Marching orders

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1996:

Last Chance for Animals has
pledged to “take advantage of the tens of
thousands of supporters” it expects to attend
the June “March for the Animals” in
Washington D.C. to “blockade the USDA”
if it fails to announce pending regulatory
amendments to change the Class B dealer
system before then. Currently, the “B”
dealer classification covers anyone who
buys or sells animals across interstate
lines––including more than a thousand pet
dealers along with from 50 to 75 sellers of
random-source dogs and cats to laboratories,
many of whom have been accused of trafficking
in stolen pets. USDA spokesperson
Stephen Smith told ANIMAL PEOPLE
almost a year ago that the agency wants to
split th” ‘B” category into nine subcategories,
to enable closer tracking of activity.

Congress, however, appears reluctant to
increase either the law enforcement budget
or the regulatory authority of the USDA.
Inspired by the Freedom Riders,
whose lunch-counter sit-ins helped desegregate
southern institutions in the early 1960s,
In Defense of Animals has announced that
its chartered buses taking marchers to
Washington D.C. from California will stop
along the way to hold demonstrations.
Animal Rights America, not a
year old but already split by a dispute
between cofounders Gary Francione of the
Rutgers Animal Rights Law Center and Tom
Regan, author of The Case for Animal
R i g h t s, split again in January when a purported
ARA call for a boycott of the “March
for the Animals,” on grounds it will promote
“animal welfare” rather than “animal
rights,” was posted to the Internet. On
February 15, Francione endorsed the boycott
but objected to the boycott statement,
which he said had been amended without his
approval since his November 1995 resignation
from the ARA. The boycott call was
repudiated in a February 26 joint statement
signed by remaining ARA cofounders
Lawrence Carter-Long, Anne and Ben
Crimaudo, Angi Metler, and Janine Motta.
According to their statement, Tom and
Nancy Regan followed Francione out in
December 1995; James Corrigan and
Elizabeth Colville resigned on February 2;
Stuart Chaifetz resigned “for personal reasons”
on February 16, shortly after
Francione threatened to sue him for libel;
and Anna Charlton, Shelton Walden, and
Johnny Fernandez all resigned over the decision
to rescind the boycott.
Continuing to object to the style
and character of the March, Francione on
March 23 noted the acceptance of
Frederick’s of Hollywood as a sponsor.
“Perhaps those who attend will be able to
obtain Special Edition Frederick’s of
Hollywood Leather Crotchless Panties with
animal rights slogans,” he posted to the
>>AR-ne