Last Chance for Animals

Since its formation in 1984, Last Chance for Animals (LCA) has succeeded as one of the global pioneer animal advocacy organizations. Documentation from LCA’s undercover investigations is used by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) to expose animal abusers and work with prosecutors to obtain criminal charges. LCA’s educational and public outreach programs on a variety of animal issues empower the public to make positive changes for animals and change to make cruelty-free lifestyle decisions.

Founded in 1984 by Hollywood actor Chris DeRose, Last Chance For Animals (LCA) has its roots in fighting and exposing the inherent cruelty of vivisection. In the organization’s early years, DeRose led teams of dedicated activists employing non-violent strategies modeled after social movements led by such leaders as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

2018:

• PROTEST LIMITS REMOVED – On April 12, 2018, LCA and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania announced an important victory in the fight for animal rights. A federal judge struck down a protest policy at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes Barre, PA this week, making it unlawful to confine protestors to barricaded areas or ban voice amplification. The court decision came in response to a lawsuit filed days before the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus performed its final show with the elephants in 2016. The lawsuit requested that the court strike down protest limitations, including allowing the protesters to mingle with patrons attending circus performances and not confining them to a barricaded area.

2017:

• LUXURY BRANDS GO FUR-FREE – In 2017, LCA continued to campaign for designers to end their use of fur and hosted an annual Fur Free Friday protest along Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, CA.  This year the fur-free movement gained tremendous momentum with numerous leaders in the fashion community adopting fur-free policies.  Luxury brands Gucci, Michael Kors, and Jimmy Choo all announced that they will be going fur-free in 2018.  LCA has been at the forefront of the fur-free movement for over thirty years. In 2011, LCA and other animal protection organizations joined forces to support the groundbreaking ordinance which banned the sale of fur in West Hollywood. This fur ban was first of its kind in the United States and paved the way for Berkeley to follow suit earlier this year.

• RETAIL PET STORES BANNED IN CALIFORNIA – LCA supported AB 485, which was signed into law on October 13, 2017, making California the first state in the nation to ban the retail sale of commercially bred dogs, cats, and rabbits. The legislation provides California’s homeless pets a greater chance of finding a home by requiring retail pet stores to source their animals from municipal shelters, humane societies, and rescues.  In addition to the immediate lifesaving impact of this law, it will serve as a means to curtail the cruel and inhumane puppy mill industry, which LCA has long worked to shut down through undercover investigations, grassroots and legislative advocacy, and corporate outreach.

• RINGLING BROS. CIRCUS SHUT DOWN –  LCA celebrated Ringling Bros. Circus, the cruelest show on earth, finally closing after 146 years, in May 2017. The final performance marked the end of a cruel era of Ringling breeding animals or stealing them from the wild and forcing them to perform demeaning, unnatural tricks out of fear. The end of Ringling Bros. is a hard-won victory that followed decades of investigations and protests by LCA. LCA has been at the forefront of the movement against Ringling Bros. that garnered international attention exposing the severe animal cruelty that Ringling tried so desperately to hide.

• INVESTIGATION INTO ITR LABORATORIES CANADA, LTD. – LCA released an undercover investigation in March 2017, which exposed horrific cruelty at ITR Laboratories Canada, a government-contracted toxicology research facility that performs laboratory studies on beagles, mini pigs, and macaque monkeys. This groundbreaking investigation was the first exposure of the gross mistreatment of laboratory animals inside Canadian research facilities. LCA’s footage showed evidence of ITR’s grave neglect and mistreatment of animals. Following the investigation, LCA filed complaints with the appropriate enforcement agencies and governing bodies in Canada that oversee animals and agriculture.

• DONATED PLANE ARRIVES IN VIRUNGA: LCA and the Cindy & Michael Landon Foundation’s donated Cessna 206 aircraft took off from Alamosa, Colorado on Monday, March 20, 2017, and after being ferried 8,600 miles to Entebbe, Uganda, reached its final destination of Virunga National Park in the Congo on Tuesday, April 11, 2017. The donated plane will greatly expand Virunga’s Air Wing capabilities to help the park’s brave rangers protect the land and the wildlife — including the endangered mountain gorilla!