A n i m a l W r i t
e s
© sm
The official
ANIMAL RIGHTS ONLINE newsletter
Publisher ~ EnglandGal@aol.com Issue # 04/26/00
Editor ~ JJswans@aol.com
Journalists ~ PrkStRangr@aol.com
~ MRivera008@aol.com
~ SavingLife@aol.com
THE ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:
1
~ Worker's Rights?
2
~ Free Websites for Charities
3
~ Are You A Dog Person?
4
~ Excuses For Fur
5
~ Circus Billboards Available
6
~ Essay Contest
7
~ Animal Mothers Have Feelings Too !
8
~ Weak One's Woes (Poem)
9
~ Quote To Remember
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Worker's Rights?
This
Statement was prepared for the April 8, 2000 Animals and Law Conference at Pace
Law School on Animal Rights and Other Social Justice Movements in the New
Millennium.
From
Karen Davis, PhD, President, United Poultry Concerns
On
behalf of United Poultry Concerns, I would like to express our concern that the
animal advocacy community would support employment that constitutes animal
abuse. In particular, we are concerned that animal advocates would support
making it more comfortable for people to work for the poultry industry. While we support social justice, we
recognize that not all social justice interests are compatible and that not all
jobs can be ethically supported. The unpleasantness of a job for a worker does
not of itself entitle that job to be benefited. Some work is not fit to do.
Raising animals for slaughter, rounding them up for slaughter, transporting,
and killing them -- the entire bundle of violent, cruel, abusive jobs that
constitute the poultry industry cannot logically be supported by animal or
peace advocates.
However
underpaid, poultry industry employees are neither legal property nor slaves,
whereas the birds are both. Workers' choices may be limited, but people with
limited choices leave jobs all the time for reasons that are far less
compelling than why a person should get out of the poultry industry instead of
demanding better pay to abuse birds for a living. Poultry industry employees
are not children but consenting adults, and while they may be victimized by
Perdue and Tyson, etc., they themselves violently and directly victimize
animals. The fact that they do not object to such work as long as they get
sufficiently paid to do it shows the insensitivity and lack of empathy such
work produces.
United
Poultry Concerns opposes any alliance that animal advocates would make with
individuals or groups that support and perpetuate animal abusing employment.
Commitment to a worthwhile life for humans and nonhuman animals means
supporting morally responsible occupations, not cruel and unconscionable ones,
like working for the poultry industry. Making it more lucrative and
"dignified" for people to mistreat animals is a misguided approach
for animal advocates to take. It is a betrayal of our mission and a betrayal of
the birds and other animals whom our species has already desolated and deprived
of everything but misery, horror, and murder. Helping people to feel and be
more comfortable in a cruel and abusive occupation does not help them. It would be wrong for the animal advocacy community
to facilitate the illusion that it does.
Source:
franklin@smart.net
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Free Websites For Charities
NetCastles
is a home-run web design business in Nashua, New Hampshire. The company
specializes in designing free web sites for charities and non-profit
organizations.
Netcastles
believes that the only way to succeed is by giving back to society. It has designed a site for the Salem Animal
Rescue League at http://www.sarl-nh.org/.
It has also designed a site for Housing Opportunities Made Equal in
Birmingham, Alabama at http://www.birminghamnet.com/home/.
Any
charities interested in a web site should contact Melissa French at
MFrench403@aol.com
Sources: BHGazette@aol.com
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Are You A Dog Person?
~
You have a kiddy wading pool in the yard, but no small children.
~
Lintwheels are on your shopping list every week.
~
You have baby gates permanently installed at strategic places around the house,
but no babies.
~
The trash basket is more or less permanently installed in the kitchen sink, to
keep the dog out of it while you're at work.
~
You can't see out the passenger side of the windshield because there are
nose-prints all over the inside.
~
Poop has become a source of conversation for you and your significant other.
~
You refer to yourselves as Mommy and Daddy.
~
Your dog sleeps with you.
~
You have 32 different names for your dog. Most make no sense, but she
understands.
~
Your dog eats cat poop, but you still let her kiss you (but not immediately
afterward, of course).
~
You like people who like your dog. You despise people who don't.
~
You carry dog biscuits in your purse or pocket at all times.
~
You talk about your dog the way other people talk about their kid.
~
You sign and send birthday/anniversary/Christmas cards from your dog.
~
You put an extra blanket on the bed so your dog can be comfortable.
~
You'd rather stay home on Saturday night and cuddle your dog than go to the
movies with your sweetie.
~
You go to the pet supply store every Saturday because it's one of the very few
places that lets you bring your dog inside, and your dog loves to go with
you.
~
You open your purse, and that big bunch of baggies you use for pick-ups pops
out.
~
You get an extra-long hose on your shower-massage just so you can use it to
wash your dog in the tub, without making the dog sit hip-deep in water.
