DawnWatch Los Angeles

Sea Shepherd fundraiser this Saturday night, 1/9/10

2010-01-08T15:20:53Z

The following is from Ady Gil, whose namesake Sea Shepherd boat, the Ady Gil, was sunk by whalers this week. Come have fun for a good cause:

Host: Ady Gil

Location: Ady's House
20359 Delita Dr.
Woodland Hills, CA 91364 US

When: Saturday, January 9, 7:00PM Add to my Outlook Calendar
Phone: 818-888-7799

As you may or may not know, the Ady Gil was attacked by Japanese Whalers in the Southern Ocean..latest news, it's sinking. Ady would like to host an emergency fundraising party for the Sea Shepherd with the goal of raising enough to replace the boat that they've lost.

Cocktails/Hor's Douvres/Live Music

RSVP if possible Kim@svptv.com or ady15@hi-def.com
(818) 902-9500 or (818)888-7799

Dress Elegant Casual

Donation suggested $50 minimum per person

Donations can be made on line @ www.fortheoceans.org

Parking Available on Del Moreno from Ventura Blvd to Delita or on Delita from Winnetka to Del Moreno. Shuttle vans with orange lights on top will circle constantly to shuttle guests up to Ady's house..just park and turn on your flashers.

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Date: Fri Jan 8 15:20:53 2010

Invitation to event this evening honoring Pedro Nava, Attorney General Candidate 2010 --Saturday 12/19/09

2009-12-19T09:34:50Z

Angelenos,
There is an event and fundraiser early this evening, Saturday December 19, honoring Pedro Nava, who is a candidate for California Attorney General in 2010. I know this is late notice during holiday season but it is from 5-7pm so I hope you can come in for a cocktail for a worthy cause on your way out to wherever.

Pedro has been endorsed by the Humane Society Legislative Fund for his extraordinary work protecting animals and punishing abusers. He is the only legislator to have authored 3 animal cruelty measures in a single legislative session with all 3 reaching the Governors desk. Sierra Club ranked him the best coastal protection vote during his 8 years on the California Coastal Commission and he recently led the charge defeating the Governor's attempt to open California coastline to more offshore oil drilling.

The event, at the home of Ellen and Dennis Lavinthal, is co-hosted by
Wayne Pacelle
Steven Bernheim
Dr. Gary Michelson
Ed Buck
Elaine Hendrix
Dr. Jim Jensvold
Gil Michaels
Ellen and Dennis Lavinthal
Judie Mancuso and Rolf Wicklund
And Patty Shenker and Doug Stoll

Individual tickets are $250, and there are different levels of support as follows:
Host: $5,000.00
Supporter: $2,500.00
Friend: $1,000.00

Attire is cocktail.

For more information or to RSVP, please email RSVP@pedronava.com or call (805) 899-2600. Address is provided on RSVP.

If you are unable to attend but would like to make a contribution to support this champion for the animals, you can do so on line at: http://tinyurl.com/yzaq27z

I look forward to seeing some of you tonight.

Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn

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Date: Sat Dec 19 09:34:50 2009

Veggie Pride Parade tomorrow 4/26/09 -- monkey needed!

2009-04-25T17:17:54Z

A reminder to Angelenos that LA's first ever Veggie Pride Parade is tomorrow, Sunday April 26. I will paste information from Animal Acres below. Lorri tells me they already have hundreds of folks pre-registered so it is going to be a blast. Before I speak I will be marching -- with a banana and a monkey. But I don't have my monkey yet! The suit is cute, and shows your own face, and it isn't too thick, and tomorrow isn't supposed to be hot. If you would like to be my monkey would you let me know? Email me at news@thankingthemonkey.com

Here's information from Animal Acres:
---------------
LA�s first VEGGIE PRIDE PARADE

Sunday, April 26 Noon � 4 pm

Culver Events 11948 W. Washington Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90066

Vegetarians everywhere will unite on April 26 for LA�s first VEGGIE PRIDE PARADE! At noon, participants will gather at Culver Events to begin a 5K walk through Venice with participants adorned with eye-catching costumes and thought provoking signs to educate people about the health, environmental, and animal welfare benefits of a vegetarian diet, and provide veg living resources, tips, and information.

