Each flavor shines a light on an animal issue. The Peanut Butter Pit Bull, crispy peanut butter and luscious 64% dark chocolate, highlights Pit Bulls, who can be great family companions. The rich 66% dark chocolate bar, The Fix, encourages spay and neuter. And Wild at Heart, dark chocolate hearts filled with zingy raspberry, raises awareness of the cruelties inflicted upon animals in circuses, zoos, and laboratories. Other flavors include Bow Wow Bon Bons, Pick Me! Pepper, and Foster-iffic Peppermint.

Based in Brooklyn, New York, Rescue Chocolate is made with the finest ingredients and no artificial preservatives. Visit www.rescuechocolate.com anytime in the month of September to support the work of IDA. And visit www.idausa.org for information about In Defense of Animals.

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Contact: Weil Public Relations, 818-341-3646, rachel@weilpr.com

Salem Ore. (September 2, 2010) – A California sea lion held captive in Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas is unaware that his fate will be decided today in court. In Defense of Animals (IDA), an international animal protection organization, will represent Willy at a 1:30 p.m. hearing today in the Oregon Supreme Court Courtroom, 1163 State Street, Salem, Oregon 97301. This pinniped, known to animal advocates as Willy but dubbed “C657” by state wildlife agencies who branded him with the same moniker, is a plaintiff in a suit brought by IDA. Willy was mistakenly identified in the state’s lethal removal program, where sea lions are being trapped and killed for eating salmon below the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River.

“This is a clear case of mistaken identity. Willy should never have been removed and we are using the state’s own records to prove it,” said IDA’s Northwest Director, Matt Rossell. “This is just one more government blunder in long list of missteps in a misguided program that scapegoats native sea lions and condemns them to death for simply eating. Killing sea lions is not going to resolve the real issues facing salmon recovery – over-fishing, dams, introduction of non-native fish, and habitat destruction.”

California sea lions are native to this bioregion and are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). However, the Oregon, Washington and Idaho state wildlife agencies are trapping and killing sea lions in a “lethal removal” program under the authority of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, killing sea lions that meet specific criteria under Section 120 of the MMPA if determined these individually identifiable animals are making a “significant impact” to salmon populations. This killing program is in its third year. Animal advocates await a decision by the Ninth Circuit Federal Court about whether the states have proven the sea lions, who have been observed eating only between .02 and 4% of the Spring Chinook run below the dam annually, in fact have met the requirements of this exception to the MMPA.

Willy, or “C657,” was trapped and removed from the Columbia River on April 1, 2009 in a lethal removal program being carried out by Oregon, Washington and Idaho state wildlife agencies. When IDA saw that he was not on the Letter of Authority to be lethally removed, they filed suit on his behalf. Among the evidence IDA submitted to the court are copies of government sea lion monitoring records that prove Willy’s innocence.

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Contact: Matt Rossell, IDA, 503-890-5151

IDA’s Hope Animal Sanctuary (HAS, formerly Project Hope) and the Charleston, Mississippi Police Department worked together in July to rescue six starving, chained dogs from Sanders’ property on West Main Street in Charleston. Videotape of the dogs’ conditions and the rescues may be seen at IDA’s website, www.idausa.org. Doll Stanley, the Director of IDA-HAS, filed the affidavits in support of criminal neglect charges. Two of the dogs have since died.

“The entire town of Charleston, especially Animal Control Officer Kevin Hodges, deserves praise for their handling of this case,” said Stanley. “When ACO Hodges sees abuse, he acts. When he needs assistance he calls me. The chief has a zero tolerance policy for animal abuse, the PD act, and Kevin is spotter and town crier. The crowning testimony to the compassion of the community is Judge Steve Ross.”

Sanders was found guilty on six counts for failure to provide sufficient and wholesome food and water, the only statute available for charging these crimes. “While we are thrilled with the conviction,” added Stanley, “this points out the need for stronger animal cruelty statutes in Mississippi, and we urge all those who care about animals to contact Mississippi House Speaker Billy McCoy to ask his support for stronger statutes.”

The Mississippi State Supreme Court has ruled MSSS: 97-41-1 (Mississippi’s animal cruelty statute) vague and therefore unconstitutional. Since that ruling, there has been no revision of this statute, or the Chapter 41 statutes addressing the neglect of animals. IDA’s Hope Animal Sanctuary is working with veterinarians, humane representatives, concerned citizens and other leaders to strengthen Mississippi’s cruelty to animals statutes.

Judge Ross imposed a $75 fine for the conviction for each dog (6), a $95 court cost for trying each count, and $25 per count for the enforcement of the arrest warrants.  Sanders may not possess an animal for three (3) years and was handed a six-month suspended jail term provided she complies with sentencing provisions.

