A n i m a l W r i t e
s © sm
The official ANIMAL
RIGHTS ONLINE newsletter
Established 1997
Editor ~ JJswans@aol.com
Issue # 11/02/03
Publisher ~ Susan
Roghair - EnglandGal@aol.com
Journalists ~ Greg Lawson -
ParkStRanger@aol.com
~ Michelle Rivera -
MichelleRivera1@aol.com
~ Dr. Steve Best -
sbest1@elp.rr.com
THE ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:
1 ~ I Guess I Am A Picky Eater
by Greg Lawson
2 ~ Jane Goodall Asks Film & Tv Industry Leaders To End Use of
Great Apes
3 ~ Breast Cancer Awareness Month - Last Chance For Animals Focuses
on Eradicating One Proven Cause
4 ~ Wolves In Bullet Proof Vests Protest Killing From Aircraft
5 ~ Free CD
6 ~ Time For A Vegan In The White House
7 ~ Sportsmen In Tune With Nature
8 ~ Human Insanity
9 ~ Memorable Quote
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~1~
I Guess I Am a Picky Eater
By Greg Lawson - ParkStranger@aol.com
Recently we did a music festival in the park I work at,
and I had more than the usual number of Veg Encounters during that weekend. By
that I mean that the subject of animal rights and veganism is not often a topic
of conversation at work unless I instigate it, and I try not to be too preachy.
(Sure). When other people bring up vegan diets, I consider that a Veg
Encounter. When it happens once a day for a few days, I consider that an
unusual opportunity.
On a scale of one to ten, with one being a health oriented vegan and 10 being a
radical animal rights vegan terrorist, I guess I am a seven or maybe an eight.
I rate myself that high because I am president of my local veg society,
journalist for Animal Rights Online and cohost the animal rights radio show,
ACT, Animal Concerns of Texas. But I would never burn anything that wasn't in a
pan on my stove. My acts of terror will remain causing fear in the minds of
meateaters.
Encounter One: On the opening night of the festival, the park had a reception
with food provided by the staff of the local Time Warner cable group. That was
nice of them, but the only vegan items were pickles and onions. Barbecue beef
sandwiches and baked beans with ham and coleslaw with mayo were the other
items. Sheesh, not even chips and salsa.
The Superintendent of our park apologized to me, now that's a veg encounter.
She said they should have had a veggie platter. I said, "Lot's of people
would like a platter of veggies at a reception buffet and not all meat
items." She said "Greg, they have coleslaw." I told her I didn't
eat brands of mayo that have eggs in them. Her secretary said "You must
have a hard time finding things to eat being such a picky eater."
I said "No, I usually cook my own foods or eat with friends who know how
to cook without animal products. And believe it or not, some restaurants in El
Paso serve vegetables." No life changing conversation here, but some seeds
planted.
Encounter Two: The next morning I met with the sound engineer we had hired to
mix the audio for the festival. He had obviously lost some weight since I had
seen him last year. The first words out of his mouth were "Are you still
doing that vegan thing?" "Yup, still am," I replied.
"I have given up beef and cheese. I still eat some fish and poultry, but
my wife has started cooking with a lot of soy products. It's amazing how much
better I feel," he told me. I told him about the health food store where I
shop, and how they carry soy salami, pepperoni, pastrami, soy buffalo wings and
so many other soy meat substitutes. I told him he should try some of the
chicken and fish substitutes they have for sale and VeganRella cheese.
I offered him some of the hot and spicy soy jerky I was snacking on.
"Wow," he said. "This is good." Then I said "It's not
about 'giving up' meat and dairy, it's not about being deprived of some foods,
it's about discovering new foods and a whole new way of eating."
Encounter Three: Later that afternoon, Mike, one of the rangers I supervise,
introduced me to his girlfriend. "Nice to meet you, Belinda," I said.
"Mike told me that you have just gone vegetarian." "Yes,"
she said. "I have Dr. Steve Best for philosophy class. Two weeks ago he
showed a video and I stopped eating meat." Similar words I have heard many
times before.
Belinda told me how Mike enjoyed a soy chiken dish she had prepared the night
before and I gave her my recipe for sweet and sour chiken. I also directed her
to my website for information about veg nutrition. www.utep.edu/vsep
Mike has to work on the night of our Veg Society Thanksgiving dinner, I think
I'll give his girlfriend an invitation.