After the march, participants will gather for a post-parade rally to celebrate the vegetarian lifestyle, with special guest presentations, music & veg entertainment, costume contest, and of course, a smorgasbord of vegan food from our area�s top veg restaurants.

Special guest speakers include Rory Freedman, author of the New York Times best seller Skinny Bitch, which has sold over two million copies worldwide, and Karen Dawn, author of Thanking the Monkey, Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals, declared one of 2008�s top new books by the Washington Post.

The Los Angeles VEGGIE PRIDE PARADE was inspired by Vegetarians Against Animal Exploitation in France who will be celebrating their 9th parade in 2009.

Vegetarian living is good for the Earth, the animals, and YOU! A recent United Nations report found that the meat industry is the leading producer of methane gas, and the single largest source of global warming. Vegetarians have a 30 percent lower risk of death disease, than do those who eat meat, fish, or poultry, and a significantly lower risk of other diseases including diabetes, obesity, and cancer. Billions of suffering farmed animals would also benefit from people adopting a vegetarian diet.

The Los Angeles event is being coordinated by Animal Acres, the Los Angeles farmed animal sanctuary and compassionate living center. For more information on the organization�s programs and campaigns, please visit: www.animalacres.org.

For more information on the VEGGIE PRIDE PARADE, please visit: veggiepridela.com

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Date: Sat Apr 25 17:17:54 2009

Karen Dawn seeks assistant plus for animal advocacy media job, March 2009

2009-03-14T13:02:52Z

I am still looking for an assistant, but my criteria has changed. I am going to rent out that room separately, so am now looking for somebody who lives in Los Angeles to come in part-time, Monday to Friday, 10-2 or 10-3. Despite the wonders of our technological age, I am not looking for somebody to work remotely. The home office is in Pacific Palisades, overlooking the water. Your dog is welcome at work, and will enjoy the bluff next door.

In case somebody has forwarded this email to you, and you aren't familiar with my work, this is me: http://www.dawnwatch.com/about_karen_dawn.htm

This would be an ideal job for a freelancer of some sort who would like to have a guaranteed regular income to pay basic bills, and would like to work in the animal advocacy world. Hopefully we would both be delighted if the job becomes full time and long term.

This job might be perfect for somebody with a graphic design or other computer background, as computer skills are required, preferably including knowledge of some html. Knowledge of the Adobe Creative Suite, particularly Dreamweaver would be a plus. Some video and audio editing skills would also be helpful. You will also need to have administrative skills.

You will be doing some work on the web in the viral marketing worlds of Facebook and YouTube. You will also be keeping track of my calendar and schedule. And you will be making phone calls, dealing with animal advocacy groups, bookstores, newspapers and TV and radio stations. There will also be some basic assistant stuff, like running errands to the printer or post office. While you will have a lot of real responsibility, you'll also be happy to pick up dry-cleaning or dog food on the way back from Kinko's.

There may be a little travel to a few conferences per year, but that is negotiable.

You must be a self-starter. Part of your job will be to keep the ball rolling when I drop it -- to keep things running while I am writing or traveling or dreaming or whatever. If, after we email, we decide to have a follow-up chat, you will be calling me to make sure the conversation happens, which will be indicative of a typical task, as you will be in charge of to-do lists. If it is left up to me, our intended conversation will get lost on my list and won't happen.

Somebody with whom I talked and laid out all of my upcoming projects said, "Basically you need a campaign manager." I thought that was a brilliant way to put it. But I also need an assistant, and at this stage of the campaign the two will have to be rolled into one -- and there is no other staff just yet, except for interns and volunteers that you might dig up. We are at the very early stages of the campaign.

Please be ready to produce some wonderful references from past jobs or teachers.

Finally, hopefully you will be excited about the work. If you are seriously interested in the job I will be delighted if you've read "Thanking the Monkey" and are therefore familiar with my general approach, and are keen to help.

