A n i m
a l W r i t e s © sm
The official ANIMAL RIGHTS ONLINE newsletter
Publisher ~ EnglandGal@aol.com
Issue #
08/16/00
Editor ~ JJswans@aol.com
Journalists ~ Park StRanger@aol.com
~
MicheleARivera@aol.com
~ SavingLife@aol.com
THE NINE ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:
1 ~ As We All Move a Little Closer to the
Truth by Park StRanger@aol.com
2 ~ Warning Signs
3 ~ Animal Mothers Have Feelings Too
4 ~ SPEAKers on Animal Rights Available
5 ~ Cockroaches, Slugs and Snails Feel Pain
6 ~ United Poultry Concerns 2nd Annual Forum
7 ~ Animal Bill of Rights
8 ~ Once I Was a Lonely Dog (Poem)
9 ~ Quote To Remember
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As We All Move a Little Closer
to the Truth
by Park StRanger@aol.com
Last night we had our monthly board of directors
meeting of the Vegetarian Society of El Paso, of which I am proud to be
president and webmaster.
Vegetarian
Society of El Paso
http://utminers.utep.edu/vsep/
Our
mission is to convert the omnivores to vegetarianism and the vegetarians to
veganism. It has always given me a euphoric feeling to be surrounded by
fellow vegans, to be in the company of people who think like me about animal
suffering, human health and the environment.
My feeling of peace, well being and camaraderie began to fade a bit last night
when the vice president, the secretary and the founder of the society began
talking about how they are moving towards organic raw foodism. Suddenly I
felt out of step. I felt that they were moving too far away to be able to
communicate with people who thought the four food groups were Frozen, Canned,
Junk and Fast. They joked about a possible future when they would turn
their noses up at people who were merely vegans. I know they were just
joking, but I did once again start to feel like a StRanger in a Strange Land.
I realized I would have to maintain my position as a beer and wine drinking,
mostly cooked foods vegan in order to be a liaison with the heathens. I
understand the impetus which drives organic and raw food advocates. For a
vegan, "organic" mean that a lot less creatures are killed with
pesticides to produce our food. It is much better for the environment and
for human health. And I don't mind spending the few extra dollars for
organic vegetables and to play havoc with the giant corporations who want to
sell us heavily processed foods.
Raw foods impart a lot more enzymes and nutrients. But I'm sorry, I'm not
ready to change my food preparation skills to enable me to live a couple of
years longer.
Sci-Fi Scenario for the future: I believe that human immortality will be
discovered soon (after a short bit of mostly painless animal testing, let's
say). Ok, so what? Is this the reason we are all living as long as
we can? Running to catch up with the Immortality Train? No,
probably not. Most of us realize that there are way too many humans
mucking up the planet and making humans live forever will only muck things up
worse.
Should I tell my vegan friends that I am not only pro-choice, but pro-abortion,
pro capital punishment (unless administered by George W. Bush, Potentate of
Texas, clown prince, perhaps soon to be U.S. President) and that I am against
Save The Children and all other save children organizations because I believe
that humans are a cancer on the planet? No probably not.
But damn, guys, get a grip. We don't want to look like nut cases.
Last year I joked that I was glad there were Fruitarians because it made us
vegans look at lot more mainstream (And I got a few letters from
fruitarians about that).
Let's keep the basic goals in mind.....
Are we Vegan because we are building up good Karma so that good things will
happen to us? No probably not.
Why are we vegan? Because it's the right thing to do. For the
environment, for future generations, for the elimination of suffering of the
animals. Go Vegan.
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Warning Signs
The
following may signal that your companion animal needs medical attention.
You should seek veterinary care:
1) Anytime you find a lump on the animal's skin
2) If the animal seems unusually short of breath
3) If the animal
experiences a sudden change in appetite.
4) If the animal
starts losing weight.
5) If the animal drinks often and urinates more
frequently.
Is
Chocolate Really Toxic to Animals?
YES! Chocolate is a tasty toxin, which like caffeine, is dangerous
to dogs, cats and ferrets when eaten in large quantities. Baking
chocolate is the most dangerous. Keep chocolate out of reach of animals
at all times.