~
You don't think it's the least bit strange to stand in the back yard chirping
"Meg, pee!"; over and over again, while Meg tends to play and forget
what she's out there for (but what your neighbors think of your behavior is yet
another story).
~
You and the dog come down with something like flu on the same day. Your dog
sees the vet while you settle for an over-the-counter remedy from the drugstore.
~
Your dog is getting old and arthritic, so you go buy lumber and build her a
small staircase so she can climb onto the bed by herself.
~
Your license plate or license plate frame mentions your dog.
~
You match your furniture/carpet/clothes to your dog.
~
You have your dog's picture on your office desk (but no one else's)
~
You lecture people on responsible dog ownership every chance you get.
~
You hang around the dog section of your local bookstore.
~
You skip breakfast so you can walk your dog in the morning before work.
~
You are the only idiot walking in the pouring rain because your dog needs her
walk.
~
You don't go to happy hours with co-workers any more because you need to go
home and see your dog.
~
Your parents refer to your pet as their granddog.
~
Your friend's dog acts as Best Dog at your wedding.
~
Your weekend activities are planned around taking your dog for a hike (both
days).
~
You keep an extra water dish in your second-floor bedroom, in case your dog
gets thirsty at night (after all, her other dish is way down on the first
floor).
~
You never completely finish a piece of food (so your dog gets a taste, too).
~
You shovel a zig-zag path in the back yard snow so your dog can reach all her
favorite spots.
~
You avoid vacuuming the house as long as possible because your dog is afraid of
the vacuum cleaner.
~
You keep eating even after finding a dog hair in your pasta.
~
You make popcorn just to play catch with your dog.
~
You carry pictures of your dog in your wallet instead of pictures of your parents, siblings, significant other, or
anyone else remotely human.
And
the number one reason you know you're a dog person:
~
Your dog is the star of your World Wide Web site!
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Excuses For Fur
*
Many people's whole way of life depends on the fur trade
The
greatest strength of humankind lies in its endless ability to adapt. People can change their way of life given
the opportunity (and they must be given that opportunity) but for the animals
that are killed there is no life, they have lost everything.
*
Killing animals that we consider damaging to the environment
Culling
is a term which usually describes the killing of animals that we consider to be
in some way damaging to the environment.
In other words pests. We
arrogantly exclude from this solution the single most damaging animal of all....ourselves.
Of
the tens of millions of animals killed for their fur every year the vast
majority are either farmed or trapped in their natural habitat where, as part
of a natural ecosystem, they pose no threat to the environment.
*
Animals suffer in the wild anyway
Animals
can, and often do, suffer in the wild but that does not give us a reason or
excuse to add to their suffering.
*
Most fur animals are killers themselves
Some
animals are predators. They have to
kill other animals in order to survive.
Human beings choose to kill
animals for material profit, vanity and because they like the taste of
them. It is not the same thing at all
-- the predators have no choice, we do.
*
Fur animals are bred for it
Animals
bred specifically for their fur are not only deprived of their lives, but
unlike their wild counterparts, they are also deprived of their freedom. Fur farming is therefore an even greater
abuse of animal rights than hunting and trapping.
In
the wild, a mink will defend a territory of 2 1/2 miles of riverbank or 22
acres of marshland. An arctic fox
ranges over anything from 2,100-15,000 acres and yet on fur farms these animals
are kept in tiny wire mesh cages. Such
is their frustration that they become psychotic. Many are driven to cannibalism and self-mutilation.
*
I didn't kill the animal
The
animal was killed for you and at your expense.
Your money will also finance the slaughter of many more.
You
don't have to physically kill something (or someone) to be guilty of their
death.
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Circus Billboards Available
This
summer, the Animal Protection Institute (API) and the Performing Animal Welfare
Society (PAWS) are sponsoring anti-circus billboards throughout California,
including 30 billboards in the Los Angeles area. API has ordered additional ads to make available to local
activists elsewhere in the country.
Those
interested in obtaining a billboard should contact their local outdoor
advertising company and ask to speak or meet with the person handling nonprofit
accounts. We suggest that you first request a billboard for no cost. If this is
not possible, offer to pay for the labor to install the ad (about $150) or to arrange
for the installation yourself. The final option is to pay the company's
nonprofit rate for the ad space and installation (anywhere from $300 to $600).
The
ad is full-color and "30 sheet" size (nonvinyl). It includes a photo
of 3 chained elephants with the text: "The Cruelest Show on Earth; Say NO
to Animal Circuses." Before
committing, the advertising company will want to view the artwork which API
will either mail or email to them.
The
billboards will be available by mid-May and must be installed before September
1. Billboard space is typically reserved by the month, and to use the ad to
best effect, it should be timed to go up approximately 3 weeks before a circus
arrives to perform.
To
reserve a billboard, send a message to Dena Jones of API at <djones@gvn.net>.