Please get in touch at job@thankingthemonkey.com and we'll go from there.

And please forward this to your Los Angeles based animal friendly buddies who might be looking for pleasant and meaningful work.

Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn

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Date: Sat Mar 14 13:02:52 2009

DawnWatch LA: Ringling lawsuit covered in Los Angeles Times 2/4/09

2009-02-04T21:07:00Z

Angelenos,
Today's, Wednesday February 4, Los Angeles Times includes an article, by Sarah Gantz, headed "Endangered circus species?; Animal welfare groups sue Ringling, alleging abuse of elephants. The circus says it's a larger 'crusade' against animals at attractions." (Pg A10)

It opens:
"Tom Rider, who used to be a 'barn man' for Ringling Bros., said that when he worked there in the late 1990s, he regularly saw handlers of the circus' endangered Asian elephants abusing the giant creatures.

"He said they used long, sharp-hooked poles, 'hitting them in the legs, hooking them behind the ears' and leaving gashes the size of his finger.

"Ringling denies the allegations, saying it has never been cited for animal cruelty. But today, a nearly 9-year-old legal case over the elephants' treatment will come to trial in U.S. District Court."

You'll find the full article on line at:
http://tinyurl.com/ajcbd3

Please respond with a letter to the editor, sent to letters@latimes.com

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Remember that shorter letters are more likely to be published. And please be sure not to use any comments or phrases from me or from any other alerts in your letters. Editors are looking for original responses from their readers.

Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)

Please go to http://tinyurl.com/9mve9r if you would like to see an NBC news piece on Karen Dawn's new book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals� or go to www.ThankingtheMonkey.com for reviews and a fun celeb-studded promo video.

To discontinue DawnWatch alerts go to http://www.DawnWatch.com/nothanks.php

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Date: Wed Feb 4 21:07:00 2009

100 protestors needed at Racetrack this Saturday, October 25

2008-10-22T21:15:22Z

The following invitation to attend a horce racing protest this coming Saturday comes activist Nicole Matthews. Transport and food are provided.
-------------------------------

We have an opportunity to make changes for horses used for racing that will change their lives. We are truly at a turning point as we�ve seen some dramatic changes already being made after the very public death of Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby earlier this year. But there are more reforms still needed. Your participation will go a long way toward helping at this critical time.

The protest will take place at the Santa Anita Park and Racetrack next Saturday, October 25 at 9:00 AM. at the entrance by the intersection of Huntington and Holly Ave in Arcadia.

Our goal is to have at least 100 protestors. We are providing buses to help get people there cheaply and quickly and we�ll offer delicious breakfast sandwiches on the bus. We will be meeting for the bus at the PETA LA office at 2898 Rowena Ave in Silver Lake The bus will begin loading at 8:00 AM and depart at 8:15 AM sharp. There is some parking in the lot of the PETA office and more on the street though you may have to walk a couple of blocks. Please RSVP for a seat on the bus.

If you would like to drive, parking is available at the nearby Westfield Shoppingtown Mall or the Arcadia Community Center at 240 West Huntington Dr. Our demonstration is at the intersection of Huntington and Holly Ave. so you may have to walk a bit.

Please RSVP and direct questions to Nicole at NicoleM@peta.org or call her at 269-908-0050.

Thank you!

Nicole Matthews
Campaigner
International Grassroots Campaigns
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

269-908-0050
NicoleM@peta.org

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Date: Wed Oct 22 21:15:22 2008

Hoe-down and Book Party -- Thanking the Monkey readings at both 5-3/4-08

2008-05-03T00:35:31Z

Angelenos, this is a fun animal weekend in the city for animal folks!

For those who want to get down with the animals, we have the Animal Acres Hoedown on Saturday, May 3. It is in Acton, just 45 minutes from downtown LA.
I will be speaking and reading from Thanking the Monkey, the lovely Rory Freedman, co-author of Skinny Bitch, will be speaking and presenting her new book, "Skinny Bitch in the Kitch." Author Ethan Smith and Animal Acres founder Lorri Bauston will speak. And actress Jorja Fox is a special guest. If you have never been to Animal Acres and hung out with the cows and pigs, and my favorites, the turkeys, you must come. Learn more at www.animalacres.org/events.html

In the evening, I will be on the Wayne Resnick show on KFI. I will be in studio at 6pm. I believe the show takes callers, and it would be wonderful to hear some of your animal friendly voices.

