Santa Cruz Island Pigs Need Your Help
Funds Needed to Continue Legal Battle over Pigs' Lives
In 2005, IDA filed a joint lawsuit against the National Park Service and the Nature Conservancy, co-owners of Santa Cruz Island, for attempting to eradicate a herd of pigs that have been there for over a century. Since then, we have learned that the decision to kill the pigs was made back in 2002, and that all of the planning was done in violation of the government's own rules. The government colluded with the Nature Conservancy to hide the facts and their taxpayer-funded actions from public scrutiny before beginning the bloody massacre in April 2005. They have consistently distorted the facts and broken the law ever since. For example, in their original plan they claimed that there were up to 2,000 pigs on the island. Yet in their most recent statements to the press, they now brag that they have already killed over 4,500 pigs and will kill the remaining 1,500 or so in the months to come. The killing continues even though no evidence that the pigs are adversely affecting the island's ecosystem has been presented, and no humane solutions to population management have been considered.
Unfortunately, our case was assigned to an unsympathetic and ill-informed Federal District Judge who unfairly refused to grant either a temporary restraining order or a permanent injunction against the killing. In March 2006, he ruled in favor of the Defense in a move for summary judgment. Now the government is dragging its feet by not filing a "proposed entry of final judgment," which effectively prevents us from filing an appeal of this judgment. Meanwhile the killing goes on.
However, thanks to IDA's financial help and the many attorneys who have worked thousands of hours at reduced rates or pro bono, Santa Barbara businessman Rick Feldman (who initiated the lawsuit) says that we now have "the goods" on the Defendants and stand a real chance of overturning the unfair judgments of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. If we win the Appeal, we can resubmit the case for a real trial. While the case would end up back in Judge Tevrizian's court, he would then at least be required to hear the evidence against the National Park Service and the Nature Conservancy, co-owners of Santa Cruz Island and perpetrators of the slaughter.
What You Can Do
Evidence that the National Park Service and the Nature Conservancy are breaking the law may never see the light of day unless we have the financial resources to keep up our legal battle. We can win this case and set an important legal precedent with your support. Please donate to this effort by contributing to:
"Save the Pigs"
c/o In Defense of Animals
3010 Kerner Blvd.
San Rafael, CA 94901
To use your Visa or MasterCard right now visit our donation page and type "Save the Pigs" in the "in honor of" first name field of the donations area.
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