A n i m a l W r i t
e s
© sm
The official
ANIMAL RIGHTS ONLINE newsletter
Publisher ~ EnglandGal@aol.com Issue # 03/15/00
Editor ~ JJswans@aol.com
Journalists ~ PrkStRangr@aol.com
~ MRivera008@aol.com
~ SavingLife@aol.com
THE NINE ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:
1
~ I Have Seen The Great Meatout Coming by the Rev. PrkStRangr@aol.com
2
~ Website of Note
3
~ NEAVS and Veterinary Schools
4
~ Animal Models by Marc
Bekoff - bekoffm@spot.Colorado.EDU
5
~ Anyone Interested In The History of Animal Protection?
6
~ The Artist Opposes Wool
7
~ For The Pet's Sake - the Baja Animal Sanctuary
By
Stephanie Moore - Volunteer
8
~ "Nature's Cry" by WantNoMeat@aol.com
9
~ Quote To Remember
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I Have Seen the Great Meatout Coming
by the Rev.
PrkStRangr@aol.com
I
think of myself as a "Vegevanglist".
I
am compelled to lead others to the light of vegetarianism. It is because I know that we must increase
our numbers to have any real effect on the world. And I can't help but share the human and humane benefits of
veganism with the people I meet.
I
remember back to those Sunday mornings when the Jehovah's Witnesses would pay
me a visit. I would stand on the porch
with them and subtly turn the discussion around to "stewardship of the
world God gave us" and the biblical arguments for vegetarianism. I remember how they stopped coming around
anymore.
This
coming Monday, March 20th, is the annual Great American Meatout, one of those
few times we can all go forth and try to convert the heathen.
This
is the sixteenth year for the Meatout which was created by FARM, the Farm
Animals Reform Movement. It is
patterned after the Great American Smokeout which makes sense, because like the
tobacco industry, the meat industry is a US Government supported mega-industry
which spends mega-money for media propaganda to keep people addicted to their
products. The diseases related to a
meat based diet cost much more annually than the treatment of tobacco related
diseases.
And
some of us vegans would rather smell second hand smoke in a restaurant than to
smell cooked bird, mammal, aquatic creature or reptile.
So
I think it's a good day to write a letter to the editor of your daily papers or
email your local radio and TV stations about the Great American Meatout. Spread the word to your classmates and
coworkers, urge your meat-eating friends to pledge to kick the habit for one
day and eat no animals on March 20th.
go here for
more info
Meatout 2000 -
Kick the meat habit!
http://www.meatout.org/
Here
is what I emailed to my media, you can use parts of this or go for the health
arguments or even try the compassion arguments if you feel up to it.
Dear
___
Monday,
March 20th is the 16th annual Great American Meatout. Please take a day off from meat and think about how much better
off you and your family would be if you ate mostly a plant based diet. Think about not only the health reasons, but
also the environmental reasons.
*A
vegetarian diet saves water:
*Fifty
percent of all water used in our country goes to produce livestock, from the
meat processing to the water used to grow animal feed. Seventy percent of all grain and soybeans
grown in our country is fed to livestock.
Our future water shortages would be much reduced by less reliance on a
meat-based diet.
*Loss
of habitat, wild lands converted to lands to pasture cattle, or grow feed for
them, is a main cause of extinction of species. For these reasons alone, anyone concerned about environmental
quality should think about a vegetarian diet and kick the meat habit for at least
a day on March 20th.
Sincerely...
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Website of Note
Belatedly,
we heard of a great website that we missed with the CIRCUS website listings we
sent our subscribers last week. Be sure
to add this one to your list:
API's Circus
Campaign: Overview
http://www.api4animals.org/IssuesAndAdvocacyCampaigns/Entertainment/CircusCampaign/CircusCampaignOverview.htm
Source:
onlineapi@aol.com
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NEAVS and Veterinary Schools
BOSTON,
MA - Responding to requests for help from veterinary students across the
country, the New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS) is making free
information packets available on how to oppose the killing of live animals for
physiology and surgical training. Currently, all of the 27 veterinary schools
in America kill healthy dogs, cats, or other animals for
"educational" purposes. In Britain, this practice has been outlawed.
The
NEAVS packet contains sample letters to the editor, lists of available computer
models (including pig, cat, frog and soon-to-be-available dog and horse),
practice mannequins, and journal articles and student quotations validating the
superiority of alternative surgical training. In addition, NEAVS is offering
detailed instructions on how vet students can work with veterinarians and
no-kill shelters to establish alternative surgical training experiences such as
spay/neuter surgeries.