Then Sunday, at 4pm, it's the Los Angeles launch of Thanking the Monkey!

I will paste our release about it below.
I know some of you are going to the "Stand Up for Animals" comedy event for the wonderful Voice for the Animals group on Sunday night (http://www.vftafoundation.org/ ) which is why our Palisades party ends at 6pm. Make an afternoon and night of it!

THANKING THE MONKEY BOOK RELEASE PARTY:
Animal friendly actors will join Karen Dawn and read from her new book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals." They include CSI�s Jorja Fox, Bones star Emily Deschanel, Esai Morales and Charlotte Ross of NYPD Blue, Michael Nouri from The OC (and Flashdance), Girlfriends star Persia White, and the L Word�s Daniela Sea. And�while Pacific Palisades is known for dolphins, this Palisades party red carpet will be graced by Hannah Mermaid, in full mermaid tail, reading with her dear friend the lovely Isabel Lucas from Transformers II, about the fate of our ocean Earthmates.

There will be loads of champagne and yummy vegan snacks.

When: Sunday, May 4, 4-6 p.m.

Where: Mick�s � a brand new organic garden caf�, attached to The Cottage Consignment Store at 859 Swarthmore Ave., across from CVS, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

Please check out www.ThankingtheMonkey.com to learn more about this fabulous new book, see the celeb-studded promo video, and read the rock star endorsements and fine literary reviews. Then RSVP for the book party!

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Date: Sat May 3 00:35:31 2008

DawnWatch LA: "Going vegetarian, against the grain" in LA Times 2/18/08

2008-02-18T19:22:28Z

Angelenos,
While the meat recall is the story of the day, about which I will be sending out a full alert shortly, I wanted to make sure locals saw the following piece from today's paper -- the perfect opportunity to sing the praises of plant-based diets. Please seize it!
The Los Angeles Times takes letters at letters@latimes.com
Always include your full name, address and telephone number.
------------------------------

Los Angeles Times
February 18, 2008 Monday
Home Edition

MY TURN;
Going vegetarian, against the grain

Brad Dickson, Special to The Times

HEALTH; Part F; Pg. 9

Five years ago I made the most difficult, painful decision of my life. I converted from a carnivore to a vegetarian.

A bit of back story. I moved to L.A. in 1992 after growing up in Nebraska, where beef is sacrosanct. Enough Nebraskans are consumed with meat that gristle is classified as a vegetable. They eat pork rinds for dessert. To succumb to "mad cow" disease is considered a natural death. There's a steakhouse in Omaha that serves a 32-ounce noontime T-Bone. In pre-meal rituals, restaurant diners swallow enormous cheese- and lard-laden bovine hunks half their body weight and call them "appetizers."

Let me put it this way: There's one Whole Foods store in all of Nebraska, and when I'm back, I never have trouble finding a parking spot.

It wasn't easy telling my Cornhusker relatives, several of whom still farm, that I'd gone vegetarian. They'd have been less disgusted if I had joined the Taliban.

Even now when I'm visiting, my mother speaks to relatives in hushed tones. "You know he's a vegetarian." (Said with the same inflection as the word "communist" in the '50s.)

The vegetarian contempt is rooted in the fact that at one time eastern Nebraska was proud home to the Omaha stockyards, second only to Chicago as the nation's largest. Many locals come from families that earn their livelihoods from meatpacking and related activities. Omaha Steaks employs thousands. If enough Americans turn vegetarian, there will be an ill wind blowing across the local economy. You wanna talk recession. . . .

Thus the decision to stop eating meat wasn't easy. I made the switch after I read several books by cardiologist Dr. Dean Ornish and took to heart his argument that vegetarianism wards off coronary artery disease, an illness that runs in my family. I have avoided statins out of my natural bias toward holistic health practices. Already a runner and on-and-off health fanatic, I embraced a dietary sea change that led me to permanently just say no to beef.

