Jerry Vlasak

Jerry Vlasak (born c. 1958) is an American animal rights activist and trauma surgeon. He is a press officer for the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, a former director of the Animal Defense League of Los Angeles, and a former advisor to SPEAK, the Voice for the Animals.

Vlasak came to public attention in 2003, 2004, and again in 2008, when he made statements favorable to the use of violence against animal researchers. He and his ex-wife, former actress Pamelyn Ferdin, were banned from entering the United Kingdom in 2004, on the grounds that their presence, according to the Home Secretary, "would not be conducive to the public good."

Raised in Austin, Texas, Vlasak graduated with an MD from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston in 1984. He is board certified in General Surgery and is licensed as a medical doctor in California and Texas. He was an animal researcher himself, but has since become adamantly opposed to vivisection. According to the Los Angeles Times, he conducted research on dogs' arteries in a laboratory at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, during or after which the dogs were killed.

Inspired by his ex-wife, former actress Pamelyn Ferdin, who was a president of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty in the U.S., Vlasak became vegan and began being active in promoting animal rights in 1993. He became a spokesperson for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, although he is no longer a member, and was a board member of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

His principal role in the animal liberation movement is as a liaison between the movement and the public, publicizing the movement's "underground" activities in his role as a press officer. He acknowledges his medical background provides a "certain amount of credibility" to the movement and has used it to advocate against the use of animals in scientific experimentation.

In 2005, Dr. Vlasak spoke at length to the Committee on Environment and Public Works's investigation into Eco-terrorism. In his summation, Dr. Vlasak said:

Here in the U.S., there are thousands of physicians like myself who realize there is no need to kill animals in order to help humans, the vast majority of whom get sick and die because of preventable lifestyle variables such as diet, smoking, drugs and environmental toxins.

In a country where 45 million people do without reliable access to ANY medical care, there is no reason to waste hundreds of millions of dollars testing drugs and procedures on non-human animals.