Encounter Four: On the third and final day of the festival, David, the Master
of Ceremonies for one of the music areas started a conversation with me. David
does a folk music program on the same radio station we do ACT radio. "Hey
Greg, I love your show, Animal Concerns of Texas."
"Thanks, David. I am glad you listen," I said. "Because of your
show I have stopped eating veal. I also stopped eating chicken because of the
battery cages and debeaking and other things they do to those poor birds,"
he said.
"David, let me tell you a nasty little secret of the dairy industry. In
order to produce milk, dairy cows are raped by dairy farmers each year because
cows only produce milk if they are pregnant. Most of the offspring become veal
calves. The veal industry is a direct offshoot of the milk industry. If you
really care about veal calves, you should avoid milk and cheese."
"Oh, my God, I never thought about that," he said. Then I told David
about my favorite brands of soymilk and vegan cheese. He took out a notepad and
started writing.
How very neat, so many Veg Encounters in one weekend. And Yes, I guess I am a
picky eater, but it's so easy. As best I can, I just avoid foods that cause
pain or death to the other creatures with whom I share this planet. I'm picky
that way.
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~2~
Jane Goodall Asks Film & Tv Industry Leaders
To End Use Of Great Apes
LOS ANGELES, CA – Dr. Jane Goodall, widely recognized as
one of the world’s most eminent primatologists, met with leaders of the
Hollywood-based film and television industries in Beverly Hills on Tuesday
[Oct. 14] to ask them to end the use of chimpanzees and other great apes as
performers.
"The time has come to move beyond the misuse of creatures who are
vulnerable to our exploitation precisely because they are so like us,"
Goodall said.
Dr. Goodall, who was joined by members of the Collaboratory, also introduced
Sarah Baeckler, a young woman who spent the last 14 months working with
Hollywood animal trainers, researching the often cruel and inhumane methods
they use to make chimpanzees and other primates perform.
Baeckler’s testimony included numerous references to abusive behavior she
observed while working at the Amazing Animal Actors training facility in
Malibu. Baeckler logged over 1,000 hours at the facility, which features five
chimpanzees among its menagerie. Baeckler said she saw trainers repeatedly
kick, punch and beat chimps with hammers to make them obedient.
The Chimpanzee Collaboratory’s appeal kicked off the “Serving a Life Sentence…
For Your Viewing Pleasure” campaign, which will seek to get actors, writers,
directors and producers in Hollywood to cease the use of great apes in films,
TV and advertising. It is estimated that approximately 150 chimpanzees,
orangutans and other great apes are held at entertainment training facilities
in the U.S., yet the fact that most are “retired” after the age of eight
condemns them to more than 50 years of idle imprisonment.
The Collaboratory is asking leaders in Hollywood to sign a pledge calling for
an immediate end to the use of great apes in entertainment and stating that
they will refuse to work on productions that do.
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~3~
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Last Chance For Animals Focuses on
Eradicating One Proven Cause
LCA's Investigation Reveals How Pregnant Mares' Urine is Obtained
for Manufacture of Premarin
Los Angeles, CA (October 15, 2003) -- This October, Americans may contribute to
breast cancer research by buying the new pink Beanie Baby, indulging in
Elizabeth Arden's new breast cancer message, a pint of Dreyer's pink-ribboned
sherbet or applaud the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for awarding $15 million
to researchers, but Last Chance for Animals wants to remind the 9 million women
who still take a drug that increases their risk of breast cancer by 24%, that
Premarin is made by torturing pregnant horses for their precious urine. LCA's
recent investigation documents pregnant mares being sequestered and their foals
being slaughtered solely to collect the horses' urine for the manufacture of
Premarin. Premarin (name derived from Pregnant Mare Urine) or Prempro (produced by pharmaceutical behemoth
Wyeth-Ayerst).
Chris DeRose, founder of the FBI of Animal Rights, Last Chance for Animals
said, "212,000 women died from breast cancer this year and 1,000,000
horses have died to make this already proven dangerous drug. What will it take
to get women to stand up for their own health, never mind passively allow the
torture of voiceless animals to make a drug that only hurts them?"
Premarin is the number one prescribed hormone replacement therapy drug in the
world. Over 36% of the current US population are women aged 45+, who are
entering into or are in menopause and more than 20 million are women aged 65
and over. This demand supports the slaughter of approximately 25,000 foals and
the torture of 75,000 horses annually to manufacture the drug. The North
American Equine Ranching Council (www.naeric.org) are a group of ranchers who
are contracted by Wyeth Ayerst solely to harvest pregnant mares urine for the
production of Premarin.