Coughing
can be Serious
Coughing is the most common sign of heart disease in pets. If your dog
has been coughing for more than 24 hours, see your vet. Coughing is
extremely rare in cats and should always be seen by a vet.
Pulse Check
Feel on the inside of his back thigh, where the leg joins the body.
Normal for cats: 110-170 beats a minute.
Normal for dog: 70-150 beats a minute.
Bad Breath
1) A sweet, fruity scent could indicate diabetes,
especially if your pet is
drinking or urinating more than usual.
2) A urine-like smell might mean kidney disease.
3) A mouth odor that vets simply describe as
"foul", when accompanied by
vomiting, loss of appetite, swelling of the abdomen
or yellowing of the eyes
or gums, could indicate a liver disorder.
Carrots
anyone?
When an animal has bad teeth, bacteria can get into circulation around the
gums. The bacteria float around the bloodstream and eventually settle on
the heart valve. To help keep your pet's teeth clean, brush or scrub the
teeth daily. In addition, giving the animal raw carrots and hard rubber
toys to chew will help keep the teeth clean.
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Animal Mothers Have Feelings
Too
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."
[Thanks to Enid Breakstone for forwarding these beautiful thoughts on
animal
mothers and babies. Please consider sharing these words with
someone who
might never have realized that animals have feelings and grieve for
their young.]
Source: "Ferris,
Suzy" <Suzy.Ferris@Ameriserve.com>
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SPEAKers on Animal Rights
Available
Is your school, organization, or community group
looking for a dynamic and interesting speaker? SPEAK (Supporting and
Promoting Ethics for the Animal Kingdom) may have an answer to your dilemma.
To find a speaker in your area simply visit www.speakingout.org and
click on "FIND a SPEAKer." From there you will see a map of the
U.S. School bells indicate where we have SPEAKers. Simply click on a bell
to contact SPEAK and secure a SPEAKer for your next event.
SPEAK is a national humane education speakers bureau. We offer presentations on
animal rights, animal welfare, and the environment to universities, colleges,
high schools, elementary schools, churches, and civic groups. We also
coordinate conferences, table at lectures, rallies, festivals, and conferences,
conduct public outreach by leafleting, partner in protests, and engage in
animal rescue.
Email SPEAK at speak@chicagotoday.com
Source: Veggirl91@aol.com
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Cockroaches, Slugs and
Snails Feel Pain
LONDON
(Reuters) -- New studies showing that slugs, snails and cockroaches suffer pain
may prompt humans to tiptoe around the animal kingdom.
The research, the subject of a meeting organized by the British charity
Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, boosts lobby groups that argue that
animals have emotions.
"People who think insects do not feel any pain may be wrong," Dr.
Stephen Wickens of the charity told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
"Perhaps people should think twice before reaching for the fly
spray."
Dr. Chris Sherwin of the University of Bristol said insects reacted much like
cats and dogs in their aversion to electric shocks.
"If it is a chimp, we say it feels pain, if a fly, we do not.
Why?" Sherwin said.
Studies carried out at Cambridge University discovered that cows can react
emotionally. Another study revealed that sheep, in defiance of their dumb
image, can distinguish one person from another.
Source: "Adam
Weissman, Wetlands Preserve" <jun1022@cybernex.net>
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United Poultry Concerns 2nd
Annual Forum
The Role of Farmed Animal Sanctuaries
in Promoting Animal Rights & Vegetarianism
September 16 - 17, 2000
Agenda: To define and discuss the place and
practice of farmed animal sanctuaries in promoting Animal Liberation. What do
they teach? How do they advance animal rights? Where does vegan advocacy fit
in? Thinking of starting a sanctuary?
Speakers:
Lorri Bauston, Co-director, Farm Sanctuary
Terry Cummings, Co-Director, Poplar Spring Animal
Sanctuary
Karen Davis, Director, United Poultry Concerns
Jim Mason, Director, Two Mauds, Inc.
Brad Miller, National Director, Suwanna Ranch,
The Humane Farming Association.