"Since
its founding in 1895, NEAVS has had a strong commitment to educating future
generations of veterinarians, physicians, researchers and scientists,"
said NEAVS' President Theodora Capaldo, EdD, a psychologist. "In working to end vivisection, it is
imperative that students be offered a new way of thinking and doing things. We
must work to change the mindset -- established early in one's professional
training -- that animals are disposable commodities."
Capaldo
added, "Students, especially those in professions engaged in vivisection,
are the single most important population that the anti-vivisection movement
must educate and support. The importance of organizations such as Association
of Veterinarians for Animal Rights cannot be overemphasized in achieving these
changes. With the impressive body of knowledge now available proving that
alternatives are educationally and scientifically superior to animal models,
our ethical argument is solidly based on scientific fact. The lessons of
compassion need never be sacrificed to promote learning."
Said
Ann Stauble, NEAVS' Vet Ed Program Coordinator and Research Specialist,
"The argument that animals killed for surgical training would be
euthanized anyway is a poor one. The biggest killer of dogs and cats in this
country is not a disease -- it's euthanasia due to over-population. Veterinarians and students should be
fighting this killer together, not using it as an excuse to justify unnecessary
cruelties and teach our future vets that animals are disposable."
Stauble
noted, "In the NEAVS Vet Ed Program most of our students perform early-age
sterilizations. In addition to learning surgical skills in a humane way,
they're saving hundreds of animal lives. Research shows that vet students can
learn both physiology and surgery through humane teaching just as well as
students who participate in terminal labs."
NEAVS
has been working not only to end practices such as terminal dog lab but, as
importantly, to help shape a humane ethic in the veterinarians of the future.
This latest groundswell of student sentiment against the abusive use of animals
in veterinary education is a clear call to veterinary schools across the
country to stop the killing, according to NEAVS.
To
request free information packets, call NEAVS at 617-523-6020 x13;
email
astauble@ma.neavs.com or visit the NEAVS Web site at www.neavs.org.
Source: "Swain,
April" <ASwain@MA.NEAVS.COM>
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Animal Models
by Marc Bekoff
- bekoffm@spot.Colorado.EDU
Animals
models of human behavior just don't work
Numerous
animals are used in experimental research to benefit humans. In 1996, about 1.3
million animals, including 52,000 primates, 82,000 dogs, 26,000 cats, 246,000
hamsters, and 339,000 rabbits were used in the U. S. This staggering number doesn't include rats, mice, and birds who
aren't legally protected. It's
estimated more than 70 million animals are used annually. One animal dies every three seconds in
American laboratories.
Many
researchers believe little knowledge useful to humans has been compiled using
animal models despite enormous investments of time, money, and animals'
lives. In the behavioral sciences, two
examples of the inadequacy of animal models are the use of maternal and social
deprivation to learn about human depression, and the use of animals to
understand human eating disorders, including obesity, anorexia, and
bulimia.
Socially
deprived monkeys are commonly used to study psychological and physiological aspects
of depression. This research continues
at CU's Medical School. Individuals
typically are removed from their mothers and others soon after birth and raised
alone, often in small, barren cages called "depression pits." In their impoverished prisons, isolated
monkeys scream in despair, become self-destructive, and eventually withdraw
from the world. The only social
contacts with these unsocialized, frightened, and distraught monkeys occur when
blood is drawn or other physiological measures are taken, or when they are
introduced to other monkeys who they avoid, or who maim or occasionally kill
them.
Numerous
methodological and conceptual flaws plague deprivation studies, yet they're
heavily funded by federal agencies as if the lack of human clinical relevance
and animals' lives don't matter.
They're big business. Even
researchers note it's impossible to know if animals are really depressed. They view human depression as a distinctly
human condition. Simplistic animal
models of human depression don't work for the diagnosis, treatment, or
prevention of human depression. People
who support other forms of animal use are offended by deprivation
research. Many believe it should be
stopped immediately. No ends justify
the means.
Concerning
eating disorders, a recent survey showed only 37% of the clinicians who treat
these conditions knew about research in which animals are food-deprived and
starved, force-fed, or subjected to binge-purge cycles. Of those who did, 87% said animal models
weren't used in treatment programs.
The
successful use of animals models for application in human clinical practice is
extremely low. You probably wouldn't
drive to work if you had the same slim chance of arriving successfully.
Convenience
and tradition often drive animal use, but neither can adequately defend it,
even in biomedical and toxicological research.
In 1990, Philip Abelson, a member of the National Academy of Sciences,
noted that "The standard carcinogen tests that use rodents are an
obsolescent relic of the ignorance of past decades."
