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 # 10/03/04
Publisher ~ Susan
Roghair -
EnglandGal@aol.com
Journalists ~ Greg Lawson - ParkStRanger@aol.com
~ Michelle Rivera -
MichelleRivera1@aol.com
Webmasters ~ Randy Atlas - ranatlas@earthlink.net
~ Trevor Chin - tmchin@yahoo.com
Staff
~ Alfred Griffith - agriffith@igc.org
~ Andy Glick - andy@meatfreezone.org
~ Sheridan Porter -
Pad4Paws21@aol.com
~ Bill Bobo - RunRun@aol.com
~ Katie Vann - Vann167@aol.com
THE ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:
1 ~ Pound Seizure by Judith Marie Gansen
2 ~ National Primate Liberation Week
3 ~ Student Animal Rights Alliance Regional & National
Conferences
4 ~ Help Save Animals While You Show Online
5 ~ Ten Year Sentence For Cruelty
6 ~ Where's Her Baby?
7 ~ Memorable Quote
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~1~
Pound Seizure
By Judith Marie Gansen - SHORTIETEK@aol.com
<>
We Lost Our Pound Seizure Fight - What Can We Learn?
This article does not have a happy ending -- we lost our pound seizure
fight. The sad thing is we lost even though we presented overwhelming
evidence, research, testimony and reasons why pound seizure should be stopped.
I am still very angry --injustice is hard to tolerate. My family, both 4
legged and two legged, were neglected during this long fight. I lost
sleep, spent money copying and passing out fliers, making long distance phone
calls, etc. for our campaign. Wonderful other volunteers did even more.
<> The Problems Were Many
I am on a "stop pound seizure" email list working to stop pound
seizure, county by county. When I knew pound seizure would be heating up
in my area I took packets of information to all 12 county commissioners hoping
to educate them. PCRM magazines, anti-vivisection information and copies
of the National Animal Control Association's own policy statement which
states: "No shelter animals should be released for laboratory
purposes." Our pound was violating its own national policy.
Sadly, one lost dog already crossed over into our county, ended up in our
pound, was sold to research and was killed. The people were
devastated. I pointed out to our commissioners that we have liability
issues -- could our county afford lawsuits from pets accidentally sold to
research? Some people can't get to the pound in time. I was also
terrified that our dogs were at risk since no identification system for pets
was failsafe. I spoke of elderly and handicapped people who were fearful
their pets, sometimes all they had left in life, might accidentally end up in
the pound.
Many postcards were handed out for people to mail into their commissioners
(some people do not feel this is an effective tool because they can question
their authenticity). My commissioner told me that they were being
bombarded with them. Several commissioners became angry that their own
constituents could not email them, they got so many emails. One complained
about "outsiders" being involved. They got emails from other
countries even. Small communities can't handle the mob of animal people
who will descend on them. I explained to our commissioners that with the
internet all it takes is one person to sound the alert and while we tried, we
really couldn't control it.
Our own humane society would not go on public record as being against pound
seizure. I wrote letters to the Board and so even ended up having to
lobby them which was a big surprise for me. They did not support us,
sadly.
Problems between the local people and the email list group began. They
could not work together. I tried to act as liaison between the two
groups. If we were divided then we would end up duplicating the same work
and we had precious little time. We would end up bugging the same
commissioners with the same information. We needed to work
together. I debated how to make us more visible in the audience. I
came up with the idea of red ribbons. Red shows up well and would
represent the lost and homeless pets killed. I spent hours cutting ribbon
and used a hot glue gun to attach the fasteners to them. Ribbons are more
conservative looking and have been used for many other causes. Both sides
agreed to wear them, thankfully.
I spoke at 3 meetings and I can't tell you how hard that was for me. I
once got physically ill. I looked into the eyes of our dogs and thought:
it's not how can I do this, but rather, how can I even think of not doing
this? They surely couldn't go down there and speak for themselves!
I had to find my courage. I thought of all the animals this would
affect, and how some might die with stress and pain. One elderly
man who could barely walk came to a commission meeting -- he asked for a red ribbon
to wear.
One lady emailed me from another state and said they had stopped pound seizure
in their area by bringing in a TV camera to the pound. Two women went in
with the cameraperson. Their commissioners had argued that the pound dogs
were not adoptable. So one woman hid a squeaky toy in her pocket and when
they arrived the dogs were cowering in fear in their cages. She brought
out the toy and squeezed it and the dogs all came running to the front, wagging
their tails ready to play. That played on TV and the commissioners were
bombarded with phone calls. They stopped pound seizure there.
I tried to find all kinds of info on stopping pound seizure but was basically
told that every situation is different and there really is no
"guidebook" -- just use your own instincts. Several
anti-vivisection organizations wrote to our paper which was great. We did
letters to the editor and continued with the fliers -- some businesses put them
out too.
<> The Media Problems
Our right-wing newspaper's coverage made me angry. They were clearly
biased on the side of research even though we had proven that stopping pound
seizure did not stop animal research. I called the News Editor who was
definitely not an animal person. I threatened to cancel my subscription
if they didn't present both sides fairly -- this was their responsibility as
journalists. Things improved to some extent after that. All the
good research I sent to the paper never even made it into any of the articles,
unfortunately. The best evidence I found was a chart done for the City of
Calgary, Alberta Animal Services in Canada (from the Animal Alliance of Canada
website) www.animalallliance.ca/ showing how dog bites went
down, adoptions improved, etc. once pound seizure was stopped. This was a
good argument for the non-animal people.
I spoke at committee meetings first. I brought up how our county could
save money by stopping pound seizure. I mentioned that the candidate who
surprisingly just won in our primary for our district had been endorsed by the
humane community and that pet people spend billions on their pets every year
and are a huge lobby. I pointed out how would their political careers
fare once people found out they voted against pets? I found some passages
from the Bible in an attempt to reach the Christians on the Board.
