Born in New York on May 30, 1934, Elliot Katz was a trailblazer and among
the founders of the animal rights movement. A vegan for more than 30
years, he established In Defense of Animals in 1983. He was arrested 37
times for civil disobedience while protecting animals from their abusers
and demonstrating against the horrors of vivisection. Dr. Katz led the
organization to many victories, including securing the transfer of 30
primates and victims of U.C. Berkeley’s maternal deprivation experiments
to a sanctuary, filing a lawsuit that successfully prevented the U.S. Army
from breaking the legs of 120 retired racing greyhounds, closing down the
infamous Coulston Foundation — the world’s largest chimpanzee lab which
conducted tests for drugs and medical devices on hundreds of chimpanzees,
monkeys, and many more. Some of you may have even participated with him in
these groundbreaking animal rights victories.
In the anatomy lab at Cornell Vet School, he vehemently refused to perform
practice surgeries on live dogs and came close to being kicked out, later
confessing: “In veterinary school, I first became aware of how different I
was — challenging the core foundations of the veterinary profession — and
society at large!”
His soaring passion for animal rights ignited my own. Essentially
strangers at the time, I felt his deep compassion. Now 18 years later, and
still inspired by that day, I forever will hold his spirit close within my
heart.
Dr. Katz would want us to use this moment to honor him by helping animals.
For more, please visit the In Defense of Animals website here: https://www.idausa.org/
