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 PETA’s
Augustus Club is a complimentary club honoring those who have named
PETA in their Last Will & Testament or as a beneficiary of another
planned gift. There are no fees or charges, and members receive
quarterly newsletters containing special features on PETA's history,
PETA's impact on animal-abusing industries, and profiles of members
and animals they've saved.
The club is named in memory of Augustus, one of the Silver Spring
monkeys whose senseless and tragic plight in laboratories led to
the founding of PETA and the modern animal rights movement in America.
Augustus’ noble image, dignity, and innocence make him a fitting
symbol of the plight of all animals who have endured, and are still
enduring, callous and horrible treatment at human hands.
The Augustus Club honors our shared dedication to the liberation
of every animal whose life is being made miserable, as was Augustus’,
by human exploitation.
Augustus was one of the 17 macaque "Silver Spring monkeys," most of whom were taken from their jungle homes in the late 1970s and purchased for $200.00 each by animal experimenter Edward Taub for testing purposes. After PETA exposed the extreme cruelty and neglect that Augustus and the others were suffering at Taub's hands, the police raided the Institute for Behavioral Research laboratory, and Taub became the first experimenter to be convicted of cruelty to animals.
During the legal battle that went on for years, PETA succeeded
in getting five of the monkeys transferred to indoor/outdoor
enclosures where they could live together at the San Diego Zoo.
However, despite the ongoing custody battles, most of the monkeys
were killed by experimenters, including Augustus, who was experimented
on and killed at the Delta Regional Primate Research Center
in July 1990. |
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