IDA - Bay Area Events

IDA Events
1. International Day of Protest to Stop Japanese Dolphin Slaughter
2. Recipes for IDA's World Go Vegan Days from Compassionate Cooks
3. Gopher Gardening at Ocean Beach
4. Career Opportunities at IDA
5. IDA Animal Rescuer Returns from Hurricane Zone

Other Events
1. Circus Celebrates Humans' Animal Nature
2. Musical Benefit for China's Moon Bears
3. Compassionate Cooks' October Cooking Class
4. Volunteer for IDA at Wildlife Conservation Expo this Weekend


IDA EVENTS

1. International Day of Protest to Stop Japanese Dolphin Slaughter

Every year from October through March in small Japanese coastal villages, fishermen herd and butcher 20,000 marine mammals in the most brutal ways imaginable. It is the largest massacre of dolphins anywhere in the world. Dolphins have larger brains than humans and are widely considered among the most intelligent animals, yet Japanese fishermen are murdering them without conscience for their meat.

As part of an international day of protest, IDA and the Earth Island Institute are co-hosting a demonstration at the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco to coincide with protests taking place around the world. Please help us inform the public about the massacre and put pressure on the Japanese Government to stop the killing.

What: International Day of Protest Against Japanese Dolphin Slaughter
When: Saturday, October 8th from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m.
Where: Japanese Consulate, 50 Fremont Street (between Market and Mission Streets), San Francisco (click http://tinyurl.com/dy29d for directions)

To RSVP or for more information, contact IDA's Bay Area Coordinator Karen Steele at (415) 388 9641, ext. 217 or karen [at] idausa.org .

To learn more about the annual dolphin massacre in Japan, visit http://www.savetaijidolphins.org .


2. Recipes for IDA's World Go Vegan Days from Compassionate Cooks

Want to know what a delicious day of vegan eating tastes like? Then visit IDA's World Go Vegan Days website (http://www.idausa.org/vegandays/comp_cook.html) to see a full three days' worth of mouthwatering recipes. IDA provides these recipes courtesy of Compassionate Cooks for people to try them out in celebration of IDA's World Go Vegan Days, which take place from October 30th to November 1st.

Making yummy vegan food for friends and family is one of the best ways to show those you know that compassion and great taste go great together. Go ahead and try some of these recipes out for yourself, and make plenty to share. Even if you don't normally cook your own meals, there's no need to fear because Compassionate Cooks specializes in recipes that are fun and easy to prepare. No Fuss Pancakes for breakfast, Fast & Fabulous Fajitas for lunch, Stir-fry with Peanut Sauce for dinner, and Magic Chocolate Cake for dessert are just some of the recipes Compassionate Cooks has come up with for World Go Vegan Days.

Compassionate Cooks is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people to make informed food choices. This SF Bay Area-based group educates people about vegetarianism through cooking classes, nutrition courses, supermarket tours, workshops and lectures, farmed-animal sanctuary tours, and cooking DVDs. Visit http://www.compassionatecooks.com for more recipes, class schedules and shopping.


3. Gopher Gardening at Ocean Beach

Join the San Francisco Wildlife Protection Project, a joint effort by IDA and the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, to create a wildlife "sanctuary" along the Great Highway. By landscaping the area according to the Parks Department's specifications, volunteers create a habitat for native gophers and prevent them from being trapped and killed. This is an ongoing monthly effort, and usually takes place on the first Saturday of each month.

What: Gopher Gardening
When: Saturday, November 5th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
Where: Corner of the Great Highway and Wawona Street, San Francisco, at the small brick Recreation and Park maintenance building. Click http://tinyurl.com/4hnh2 for directions to this event.

For more information, please contact IDA's Bay Area Coordinator Karen Steele at (415) 388-9641, ext. 217 or karen [at] idausa.org .

4. Career Opportunities at IDA

If you love animals and want to make your living making their lives better, then consider joining the IDA team as a full- or part-time employee. IDA currently has several job openings we are looking to fill with dedicated advocates who want to make a real difference for the animals.

IDA's headquarters is located in beautiful Mill Valley, about 10 miles north of San Francisco in Marin County. If you want to work for an organization that is dedicated to helping animals, we'd love to hear from you. Please click http://idausa.org/about/jobs.html for position descriptions and qualifications and to apply. If you know someone who may be interested in working for IDA, please forward this post on for his or her consideration.


