2009 victories for animals and action alert!

Thanks to our generous members and energetic volunteers, APRL has had another extremely successful year! Our campaigns coordinator, Christina Tacoronti, moved to DC at the end of this year, where we are partially funding her salary at Compassion Over Killing, a group we have been working closely with.

Here is a rundown of some of the things APRL volunteers and staff have been up to for the past year, and you can also slideshow here!

  • Handed out over 3,000 vegan food samples at several event and distributed over 60,000 pieces of literature on veganism.
  • Convinced over 30 restaurants in several states to remove foie gras
  • Passed resolutions against the sale of foie gras in West Hollywood, San Francisco, Berkeley, and Solana Beach, after we already did so in San Diego in 2008. Mayor Newsom of San Francisco signed our resolution personally, and his family removed foie gras from their Plumpjack Restaurants. Mayor Nichols of Solana Beach, himself a vegetarian, went door to door letting restaurants know it will soon be illegal to sell foie gras in California!
  • Convinced over 500 San Diegans, including Councilman Todd Gloria, to take the Veg Pledge, a week long pledge to try vegetarianism or veganism. Gloria told us afterwards he has permanently reduced his meat consumption as a result!
  • Worked with the Humane Society of the United States to enact a ban on the painful practice of cutting off the tails of dairy cows in California.
  • APRL programs coordinator and UCSD student Kath Rogers led a successful campaign causing UCSD to implement a cage-free egg policy for all shelled and liquid eggs used by its dining services.
  • Working with Compassion Over Killing and Mercy for Animals, we convinced Boca to completely phase out use of eggs in all of its products.
  • APRL Sealwatch campaign manager Dorota Valli has maintained a regular staff presence at Casa Beach in San Diego to protect the seals and educate the 100,000 visitors per month who come to see the seals. The staffed booth is self-funded by donations made at the booth, which has t-shirts, stuffed animals, postcards, etc. Check it out if you are in the area! 850 Coast Blvd., La Jolla, CA 92037, at the corner of Coast and Jenner.
  • Our attorney, Bryan Pease, obtained a federal temporary restraining order blocking an imminent state court order to disperse the San Diego seals. This led to a change in state law allowing the seals to remain, as reported in the New York Times.
  • The APRL Thrift Store at 5497 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., San Diego, CA 92117 (at the I-805 intersection) continues to bring in revenue to support our program activities! Stop by to shop, donate used items, or volunteer!

Tax deductible contributions to our ongoing campaigns can be made here. Contribute Before Jan. 1 to get a tax write-off for 2009!

National action alert!!

The federal Marine Mammal Protection Act is barely enforced at Casa Beach in San Diego! Federal agents have been deferring to city policy allowing swimming in the seal rookery. They do not issue citations when people get too close and cause the seals to stampede into the water, unless the violator goes directly at the seals with the intent to harass them (and often not even then).

Seal pupping season is again upon us. While the city's guideline rope is now up until May 15 due to our successful litigation, the seals still suffer constant harassment from a few selfish swimmers who insist on using this 200 foot beach that is surrounded by 70 miles of other swimming beaches.

We have been asking the city council to pass a resolution supporting what the vast majority of San Diegans want, which is for seal watching to be the legally preferred activity over swimming at Casa Beach. This would encourage federal agents to fully enforce the MMPA, which would no longer clash with city policy.

It helps to write no matter where you live. If you do not live in San Diego, explain that you are likely to bring tourism dollars to San Diego if the seals are protected. If you live in a councilmember's district, be sure to state that.

Please write to the four city council members on the Natural Resources and Culture Committee and ask that they vote to stop the harassment of pregnant and nursing seals by a handful of anti-social, anti-seal fanatics!

  • Donna Frye (The committe chair, will be responsible for introducing the resolution. Donna is very pro-seal but needs encouragement. See her appearance on ABC Nightline with our attorney here).
  • Sherri Lightner (Represents District 1/La Jolla and is the only elected official in San Diego--local, state or federal--who supported a judge's ill-fated plan to force the city to spend millions of taxpayer dollars dredging the beach and dispersing the seals. Her position seems to have softened after the change in state law, however, and she works with Donna Frye on other issues.)
  • Marti Emerald (Progressive environmentalist, former investigative reporter, new to the council, should be supportive.)
  • Carl DeMaio (New councilmember, position unknown at this time, needs the most contact, especially if you live in his district!)

Please cc us on the emails: info@aprl.org.

Letters are even more effective than e-mails! Letters should be addressed as follows:

Councilmember [Name]
202 C St.
San Diego, CA 92101

(The mailing address is the same for each)

Here is sample text you can cut and paste--

Dear Councilmember [Name]:

I am writing in support of the Animal Protection & Rescue League's efforts to protect the seals at Casa Beach in La Jolla. An independent, scientific Zogby poll sponsored by APRL in 2007 found that over 81% of San Diegans want Casa Beach to be used for seal watching rather than for swimming. In District 1, where Casa Beach is located, support was 85% (see cross tab data posted at www.aprl.org/sealsxo.pdf).

Additionally, 80% believe the guideline rope should be up year round (91% in District 1--greater even than the percentage who feel this beach should not be used for swimming). Eighty percent also believe it should be illegal to cross the rope during pupping season (and 91% again in District 1). The poll has a margin of error of +/- 4.1% for all voters in San Diego.

At a time when the electorate is so divided on everything, to see such overwhelming support for one issue is extremely amazing!

These changes could not be implented two years ago when the poll was conducted because the city was under a state court order to dredge the beach and disperse the seals. However, APRL's attorney obtained a temporary restraining order in federal court to prevent this result, and the city council then voted to sponsor SB428, which passed nearly unanimously and was signed by the governor, allowing the seals to remain.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, which enforces the Marine Mammal Protection Act, has indicated this 200 foot beach is too small to be used by both seals and humans, and the city should pick one preferred use for the health and safety of humans and seals.

There are over 70 miles of coastline in San Diego to swim, but only a 200 foot beach used as a rookery (where seals rest, give birth and nurse their young). The only other rookery in Southern California, in Carpenteria, is completely closed Dec. 1-June 1, and the seals are fully protected year round.

The city's current "shared use" policy is confusing and unmanageable and leads to unnecessary conflict and waste of police and lifeguard resources at the beach. Please sponsor a resolution supporting what the vast majority of San Diegans want, which is for Casa Beach to be a world-class seal watching area rather than a swimming beach. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Your name
Address