of elephants ^[26] and that "urban zoos simply don't have enough space for these magnificent, intelligent animals".^[27] IDA's campaign against elephants in zoos is also supported by animal rights group PETA.^[28] IDA publishes an annual list of the "10 worst zoos for elephants".^[29][30]

IDA claimed it pressured the San Francisco Zoo to transfer its elephants to a sanctuary in 2004.^[31] However, the zoo claimed IDA had "little to do" with the decision to transfer the elephants.^[32]

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.^[28][33] 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" ^[28] 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."^[27]

See also

• Animal law
• Animal rights
• Animal welfare
• List of animal rights advocates
• List of animal rights groups

References

1. "Group puts Woodland Park Zoo on 10-worst-for-elephants list". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 11 January 2008. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
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 . Archived from the original on 6 October 2006. Retrieved 22 January 2018. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
5. . 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. (PDF). California Postsecondary Education Commission. 1 May 1984. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
8. . 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. . 29 October 2006. Archived from the original on 29 October 2006. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
23. Hibberd, James (2 August 2001). . Phoenix New Times. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
24. . 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]^{[dead link]}
27. 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.
28. . 9 March 2009. Archived from the original on 9 March 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
29. . 15 December 2008. Archived from the original on 15 December 2008. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
30. . In Defense of Animals. 9 January 2008. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
31. (PDF). 18 January 2009 . Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 January 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2018. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
32. [2]^{[dead link]}
33. "LA zoo elephant off to animal sanctuary". USA Today. Associated Press. 15 May 2007. Retrieved 27 February 2011.

External links

• Official website