“The responsibility of achieving justice for the animals who suffer at the hands of abusers weighs on all of us,” added Stanley. “But this trial couldn’t have gone more perfectly – and we are cheered by the thrilling recovery of the four dogs who survived Annie Ruth Sanders back yard.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Doll Stanley, Hope Animal Sanctuary Director, 662-237-0233, Doll@idausa.org

San Francisco, Calif. (August 31, 2010) – In Defense of Animals (IDA), an international animal protection organization, today offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest, prosecution, and conviction of a woman videotaped throwing puppies into a river. The act is believed to have occurred in either Bosnia or Croatia.

The video, which was first posted on YouTube this week and has since gone viral around the internet, is 43 seconds long. A young woman with blonde hair and a red sweatshirt is seen grabbing six puppies from a bucket and throwing them into a river. Internet sleuths investigating the case claim to have uncovered information indicating the woman is from the Bosnian town of Bugojno, and that the river is the Vrbas River, though the New York Post stated the video was believed to be from Croatia.

YouTube has since pulled the video, but it can still be seen on the IDA website. More than 1,500 people have joined a Facebook group called “Find the girl throwing puppies in the river.”

“We recognize that animal cruelty laws vary from country to country,” said IDA President Scotlund Haisley. “But cruelty is cruelty, and this is sadistic behavior, no matter where it occurred. And the person who did this despicable act is a danger to both animals and people.” Haisley is referring to scientific and law enforcement studies that show a clear connection between violence to animals and violence to people.

IDA is working with a linguist and a detective to determine the location where the video was filmed. To collect the $5,000 reward, anyone with information that leads to the arrest, prosecution, and conviction of the people involved should call IDA in the United States at 707-981-7701, or contact IDA by e-mail at melissa@idausa.org.

For more information, please visit www.indefenseofanimals.org.

Portland, Ore. (August 31, 2010) – This Thursday, Oregon members of In Defense of Animals (IDA) will join other concerned citizens to protest the opening night of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Portland. Ringling has been embroiled in controversy over its brutal treatment of elephants, including calves ripped away from their mothers for violent training solely for “entertainment.”

What: Protest of Ringling Bros. Circus opening night in Portland. Activists will hold banners and signs, distribute leaflets, and show undercover video of Ringling’s animal abuse with a mobile Gorilla Theater Cart.

When: Thursday, September 2, 2010, 6:30 p.m.

Where: Rose Garden Arena, One Center Court, Portland, Ore. 97227 – South side of the Rose Garden Arena, near NE Multnomah St. Street

Ringling trainers routinely prod, hook, jab and strike elephants with a bullhook, a steel-tipped device similar to a fireplace poker that is used to control the large animals and force them to perform unnatural tricks. These abuses typically occur out of public view.

Evidence including court documents, undercover videos, and photos of training sessions with baby elephants shows that Ringling:

·     Routinely chains elephants in train box cars for more than 26 hours at a time and for as long as 60 to 100 hours without a break while traveling across the country for weeks at a time.

·     Physically abuses elephants with electric shock devices and bullhooks, including one elephant who was “dripping blood all over the arena floor from being hooked.”

·     Trains baby elephants through isolation from other elephants, prolonged restraint (tying their legs) and hitting with bullhooks. (A two-year-old calf, Aria, was chained nonstop for four months and only let off chains for 40 minutes a day during training.)

·     Chains elephants, who naturally walks tens of miles a day, at its Florida breeding facility for 16 to 22 hours a day.

For more information, please visit www.HelpElephants.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Matt Rossell, 503-890-5151, matt@idausa.org

“Orcas are apex predators who suffer intensely from the confinement and artificial, barren environments SeaWorld and other aquariums provide them,” said Scotlund Haisley, President of In Defense of Animals. “It is hazardous to force them into such close proximity to humans, let alone to swim with them, so we should expect more injuries and deaths to occur as long as they are publicly displayed and forced to perform circus-style tricks for food.”

Whistleblower Linda Simons, a previous Director of Health and Safety for SeaWorld Orlando, said she was fired two months after Brancheau’s death because SeaWorld did not want her to speak with OSHA about the event. Simons confirmed OSHA’s willful citation by claiming SeaWorld knowingly exposed staff to the dangers of working with Tilikum, who had previously killed two people. She said that a relevant safety drill was performed just weeks before the tragedy occurred and that it had failed miserably.  When Tilikum killed Ms. Brancheau, Simons described the scene as “chaotic” and that up to 85 people had responded.  She was shocked to see additional staff placed at risk when they were permitted to jump into the medical pool to try to free Ms. Brancheau from Tilikum’s jaws as he continued to thrash about.

