The International Union of Physiological Sciences came
to San Diego in April of 2005 for their annual convention. Thousands of
scientists were in attendance. Stop Animal Exploitation NOW! joined with
San Diego Animal Advocates (SDAA) to make sure that the innocent animals
who are imprisoned for the research performed by many of the attendees
had a voice.
Dozens of activists (including both SDAA and Orange
County People for Animals -- OCPA) turned out to confront the
vivisectors who make a living torturing animals. Though we had been
threatened with arrest at the protest of the Neurosciences Convention
(11/04) and forced into a “Free Speech” zone, we were allowed to protest
peacefully and express our outrage at this big business that is based on
animal suffering.
Not only was the protest huge – over fifty dedicated
animal people turned out to be a voice for the voiceless -- but the
media response was also tremendous. Michael Budkie (spokesperson for
SAEN) and Jill Fritz (voice of SDAA) were swarmed by San Diego area
media.
Camera crews from seven different television stations
descended upon the protest site and exposed the truth about animal
experimentation to the people of San Diego.
We have been able to track coverage from three of the
television stations. One of the stations was a local independent and the
others were affiliated with either ABC or CBS. These three stations
alone exposed the truth about animal experiments to approximately
400,000 people in San Diego for 24 hours.
Conventions of scientists such as this typically
result in positive media coverage that extols the value of animal
research. The public is often spoon-fed a line of pseudo-scientific
propaganda that belies the truly horrific nature of animal
experimentation. However, we were able to turn this event around into a
medium for spreading the truth about animal experiments.
We want to thank SDAA and OCPA members for all of
their hard work and dedication.