The good news is that, according to some experts, by going vegetarian I'm adding years to my life. The bad news is five years later I still miss meat so much I sometimes park outside Sizzler and watch people leaving with their doggy bags, tempted to swap my car for half a gnawed-on chicken-fried steak.

But mostly I have an overall feeling of well-being. My running times have improved since I'm essentially doing carbo loading every day. I wake up clear-headed and feeling like I'm 15 years old, and that's not bad -- to feel 15, only with some money in the bank and a rudimentary knowledge of how the world works.

To paraphrase Thomas Wolfe, I just don't go home often. But when I do, I'm greeted by some wonderfully warm, ingratiating people who think that gristle is a vegetable.
--
Brad Dickson is a former writer for "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and co-author of "Race You to the Fountain of Youth."
(End of Los Angeles Times Article.)
----------
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)

Please go to www.ThankingtheMonkey.com to read advance reviews of Karen Dawn's new book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals� and watch the fun celebrity studded promo video.

To discontinue DawnWatch alerts go to http://www.DawnWatch.com/nothanks.php

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Date: Mon Feb 18 19:22:28 2008

LCA and Best Friends invite you to Posh puppy protest Saturday, 1/19/08

2008-01-18T11:35:19Z

Angelenos,
The following email, about the protest tomorrow, Saturday January 19, comes from activist Carole Davis. It includes a link to the Best Friends alert/invitation, which has all the information you need.
And you can watch a video of the first fun and successful protest on youtube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyZdkCi-JzQ
Here's Carole's alert:
-------
Here we go again!

This Sat. 2 Shifts: 11-2 and 2-5
Posh Puppy, Roxbury and Wilshire in Beverly Hills.
Bring your well behaved dogs, bottled water and whatever other party favors you like. Let's have fun, it's working!

Let's roll.
Read the invite on Best Friends network:
http://www.network.bestfriends.org/News/22123.html

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Date: Fri Jan 18 11:35:19 2008

Los Angeles -- Vegan Supper Club at 2nd Street Jazz, downtown, Sunday 1/20/08

2008-01-15T12:23:00Z

Angelenos,
I pass on the following from Tal Ronnen. This Sunday is Vegan Supper Club night. If you have never tasted Tal's cooking (he cooks often at Madeleine Bistro), boy are you in for a treat! See you there I hope!
Karen
---------------------------------

Hi friends, Sorry for the late notice and hope you all had a great holiday season. We to see you at our next supper club! Our last two dinners sold out as we only have 40 seats. Hope you can share this email with your family and friends who might enjoy this evening of vegan food and live jazz. We will be offering a 3 coarse version as well as our regular four courses this time around.

Warm Regards,
Tal

Make your reservations now for an exclusive four-course gourmet vegan experience at 2nd Street
Jazz in Downtown Los Angeles. Guest Chef Tal Ronnen will bring contemporary vegan cuisine to 2nd
Street Jazz on the third Sunday of every month featuring a pre-fix menu that includes optional
wine pairings with each course and the best local live Jazz.

Menu for Sunday the 20th

-- Crispy �Carne� Ravioli with Habanero Mango Hollandaise and Pineapple Salsa
-- Quinoa, Avocado and Sweet Potato Timbale with Roasted Tomatillo Dressing
-- Blackened Portobello Fillets, Smoked Black Beans and Slow Cooked Collard Greens
-- Sweet Corn Cakes

Please make your reservations at http://cart.2ndstjazz.com/

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Date: Tue Jan 15 12:23:00 2008

DawnWatch Los Angeles: Front page LA Times on animal cause philanthropy 12/19/07

2007-12-19T16:08:59Z

Angelenos:
Today's Los Angeles Times front page story on philanthropy for animal causes is sure to inspire letters from, as the article notes, "those who believe that charity dollars should go to humans, not critters." So please make sure there are plenty of letters discussing the importance of animal activism. Patty Shenker's comment, at the end of the article, about animals being generally off the radar, provides a good jump off point.

