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 #
04/18/04
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 ~ Park StRanger Goes to Church by
Greg Lawson
2 ~ Myths and Superstitions by
Michelle Rivera
3 ~ Job Opportunities
4 ~ Columbia University Primate Cruelty
5 ~ Vegan "Iron Chef" Competition
6 ~ In The Event Of An Emergency....
7 ~ L.A. Stories
8 ~ Rescued Cat
9 ~ Memorable Quote
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~1~
by
Greg Lawson - ParkStRanger@aol.com
Some
of our subscribers have a problem with orthodox religion and have written us in
the past asking us not to feature religious based articles. I can understand this, but there are
spiritual reasons for veganism and animal rights, and I think we should address
this topic now and then. Any complaints
you have about this article should be directed to ARO's editor, JJswans, and not
me. LOL
I
stopped going to church services when I was a teen. One of the last services I attended was in Army boot camp at Fort
Knox in 1970. Our platoon was forced to
march in snow to the Easter service.
The words spoken by the chaplain, an Army major, were so bizarre that
they have remained with me all these years.
He said, "Oh what a glorious day it will be, when we all fall out
in formation on those streets of gold."
It made me think to myself, hmm, that doesn't sound like so much fun,
What have You got to offer, Satan?
I
just joined the Unitarian Universalist Community of El Paso. Until recently, I had only attended one
church service in the last 30 years, and that was to give the sermon. Three years ago the Unitarian Universalist
Community of El Paso was between ministers and they were inviting guest
speakers to give talks. As president of
the Vegetarian Society of El Paso, I was asked to be a speaker. One of the UU guiding principles is
"respect for the web of life."
I didn't talk about the religious reasons, I gave the ethical and
environmental reasons for veganism.
In
the question and answer period that followed, a chicken farmer responded to my
remarks by saying that debeaking chickens doesn't hurt them. Instantly my blood pressure went up. I replied that that was a lie chicken
producers told themselves to avoid feeling guilt, that debeaking and forced
molting and the use of battery cages were ways to increase profits at the
expense of the suffering of the birds.
(Lord
grant me patience).
Our
scheduled speaker for the veg society of El Paso January dinner was LoraKim
Joyner, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Community. I met her last November when we had her as
our guest on ACT Radio. LoraKim is a
former Avian veterinarian who decided to become a minister for all
species. She has been president of the
Unitarian Universalists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for the last two
years.
I
went to the UU Blessing For the Animals service in late November and I was
really moved. There were about 60
people, a dozen dogs, several cats, a turtle, a vingaroon, a ferret and several
other animals in attendance. The
service was devoted to animal concerns and the hymns we sang were animal
related. I knew I would have to go
back. So I did, several times.
Sunday,
March 21, Reverend LoraKim gave a sermon about Animal Liberation. Allow me to share a few of her words.
"Our
choices are ours to make. Each of us
decides in our own way who lives and who dies, who flourishes and who suffers. Animal liberation or human liberation is not
the question, but animal liberation and human liberation is the hope.
And
when we decide on the side of life, of all life - we shall set ourselves
free."
Our
work towards Animal Liberation liberates us. I feel this is so damn true. There is a lot of pain in our
compassion. From the latin, passion is
suffering, and so we are with those who suffer. That is our choice in life.
Compassion. To be with those who
suffer.
Each
month we have a discussion group meeting at the UU on Spirituality, Justice and
Animal Issues. How could I not be a
part of this community? It only makes
sense.
I
have always considered myself a Veg-evangalist. When I am with my congregation as president of VSEP, at our
bimonthly vegetarian dinners, I feel a great sense of peace and hope, I
consider it my ministry. I feel a part
of something bigger than myself, I feel this way when I write for Animal
Writes. We are a community. Someday our vision will be fulfilled. Someday, society will recognize that all
creatures have rights. All creatures.
I
went vegetarian in 1978 for Animal Rights reasons. Environmental reasons followed.
Spirituality has become a part of it too.
Today
I left a stack of Vegetarian Society of El Paso newsletters on the free
literature table at the Unitarian church.
Our last issue featured an article I wrote reviewing Reverend LoraKim's
talk to our veg society in January.
Pretty
sneaky, huh?
Peace,
Greg
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~2~
by
Michelle Rivera - MichelleRivera1@aol.com
As
a humane educator, I am constantly amazed at the plethora of misinformation
that is out there swimming around in the little minds of America's schoolkids,
(and their parents). For instance,
today I was informed that it's a common practice to feed a dog gunpowder to
make him mean. And I have heard over
and over again that killing snakes for no apparent reason except that they are
snakes is a really good thing to do and makes one very important in the eyes of
their kids.
