ATAAC

14th May

Three big announcements from Ataac this month. Firstly, we have been nominated for an 'Impact Award' from Myspace which we are so excited about! Please vote for us, link is in our latest blog. Voting closes on May 23rd so do it NOW! Next, we will be in Werribee this Sunday tabling at the RSPCA's million paws walk, come say Hi if your in the area, we'll have all our merch there too! Lastly, but certainly not least, we are teaming up with Tuppy the most amazing dog we've ever seen! Tuppy has appeared regularly on T.V and in the papers and has always wanted to promote awareness of animal issues but was waiting to find the right partnership. Then he found us! Tuppy's long term goal is to open a shelter for dogs on death row in pounds to give them a second chance. Check out tuppy's myspace (he's in our top friends) and his website www.tuppydog.com.

9th April

Thank you to everyone who purchased Ataac gear from our new website. The first 10 people went in to the draw to win an Ipod and the winner picked was: 'Hayley Richards of Adelaide' congratulations Hayley, we'll be in touch to get your 80gb video Ipod out to you.
Have you seen our feature and interview on Animals Australia's website yet? Thank you Jesse (volunteer co-ordinator) for giving us this great opportunity. Have a look at all the great opportunites you can do for animals by volunteering for Animals Australia.

31st March 2008

Lots of things on the agenda for ataac going on. As you can see we have a new myspace to go with our recently launched website, thank to everyone for all your input, comments, msgs and emails about it! We sold so many t-shirts and hoodies we've just put a new order in! We will be announcing who won the video Ipod in our comp real soon so keep posted and check in the blogs if YOUR name is there. April is going to be a HUGE month for us, we are involved with a photo shoot in Sydney soon, Girlfriend Magazine comes out and we have a few places lined up to table at. Dont forget to check our wesite out

23rd January 2008

There'a been a lot in the news about animals over the last month. First with Arna the circus Elephant ‘allegedly’ killing her handler at the Stardust Circus.Then Sea Shepherd departing to stop the whale slaughter and two of its crew members being held on the Japanese whale vessel (now released), a puppy was bought from Pets Warehouse that was only 6 weeks old (far too young to be away from its mum) then it was revealed that zoo keepers at Melbourne Zoo AND Healesville sanctuary have abused animals including ‘stabbing and elephant up to 10 times!’ Not to mention we are in the middle of kitten season and kittens are being dumped in record numbers. Our website will be up by mid feb so at last everyone will finally be able to get our wristbands and t-shirts! To celebrate the launch we are having a HUGE competition with great prizes worth over $400! Details will be up on the MySpace very soon. In some really exciting news, Ataac will be featured in a national magazine in March but we’ll give you more details on that later. Elizabeth and Andrew

2nd December

SO much has been happening the last few weeks, even though its been hard getting it all done as we've both had exams, but when its for the animals, we somehow fit it in :)
Anyway, last night we tabled at My Chemical Romance with Animals Australia Youth, which was great, security was really tight but we had a blast and met heaps of cool people. Sold a heap of wristbands and got 37 pages of sign ups!
We got a call last weekend about a stray kitten so we rescued him, we'll post some pics soon of the adoreable little guy. He is sitting on my lap now.
We did Kisschasy in Geelong and then Mooroduc last weekend so got to meet lots of supporters down there.
We are joining forces with whales and YOUth for an exciting project we hope to get off the ground over summer, check them out they're cool. speaking of whales......
did you know Sea Shepherd is in Melbourne? you can tour the ship at docklands 10am till 4.00pm daily until it leaves for Antarctica on Wednesday.
Definately recommend going down and having a look.
We have an interview within the next few days with someone really BIG but it's still hush hush, will let you know when we've worked out all the details.
For everyone that has followed the story of our rescued lamb 'Timmy' well he really has become a celebrity, after appearing in a photoshoot with rockstars, to campaigning all over Melbourne against Live Export, he is in today's Herald-sun newspaper page 17!
Finally THANK-YOU for all your suggestions for our website, we are working on it around the clock so should be up real soon (fingers crossed!
Love Elizabeth and Andrew

17th November

We had the National Day of Action last weekend with Animals Australia which was a great success! we spent a few hours with the team at Fed Square then headed down to St.Kilda beach to continue the protest with Pam from Edgar's Mission who had brought along our rescued lamb Timmy to help out, he is SO big now and did a wonderful job attracting attention with beach-goers who were so suprised to see a lamb at the beach! All around we got many hundred's of signatures to protest against Live Export. Thank you to the Ataac people who came and helped out at Fed Square :) We might be a bit quite the next few weeks as we both have exams but keep your comments/msgs/emails coming in our fight for the animals!! ELizabeth & Andrew

22nd October

We just did a photoshoot with Jona Weinhofen, guitarist from the band Bleeding Through who has just joined up with AAY to become a voice for Animals, check out a sneak preview before it hits the press at Animals Australia Youth
Jona used to be with 'I killed the Prom queen' before they broke up and his new band Bleeding Through has just finished touring with Marilyn Manson and Slayer in the States. Check him out
Oh, and watch this video on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD5zjUbWpXY
Funniest thing EVER!