LCA's investigation includes video footage, of nursing foals in the
slaughterhouse feedlot; the inside of "pee barns" showing neglected
and abused horses; a still alive mare hanging upside down with part of her legs
cut off; skinned dead mares hanging, bullet casings in the "kill area"
adjacent to where horses are stunned to death, and images of every type of
horse used in the Premarin operation. The investigation shows that to produce
Premarin, pregnant mares are confined to stalls eight by three-and-a-half feet
for 150 day gestation periods. After giving birth, the foals are taken away
from their mothers and either slaughtered for consumption or used to replace
the mares.
"Although Premarin is widely prescribed," said best selling author on
the subject of menopause, Dr. Jesse Hanley, MD, "the National Institute of
Health (NIH) reported last year that Prempro increases women's risk of breast
cancer by 24%, heart attack by 29%, stroke by 41% and blood clots by 100%. It
has never been proven that providing pre-menopausal levels of estrogen is helpful
in alleviating the symptoms of menopause! To curb symptoms, there are many safe
alternatives to Premarin such as Dongquai, Red Clover, Black Cohosh, Macca,
Vitex and Dioscorea which have been used successfully and safely for millennia
and are beginning to collect a significant body of research as a much safer,
wiser and certainly more humane choice.
Founded in 1984 by De Rose, Last Chance
for Animals is the "FBI of Animal Rights," a national, nonprofit
advocacy organization dedicated to ending animal exploitation and suffering.
More information can be found at www.lcanimal.org.
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~4~
Wolves In Bullet Proof Vests
Protest Killing From Aircraft
ANCHORAGE, AK, -- Wolf-appearing animals in bullet proof vests
will be on display near the State’s Board of Game meeting Monday to protest the
Governor’s approval of aerial wolf killing. A rally is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Monday, November 3 on the corner of
Aviation and Spenard, near the Millenium Hotel. Governor Murkowski’s
decision to allow members of the public to kill wolves with the aid of aircraft
defies the overwhelming will of voters in two statewide elections, and a
half-million people from around the world. His own Department of Fish and Game
has a long standing history of opposition. For the first time in more than a
quarter century, hunters will be able to shoot wolves from the cockpit of their
airplane. “The number of wolves killed annually in Alaska has more than doubled
since aerial shooting was banned,” said Dr. Paul Joslin, Alaska Wildlife
Alliance wildlife director. “Too many hunters are already being encouraged to
kill wolves because of private bounty inducements, liberalized bag limits, wolf
trapping clinics and legalized chasing of wolves with the aid of high powered
snowmachines,” he went on to say. Alaska voters thought they had put the matter
of aerial wolf hunting to rest when they voted twice to ban the practice, once
in a 1996 ballot initiative, and again in a 2000 referendum. Governor
Murkowski’s refusal to listen to the voters could lead the state into an
economic downturn. In 1992, Governor Walter Hickel launched a similar wolf
control program that was so unpopular it sparked a tourism boycott. Alaska's wildlife-associated
tourism industry provides tens of thousands of jobs and contributes
approximately $1.4 billion annually to the economy. The bullet-proof wolf rally
launches a new “Awareness” campaign by The Alaska Wildlife Alliance aimed at
trying to head off such a disaster. It is none too soon, as Governor
Murkowski’s hand picked Board of Game will be deciding at its October
31--November 4 meeting where, when and how the aerial killing of wolves will
happen this winter. A photo will be released on Friday, October 31st at www.akwildlife.org/wolf
Maury Mason
Executive Director
Alaska Wildlife Alliance
(907) 277-0897
maury@akwildlife.org
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~5~
Free CD
If you are an animal lover, a vegetarian, or one who cares
for the environment, then ask for the free CD. The CD has the video clip
"Meet your Meat" narrated by Alec Baldwin, along with several other
videos as well as a host of other literature, poems and website's on Animal
Rights issues.
I send the CD to anyone having a CD burner, or access to one, and pledging to
make at least 4 copies to give to their meat eating friends. The hope is that
each one of these friends in turn will see value in changing themselves and
then make additional copies to share with their friends and thus we have a
chain…a geometric progression.
