A n i m
a l W r i t e s © sm
The official ANIMAL
RIGHTS ONLINE newsletter
Publisher ~ EnglandGal@aol.com
Issue #
07/30/00
Editor ~ JJswans@aol.com
Journalists ~ Park StRanger@aol.com
~
MicheleARivera@aol.com
~ SavingLife@aol.com
THE ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:
1 ~ Evolution of a Bill by
MicheleARivera@aol.com
2 ~ Over 100 Organizations World-Wide Have Joined
Virunga
3 ~ Vegetarian Survey
4 ~ Okra For Me, Argentina from Park
StRanger@aol.com
5 ~ Haven't You Got Something Better To Do?
6 ~ Ohio Animal Rights Conference 2000
7 ~ The Life of a Puppy (poem)
8 ~ Quote to Remember
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Evolution of a Bill
by Michelle A. Rivera - MicheleARivera@aol.com
Can
you imagine a government with a Senator Stallwood, Congressman Pacelle or
President Bauston? Wow! How about Attorney General Ingrid Newkirk
or Surgeon General Neal Barnard????? Holy Cats! What a wonderful country
this would be then!
The animal rights movement is bound for new hiking trail. Recognizing that our
movement must become more political if we are to succeed, more and more of our
leaders are advocating the birth of political action committees. During
the animal-rights convention, one speaker spoke of the failed efforts to pass
legislation to ban cockfighting. In the minds of most Americans,
cockfighting is a brutal, bloody activity. It seems that a ban on this
activity, with it’s attendant activities such as raising, transporting and
equipping the birds, would be an issue that wouldn’t take a whole lot of action
on our part. But who would have believed that the cockfighters have their very
own lobby! They have organized, formed a political action committee, hired a
lobbyist, and they beat us down. They
won. This from a group of people whose idea of sports clashes with that
of most Americans. This, from a group of people who engage in gambling, which
is illegal in most states. They won.
By educating ourselves on how our bills become laws, we can swing the momentum
in a new direction. And, we can start in our own community. We can even
turn a tragedy into action.
Two years ago, while working as a cruelty investigator for my local rescue
organization, I received a call from a local veterinarian. An elderly
couple had brought a dog to her clinic. This dog, a Pomeranian, had been
skinned alive. She was immediately euthanized. It was the most humane
thing that could have been done. The vet estimated that she had been in
this condition for hours, although how long she had been on the side of the
road where she was found was unknown.
The resulting investigation involved the canvassing of the neighborhoods close
to where she had been found. A family came forward to say that they
thought this may be their Pomeranian, Sadie, who they had let out to go potty
but who didn’t come home. The community went wild thinking that some sick
monster was taking family pets and skinning them alive. Our shelter set
up a reward fund and invested the first $1,000. Sadies Fund rose to $3,000
as soon as the story aired on the local news.
About a week later, a man turned himself in to the Jupiter Police
Department. He told them that he was responsible for skinning the
Pomeranian. His name was Douglas Rasmussan, a teacher at a local Jupiter grade
school. The reason he was turning himself in, he explained, was that he
wanted to put an end to the hysteria that had taken over our little town. There
was no sicko lose in the community, and family pets were not in danger. He had
merely run over the dog with his car. The drive shaft had grabbed the
dogs coat at the nape of her neck, and she was completely degloved (the medical
term for complete removal of the coat and skin). He did stop for a
minute, got out of his car, saw that the dog would probably die, and kept
going. He had two kids in the car, he explained, he didn’t want to upset
them.
He hit Sadie at 7:35 AM. She was found at 4:40 PM. She stayed on
the side of the road, alive, in the South Florida heat, with insects and dirt
all over her, for the entire day and only one driver had stopped to help
her.
Rasmussan was charged with cruelty to animals, but the judge dismissed the case
saying that there was no law in Florida that bestows upon drivers the
obligation to stop and render aid to an animal hit with a motor vehicle.
