THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 24, 1996 TAG: 9606240040
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DIANE TENNANT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 82 lines
Chanting ``Animal rights - Now!'' residents of Hampton Roads joined people from across the country in Sunday's March for the Animals from the White House to the Capitol.
The National Park Service estimated the crowd at 3,000, but march organizers claimed that attendance was much higher.
Unifying the diverse animal rights movement was the goal of five days of animal-oriented events, which end today with lobbying on Capitol Hill. On the activist's legislative agenda: Stopping the use of animals in consumer product testing, banning the shooting of exotic animals at sport-hunting compounds and preserving current laws that protect dolphins from fishing nets.
Marchers - from white-haired older women to teenagers with pierced tongues - were enthusiastic. But bystanders were less so.
``I'm having a hard time identifying with this,'' said Cesar Malave, who lives near Houston, as he watched the chanting marchers - many of whom held signs asking for an end to laboratory tests on animals. ``I'm thinking about medicine and research and finding cures for kids,'' Malave said.
His companion, Karen Watson, added, ``I wonder if we're going to have much movement toward animal rights if we don't have human rights for everyone yet.''
Robin Goldstein of Virginia Beach rode a bus with 48 other Hampton Roads residents to march with her husband and two small children. ``I knew every representative of animal rights was going to be here. I just felt compelled to attend,'' she said. ``It's important to educate yourself and it's important to act.''
Goldstein sends money to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the largest animal rights organization with 500,000 donors. It christens its new headquarters in downtown Norfolk this morning. ``I think people in Norfolk and Virginia Beach have underestimated PETA,'' Goldstein said.
Doreen Dykes of Virginia Beach, who organized the bus trip, said, ``If you love animals, people actually assume you don't love people. It's not mutually exclusive.''
The noisiest segment of marchers supported the Animal Liberation Front, whose members break into fur farms and labs to release animals, or vandalize businesses such as furriers and slaughterhouses. In Chesapeake, the Front claims to have attacked Central Meat Packing twice in May.
Sunday's march followed a three-day conference on animal rights, where speakers such as chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall urged compassion toward non-human species. Goodall lived for years on the Gombe Preserve in Tanzania, studying chipanzees in the wild.
She began her talk with a chimpanzee greeting, hooting quietly several times, building to a near-scream.
Her talk focused on the human-like aspects of chimps. Then Goodall moved on to the treatment of chimps in research labs where, she said, they are often confined to 5-foot-by-5-foot cages.
She compared that treatment to the concentration camps of the Holocaust. ``You may ask, how can we do this to our closest living relative,'' Goodall said. ``Well, we did it in Auschwitz, didn't we?''
Goodall was only one of several celebrities who attended Saturday night's gala at the Renaissance Hotel.
Actor James Cromwell, who portrayed the farmer in the movie ``Babe,'' was recognized by many at the gala who couldn't remember his name. Cromwell said he stopped eating meat and animal products, such as eggs and milk, after making the movie.
``He's definitely an actor but I can't place him,'' whispered one star-struck woman. ``Piggy. Piggy. Piggy. Piggy. It was the piggy movie.''
For those who couldn't afford the black-tie affair, Big White Undies was performing across town at the same time on behalf of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida. ILLUSTRATION: CANDICE C. CUSIC
The Virginian-Pilot
Andrea Goldstein of Virginia Beach was one of 49 Hampton Roads
residents in Sunday's March for the Animals in Washington. The 3
1/2-year-old marched with her parents, Robin and Bob, not pictured.
PETA'S HERE
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals officially completes the
move of its national headquarters from Washington to Norfolk today
when it opens the doors at its new riverfront headquarters. PETA
purchased the CI Travel building on Front Street for just over $2
million. by CNB