We can send the ad by email for viewing, if desired. Requests will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis.
Limit 3 billboards per city.
Source: Dena Jones
<djones@gvn.net>
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Essay Contest
Vegan
cookbook author, Joanne Stepaniak, is having an essay contest on a variety of
topics surrounding veganism with the prizes being copies of her books.
Email
Joanne at: joanne@vegsource.org
http://www.vegsource.com/joanne/
http://www.vegsource.com/joanne/views.htm
Source: vrc@tiac.net
(Maynard S. Clark)
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Animal Mothers Have Feelings Too!
From:
OXanimalOX@aol.com
Only
a few years ago, a cat named Scarlet made headlines around the world when she
risked her life to reenter a burning building FIVE TIMES to rescue her tiny
kittens one by one. Even though her eyes were blistered shut and her paws were
burned, the cat did not rest until she had retrieved all of her babies,
tenderly touching each one with her nose to make sure they were safe.
It's
funny, we humans think we have the market cornered on motherhood -- we've even
set aside a day to celebrate it -- and yet a scrawny stray cat still manages to
show us all up.
Scarlet
is not alone in her motherly devotion. Look anywhere in the animal kingdom and
you will find it. A dog named Sheba wrenched hearts last year when she
frantically dug up her puppies after they had been buried alive by her
owner. When a British bovine named
Blackie and her calf were sold separately at auction, the distraught mother
broke out of her stall and went off in search of her calf. The next morning she
was found seven miles away contentedly suckling him at another farm (they were
identified as mother and son by the matching auction labels still stuck to
their rumps). Even fearsome alligators can be gentle mothers, delicately
cracking open the eggs of struggling-to-hatch babies in their powerful jaws.
A
tourist recently captured on videotape a dolphin mother grieving for her dead
baby, a phenomenon long reported by marine biologists, but never before
documented on film. The entire pod surrounds the mother and protects her while
she grieves. "They'll stay with [the baby] and will not abandon her, and
the little funeral cortege will persist until the disintegration of the
baby," said dolphin expert Wade Doak. It is also a sad fact that the
greatest number of dolphins killed in fishing nets are mothers and babies. The
infants are too young and bewildered to escape, and their mothers will go to
extraordinary lengths to join them, singing their comfort, even when it means
they too will die.
Yet
there are those who still say animals have no feelings. "It is only
instinct," they say. "They're just dumb animals." When a cat in
Texas was beaten to death by a group of high school students, their heinous
crime was defended with the words: "It was just a stray cat." Just a
stray. Like brave Scarlet.
Who
are we to say animals have no feelings? Call it instinct, call it hormones,
call it the full moon, call it love, call it what you will. Just because we
can't figure out what to call them doesn't mean animals feelings aren't very
powerful and very real. What heroic feats must they perform before we hear what
they are trying to tell us?
We
show our indifference to animal mothers in myriad ways. We wrench wobbly calves
away from their dairy cow mothers within a day or two of birth so we can have
the milk nature intended for them. We clamp intelligent pigs in "iron
maidens," literally iron cages, that allow the piglets to suckle but
prevent the mother from ever so much as nuzzling her babies. We shuttle off
kittens and puppies at 8 weeks old with never a thought to the fact that Mom
might worry about them and grieve for them.
Alice
Walker noted the similarity between human and other-than-human moms when she
visited Bali and saw a mother hen and her brood crossing a road. "She was
that proud, chunky chicken shape that makes one feel that chickens...have
personality and WILL," wrote Ms. Walker. "Her steps were neat and
quick and authoritative; and though she never touched her chicks, it was
obvious she was shepherding them along....[H]er love of her children definitely
resembles my love of mine."
"Why
did the Balinese chicken cross the road?" continued Ms. Walker, who is a
self-confessed struggling almost-vegetarian. "I know the answer is, To try
to get both of us to the other side."
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Weak One's Woes
by Diana
Moreton - tapster@mindspring.com (tapster)
Magic of
animal lies in their own laughter
jingle of
collared profile in lofty innocence
lonely tearful
farmed, hoping we embrace
there are
those we must eat, that is that.
Sun-checkered
days of caring, futile youth
wrinkles turn
compassion into rotten apples
quickly learn
to pain not for weak one's woes
humans don't
even care for each other
Doped and
carnivorous, we sniff for flesh
pit of stomach
grieves in agony for them
how human
oppressors love to torment
God's creation
molded in true cruel love.
2000 By Diana
Morton.
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Quote To Remember
"I am in favor of animal rights as well
as human rights. That is the way of a
whole human being."
~~Abraham
Lincoln
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Susan Roghair
- EnglandGal@aol.com
Animal Rights
Online
P O Box 7053
Tampa, Fl
33673-7053
http://www.oocities.org/RainForest/1395/
-=Animal
Rights Online=-
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