Public Organizations

In Defense of Animals

In Defense of Animals (IDA) is an animal rights organization founded in 1983 in San Rafael, California, USA. IDA has over 85,000 members with an annual budget of $650,000. The motto of the organization is “protection of animal rights, welfare and habitat.

It is known, in particular, for its campaigns against experiments on animals conducted by the U.S. military and experiments on baby monkeys weaned from their mothers. Author and journalist Deborah Bloom described IDA’s strategy this way: “an absolute pit bull. Once he has carefully chosen his target, he never lets go of it.

History

Since the organization’s formation in 1983, its president has been a veterinarian, Dr. Elliot M. Katz.

Katz is a graduate of Cornell University School of Veterinary Medicine. He was involved in animal advocacy when he was approached for help by animal activists seeking an end to animal experiments, which they said were overwhelming the UC Berkeley labs. In response, Katz helped organize Californians for Responsible Research, to ensure better care for animals at the university.

From then on, IDA became an international animal welfare organization. Headquartered in Northern California, IDA also has offices throughout the United States and branches in India and Africa.

Programs and campaigns

IDA protects animals used in research, food, clothing, entertainment and sports, and other fields. Its methods include organizing protests and nonviolent acts of civil disobedience, including sit-ins, chaining and banner erection.

Current programs include a campaign to improve conditions for elephants in zoos and circuses. IDA was one of many animal advocacy organizations that contributed to the closure of the Coulston Foundation, at the time the largest chimpanzee research center in the world. Other accomplishments of the organization include:

• Rescuing Dolphins – IDA researcher Ben White freed dolphins off the coast of Japan, while underwater he cut the nets in which they were imprisoned.
• Campaign Against Goat and Buffalo Hunting on Santa Catalina Island, California.
• Establishing a chimpanzee sanctuary and education center in Cameroon in 1999 and a rescue center for injured and abandoned animals in Mississippi.
• Organizing the rescue of hundreds of dogs and cats injured in the firestorm that destroyed more than 3,500 homes in Oakland/Berkeley.
• Preventing an archery hunt for California deer in Point Reyes National Park.
• Ending NYU’s “cocaine” experiments on monkeys for the Coulston Foundation. In 1995, the U.S. Department of Agriculture upheld IDA’s claim to the charge: “keeping several dozen chimpanzees in small cages, resulting in the deaths of at least five of them.”
• Campaign against Rockefeller University’s neurophysiological experiments on cats. The campaign was supported by PETA. According to IDA, the cats remained fully conscious during the experiments. The university denied this. After 18 months of protests from IDA, the university stopped the experiments in 1998.
• Stopping the 2001 brain cancer research experiments on beagle pups in Phoenix, Arizona, with the start of a lawsuit against the researcher.

Action against keeping elephants in zoos

IDA believes that keeping elephants in zoos leads to their premature deaths and that there simply is not enough room for these magnificent, intelligent animals in “urban zoos.” Each year the IDA publishes a list of the “10 Worst Zoos for Elephants.”

The IDA claims that it was under its pressure that the San Francisco Zoo transferred its elephants to a sanctuary in 2004. However, the zoo claims the IDA had “nothing to do” with that decision.

The campaign is part of a larger program concerning, according to IDA, several U.S. zoos, including the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., violating animal welfare laws. IDA claims that the USDA has acknowledged “serious concerns about the poor conditions for elephants in our nation’s zoos.”