18th October

PETA USA VP Dan Mathews will be in Australia to discuss and sign copies of his new book, Committed: A Rabble-Rouser's Memoir, which chronicles his wild 22 years (so far) on the front lines. From his impoverished childhood when he rescued alley cats from bullies to his notorious globetrotting with Pamela Anderson, Dan's amazing book-named People magazine's "Buzz Book of the Week"--reveals why he dedicates his life to animal rights and how he manages to have some fun along the way (see review below). Thursday October 18, 6:30 p.m. Readings, 309 Lygon St, Carlton (Melbourne) Friday, October 19, 7:00 p.m. Hares and Hyenas, 63 Johnston St., Fitzroy (Melbourne)

12th October

We’ve been really busy here at ATAAC with lots going on, we just got back from touring with Kisschasy tabling at sold out gigs in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney with Animals Australia Youth which was a blast!
We meet a lot of really great people and sold heaps of our wristbands, thanks to everyone that came and said Hi!
If you haven’t seen AAY’s new video of Daz from kisschasy on factory farming check it out now! If you want your own copy for free just ask and we’ll get one out to you, or if you go to Westbourne come see Andrew, Elizabeth or Kayla Vidovic in year 9 and we'll give you one FREE (thanks Kayla) BTW, keep an eye out for ATAAC’s Elizabeth in the DVD!
In other news, ATAAC is off to Adelaide this weekend for the ANIMALS MATTER conference . This will be a valuable source of information for us and our presence will give a voice for the youth of Australia on animal issues.
Our website is nearly finished and will be up and running soon with lots of really cool stuff and info, you'll be able to buy our wristbands and t-shirts as well!
Yesterday was World Farm Animal Day and we spent the day at Edgars Mission which had a great turn out with over 500 people visiting! there was lots of yummy vegan food and lots to see and do but the best part was we got to see our rescued lamb Timmy! He has grown so much we'll post some pics up soon, it is great to know he will live his life out in safety and not become someones sunday roast.

Who we are and our aim...

We decided to form ATAAC in May 2007 as we wanted to provide a place that teens could go to find out whatever they wanted to know about animal issues, ranging from pets to factory farming to whales. From exploitation and cruetly to cutting animal products from your life. We had been volunteering and helping out with a few animal groups for over a year before that, but felt that we wanted to provide ‘one’ place where you could check out what ALL the groups had going on such as demos and protests, petitions, fundraisers and all their specific campaigns. (Check the 'Action' page of our website to keep informed).
We started off with a MySpace and after 12 months have had over 15,000 profile views, over 1,350 friends, progressed to our own website early 2008 thats had over 3000 hits, and an Ataac shop selling our own merchandise! We've shipped our merch to every capital city in Australia, and a few times international! We work with all animals groups, large and small, rights and welfare based, and constantly work to raise awareness of grassroots organisations that really need support and help. From Melbourne to Egypt to Bulgaria to India to Africa, we’ve got involved. We’ve sent out over 50 vegie starter kits, and constantly answer countless questions every week ranging from how to give up meat, to cruelty free beauty products to student's rights at school regarding dissection. We’ve looked for lost dogs, given support when pets have died, been arrested and thrown out of the Melbourne Cup and nursed a new born lamb through the night, interviewed Paul Watson on the Sea Shepherd and much much more. We’ve met animal friendly celebrities, toured with Kisschasy (with AAY), tabled at local and international gigs, appeared in a DVD on factory farming for A.A, and will soon be teaming up with a major Animal Organisation to narrate and appear in an educational DVD that will be distributed to Australian High schools about dissection, vivisection and animal rights.
Sorry, we wont be drawn in to the welfare vs abolitionist or vegan vs vegeterian debate, that's for you to decide whats right for you. We'll give you the facts and point you in the right direction and let you make the choice thats best for you. Just dont sit back doing nothing! Read up, educate yourself, ask questions, we're here to help.
We were recently honoured to win a Myspace Impact Award, nominated for making a positive impact in the world, and named Girlfriend Magazines ‘Girlfriend of the Year’ for Ataac.
Our goal is to write a book or guide aimed specifically at youth providing information about how easy it is to live a cruelty free lifestyle with the choices you make every day. Our prize money will go towards making this a reality. Our biggest challenge is doing all this in whilst we’re still at school!
Lastly, we have the most loyal amazing Ataac members/friends we could ever wish for and we'd be no-where without them =)