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iams
IAMS exposed at cat shows
Uncaged Campaigns took on IAMS at two national cat shows in November
and December 2001.
1. IAMS vivisection exposed at the National Cat Club show
 Uncaged
Campaigns once again took the stage in the latest battle against pet food
giant IAMS at the National Cat Club show on Saturday 8th December 2001
at Kensington Olympia.
After our last encounter with them at the Supreme cat show last month
(see report below), it seemed that IAMS were determined
to step up their publicity drive with representatives giving out promotional
flyers and holding one of the largest displays at the show.
In contrast, Uncaged were allocated a small stand at the opposite end
of the hall to IAMS, but this did little to affect our impact. Exhibiting
indisputable evidence of their lethal experiments on cats and dogs, our
aim was to expose IAMS as a vivisecting company who have tortured and
killed animals in pursuit of profits.
We received a massive amount of support from horrified pet owners, many
of whom actually returned to the IAMS stand to challenge them about their
actions.
IAMS were clearly prepared for confrontation from concerned pet owners
and were deliberately vague and misleading in their response. Their official
line now is that they "will not participate in any study requiring
or resulting in the euthanasia of cats or dogs" - a statement that
fails to mention that they may very well undertake non-lethal testing
on cats and dogs and perform experiments involving euthanasia on other
species. For a company whose annual sales are now in excess of $800 million,
their notion that "animal well-being is always our top priority"
is becoming an increasingly hypocritical and outrageous statement.
We were also present at the show to obtain signatures for our petition
to lobby the show organisers - the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy
(GCCF) to prevent IAMS from being able to promote themselves at their
events. The GCCF currently licence 12 cat shows a year and state that
all of their 139 affiliated cat clubs have a strong interest in the welfare
of cats and the GCCF themselves have a "specialist interest in cat
welfare". It would therefore seem ludicrous that they would continue
to positively encourage the promotion of a company that kill the very
animals they are trying to protect, and we will continue to lobby organisations
that actively endorse IAMS.
For a full copy of Uncaged Campaigns Report into IAMS' vivisection programmes
please send £5.00 (inc. p&p) to the address below. Please make
cheque payable to 'Uncaged Campaigns'.
If you want to let IAMS know how you feel you can contact their customer
service department on 0800 426 785 or via email at customer.service@iams.com.
2. IAMS vivisection exposed at the Supreme Cat Show
On Saturday 24th November 2001 Uncaged Campaigns was at the Supreme
Cat Show at the NEC in Birmingham (the cat equivalent of Crufts).
In May 2001 we exposed 24 horrific and lethal experiments funded by cat/dog
food manufacturer, The Iams Company (who also make Eukanuba), on previously
healthy cats and dogs. IAMS have refused to deny they are still conducting
painful and invasive tests on cats and dogs, and still killing other animals.
They are also owned by notorious animal-testers Procter & Gamble (P&G).
Thousands of companion animal guardians and hundreds of 'pet' supply
shops, animal welfare and rescue organisations and breeders have already
joined the boycott of IAMS/Eukanuba products and/or disassociated themselves
from this cruel company. We showed the GCCF all the evidence and suggested
that, as an organisation dedicated to the well being and welfare of cats,
it too should make clear that it cannot condone this treatment of cats.
We asked the GCCF to (a) withdraw the invitation for IAMS to have a stall
at the Supreme (b) make a public statement condemning these practices
(c) allow us a stall at the Supreme. We also asked for a meeting with
the GCCF to go through specific issues.
The GCCF refused to: expel IAMS from the Supreme (in so doing the GCCF
would lose the large cheque IAMS paid for its huge 'stall'); make a public
statement against the vivisection of cats in general, or IAMS vivisection
of cats in particular; or meet with representatives of Uncaged Campaigns.
However, the GCCF did allow us to hire a stall so that cat lovers would
have the opportunity to obtain the facts about a decade of cruel and lethal
experiments inflicted on previously healthy, innocent, cats and dogs by
the The Iams Company.
In the week leading up to the show we received some rather strange emails
from the GCCF, expressing concern that we might break the terms of our
agreement to have a stall at the Supreme; or "display large posters,
visible at a distance from your stand, which might in any way upset or
alarm visitors, including children"; and, apparently, "various
people have suggested that you will be campaigning against cat shows,
the Cat Fancy etc." This was despite all our previous assurances,
and the fact that nowhere in any of our literature or websites had we
suggested that we would be "campaigning against cat shows,"
which roughly translated to 'seeking to cause trouble and spoiling everybody's
day.'
Within minutes of erecting our stall various Show organisers and stewards
had approached us and asked us to move! They wanted us to move to a location
that was stuck away in the corner of the hall, and the only explanation
was that we were "too close to the show cats." However, they
refused to explain why this should be a problem, or what they expected
we were going to do. They also tried to claim we were too close to the
other stalls, which they quickly saw to be nonsense. There had apparently
been a meeting at which it was decided to move our stall, but they had
neglected to inform us. After a bit of a standoff they allowed us to stay
as long as we "behaved"!
We were soon swamped by people visiting our stall to learn about IAMS'
cruel practices for the first time, to get more information, or simply
to express their wholehearted support in person. We distributed thousands
of leaflets, hundreds of reports, showed people the full scientific articles,
and hopefully changed the shopping habits of many people. The response
was overwhelmingly supportive. Companies like IAMS (and their parent company
Procter & Gamble) are not altruistically serving the interests of
cats and dogs - they are guided by the quest for increased profits. The
best way to make them change their practices is to hit these profits.
We also had petitions addressed to the GCCF. The text of the petitions
runs:
"We, the undersigned, call upon the Governing Council of the Cat
Fancy (GCCF) to adopt a robust and coherent policy that tackles cruelty
to cats, including laboratory experiments performed on cats to develop
pet foods. We urge the GCCF to eschew vivisection and instead acknowledge
that research to enhance the health of cats in general does not and
should not rely on inflicting pain, suffering and death on cats who
are unlucky enough to have been bred to be vivisected (ironically, the
GCCF constitution already describes such breeding as 'discreditable
conduct'). We call upon the GCCF to take a pro-active role in promoting
ethical clinical research methods designed to help the cats involved,
rather than accepting unethical vivisection experiments that exploit
and damage cats. As a first step, we ask the GCCF not to aid in the
promotion of pet food companies, such as The Iams Company, that perform
vivisection."
We are still trying to raise signatures on these petitions. Please
contact Uncaged for petition sheets and leaflets etc.
At the end of a successful, but tiring day (especially for Jez who got
very sweaty in the cat costume!) the Show organiser thanked us for the
way we had conducted ourselves! And the hall manager of the National Cat
Club Show invited us to hold a similar stall at their show at the Olympia
in London.
Many thanks must go to Jon and Vivien Ayr and Kim Einhorn
for all their help and support. (All photographs on this page by Jon Ayr.)
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