The campaign for the kangaroos in California has a long history!
In 1970 animal advocates such as Virginia Handley (who was working for the Fund for Animals) worked to get a law passed in California that would prevent the sale of certain animal parts in the State of California, one of which was the kangaroo. In the early 1980s, the Fund for Animals contacted companies like Adidas to tell them they were violating the law. Later, a bill was introduced to remove kangaroos and crocodiles from the list. Eric Mills with Action for Animals sat in the pocket of a huge inflatable kangaroo to encourage the law be left intact. Fast forward to August 2002. Viva! kicked off an international campaign against Adidas for using kangaroo skins and Viva!USA took our charge to the Adidas USA headquarters in Portland, OR. There we delivered a letter to Adidas once again, reminding them that they were violating California law.
On Valentine’s Day 2003, Senator Dennis Hollingsworth (no friend to the environment or animals) had introduced a bill (SB233) to remove both kangaroos and crocodiles from the law. On May 28, 2003, Viva!USA sued Adidas for violating California law. The bill did not go past the Senate Resources Committee. In 2004, we saw two bills introduced in the legislature. Again, in the Senate by Senator Dennis Hollingsworth (SB1207) and in the Assembly by the late Assemblymember Marco Firebaugh (AB2915). The Senate version was stopped in the Senate Natural Resources Committee and the Assembly bill passed the Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee, the Assembly floor and then was stopped in the Senate Committee. To his credit, Assemblymember Firebaugh met with me to discuss the issue. During this session, Hollingsworth attempted to do a quick gut & amend which was also stopped. In 2005, a bill was introduced by Assemblymember Nicole Parra (AB734) (who also took the time to meet with me….or yell at me!) which passed the Assembly Committee and the Assembly floor and then when it was on its way to the Senate, Senator Mervyn Dymally took over the authorship. Here is where the bill was stopped but given reconsideration. The bill was formally stopped in June 2006. Thanks to the great work of our pro bono attorney, Orly Degani, in July 2007, the California Supreme Court ruled that Viva!USA’s lawsuit against Adidas could continue. The Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal’s earlier decision, which had dismissed Viva!USA’s lawsuit on the ground that the federal law preempts the California law on which Viva!USA’s claim against Adidas was based. The California law prohibited the sale of kangaroo products within California. In 2007, SB880 was introduced by Senator Ron Calderon. This is the bill that eventually passed and was signed into law by the Governor on October 13, 2007. SB 880 removed this protection for kangaroos. It amended the California law so that it is no longer illegal to sell kangaroo products in California. Unfortunately, the passage of SB 880 eliminates the basis for Viva!USA’s lawsuit against Adidas, rendering the victory in the California Supreme Court a hollow one. I know that hundreds if not thousands of you, joined us all of these years to call and write to speak out to the kangaroos. I just want to thank you so much for all of your help and perseverance. And a thanks as well to those legislators who saw this special interest bill for what it was and who care about animals and voted NO on all of these bills that passed before them!
Now, I apologize for any organization I have forgotten, so I hope if I have left someone off, you can cut me some slack as this has been a long struggle. I guess one of the reasons, I list everyone is to show how diverse the team has been working on the issue and how, we, as a movement, have really fought off this bill for so long. Estimated cost for Adidas on the legislation alone, was at least half a million dollars. This year, they were able to give more money, but still, as a team, we do have so much power!
Action for Animals (Oakland) American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Animal Defense League – Los Angeles Animal Legal Defense Fund Animal Liberation Australia Animal Place Animal Protection Institute Animal Rights Network of San Diego Animal Society Federation Animal Switchboard Animals Voice Australian Wildlife Protection Council Australian's for Wildlife Bay Area Vegetarians California Animal Association California Federation for Animal Legislation Contra Costa Humane Society Defenders of Wildlife Democratic Action Center East Bay Animal Advocates Farm Sanctuary Green Party of Yolo County Humane Education Network Humane Society of the United States In Defense of Animals
Kangaroo Protection Co-operative Last Chance for Animals League of Humane Voters - California Chapter Los Angeles Lawyers for Animals Marin Humane Society National Lawyer's Guild, Los Angeles Chapter
Ohlone Humane Society PAW Project PawPAC Peninsula Humane Society People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Quaker Concern for Animals SHARK Sierra Club of California Sonoma People for Animal Rights Students at Sacred Heart Prep School, Atherton, CA United Animal Nations Vegan Outreach
Viva!UK Voiceless, Australia Wildlife Protection Association of Australia World League of Protection of Animals Thanks to everyone who wrote letters, called, leafleted, came to the Capitol, held your legislators accountable and did all that you could. For the animals, lauren Ornelas (former director of Viva!USA www.vivausa.org) Founder/Director, Food Empowerment Project. www.foodispower.org Ed Comment; One of the reasons we lost this was because the Australian Federal Government sent two "kangaroo experts" to California to argue directly to the Senate Commitee in favor of the conmmercial kangaroo kill. Another was the fact that Adidas, a German comanay which use kangaroo skins to make sporting shoes, put in huge amounts of money to fight against us. On behalf of our harrassed and persecuted kangaroos, I'd also like to thank all the groups who helped in this campaign. The future for our wild kangaroos looks bleak indeed. Pat OBrien, WPAA
|