Unfortunately,
the use of animal models often creates false hopes for humans in need. However, it's estimated that only 1-3.5% of
the decline in the rate of human mortality since 1900 has stemmed from animal
research. Early animal models of polio
actually impeded progress on finding a cure.
The New England Journal of Medicine recently called the war on cancer a
qualified failure. And over 100,000
people die annually from side effects of animal-tested drugs.
Nonanimal
alternatives -- including human studies that are more time-consuming,
expensive, risky, and difficult to defend ethically than animal studies -- need
to be developed and used to learn about human behavioral and other medical
problems. Not only will numerous humans
benefit, but so will countless innocent animals.
Marc
Bekoff (marc.bekoff@colorado.edu) teaches in EPO Biology at CU-Boulder.
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Anyone Interested In
The History of Animal Protection?
The
history of animal protection has an important role to play in college courses
and studies. History can help all
students -- those who are and those who are not yet animal advocates --
understand the serious nature of our concerns for animals and allow them to see
the larger picture, see how the treatment of animals has always been interwoven
with other social and ethical issues around us, that helping and respecting
animals is not a mere fad.
Yes,
history can also be dry and boring. But
it should not and need not be that way.
It can be fascinating. For
example: (i) In the 1900s and 1910s, those who campaigned against animal
vivisection also fought against human vivisection which was a serious problem
in those days, and orphans were often the victims. (ii) Dogs were not valued as companions and pets until "war
dogs" went to the battle fields with the soldiers in World War I, and
"Rin Tin Tin" was brought back to the U.S. from Germany by a soldier.
History
offers us one more way, one more angle of approaching animal issues, one which
is well worth exploring.
We
are a new non-profit group aimed at fostering research, study and education in
the history of animal protection and the modern animal rights movement. We have started to interview animal
advocates with direct experience with animal protection since the 1950s. These oral histories will be placed in
Columbia University's Oral History Collection.
We
would very much like to:
i)
encourage all teachers who are interested in exploring animal rights and
protection in their classrooms to incorporate history into their syllabus and
teaching;
ii)
encourage students interested in animals to write papers and do projects that
have historical elements in them.
Please
get in touch with us! We want to hear
from students, scholars, and educators!
Carmen Lee
President
Recording Animal Advocacy
P.O.Box 27022
Philadelphia PA 19118
tel/fax: 215-247-7753
e-mail:carmenandcat@compuserve.com
Source:
"Jonathan Balcombe" <JBalcombe@hsus.org>
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The Artist Opposes Wool
One
of the latest CDs for The Artist (formerly known as Prince) has the following
statement from him featured on the inside CD cover written over a photo of a
jacket he's wearing. It's the only
thing on the page so CD buyers can't miss it..............
"If
this jacket were real wool, it would have taken 7 lambs whose lives would have
begun like this...........
Within
weeks of their birth their ears would have been hole-punched, their tails
chopped off, and the males would have been castrated while fully
conscious. Extremely high rates of
mortality are considered normal :
20-40% of lambs die before the age of 8 weeks; 8 million mature sheep
die every year from disease, exposure, or neglect. Many people believe that shearing helps animals who would
otherwise be too hot. But in order to
avoid losing any wool, ranchers shear sheep before they would naturally shed their
winter coats, resulting in millions of sheep deaths from exposure to the cold.
Respect
all of God's creatures.
"To
my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than the life of a human
being"
-- Mohandas Gandhi
'Cherish
the Gift of Life & Rave un2 the Joy Fantastic'
Source: FARM
<farm@farmusa.org>
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For The Pet's Sake - the Baja Animal Sanctuary
By Stephanie
Moore - Volunteer
My
friend and I arrived at the Sanctuary early Saturday morning, loaded with 200
lbs. of donated food, blankets, toys and treats. I even threw in some lattice fencing I had hauled out of the
trashcan. We followed the directions in
the newsletter that Sunny Benedict, the founder, had sent me. Bouncing along the rutted dirt roads, I was
grateful my friend Terry had decided to accompany me (and drive her SUV). Eventually, we found the villa, leaning
precariously off the side of the hill, surrounded by chain link fencing on all sides. There were areas separated by chicken wire,
chain link and whatever else was handy.
And each area was filled with dogs.
Hundreds of dogs. Big
mixed-breed dogs, little dogs with amputated legs, medium sized dogs, even some
purebred dogs -- all lazily stretched out in the morning sun. They did not break out barking when we got
out of our car; in fact, they barely opened their eyes. However, a large yellow
hound-lab-Great Dane, sauntered over for an ear scratch, which I eagerly
administered. I later learned his name
was Tyson and that he roamed the grounds as he pleased.
