do you have SF Chronicle article re: VIVA & kangaroo lawsuit?

[Guest guest]

Tammy & others-

Try this link or url. If that doesn't work, go to the SF Gate

(www.sfgate.com) website and enter Adidas as a search word.

 

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/05/08/BU24802\

0.DTL

 

Marcy

 

-

" Tammy " <govegan

" Bay Area Veg "

Cc: " Viva " <info

Friday, May 09, 2003 5:57 PM

[sfBAVeg] do you have SF Chronicle article re: VIVA & kangaroo

lawsuit?

 

 

> Hi all,

>

> If you missed the coverage, VIVA is suing Adidas over selling illegal

> kangaroo products in CA. lauren is looking for a copy of the article from

> yesterday's Chronicle... can anyone help her? info

>

> Thanks,

> Tammy

>

>

>

>

> info

> Friday, May 09, 2003 1:45 PM

> info

> San Francisco Chronicle

>

>

> Hi all,

>

> i believe there was an article in yesterday's paper on our lawsuit against

> Adidas.

>

> If anyone has a copy they could send to us, it would be most appreciated

and

> would save us a few bucks!

>

> Thanks,

> lauren

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

The following two articles appeared in the SF Chronicle on May 7 and May 8.

Congratulations and thanks to Viva USA and attorney Kathryn Fugere for their

wonderful work.

 

GROUP CHARGES ADIDAS ILLEGALLY SELLS KANGAROO-HIDE CLEETS IN CALIFORNIA

 

Wednesday, May 7, 2003

 

----

 

(05-07) 21:01 PDT SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --

 

An animal rights group sued sports company Adidas in state court here

Wednesday, alleging that some of the company's soccer cleats sold in

California are made of Australian kangaroo.

 

Under a 1971 California law, a host of animals or their parts are barred

from commercial sale in the state, the suit says. That law, found in the

criminal code, includes elephant, crocodile, sable antelope, jaguar, cheetah

and polar bear. California is the only state criminalizing the sale of

kangaroo parts for commercial purposes.

 

" By using kangaroo leather for commercial purposes, Adidas is saying that it

doesn't care about animals or about the law, " said David Blatte, an attorney

representing Viva! International Voice for Animals, whose United States

headquarters is in Davis.

 

Adidas did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the suit,

which seeks to bar the company from selling the cleats in California.

 

The suit, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court, alleges that Adidas,

based in Portland, Ore., uses kangaroo leather in its Predator cleats model

and others sold in California. The Adidas web site describes the Predator

cleats as being made from kangaroo leather in its product description.

 

The animal rights group said Adidas uses the red, eastern gray and western

gray varieties, which are legally hunted in Australia.

 

Viva! said Adidas did not respond in August, when the group informed the

company that it was allegedly violating California's law.

 

The case is Viva! v. Adidas, 03420214.

 

 

 

ANIMAL RIGHTISTS SUE ADIDAS

Use of kangaroo leather alleged

 

Jenny Strasburg, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, May 8, 2003

 

----

 

Davis animal-rights group Viva USA on Wednesday sued athletic- shoemaker

Adidas and three California retailers on claims that they violated state law

by selling shoes made from kangaroo parts.

 

The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, names as defendants the

U.S. subsidiary of Germany's Adidas-Salomon AG, based in Portland, Ore., as

well as San Francisco's Lombardi Sports, Sport Chalet of Los Angeles County

and Off-Side Soccer in Folsom (Sacramento County).

 

Viva said it wants to halt imports of products including soccer cleats and

running shoes made of kangaroo leather. The lawsuit is part of the group's

global campaign against the commercial use of kangaroo body parts, which it

said is illegal in California. Adidas sets industry standards for athletic-

shoe materials because of its dominance in the market, Viva said.

 

" They are showing the same disregard for California law that the hunters

show the baby kangaroos whom they bludgeoned to death, " Viva spokeswoman

Lauren Ornelas said in a statement.

 

Ken Lombardi, co-owner of Lombardi Sports, and Off-Side Soccer manager Alan

Farebrother said they were unaware of a law that specifically prohibits

selling kangaroo products and said their stores expressly do not sell

products made from endangered animals.

 

Lombardi said he followed Adidas' advice on Wednesday and pulled from his

shelves one type of Adidas shoe named in the lawsuit.

 

Officials at Adidas and Sport Chalet could not be reached for comment

Wednesday evening.