Truly,
we have much work to do to educate school children and help them become more
compassionate citizens of the world.
So, I am embarking on a humane education project and am seeking the help
of Animal Writes readers. Have you ever heard of some stupid myth, urban legend
that has become "fact" or superstition that hurts animals? I am looking for things like "put used
motor oil on your dog to cure mange" and "turkeys are so stupid that
they look up when it rains and they drown."
If
you have one or more of these little gems, please send them my way for use in
humane education programs and projects. I will share them with other humane
educators so that together we can address the misinformation, rumors and myths
that are injurious to animals.
Gun
powder indeed.
*´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`³¤³´`*:»³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`´`*:»«:*³¤³´`³¤³´`
~3~
CRUELTY
CASEWORKER – non-profit seeks cruelty caseworker with shelter or humane
association work experience to assess various allegations of animal abuse
reported to PETA and intervene as necessary.
Caseworkers educate the public on humane treatment of animals through
the development and distribution of literature and through representing PETA to
the media. Candidate must have strong
writing, research, and organizational skills and the ability to handle cruelty
complaints in a professional and confidential manner. Animal Friendly. Competitive salary and benefits. Please send resume with cover letter to PETA,
Attn: Human Resources, 501 Front Street, Norfolk, VA 23510; or fax to 757.628.0789.
SNIP
PROGRAM ASSISTANT: People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) seeks a SNIP program assistant to help the
SNIP program manager with all aspects of SNIP’s mobile spay/neuter program,
including check-in, administrative recordkeeping, scheduling, and ordering
materials. Candidate must have
excellent interpersonal, problem-solving, crisis-management, and organizational
skills. Candidate must also have basic
animal-handling skills and be willing to work weekends. Valid driver’s license and good driving
record required. Competitive salary and
benefits. Please send resume with cover
letter to PETA, Attn: Human Resources, 501 Front Street, Norfolk, VA 23510; or fax to 757.628.0789.
SNIP
PROGRAM COORDINATOR – Non-profit seeks an experienced candidate to be
responsible for management of the SNIP mobile spay/neuter program, including
the efficient operation of clinic services. This person will be responsible for
all aspects of community outreach and humane education needed to recruit
clients in targeted low-income areas and provide sufficient patient base for
successful high-volume mobile spay and neuter clinic operations. Candidate must have previous animal shelter
or veterinary clinic experience, demonstrated skill in animal handling, and
previous supervisory experience.
Ability to lift patients, equipment, and supplies up to 50 pounds also
required. Competitive salary and
benefits. Send cover letter and resume
to PETA, Attn: Human Resources, 501 Front Street, Norfolk, VA 23510; or fax to 757-628-0789.
Ariana
J. Dixon
HR
Assistant
Foundation
to Support Animal Protection (FSAP)
The
PeTA Foundation
501
Front St.
Norfolk,
VA 23510
phone:
757 962 8413
email:
arianad@fsap.org
fax:
757 628 0789
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~4~
Be
sure to check out PeTA's undercover video of Columbia University's Primate
Lab. This webpage tells all about it,
but the video tells even more. Note the
lack of sensory stimulation provided for these intelligent beings.
Columbia
University's Primate Cruelty
http://www.columbiacruelty.com/
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~5~
This
year is the 30th annual Vegetarian Summerfest to be held July 21-25, and the
festive folks at NAVS, the North American Vegetarian Society, have quite an
extravaganza planned. The Summerfest has always been a fantastic
family-friendly five-day feast of cutting-edge educational sessions (at last
year's Summerfest I broke my speaking record-13 talks in 4 days!),
entertainment, and good wholesome vegan food. But this year they are going to
outdo themselves.
First
off, how about a vegan "Iron Chef" style cookoff? It's going to be me
and Howard Lyman versus professional Chefs Ken Bergeron (winner of a mere 3
Gold Medals at the International Culinary Olympics) and restaurant owner Cathi
DiCoco. Looks like the two mad cowboys are going to have to kick some Bergeron
butt. :)
And
if that wasn't enough, I just got word that I can finally let the carrot out of
the bag--the original vegan M.D., Dr. Michael Klaper, is returning to
Summerfest for the first time in years to unveil the preliminary results of his
ground-breaking Vegan Health Study. We're hoping to do some joint sessions-the
two Dr. Michael's tag-teaming! It's
going to be quite an event. And you heard it here first! Go to
http://vegetariansummerfest.org/ to register.
*´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`³¤³´`*:»³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`´`*:»«:*³¤³´`³¤³´`
~6~
In The Event Of An Emergency....
What
will happen to your companion animals if something happens to you while you are
away from home? Do you have helpless
animals alone at home? Every year,
thousands of animals are left abandoned in their own homes due to an unforeseen
accident involving their guardians.