The
Baja Animal Sanctuary was founded two years ago by Sunny Benedict and a couple
of other expatriate Americans living in Rosarito Beach, Baja, just south of the
border from San Diego. I had read an
article that the San Diego Union-Tribune had written, and began sending a small
donation each month. As a full-time
student and being temporarily disabled, I couldn't afford much. But this woman sent me a thank-you note for
every small check, each and every month.
I was determined to do what I could to help. I knew the conditions these animals lived in - I spent half my
life growing up in Ensenada, Mexico - and knew she'd need all the help she
could get. Housed in a rented half-built
villa, adorned with bougainvillea, the shelter sits on the East side of the
popular Rosarito Beach area. It has no
electricity, and just this past month, they were able to pipe in hot water. All
surgeries must be done by daylight by resident vet, Karina Toledo, who lives in
a small Winnebago on the property. She
has no x-rays or autoclave machines, and can provide only rudimentary
care. She readily welcomes any help by
volunteer veterinarians. Runs for the
dogs are built catch-as-catch-can and house many different types, sizes and
genders of dogs. The remarkable thing
one notices about Mexican-born dogs is their sociability -- since most run in
packs on the street -- there are few displays of aggression. Some of the older residents don't even stay in
the yards -- they have the run of the ranch.
Each animal has a story - Cazador, a beautiful shepherd mix, was adopted
by a local farmer, but soon found his way back to the shelter and has never
left again -- nor has his owner come looking for him. Tripod, a precious three-legged small mixed breed dog, lost a leg
to a car, but keeps up with her buddy, Tesuku, an Old English Sheepdog, quite
easily. Stinky and Stinko, lookalike
terriers, were picked up separately in town.
A batch of puppies, thrown from a truck, are thriving and eagerly
awaiting a home.
The
cattery is upstairs in the villa, and houses approximately 65-plus cats. Part of what may have been a large bedroom
has been partitioned off with fencing, filled with condos, toys, baskets and
litter boxes. The thing that strikes
you, after the shock of the sheer number of animals cared for, is how clean
everything is. The dog runs are
immaculate, as is the cattery. (Having
worked for a boarding facility, I know the amount of work it takes to clean
numerous cages, litter pans, food bowls, and could not fault this shelter in a
single area). The cats mix easily with
each other, playing, sleeping or looking out their open windows. Dr. Toledo separates the ones with rhino or
calci virus in order to treat them, and all are vaccinated for common
diseases.
Here,
as with the dogs, is a spectacular display of genetic variety! One big, yellow tom was lying in his basket,
when I noticed he had no eye. A calico
sauntered by proudly waving a tail that appeared to have been broken many
times. Still another tuxedo-colored
youngster was playing catch with a toy, happily. A young shorthaired tabby, shy but determined to be petted,
teased us over and over again to reach out and pet him. Donated kitty condos, scratching posts, toys
and feathered goodies abound. The
kittens play with the adolescents, who play with the elder cats. One gets the sense that they know they have
a common background, and it has made them agreeable roommates.
But
the Sanctuary still has much to do and its needs are great. Sunny does all she can to provide care for
these animals, including crossing stateside to take them to Mesa College's
Veterinary Technician program for various treatments. Though the Sanctuary looks a bit ragged and haphazardly built, it
is paradise for these animals -- food to eat, loving voices and gentle hands,
care for wounds, and a home forever if not adopted. Which most of these animals will never have. (Sunny has over 350 dogs at the present
time.) Few Americans know about it, and the local residents, who don't want
these pets, drop off the bulk of the animals.
The Sanctuary is also dedicated to a no-kill policy, unless the animal
suffers from an extreme illness, in which case they are humanely euthanized.
The
Sanctuary, though unlike what we statesiders are used to, with dirt areas,
shared bins for food, is stunningly immaculate. I never saw one pile of feces, nor urine spots anywhere. Jaime
Victorio, the facilities manager, works day in and day out to insure his
charges get the best care. He and
Emilio Hernandez work tirelessly to clean pens, build new runs, enlarge the
cattery, and repair what is broken.
Jaime told me he also fosters cats at his own home.
Sunny
Benedict, the founder, has dedicated herself to providing the only home and
steady food many of these animals have ever had. She is seeking a Volunteer Fundraising Chairperson to help create
a stronger financial base for the Sanctuary, and welcomes all dedicated
help. The morning my friend and I
showed up, there was a monthly meeting.