Kim Sturla, Director, Animal Place
Where: September 16 - Hilton Norfolk Airport
1500 North Military Highway, Norfolk, VA 23502
Reservations: www.hilton.com or (800) 422-7474
or (757) 466-8000
Rooms: single & double $89.00 plus tax
September 17 - United Poultry Concerns
12325 Seaside Road, Machipongo, VA 23405
(a 40 minute drive from the Hilton)
When: Saturday, September 16, 8 AM - 4:30 PM
Sunday, September 17, 9 AM - 2 PM
Registration fee: $50.00 per person, prepaid
Students - $30, per person, prepaid
Send check or money order payable to United Poultry Concerns and a self-addressed
stamped envelope to: United Poultry Concerns, PO Box 150, Machipongo, VA 23405.
Payment for registration must be received by Tuesday, September 12, 2000.
Meals: Registration includes morning coffee service and two vegan luncheon
buffets
Merchandise and Literature Will Be Available Throughout the Day on September 16
Please note: Hotel reservations received after Friday, September 1, 2000 will
be accepted on a space available basis. All room cancellations must be received
by the Hilton Reservations Department 24 hours prior September 16, 2000 for a
room refund.
Source: franklin@upc-online.org
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Animal Bill of Rights
I, an American Citizen, believe that animals,
like all sentient beings, are entitled to basic legal rights in our
society. Deprived of legal protection, animals are defenseless against
exploitation and abuse by humans. As no such rights now exist, I urge that
legislation be passed in support of the following basic rights for animals:
* The right of animals to be free from exploitation, cruelty neglect and abuse.
* The right of laboratory animals not to be used in cruel or unnecessary
experiments.
* The right of farm animals to an environment that satisfies their basic
physical and psychological needs.
* The right of companion animals to a healthy diet, protective shelter, and
adequate medical care.
* The right of wildlife to a natural habitat, ecologically sufficient to a
normal existence and a self-sustaining species population.
* The right of animals to have their interests represented in court and
safeguarded by the law of the land.
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Once I Was a Lonely Dog
Once I was a lonely dog
Just looking for a home.
I had no place to go,
No one to call my own.
I wandered up and down the streets,
in rain in heat and snow.
I ate what ever I could find,
I was always on the go.
My skin would itch, my feet were sore,
My body ached with pain.
And no one stopped to give a pat
Or a gently say my name.
I never saw a loving glance,
I was always on the run.
For people thought that hurting me
was really lots of fun.
And then one day I heard a voice
So gentle, kind and sweet,
And arms so soft reached down to me
And took me off my feet.
"No one again will hurt you
Was whispered in my ear."
"You'll have a home to call your own
where you will know no fear."
"You will be dry, you will be warm,
you'll have enough to eat"
"And rest assured that when you sleep,
your dreams will all be sweet."
I was afraid I must admit,
I've lived so long in fear.
I can't remember when I let
A human come so near.
And as she tended to my wounds
And bathed and brushed my fur
She told me bout the rescue group
And what it meant to her.
She said, "We are a circle,
A line that never ends."
"And in the center there is you
protected by new friends."
"And all around you are
the ones that check the pounds,
And those that share their home
after you've been found."
"And all the other folk
are searching near and far.
"To find the perfect home for you,
where you can be a star."
She said, "There is a family,
that's waiting patiently,
and pretty soon we'll find them,
just you wait and see."
"And then they'll join our circle
they'll help to make it grow,
so there'll be room for more like you,
who have no place to go."
I waited very patiently,
The days they came and went.
Today's the day I thought,
my family will be sent.
Then just when I began to think
It wasn't meant to be,
there were people standing there
just gazing down at me.
I knew them in a heart beat,
I could tell they felt it too.
They said, "We have been waiting
for a special dog like you."
Now every night I say a prayer
to all the gods that be.
"Thank you for the life I live
and all you've given me.
But most of all protect the dogs
in the pound and on the street.
And send a Rescue Person
to lift them off their feet."
Commitment, Firmness, but kindness
By David the Dogman
Copyright (c) 2000 by David Klein.
submitted by CBorra@aol.com
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Quote To Remember
"My
perspective of veganism was most affected by learning that the veal calf is a
by-product of dairying, and that in essence there is a slice of veal in every
glass of what I had thought was an innocuous white liquid - milk."
~ Rynn Berry
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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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