Sadies’ Fund was immediately converted to a fund to pay for animals who have
been injured in car accidents. The existence of this fund would assure
motorists who hit an animal, or who see an animal who has been hit, that they
would not be stuck with a big vet bill. Sadie’s Fund would pay for animals hurt
in these circumstances.
Feeling that Rasmussan got away with abandonment, cruelty, irresponsibility and
just plain stupidity that caused the tortuous death of a little dog, I decided
to see if a law could be passed in Florida that required drivers to stop and
render aid. These are the very simple steps that I took, and I hope that
by my sharing them with readers, they can use this knowledge to help animals in
their own communities.
I first contacted the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) and asked if any states
had such laws. There were eleven. The attorneys there compiled a package
of state statutes that spoke to this issue. They also drafted a bill that I
could present to my state Representative. They stayed in constant touch
with me by phone, mail, faxes and e-mail. They were my closest ally and they
were absolutely priceless in their support and friendship.
Next, I involved my local animal rights group, the Animal Rights Foundation of
Florida (ARFF) and asked for their support. If I got the bill as far as
the committee, I wanted them to send out action alerts to their members asking
that they write in support of this proposed bill. ARFF agreed.
In order to get a bill in front of congress, you must have a member of congress
to introduce the bill, so, I made an appointment with my state representative,
Sharon Merchant. I took all the materials sent to me by the ALDF. I
told her the story of Sadie, and she read over all the other state laws that I
had brought her. She spent about an hour going over all the points of the
proposed “Sadies Bill”. I asked her to sponsor the bill.
She was somewhat in favor of doing so, but didn’t commit right away. She
wanted input from the State Attorney’s office, and so Sadies Bill was sent to
the State Attorney to get their ideas.
I am sorry to say that Sadies’ Bill is not going well. I have had a
meeting with several prosecutors who tell me that they would not be comfortable
prosecuting “render aid” requirement because people hit animals all the time.
What about hitting birds, squirrels, mice? Will these motorists be
required to stop? And what of the inherent danger in stopping to help an
injured animal, people could get bitten. Rep. Merchant’s feeling is, that if
the prosecutors won’t put their heart into prosecuting those who ignore this
law, there is no reason to have the law.
The state attorney’s must be in our corner for this to work.
Their concerns are valid, and we are still in the process of discussing the
details. Perhaps people don’t have to
stop, maybe they can just be required to report the injury so someone could
come help. In any event, the process is in motion and hopefully, we will
be able to win one for the animals.
So the steps are simple. Draft the proposed bill, get ALDF involved, find an
organization with members who can help you to support it, and make an
appointment with your congressperson. The hard part is getting a
congressperson to sponsor the bill. Your local animal-rights and rescue
groups probably know who the animal-friendly politicians are and can steer you
in the right direction. Its good to start with your own representative from
your own district, but if that person isn’t willing to help, you can go outside
your district.
Any person can propose a bill, but only a member of congress can introduce
it. The Speaker of the House then sends the bill to a committee.
The committee then reviews the bill and votes on it. Sometimes there is a
sub-committee to help with research and polling to see how popular an idea the
bill may be.
The committee, by it’s vote, will either kill the bill or pass it on to the
Senate. If the bill is killed in committee, its dead. It cannot be resurrected
unless brought up again with a different name and drastically different
structure. If the committee doesn’t kill the bill, it gets passed to the
Senate Rules committee. The Rules committee then passes it on to the
senate, and the senate agriculture committee will debate the bill and make any
changes it deems necessary. It is during this most critical of times that
letters and phone calls to your representatives can make the bill a reality.
A conference committee is made of senate and house members. This committee
irons out the bill, and sends it back to the house and senate to be voted on
again. If it survives, it is sent to
the President to be signed into law.
There are several other things that impact the bill. Special interest
groups are very prominent in creating bills. These interest groups
contribute financially to the campaign funds of the politicians. If we are to
pass animal-related legislation, we must have our own interest groups, and we
must be ready to put money into campaigns to elect political officials who can
get these laws passed.
