Help Songbirds by Leafleting Your Local VW Dealer

As you know, IDA launched a campaign last month to persuade the Volkswagen (VW) Foundation to stop funding experiments in which songbirds are captured, caged, and decapitated to learn the secret of migration. Yet six weeks later, VW's president and CEO, Stefen Jacoby, has failed to respond to our communications asking him to use the auto company's influence to stop the experiments. We are therefore left with no choice but to step up our national presence and show Volkswagen that IDA means business, and will not stand idly by while animals are being abused and destroyed.

Ethical consumers who want to make an educated purchase have a right to know that buying a car from VW supports this pointlessly cruel and lethal research. Yet VW shows great disrespect for its customers by ignoring our legitimate concerns about animals and the environment -- concerns which are shared by the vast majority of the population. That is why IDA is now seeking dedicated activists to coordinate demos at VW dealerships around the world.

What You Can Do:

  • Organize an outreach event at a Volkswagen dealership in your area to let people know that the company supports the brutal killing of songbirds as part of an ill-conceived research project. To get started, simply pick a location, date, and time for your event, and then contact National Campaigns Coordinator Melissa Gonzalez at or (415) 388-9641, ext. 228 to let us know. We will supply you with all the materials you need, including leaflets, and send out alerts to activists in your area to join you. We will also send out a press release, supply you with talking points, and provide support to make your event successful.
  • Watch a video of the experiments.

Campaign Updates:

Find out more about the birds used in the experiments:


European Robin

Garden Warbler

Zebra Finch

Watch a video from the experiments:

"This is an excellent example of the type of basic research in neurophysiology where animals are killed solely to satisfy the curiosity of the investigators and their colleagues. It has no conceivable relevance to the treatment of human disease, nor to the development of industrial applications which do not already exist, including such things as GPS systems. The authors of both articles do not even attempt to discuss the potential importance of this line of work, and this is telling. The reason, in my view, is that there is none except for the advancement of their own careers. The use of animals for a project of this type has no ethical justification."

Robert Hoffman, MD, neurologist