Sunny had notified people by a direct mail newsletter -- and one person
showed up. "You know, she says
philosophically, "that's the way it is, the story comes out, and everyone
is gung-ho. After a while, you never
hear from them again". Problems
continually crop up -- finding medicine, enough food and shelter every day can
be a challenge. Several weeks ago, the
North County Humane Society generously donated a van to the Sanctuary. While having a mechanic check it out in
Tijuana, the equivalent of the Mexican IRS pulled over the van and confiscated
it. Despite paperwork proving
ownership, Sunny did not prevail. The
van now sits in a fenced yard with other foreign-plated late-model cars, vans
and trucks in Tijuana. No one has been
able to help Sunny get it back. She
needs someone (with some legal savvy) to help her with the "unique"
legal system in Mexico, as she has all the paperwork, but cannot retrieve her
van. She had even sold her own car when
the van was donated and has no transportation.
In
the Union-Tribune article of January 14, 1999, Sunny says, "I've actually
sat down at the sanctuary, so frustrated, wracking my brain for solutions, and
within two minutes, I am surrounded by all these furry little faces." "It's like they are saying, please,
don't give up, keep going we need you." '" It gives me the push to go
on." This is one determined
woman. With help from her few
volunteers, she will succeed. As a
student at the local community college, and retired from twenty-five years in
advertising, I do what I can by creating awareness of the Sanctuary wherever I
go. The response has been moving.
I
have had the pleasure of working with an enthusiastic young woman, Lisa Watson,
employed at the local PetCo, who bought and donated over 200lbs of food, bags
of treats, snacks and toys. She
continues to provide support by coordinating adoptions of these pets through
the local PetCo stores. (This is in the
process of being worked out).
·
Another
generous donation I have received is 600 pounds of food from WESTERN PET
WHOLESALERS, whose rep, Jim Balsimo, answered my email plea for help. They plan to offer regular donations and are
wonderful people. Located in San
Marcos, California, they distribute California Natural, Natura, Solid Gold pet
food as well as other brands. They can
be reached at 1-800-395-7387.
·
My
friend Terry New is working on getting a visiting vet to help by donating
spaying, neutering and vaccinations services.
She also generously provides transportation to Mexico, as my car
wouldn't make it! In addition, she and
I are returning in two weeks to pick up a litter of kittens to bring up here
for adoption. The Health Services
receptionist at Mira Costa College, Karen, donated a twenty-pound bag of cat
food. (I am well known at school now
because of my word-of-mouth advertising!)
Adoption
of these animals is amazingly easy -- all you need are vaccination records,
which are provided by the Sanctuary - to be able to cross the border.
Wish
List:
Food- especially kitten and puppy
chow
Litter and litter pans
Loving homes
Toys
Shampoos, ear treatments, Advantage
or Biospot, Parvosal or bottles of plain bleach
Cleaning supplies; brooms, trashcans
and liners, mops, hoses, rubber gloves,
newspaper
for cattery floor.
Carriers or dog houses
Building supplies
The
most important donation is one of your time -- these animals are starved for
play, loving hands.
BAJA ANIMAL SANCTUARY
MEX 626 PO BOX 439060
San Diego, California
92143-9060
Or
call Sunny Benedict at: (011 52 66) 31-32-49
(This dials her directly, no international operator comes on)
Or,
you can contact me:
Stephanie Moore
2130 Sunset Drive #104
Vista, California 92083
760/631-6892 PST - please, no calls
after 8 pm. Due to my "poor
student status"
I cannot return long distance calls.
No
email available
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"Nature's Cry"
by
WantNoMeat@aol.com
In nature all
creatures unite
as victims of
human might
Once untouched
forest becoming worn
with each
whose life was torn
The serenity
of this place
is stolen
without a trace
Purity lost
and violence won
with each
crack of a gun
Animals
subjected to our greed
killing as we
feel the need
We forget
their living worth
as the beauty
of our earth
Layer by layer
we quickly peel
more and more
we calmly steal
Rapidly we
destroy this land
extinction by
the human hand
Hunter's leave
a rancid smell
where the
murdered beasts fell
Fallen trees
can shade no more
yet
nature's cry we still ignore
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Quote To Remember
"Eat
beans...................not BEINGS"
~~Unknown
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»
Susan Roghair
- EnglandGal@aol.com
Animal Rights
Online
P O Box 7053
Tampa, Fl
33673-7053
http://www.oocities.org/RainForest/1395/
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Rights Online=-
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