The National Rifle Association is one of the biggest political action
committees there is. They are cohesive and organized, and they pay big
money into the funds of political candidates. We can and must follow the
lead of other movements who are successful in their endeavors to advance their
agenda.
The animal-rights movement is a movement that speaks up for those who cannot
contribute to campaign coffers, cannot vote, cannot riot in the streets.
If we are to succeed in our quest to speak up for those who can’t, be must move
beyond letter-writing and boycotts, we must elect those politicians who think
the way we do. We must help them advance their careers so that they can turn
around and help us advance our agenda. This means we must contribute to
their campaigns, and expect favors in return, we must volunteer at their
campaign headquarters by answering phones and stuffing envelopes. We must get
involved. If the animals could do these things, they most surely would.
We must become more political in our thinking. The future success of our
movement depends upon it.
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Over 100 Organizations
World-Wide
Have Joined Virunga
Virunga:
Interacting for Animals, is a new site for animal related news and information
that has been online for a matter of weeks. The content changes daily,
including news stories, discussion groups, job postings, upcoming events, and
is mostly supplied by our over 100 supporting organizations, including the
HSUS; IFAW, EIA, WSPA and many others. There are also a selection of
articles from the global press.
Virunga is also offering the opportunity to animal friendly people to moderate
an online discussion group FREE of charge in any animal field. If
interested, please contact us at enquiries@virunga.org. Our current
discussion groups are located at http://www.virunga.org/resources.html
And Please take a look at the Virunga site at http://www.virunga.org
Mark Austen
VIRUNGA LIMITED
55 Rivington Street
Shoreditch
London EC2A 3QB
Tel: +44-(0)207 739 7587
Fax: +44-(0)207 729 4983
Mobile: +44-(0)7867 506 404
Email: mausten@virunga.org
Website: http://www.virunga.org
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Vegetarian Survey
There
is now a web-page survey up to study those becoming vegetarian. Those who are
thinking of starting or have recently started a vegetarian diet are invited to
go to:
http://www.all-creatures.org/vegsurvey/survey.html
Long-term vegetarians and those who are sure they
will never be vegetarian are also welcome to fill it out, though it is aimed
primarily for those in process.
Source: vrc@tiac.net
(Good Goals)
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Okra For Me, Argentina
from Park StRanger@aol.com
4 cups fresh okra, cut into large chunks
1 15 oz. can cooked black beans
1 small onion, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1/2 cup celery diced
1.2 to one cup green bell pepper, diced (or mix of green, red and yellow
peppers)
2 or 3 medium tomatoes, diced
2/3 cup frozen corn
three or four garlic cloves, minced
2 eight ounce cans tomato sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
hot pepper flakes to taste (all herbs can be varied to your taste)
1 cup red wine (optional)
In a large skillet, with a bit of water, stir saute okra, onion, jalapeno,
green pepper, celery, corn, tomatoes and garlic. After the fresh okra is
tender, about fifteen minutes, add the beans, tomato sauce and herbs and simmer
on low for about twenty minutes. Add a bit of wine or water to desired
consistency.
Another nice optional touch is sliced vegan sausage links or hot dogs.
Garnish with lime slices and cilantro. Serve with brown rice.
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Haven't You Got Something
Better To Do?
When this is asked of an animal advocate, this
question is an assumption that it is more important to help humans than to help
nonhumans.
Many of the consequences of carrying out the animal rights agenda are highly
beneficial to humans. For example, stopping the production and consumption of
animal products would result in a significant improvement of the general health
of the human population, and destruction of the environment would be greatly
reduced.
Fostering compassion for animals is likely to pay dividends in terms of a
general increase of compassion in human affairs. Tom Regan puts it this way:
"...the animal rights movement is a part of, not antagonistic to, the
human rights movement. The theory that rationally grounds the rights of animals
also grounds the rights of humans. Thus those involved in the animal rights
movement are partners in the struggle to secure respect for human rights -- the
rights of women, for example, or minorities, or workers. The animal rights
movement is cut from the same moral cloth as these."
