AAVS 125th Anniversary
June 18, 2008
Contact: Crystal Schaeffer, Outreach Director
215-887-0816 x304
cschaeffer@aavs.org

AAVS Unveils New Website
125 years of animal advocacy have never looked so good!

Jenkintown, PA-- Today, the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) proudly revealed its newly designed website www.aavs.org , marking another milestone in a year-long celebration of the organization�s 125 year history of advocating on behalf of animals. The website launches the Society�s new logo and features easy navigation and a convenient advocacy function that will enable the public to take timely action to help animals.

Because members and supporters have been the cornerstone of some of AAVS�s most successful campaigns, "we wanted to provide a website that is educational and that has all the tools necessary to help animal advocates take effective action," said AAVS Executive Director Tracie Letterman, Esq. "I�m sure that AAVS founder Caroline Earle White would be delighted with the efficiency of internet advocacy methods" added AAVS President Sue Leary. "We�re continuing her legacy of helping people speak up for animals."

AAVS�s first campaigns rallied citizens to prevent dogs from the nation�s first animal shelter from being taken for vivisection demonstrations at a local medical college. AAVS finally won a prohibition on the use of dogs and cats obtained from Pennsylvania shelters in research. In recent years, it played a key role in legislation providing for the retirement of chimpanzees used in labs and led an effort to increase protections under the Animal Welfare Act, the only federal law protecting animals used in research. It has successfully challenged patents on beagles and rabbits; and another campaign led to enactment of a policy requiring federally-funded researchers to use non-animal methods for producing monoclonal antibodies.

"AAVS is proud of its history and advocacy," said Crystal Schaeffer, AAVS Outreach Director. "AAVS�s new website is an important tool in continuing our important work on behalf of animals, and we look forward to working closely with our members and supporters who are so vital to our mission of ending the use of animals in research, testing, and education."

The American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) is the oldest non-profit animal advocacy and educational organization in the United States dedicated to ending the use of animals in research, testing, and education. Founded in Philadelphia in 1883, AAVS pursues its objectives through legal and effective advocacy, education, and support of the development of non-animal alternatives methods.