We CAN truly make an impact; reduce animal cruelty, improve mother earth,
improve our own health AND thus make the world a lot more compassionate.
If you agree…forward your MAILING ADDRESS (Not email address) to
Chalissa1@aol.com
I will promptly send you the CD.
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~6~
Time For A Vegan In The White House
Animal Rights Online supports Dennis Kucinich (pronounced
Koo-sin-itch) for president, it's time for a vegan in the White House.
Dennis Kucinich for President Campaign, 2004 -
Official Website
http://www.kucinich.us/
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~7~
Sportsmen In Tune With Nature?
By JJswans@aol.com
"When
will we reach the point that hunting, the pleasure of killing animals for sport,
will be regarded as a mental aberration? We must reach the point that killing
for sport will be felt as a disgrace to our civilization."
~Albert Schweitzer
This last week has been one of fear and death for the residents of
California. Twenty people were killed due to the stupidity of one hunter.
Hunters, who so often claim to be at one with nature when they are in the
wilds, even though they are destroying that very nature they claim to be a part
of, have the horrors of this last week to their credit as well, because one of
their number allegedly found himself lost in tinder dry brushland and depended
on firing off a flare in order to summon help. This was the beginning of the
inferno that destroyed thousands of homes and caused the deaths of 20 people,
including one brave firefighter, and innumerable animals, both companion and
wildlife.
The next time some hunter or hunter-apologist makes unfounded allegations about
the violence caused by animal activists, let's remind them of the violence that
they perpetrate not only against animals, but also against human beings.
And may God bless the brave firefighters that have worked so hard, and are
continuing to do so, to put out the fires, but also their loved ones who wait
bravely and silently for them to come home.
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~8~
Human Insanity
By M. Butterflies Katz - gentle@aloha.net
Sometimes, I find, my perception of humanity
Is overwhelmed by the abundance of insanity.
Man sprays the planet with toxic compounds to poison bugs and weeds-
He's ignorant of the poor judgment inherent in these deeds.
He endangers many species; renders some others extinct...
He doesn't see "The Big Picture" and that all of us are linked.
He renders the soil worthless; devoid of all fertility.
In other lands, he purchases a child, for his utility.
Man enslaves his own species and the other animals, too --
Engages in mass murder of his own, in times of old and new.
He makes the "Almighty Dollar" his God and his guiding light.
He lives without integrity; does what's easy, not what's right.
He lusts after money with a materialistic greed,
While his fellow human cries for help in impoverished need.
Man will execute the trees like they are "growing out of style"...
Never pondering the repercussions of this, all the while.
He passes through enchanted woods and leaves his rubbish behind,
And limits concern for his fellow man to one's of his own kind....
He has little tolerance for other religions or races...
He's one who believes his color's the best color for all faces.
He adorns himself with gadgets and pierces his skin for rings...
He thinks he is attractive by doing such meaningless things.
He treats the disease, but neglects the preventative measure --
With little forethought, he delves into momentary pleasure.
He settles for "mere sex" rather than the "art of
Love-making"...
He is empty inside, because his passion he's forsaking.
He is a being that is cruel; that inflicts suffering and pain.
His viewing of "animals as a commodity" -- is insane!
His mind invented the telephone, the computer chip, and more,
But can't learn that "eating animals" is an action to abhor.
He fuels his body and soul with a most violent of diets --
Never thinking to correlate this with rising city riots.
He lives on top of each other; like hens in a factory farm...
And with businesses polluting air and stream, ignoring their harm!
Something he is compelled to do -- is to over-populate --
Unlike animals, when resources dwindle, he will still mate!
He will step on his comrade to make himself appear supreme --
Wrapped up in himself, he cares not for the members of his team.
This "He" lives in the street bum, as well as the nation's
president...
Some aspect of this man lives in every global resident.
Are we powerless to change "the lack of virtue" that eludes man?
Will we ever know that yearned for "Peace on Earth" in our life's
span?
Can the soul subdue the ego; can we unmask our human lies?
Will we elevate and save our race, before humanity dies?
Will we annihilate ourselves with the weapons made by man?
Or will we turn it all around, as only us humans can?
Humanity created insanity -- yet -- we're able to see...
That within each of us lies the power to set sanity free.
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~9~
Memorable Quote
"When a man wantonly destroys one of the works of man we call
him a vandal. When he destroys one of the works of God we call him a sportsman."
~Joseph Wood Krutch
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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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