Please don't let your animals be part of these statistics.
Check
out this website, that offers heavy plastic wallet identification cards that
alerts rescuers that you have animals home alone. Each card provides your name and address, two contact people,
your veterinarian information, number of animals, along with their names and
descriptions.
What
will happen to your animals....
http://animalshomealone.com/
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~7~
L.A. Stories:
A cat becomes a cow as the US
sets its pets alight - but not its cigarettes
by
Andrew Gumbel
28
March 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=505766
Animal
rendering is an unpleasant business. I know this not only because of what I've
read - rendering being a euphemism for melting down dead animal parts to
bonemeal and fat, which are then resold for use in animal feed, rubber and
cosmetic products.
I
know it also because one of my neighbours is Jerry Greenwalt, a decent enough
guy who was effectively hounded out of his job at the head of the Los Angeles
County Department of Animal Care and Control because animal rights activists
were incensed at his sending thousands of euthanised strays each year to a
rendering company. They plastered his house in fake animal blood and said he
was no better than a Nazi sending Jews to Auschwitz.
But
Greenwalt's part of the story barely scratches the surface of the overall
gruesomeness. It turns out that the company, West Coast Rendering, was until
last year sending hundreds of tons of rendered dead pet to Asia, where the
remains were used to feed farm salmon and shrimp. Quite a bit of this then
recrossed the Pacific for human consumption - not a pleasant thought. But it
gets worse.
As
of December, the rendered dog and cat trade ceased overnight. Why? Because, according to the US Department of
Agriculture, dogs and cats are officially defined for export purposes as
"beef byproducts." And December was the month when a single case of
mad cow disease was discovered in Washington State, closing down America's beef
export markets. You may not have thought of your friendly neighbourhood furball
as a miniature cow, but that's how the US government views it. Creepy - and the
upshot is even creepier.
Unable
to sell its dead pet parts, West Coast Rendering is simply stockpiling them in
its warehouse in Vernon, an industrial park in south LA. Since Los Angeles is
the stray pet capital of the US, the numbers are daunting, with 600 tons of dog
and cat piled up so far. The company
has room for 1,200 tons in all, after which, if the export ban is not lifted,
it will have to find a way to dispose of the animals - assuming it can stay in
business.
LA's
landfills don't accept dead pets, which leaves only the option of burning them
- a smelly, smog-inducing, not to say disstinctly queasy process. Another round
of Auschwitz epithet-hurling, one senses, cannot be far off.
Code
Pink, the ad hoc group of feminist campaigners at the forefront of the
anti-Iraq war movement, launched their own election-year campaign last week
with a vow to "pink-slip" George Bush in November (America's
equivalent to finding a P45 in your pay packet). In a Polish restaurant near
the beach in Santa Monica, Code Pink founder and leader Jodi Evans rolled out a
whole roster of civil disobedience activities over the next few months,
including a plan to gatecrash a Halliburton shareholders' meeting to highlight
war profiteering in Iraq and a picket of 24 Hummer dealerships - purveyors of
the least fuel-efficient vehicle on the roads - to mark Earth Day next month.
As Ms Evans put it: "Men are dying in their Hummers in Iraq so you can
drive around in yours."
The
launch party featured a line-up of tasteful female singer-songwriters, among
them Michelle Shocked, the Texas rocker turned religious revivalist who has
previously appeared at Code Pink events in a Stars and Stripes burqa. The crowd
lapped her up.
Meanwhile,
Santa Monica is doling out more bad news for smokers, banning cigarettes from
its much-frequented wide sandy beach and from all but a couple of designated
areas on its pier. It's already impossible to light up in restaurants or bars
in Santa Monica - or, for that matter, anywhere else in California - and smokers
are becoming a rare species. They can still smoke at home, or in their cars.
For how long, nobody knows.
*´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`³¤³´`*:»³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`´`*:»«:*³¤³´`³¤³´`
~8~
by
Arlene Pace - ImmortalVisionsz@aol.com
Once I was a
lonely cat,
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 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.
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
about 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
cat 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 cats
in the pound
and on the street.
And send a
Rescue Person
to lift them
off their feet."
*´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`³¤³´`*:»³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`´`*:»«:*³¤³´`³¤³´`
~9~
"How
smart does a chimpanzee have to be before killing him constitutes murder? If chimpanzees have consciousness, do they
not have what until now has been described as 'human rights'?"
~ Carl Sagan
(1977)
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»
Susan Roghair
- EnglandGal@aol.com
Animal Rights
Online
http://www.oocities.org/RainForest/1395/
-=Animal
Rights Online=-
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»
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