SeaWorld’s supposedly “educational” dolphin acts have led to previous injuries and death. IDA challenges the educational value of the programs, noting that viewers learn nothing about the natural behaviors, instincts and needs of orcas in the wild, and in fact are given false and misleading information. “SeaWorld’s tiny pools and demeaning performances actually suppress the natural behaviors of orcas and reward unnatural behavior,” said Haisley. “Most visitors to SeaWorld shows actually leave with less accurate information about orcas than they had when they arrived.”

SeaWorld contends their public display programs are “valid under federal permits and under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Commerce National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.” Written testimony submitted by NMFS to the House Committee of Natural Resources in April stated otherwise, revealing that after a permit is issued to a facility for public display, they have “no additional oversight over the holding, breeding and care of animals” and that monitoring educational programs of public display facilities is not a focus of the agency. NMFS further confirmed that the public display industry have been regulating and evaluating themselves since 1994 when amendments to the Marine Mammal Protection Act took place.

“With NMFS allowing SeaWorld and other commercial theme parks to establish and regulate their own education programs, they are endangering the lives of people and allowing the public to be mislead about the needs of orcas and how to conserve them in their natural habitat,” Haisley added. “IDA recommends that NMFS declare orcas as unsuitable for commercialized captivity and halt orca breeding.  Orcas and other cetaceans should only be held in captivity when they are found sick or injured and need rehabilitation before being released. If they cannot be released, they should be held in spacious coastal sea-pens where they can live out their lives with more stimulation, more choices, and other natural habitat surrounding them. Tilikum should be retired to a coastal sea-pen. Currently he is being held indefinitely in a tiny, barren tank with barely any room to swim in any direction.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Scotlund Haisley, Scotlund@idausa.org, 707-981-7701

San Rafael, Calif. (August 20, 2010) – In Defense of Animals (IDA) said today that the salmonella outbreak requiring the recall of close to 400 million eggs is not an isolated incident, and demonstrates the danger of consuming animal products produced in factory farms. Since January, there have been dozens of recalls by the USDA of animal products, including such varied items as beef stew and chicken pot pie.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has seen a four-fold increase in reported cases of Salmonella Enteritidis in the past three months, amounting to more than 800 cases of this potentially deadly disease every month. These figures don’t include an unknown number of sickened individuals who failed to report their illness.

Hens in intensive agriculture are forced to live a miserable, frustrated existence crammed into tiny battery cages, where they are unable to walk or spread their wings. They live covered in feces, often forced to share cages with the bodies of deceased neighbors. These unnatural conditions produce sick birds, which increases the likelihood of infected eggs. The birds are pumped full of hormones and antibiotics in an unsuccessful attempt to stave off constant sickness. With tens of thousands of birds stacked in cages on top of one another, dropping waste into the cages below, contamination is common.

“If the suffering of billions of animals each year isn’t enough to make people rethink their diet, maybe this alarming outbreak will sway people to stop consuming animal products,” said Scotlund Haisley, President of IDA.

“The workers in egg factories wear hazmat-like suits complete with respirators and thick rubber gloves. Who wants to eat anything that comes from a place where you have to wear full body armor just to walk through the door,” said Hope Bohanec, IDA’s Grassroots Campaigns Director.

The 400 million eggs involved in the current recall were sold under 13 different brands across the United States, including some with names that imply they were “humanely” produced. The recall can be traced to one producer, Wright County Egg, of Galt, Iowa, They have been the target of government regulators for environmental violations, unsafe working conditions, and the harassment of workers, according to the New York Times.

For more information, please visit:  www.indefenseofanimals.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Hope Bohanec, 415-448-0058, 707-540-1760, hope@idausa.org

New York, NY (August 19, 2010) – In the thirty-eight days since New York City captured and gassed to death an entire population of Canada geese in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, 107 new geese have taken their place, reports In Defense of Animals, an international animal protection organization that has campaigned to end the slaughter. The geese were killed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under a contract with New York City and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The count was conducted by Anne-Katrin Titze, a wildlife rescuer in Brooklyn, who has compiled other statistics on the resident waterfowl of Prospect Park, including the 2010 official Prospect Park Waterfowl Count for the New York State Ornithological Association and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

“Just over a month after the massive slaughter, nearly one-quarter of the original flock has been replaced. This shows the absurdity and pointlessness of the eradication program” said In Defense of Animals spokesperson Barbara Stagno.

“This proves the utter folly and needless cruelty of the July 8 extermination,” agreed City Council Member Letitia James, representing the city’s 35th district near Prospect Park. “Killing those geese did nothing for airline safety. In fact, it likely made it more dangerous, since it encourages the movement of more birds in the sky. I pray that the USDA allows the new arrivals to have the opportunity to become residential Canada geese of Prospect Park Lake.”