The Los Angeles Times takes letters at letters@latimes.com
Include your full name, address and phone number.

Here's the article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-animalmoney19dec19,1,7562129.story

December 19, 2007 Wednesday

L.A.'s deep pockets give creatures comfort;
In elegant environs, a special breed of the wealthy raises millions for animal causes.

Carla Hall, Times Staff Writer
Part A; Pg. 1

The elephant researcher stood in the living room of the sleekly modern Pacific Palisades home perched high on a hill. Slides of an African preserve flashed by on a screen.

Elephants "are so social, so communicative, so intelligent," said Joyce Poole, who has dedicated her life to documenting and protecting pachyderms.

It is a task that takes money, and the admiring audience was ready to help.

"I'd like to put up $25,000," businessman Gil Michaels said. His condition: The rest of the room had to match that amount in total donations.

There were a few small offers, then a long pause. The hostess, standing in the back of her living room, filled the void.

"I'll match the rest of his donation," Patty Shenker said.

The living room erupted in applause. The elephant researcher burst into tears.

"You don't know how hard it is to raise money," she said.

Poole had tapped into a cadre of Los Angeles residents with deep pockets and an equally deep, unabashed concern for animals. Across the area, in hilltop homes and elegant hotels, people open their checkbooks to protect a vast array of creatures -- cows and chickens, elephants and marine mammals, feral cats and pit bulls.

It is difficult to quantify the amount of money given in Los Angeles -- or nationwide -- to the myriad animal welfare and conservation causes. Philanthropy watchers said Americans gave $295 billion in cash donations to U.S. charities last year. About 2% of all giving goes to animal causes, estimates Merritt Clifton, editor of the Animal People newspaper and the annual Watchdog Report on Animal Protection Charities.

In the last 12 months, well-moneyed Angelenos have raised millions for animals at a series of parties and dinners where fine wine, vegan nibbles and, sometimes, cocktail attire are the order of the day.

Michaels spent more than $50,000 in September at a gala for Farm Sanctuary, which investigates and works to stop cruelty toward animals in factory farms and runs two sanctuaries.

"I've been doing this for 25 years," he said. "I've been fighting animal cruelty in all its disgusting forms."

Michaels estimates that he has donated more than $30 million to animal-related causes over the years.

"Animals have no voice," said Michaels, who lives in the Hollywood Hills with two dogs and stables horses in Ventura County. "They are helpless."

Just a year ago, Shenker pledged $100,000 toward a retirement fund for Ruby, a female African elephant that the Los Angeles Zoo was considering retiring to PAWS, a nonprofit animal sanctuary in San Andreas, Calif. (Ruby was moved there this past spring.)

Shenker put up the money after retired game show host Bob Barker -- the dean of West Coast animal benefactors -- announced that he would match donations for Ruby's costly care, dollar for dollar, up to $350,000.

Some donors are so immersed in the cause that they maintain a vegetarian or vegan diet. They generally have a gaggle of their own pets, proudly immortalized in digital photos on their Blackberries and I-phones and almost always rescued from shelters. In this community, it would be sinful to buy a designer dog from a breeder when municipal shelters nationwide euthanize 2 million to 3 million unwanted dogs and cats each year.

Few of those donors are part of the outspoken ranks of the animal welfare activists and advocates who attend zoo commission meetings, confront politicians and trade impassioned missives on the Internet. Most activists don't have the money.

There are exceptions. In addition to her financial support, Shenker goes to Los Angeles City Council meetings and protests, as well as firing off letters.

Cheri Shankar estimates that she and her husband, Naren Shankar, an executive producer of the original "CSI" TV show, gave $75,000 last year to animal causes. Meanwhile, she lobbies for changes in the city's shelter system, goes to meetings -- and persuaded her husband to do an episode this season involving the evils of dog fighting. (It recently aired.)

Paul Watson, the charismatic founder of the ocean and marine wildlife protection group known as Sea Shepherd, has captivated Hollywood celebrities, animal welfare activists and ocean conservationists with his aggressive tactics aimed at, among other things, halting illegal whaling ships and fur seal hunters.