5. IDA Animal Rescuer Returns from Hurricane Zone

IDA Office Manager and Volunteer Coordinator Anita Carswell will tell you that the two weeks she recently spent rescuing starving animals from abandoned homes in the hurricane-wracked South were unlike anything she's ever experienced before. "From the time I woke up in the early morning until I went to bed late at night, I was doing some kind of work for animals," she says. Whether taking care of dogs and cats at the shelter in Gonzales, Louisiana or going on search and rescue missions in New Orleans (about an hour south of Gonzales), volunteers worked a grueling schedule.

On search and rescue missions, Anita would drive down to New Orleans with a partner and visit abandoned houses in hopes of finding animals that had survived the devastation. Many of these animals had already been on their own for several weeks without food or water. Trying to do as little damage as possible, rescue parties used crowbars to break into houses where they suspected animals still lived. After they searched the house, they would spray paint a symbol on the outside wall or door indicating when they had been there and whether animals were present. "You never knew what you were going to find in these houses," Anita says. "It was like experiencing the highest highs and lowest lows within minutes of each other all day long. You might rescue an animal in one house and feel elated, and then go to the next house and find three animals starved to death and you were too late to help them. Sometimes, it was emotionally devastating, to say the least."

Despite the sheer number of casualties, Anita knows that her efforts made the difference between life and death for the animals she and her fellow volunteers personally rescued and cared for. This was evident when she returned from the trenches this week to her office in IDA's Mill Valley, California headquarters carrying two young cats in tow. Anita named the little gray eight- to ten-week-old kitten she found on her birthday "Phoenix." He was sick then, with mucous oozing from his eyes and nose, but Anita got some veterinarians to help and then nursed him back to health. She immediately decided to foster him until his guardians were found, and adopt him if they couldn't be located or could no longer care for him. As part of its Hurricane Rita updates, USA TODAY reported briefly on Anita's rescue of Phoenix. (You can read the story at http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-09-24-rita-blog_x.htm .)

Anita rescued Kat Kat, a six- to eight-month-old adolescent female, from a house whose entire bottom floor had been flooded up to the ceiling. Luckily, Kat Kat was in the upper apartment, which remained untouched by the floodwaters. Anita and her rescue partner heard panicked meows, but couldn't tell where they originated from until Anita looked up to see a cat banging her paws against the screen of a top-floor window. They heeded her cries for help and brought her back to Gonzales where they gave her food, warmth and comfort. Both Kat Kat and Phoenix spent their time at the command central location in the dispatch trailer alternately wreaking havoc and providing therapeutic relief to all who came in.

Amazingly, the seven other cats (and twelve rats) who share Anita's Richmond, California apartment have already accepted Phoenix and Kat Kat as part of the family. "They seem to know that they've been through something extraordinary," says their guardian. Anita provided information about Phoenix and Kat Kat (such as their pictures, approximate ages, and addresses where they were found) for posting on Petfinder.com to give their guardians a chance to claim them. Whether or not that ever happens, she will give them a good and loving home for as long as they need one.

What You Can Do

- Give to IDA's Hurricane Katrina Animal Relief Fund. Click https://secure.ga3.org/02/idadonations to donate online using your credit card. Please indicate "hurricane" in the first name field in the "in honor of" section of the form. Or send checks made payable to IDA with a note reading "for hurricane relief" to: In Defense of Animals, 131 Camino Alto, Mill Valley, CA 94941.

- Volunteers are still desperately needed in Gonzales, Louisiana to help save animals still trapped in houses throughout the New Orleans area. To get the most up-to-date details about volunteering, please write to hurricanekatrinainquiries [at] idausa.org .

- Even if you can't volunteer for the rescue efforts in New Orleans right now, you can still save animals' lives by going vegan. "I found it sadly ironic that many rescuers would spend their days rescuing dogs and cats, then order dead pigs and chickens for dinner," Anita says. "But it seemed like doing rescue work made a lot of people question, and hopefully change, their eating habits and attitudes about farmed animals." Every person who goes vegan saves hundreds of animals' lives simply by refusing to eat them. For more information about going vegan, visit http://www.idausa.org/veganism_campaign.html .