Finally, the behavior asked for by the animal rights agenda involves little
expenditure of energy. We are asking people to NOT do things: don't eat meat,
don't exploit animals for entertainment, don't wear furs. These negative
actions don't interfere with our ability to care for humans. In some cases,
they may actually make more time available for doing so (e.g., time spent
hunting or visiting zoos and circuses).
Living cruelty-free is not a full-time job; rather, it's a way of life. When
you shop, check ingredients and consider if the product is tested on
animals. These things only consume a few minutes of the day. There is ample
time left for helping both humans and nonhumans.
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Ohio
Animal Rights Conference 2000
The
Ohio Animal Rights Conference 2000, will take place August 18-19, in Columbus,
Ohio. It is sponsored by People/Animals Network and Protect Our Earth's
Treasures. To request a brochure or for more information, contact: POET,
OARC 2000, PO Box 10156, Columbus OH 43201-0656, 614-224-4598, email: PoetWill@worldnet.att.net
Source: DPSickles@aol.com
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The Life of a Puppy
This morning, I woke up & kissed my dad's head.
I peed on the carpet, then went back to bed.
"The life of a puppy, oh my, this is great."
Then I thought about breakfast," I hope it's not late."
Mom took me outside, we walked for a while.
This never fails to make Mama smile.
I sniffed of everything, that we did pass,
I ate something weird - it gave me gas.
I'm sure God loves me, I know that is true.
He gave me so many great things to chew.
Rugs, plants or rocks, I really don't care.
What I truly like best, is Dad's underwear.
That obedience book, was sort of yummy.
Though it didn't sit well on my poor puppy tummy.
I threw up a bit, but that was all right,
When Mom found it later, I was well out of sight.
I made streamers of T.P., while running at full speed.
Mom is pretty quick -- but I was still in the lead.
I flew under the bed, and Mom flew past,
She stopped-shook her head, and breathed,
"You're too fast."
Mama later phoned Daddy, and said, "It was
frightening!"
That afternoon, she was sure I'd pooped lightning.
She'd sat at the computer, while I chewed the cord,
She thought I was mad, but I was just bored.
When Mama had enough, couldn't take anymore,
That's when my tushy got shoved out the door.
I love it inside, but outside is best.
Lay in the cool grass, and had a good rest.
That didn't last long, there was too much to do--
Can't quite remember where I hid Daddy's shoe.
I found an old bone, and scratched at a flea,
I watched the dumb squirrels as they jumped in a tree.
I barked at the kids, when they got off the bus.
I can't figure out why this makes Mama fuss.
I barked at the neighbor, I barked at the wind.
I barked and barked, till Mom yelled, "COME IN."
The sun dipped in the west-soon Daddy would come!
I sure love my daddy: we always have fun.
I barked at my daddy, then turned on my charms,
I woo-wooed, "Hello," then jumped in his arms.
Sitting under the table - it's sooo hard to wait.
Daddy slipped me a goodie right off his plate.
I raced through the house, and scattered my toys,
Ricocheted off the furniture, and made lots of noise.
Mom found her purse - the one I abused.
Daddy let loose a chuckle. Mom asked "Amused??"
I cowered down low, I must be in trouble.
Dad said, "Wasn't MY boy, it must be his double!"
Mom turned off the TV, and said,"Time for bed."
Dad said "Let's go boy," and patted my head.
I got in my spot, between Mom and Dad,
I thought 'bout my day and what fun I had.
Mama kicked out my bone from the covers below,
Then let loose a sigh -- a sigh deep and low.
She gave me a kiss, and snuggled me tight,
And whispered so softly, 'My darling goodnight'.
Author Unknown
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Quote To Remember
"Most animal experimentation is useless."
~ Henry J. Heimlich
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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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