The Left Files

The Berkeley Organization for Animal Advocacy

By Matthew Vasquez
From the May 2006 Print Edition

The Berkeley Organization for Animal Advocacy was founded in the fall of 1999 in order to curtail animal research on the Berkeley campus. Today, the organization runs several campaigns to address animal rights issues, including promoting veganism and advocating against animal research. The group strongly advocates not buying products that contain animal byproducts, including fur and leather, or that have been tested on animals. Currently, the group receives $635.25 from the ASUC, which comprises of a large portion of BOAA’s budget.

Presently, BOAA’s main activities include tabling and leafleting on Sproul in order to raise awareness of animal rights issues. Occasionally, the group invites activists to discuss effective advocacy and new animal welfare issues. Twice this year, BOAA has given free vegan food out on Sproul — first on November 21 for “Thanksgovegan,” and later on March 22 for the “Great American Meat Out.” This semester, members of the group offered a DeCal course on veganism. According to its course description, “students will gain an understanding of the health, environmental and moral benefits involved in a vegan life style.”

“I find it truly amazing that people distinguish between the welfare of some animals and that of other animals,” says junior Bethany Gerdemann. “I can’t imagine why someone would support the cruel treatment of some animals, like those that become their food or their clothing, while they are repulsed and saddened by the idea of seeing their dog or cat suffer. I don’t know how people rationally draw these distinctions.”

In its first year, BOAA organized a petition among Berkeley residents that requested reforms of the University’s animal testing policies. According to the Daily Californian, the petition asked for BOAA to be represented on the Animal Care and Use Committee and requested monthly inspections of laboratory facilities and the formation of a new committee aimed at reducing the number of animals used in research and ending the use of primates in research. BOAA presented the petition, which was signed by over 2,000 students and residents, to the Berkeley City Council. In February of 2000, the council supported three of the four measures on the petition.

On April 25, 2002, BOAA held a silent vigil outside of the Northwest Animal Facility, located underground at the corner of Hearst and Oxford. According to the Berkeley Daily Planet, people stood silently holding candles and signs dressed in black for two hours. Christine Morrissey, facilitator for the event, told the Daily Planet that they wanted to both mourn the dead animals used in research on campus and promote alternatives to animal research. Dr. Helen Diggs responded, “People only use animals for research because they are essential to research. As the scientific community discovers legitimate alternatives to using animals, we embrace them.”

Between March 20 and March 22, BOAA hosted the PETA Animal Liberation exhibit on Sproul. This exhibit ended when on Wednesday, March 22, a group of angry and emotional students voiced their opposition to some of the images presented in the exhibit. Events climaxed when one student threw ketchup and mustard at the display.

The exhibit highlighted various forms of injustice in American history, juxtaposed with similar forms of injustice towards animals today. This included one image comparing human slavery to an elephant whose foot was chained. Another imaged showed a picture of two lynched African Americans next to a picture of a hanging cow. In response to the exhibit, one student was recorded on video saying, “I’m not trying to say that people should eat meat. I understand you, but the way you’re depicting our history, the way you are depicting the things that happened to us, the thing that happened to our ancestors, it’s not OK, it’s not OK!”

“The images compare the oppression of groups of people in the past to the oppression of animals today,” said Sangeeta Kumar, Education Coordinator for PETA. “Just as slavery, forced child labor, displacement and genocide of Native Americans, denial of rights to women, and other forms of oppression were once accepted as normal, so is the enslavement of animals in laboratories, on fur farms, in factory farms, and in circuses accepted today. Our message is that oppression is wrong, regardless of the race, gender, age, nationality, or species of the victims.”

PETA had taken its exhibit to 12 campuses before coming to Berkeley, where it got an apparently positive response. While not expecting the emotional reaction, Kumar said that the reaction was not surprising. “Of course, thinking about the victimization of any group evokes an emotional reaction.”

According to Kumar, while the Berkeley Organization for Animal Advocacy had no say in what images were used, the group did know the contents of the exhibit beforehand. Members of BOAA also passed out animal rights flyers for the exhibit. When asked about the exhibit, BOAA refused to comment.

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