New York State Senator Eric Adams, representing the 20th Senate district encompassing Prospect Park added, “This return of the goose population lays bare the ineffectiveness, complete recklessness, and unjustifiable brutality of the extermination that occurred on July 8th. We must not permit this unacceptable viciousness to be repeated. This is not a choice between airline safety and the geese; alternatives have been recommended by a number of reputable animal protection organizations. Civilized, benevolent, ‘humanitarian’ solutions are available, and they are the only acceptable ones.”

Councilwoman James and Senator Adams addressed more than 150 people at a rally last Thursday organized by In Defense of Animals on the steps of City Hall. They joined In Defense of Animals and thousands of New Yorkers to call for a permanent end to the city’s contract with USDA, and the utilization of only humane, non-lethal methods to manage populations of geese.

For more information, please visit www.indefenseofanimals.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Barbara Stagno, 914-479-5276, Barbara@idausa.org

Also attending the rally will be State Senator Eric Adams, who represents the district that includes Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, where, without warning, 400 geese were rounded up and gassed in the early hours of July 8, 2010.

The Prospect Park killings sparked an outcry from local residents, many of whom knew individual geese by name, and relished them as a rare and vital link to nature amid city life. That outcry, which has now grown into a full roar of dissent, has since exposed reports of 1,700 Canada geese killed in New York City by the USDA’s Wildlife Services over the past year, with plans to wipe out roughly two-thirds of the existing goose population in New York State. Rally attendees, including the elected officials, are vowing to see the killings stopped and humane, non-lethal population control programs implemented instead.

For decades, state run wildlife agencies have been inflating goose populations by releasing them into areas to swell their numbers for recreational hunting. In addition, artificial landscapes, like manicured lawns and golf courses, attract geese to areas where they would otherwise never inhabit.

“This is a manmade problem that demands a humane solution,” said Scotlund Haisley, President of In Defense of Animals. “It’s outrageous to annihilate geese because of human error and arrogance. Humane, non-lethal population control programs allow us to address this issue without killing them.”

Resident Canada geese population issues can be addressed through a variety of humane, non-lethal population control methods.   OvoControl-G, an oral contraception developed and refined by the USDA, Wildlife Services National Wildlife Research Center and Innolytics, LLC is one method that is a safe and an environmentally friendly solution to curbing population growth for Canada geese.

Mr. Haisley will read from a statement prepared by Erick Wolf, CEO of Innolytics, LLC, which addresses the difficulty his company has encountered in getting the USDA Wildlife Services to utilize OvoControl-G.

The City and Port Authority claim that aviation safety demands the birds be killed, but ignore the very fact that cities worldwide deal with the problem of birds near airports without exterminating them. The problem of birds colliding with engines is real, but can be dealt with by employing a range of methods, including radar detection, currently not in use in New York City’s airports.

For more information, please visit www.indefenseofanimals.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Barbara Stagno 914.479.5276 (office), 914.584.5875 (cell)

New York (August 9, 2010) – In Defense of Animals (IDA), an international animal protection organization, will be joined by New York City Council members Brad Lander, Stephen Levin, and Letitia James on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan on Thursday, August 12, at noon, to call for an end to the city’s contract with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to kill all Canada geese within seven miles of NY’s airports. The contract is established in conjunction with the Port Authority of New York.

Also attending the rally will be State Senator Eric Adams, who represents the district that includes Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, where, without warning, 400 geese were rounded up and gassed in the early hours of July 8, 2010.

The Prospect Park killings sparked an outcry from local residents, many of whom knew individual geese by name, and relished them as a rare and vital link to nature. That outcry, which has now grown into a full roar of dissent, has since exposed reports of 1,700 Canada geese killed in NYC by the Wildlife Services of USDA over the past year, with plans to wipe out roughly two-thirds of the goose population in New York State. Rally attendees, including the elected officials, are vowing to see the killings stopped.

For decades, state wildlife agencies have been inflating Canada goose populations by releasing them into areas to swell their numbers for recreational hunting. In addition, artificial landscapes, like manicured lawns and golf courses, attract geese to areas where they would otherwise never inhabit.

“This is a manmade problem that demands a humane solution,” said Scotlund Haisley, IDA’s president. “It’s outrageous to annihilate geese because of human error and arrogance. Non-lethal methods allow us to address this problem without killing them.”

Canada geese population control issues can be addressed through a variety of preventive, humane and non-lethal methods, such as with the use of Ovocontrol, a USDA-approved oral contraception developed and refined specifically for Canada geese.

The City and Port Authority claim that aviation safety demands that Canada geese be killed, but ignores the very fact that cities worldwide deal with the problem of birds near airports without exterminating them. The problem of birds colliding with engines is real, but can be dealt with by employing a range of methods, including radar detection, currently not in use in NYC’s airports.

For more information, please visit www.indefenseofanimals.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Barbara Stagno 914.479.5276