It seemed natural, when the group held its first $500-a-plate vegan fundraiser in October, that the venue would be an elegantly appointed tent near the Santa Monica Pier. Producer Bob Yari's company, which hopes to do a film on Watson, donated $150,000 to underwrite the event.

"Probably 25% of our contributions are from Los Angeles," Watson said. "The only other place that even approaches it is all of Australia."

At the Farm Sanctuary gala this fall, men in tuxedos and women in slinky dresses sipped cocktails in the buttery light of the Beverly Hills Hotel as they perused items up for silent auction -- a week at an Aruba resort, a two-week gym membership and paintings of farm animals, including one of a Madonna cradling two piglets.

In the ballroom where guests dined, giant screens on either side of the stage flashed photos of the farm animals that reside at the group's sanctuaries. The hotel's chefs consulted with a gourmet vegan restaurant in New York to create the menu.

James Costa, a Boston philanthropist who helped underwrite the event, could have been at Oprah Winfrey's fundraiser in Montecito for presidential candidate Barack Obama the same day. He chose the Farm Sanctuary event.

"Come on, you people with money," Costa said, as if addressing the skeptics he knows exist. "You don't have to be ashamed. We're a good organization. We're not crazies. We want animals to have a better life."

The gala raised $250,000, said Gene Baur, who heads the group.

Spending on animal rights issues still invites criticism from those who believe that charity dollars should go to humans, not critters.

"Sometimes you feel like you have to defend yourself," Cheri Shankar said. "I'm not a misanthrope. There's just a deficiency when it comes to dealing with all the animal abuse and killing. And it may be easier to solve this problem than to solve world hunger."

Sam Simon, one of the creators of "The Simpsons" TV show, says he gives millions each year to his own eponymous foundation that offers spay/neuter services to low-income pet owners in Los Angeles and trains rescue dogs to help the hearing-impaired.

"Our mission statement is to improve the lives of people by saving the lives of animals," Simon said. "If your dog needs an operation and you can't afford it, I feel I'm helping you both."

Simon was host of a fund-raiser at his Pacific Palisades home several months ago for PETA's public awareness campaign against the breeding of dogs and cats. He contributed $150,000 -- matching $150,000 raised at the fundraiser. (Michaels gave an additional $100,000.)

Increasingly though, funding animal groups is seen as a mainstream undertaking.

"Our entire estate is going to three animal charities," said stockbroker David Selig, 43, as he and his wife, Molly Ballentine, who works in advertising and is 44, attended a party in November for entertainment industry folks to mingle with Wayne Pacelle, the head of the Humane Society of the United States. The couple said they decided not to have children.

"Quite frankly I'd rather be on the couch with Molly and my six dogs than people," Selig said.

Barker estimates that he has given between $40 million and $50 million to animal welfare causes over the 30 years he has been involved.

In addition to funding his own foundation, which facilitates spay/neuter clinics and services, he also has set up $1-million endowments in seven law schools for the study of animal law. UCLA, Stanford, and Harvard are among them.

"It's a rare person who becomes aware of animal cruelty who doesn't want to help on some level," said Barker, who just turned 84 and now has one dog and two rabbits.

Few donors are more well known for their prolific giving than Shenker.

"She's the foundation of all animal welfare groups," said Judie Mancuso, the activist force behind the spay/neuter bill campaign to which Shenker has contributed.

In addition to cash -- she estimates she may have contributed $250,000 to various causes this year -- Shenker, who owns commercial real estate, lends land to two shelter groups for almost nothing.

Her own house is populated with numerous rescue cats and dogs.

At 56, she has been a vegan for more than three decades -- and won't allow a burger joint in any of her buildings.

"When I hear people say, 'How could you help animals when so many people need help?' that just spurs me on to do more," Shenker said, "because it just shows they're so off the radar."

carla.hall@latimes.com
(End of Los Angeles Times article)
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Date: Wed Dec 19 16:08:59 2007