- Please click http://ga0.org/campaign/AnimalRescueBill to send an automatic email urging your federal Representative to support the recently proposed bill to require state and local disaster preparedness plans to include evacuation of animals.


OTHER BAY AREA EVENTS TO HELP ANIMALS

1. Circus Celebrates Humans' Animal Nature

"Not The More Lovely: A Circus Sideshow" combines music, dance, poetry, animation, performance art and glamorous costumes in a spectacle that is sure to please animal lovers and animal rights defenders. Conceived by Karen Penley and presented by Circus Proboscis, the show explores the idea that society can only bring itself back from the brink of global destruction if humanity realizes its essential animal nature and appreciates the glories of creation that surround us. Don't miss this unique multimedia theater event.

What: Not The More Lovely: A Circus Sideshow
When: Every Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. now through October 22nd
Where: NOHspace, 2840 Mariposa Street (at 17th Street), San Francisco (click http://www.theatreofyugen.org/nohspace.html for directions)

Tickets are $12 - $15 apiece (on a sliding scale). For more information and to make reservations, visit http://home.earthlink.net/~kpenley/circus.htm or call (415) 662-6826.


2. Musical Benefit for China's Moon Bears

Inspired by the plight of Asiatic Black Bears (a.k.a. Moon Bears), three local bands are playing a benefit for the Animals Asia Foundation (http://www.animalsasia.org). This non-profit organization is dedicated to ending the torture of Moon Bears, who are kept in tiny cages and harvested for their bile across China to make medicine that can be more easily manufactured using herbs and synthetic substances.

What: Musical Benefit for China's Moon Bears featuring The Guilty Party, Barbara Steele and Skyscraper
When: Thursday, October 6th beginning at 9:00 p.m.
Where: The Eagle Tavern, 398 12th Street (at Harrison Street), San Francisco (click http://tinyurl.com/7py67 for directions)

A suggested donation of $5.00 per person will be requested at the door. For more information about The Eagle Tavern, visit http://www.sfeagle.com or call (415) 626-0880.


3. Compassionate Cooks' October Cooking Class

Compassionate Cooks' October class, "Comfort Foods for Chilly Autumn Nights," focuses on those hearty foods that warm us up from the inside out, such as African Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew with Couscous, Lentil Loaf with Mushroom Gravy, Potato Leek Soup, Creamy Caesar Salad, and Apple and Berry Crisp. As the days begin to get shorter and the nights longer (and cooler), you'll be glad you learned to make these nutritious, delicious foods. Plus, sign a friend up for October's class and you may win a gift certificate good for any future Compassionate Cooks class!

What: Compassionate Cooks' October Class
When: Saturday, October 8th from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Where: The First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. (at Castro), Oakland (click http://www.uuoakland.org/directions.htm for directions)

The cost of the class is $40. Register online at http://www.compassionatecooks.com or by calling (510) 531-COOK. You can also mail a check to Colleen Patrick-Goudreau P.O. Box 18512 Oakland, CA 94619. Signup deadline is Friday, October 7th.


4. Volunteer with IDA at Wildlife Conservation Expo this Weekend

The Wildlife Conservation Expo, sponsored by the Wildlife Conservation Network (http://wildnet.org/index.htm), features some of the foremost conservationists in the world gathering for two days of presentations, wildlife exhibits and film documentaries. Expo attendees will have the chance to meet these experts, including renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, who will give the keynote speech.

Many animal protection organizations, including IDA-Africa, will have exhibit tables at the Expo. IDA is looking for volunteers to staff the table on both Saturday and/or Sunday, and we hope you will join us. For more information about volunteering, write to anjee [at] idausa.org or call (415) 388-9641, ext. 219.

What: Wildlife Conservation Expo
When: Saturday and Sunday, October 8th and 9th, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Where: Foothill College, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills (click wildnet.org/downloads/Foothill_map_Expo2005.pdf for a campus map)

Admission is $50 for both days, or $30 for Saturday only, but volunteers get in for free. To see the speaker schedule and exhibitor list, and to purchase tickets, please visit http://wildnet.org/expo2005.htm .