Date
July 20, 2006
Contact
Elliot M. Katz
(415) 388-9641, ext. 225
Kristie Phelps
(757) 423-0093
In Defense of Animals
3010 Kerner Blvd
San Rafael
CA 94901
IDA is an international, California-based animal advocacy organization dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by defending their rights, welfare and habitats.
IDA Urges Government to Allow U.S. Evacuees from Lebanon to Bring Animal Companions
San Rafael, Calif.—While the U.S. government evacuates American citizens out of war-torn Lebanon, In Defense of Animals (IDA) rushed an urgent appeal to Brigadier General Carl Jensen, who is leading the evacuation plans, imploring that evacuees be allowed to save their beloved animal companions’ lives by bringing them along on transports.
As armed conflict escalates in the Middle East, the U.S. government has arranged to transport approximately 8,000 Americans out of the embattled country. They have callously ordered the evacuees to leave their animal companions behind in the combat zone to die.
The group reminds Jensen that during Hurricane Katrina, thousands of Gulf Region residents chose to stay and face deadly flood waters rather than abandon their beloved animal companions in their time of greatest need. These people risked their lives -- and some even died -- to help their animal friends. Countless animals’ lives were senselessly lost because government rescue operations established an inefficient and heartless “no pets” policy.
The lives of humans and their animals are now seriously endangered as the fighting and bombing continues in Lebanon. As the U.S. seeks to get American citizens to safety, IDA urges leaders to avoid a repeat of the tragedy in New Orleans by taking quick and decisive action to allow Americans to take their animals with them as they leave Lebanon.
“The U.S. government has apparently learned nothing from the hard lessons of Hurricane Katrina, in which thousands of Gulf Region residents chose to stay and face deadly flood waters rather than abandon their beloved animals in their time of greatest need,” wrote Elliot M. Katz, DVM, President of IDA. “The lives of humans and their adored animals are now seriously endangered as the fighting and bombing continues in Lebanon. It is up to our leaders to avoid a repeat of the tragedy in New Orleans by immediately reversing the ‘no pets’ policy.”