One thing that shocked me was that a farm bureau got involved. What did a
farm bureau have to do with pound seizure? One farm bureau representative
spoke and he thought pound seizure was picking up dogs off the street.
They even supported pound seizure on their website, yet he didn't know what it
was! I called and complained to the farm bureau. It wasn't their
fight at all and they were interfering with our fight to protect our
pets. We had farmers on our Board and that could influence the
vote. If farmers were having problems with loose dogs that is an animal
control issue I told them. I tried to show them that pet people and
farmers had much in common -- we both don't want pets running loose. If
we stopped pound seizure, they would benefit too. It didn't work -- they
showed up at the next meeting to speak. Only one farmer voted for our
side. I was told later that farm bureaus often show up at pound seizure
fights.
<> The Final Fight
There were TV cameras and a radio station there. I left boxes of fliers
outside the building so people could get them. We had some signs.
We packed the commission chambers with people wearing red ribbons -- they had
to set up more chairs. Once again, people spoke eloquently. We
believed we had 5 votes for sure on our side -- we needed 7. We even had
professional people speak -- one said he was proud to be part of the group
wearing red ribbons. I got tears in my eyes. I was exhausted from
all the stress and work. I thought about the wonderful people who came
from other communities and drove far to help us out -- their sacrifice was more
than mine was. I sat there thinking how will I handle this if we
lose? It will break my heart.
We not only lost, but we lost big -- we only got a few votes. It was
obvious every piece of excellent information we gave them was ignored by the
majority. The postcards didn't matter to most of them although my commissioner
told me he got the postcards and he voted our way because of them, even though
he supported animal research. The researcher and vet who spoke for our
side didn't matter either. Nothing mattered because they had their minds
made up. My feeling is, it was either the influence of the farm bureau or
antiquated thinking (we need animals for research to cure diseases). I also
wondered why the university that purchases our pets did not bother to send
anyone important for the final vote -- was it possible they knew beforehand it
was a sure thing for them? I was and still am devastated -- months of
work down the drain. I caught the news when we got home and the news
reporter held up one of the ribbons I made and said (paraphrasing) "the
people wearing these ribbons say they will not give up." Then I
really broke down -- my husband hugged me and we hugged our dogs. We lose
some battles trying to help animals. We have to be willing to "take
a punch" for them from time to time. Sometimes it hurts like
hell. This was one of those times.
<> The "Up" Side
Yes, there is one. In the process of this campaign we educated many
people. I met with other pet people and the energy that came from this
fight has spread to other endeavors -- our pound is being helped more.
One woman is going down as often as possible and getting the animals before the
dealer can get to them, to get them into rescues. This morning I took a
bunch of towels down to the pound and offered to put a list of things they need
on a statewide website -- someone else had already thought of that and
volunteered! As I was getting fliers out early in the campaign, I saw an
elderly man read the flier and frantically yell for his dog to come into the
house. Maybe now more people won't allow their dogs to run loose because
now they know our pound sells to research.
One commissioner who voted against us admitted that he had no idea so many
people cared so much about their pets. He said he had learned a
lot. The press was educated and after the fight was initially made
public, I noticed an increase in the amount of animal stories in the
paper. It was sort of a "culture shock" for our community --
one it needed.
This fight has energized some of us. When you support your pound and show
you care about the animals there, it follows that the employees there will take
greater pride in their difficult jobs and this may likely prevent cases of
abuse that once in awhile we hear about. Pounds are sometimes smelly,
horrible places. In addition to trying to keep them as clean as possible,
I think we need to think about decorating and landscaping them.
Sound crazy? The more clean and attractive a charity or animal shelter
is, the more likely it will get volunteers. Paint, bouquets of flowers,
pictures or kind sayings about dogs and cats on the walls, etc. may help with
adoptions and keep the employees in a more positive mood. I remember
reading that the color pink calms down aggression in people. So we don't
take away from volunteer time of animal people, maybe contact a local
horticulture hobby group or decorating business who would like the publicity
such a project would generate. It has also been proven that trees and
shrubs cause our blood pressure to lower and we de-stress. They also
clean the air. When I worked at Hospice (for terminally ill people),
being able to look at a beautiful vase of flowers or a tree reminded me of the
beauty in our world even though at times I would get so sick of dealing with
death. I think the same could apply to pounds. Employees can also
benefit from the volunteers -- their caring attitude is sure to affect them and
how they treat the animals under their care.
<> Suggestions on Fighting Pound Seizure
1. Try to work together. Everyone has a different solution to any
problem. Look to people with experience who have had success. Elect
leadership. Things need to be delegated. Use order in
meetings. In one meeting everyone talked at the same time -- how can you
accomplish anything that way? Learn about parliamentary procedure or
raise your hands. We lost several people who couldn't get along with
others. Remember this: Volunteers are worth their weight in gold --
treat them that way. In other charities volunteers often get dinners held
for them or some other recognition. We can't do that -- remember to thank
each other. We don't do this for the thanks, but it sure helps. Also
don't think you know everything -- you'd be amazed at how many people are out
there who know more than you do. Learn to compromise.
2. READ the local paper. It not only shocked me how few people knew
about pound seizure, but it also shocked me how few people get the
newspaper. Some people said they get their news on the net -- you miss
things that way. Local functions where you can flier will be put in the
paper -- like dog walkathons for instance. Since we subscribe, I found
out that the reporter doing our story was being sued on another matter, along
with our paper -- that makes them somewhat "gun-shy" when they do
their next articles. You will learn things about what is going on in your
local government too. Who is up for election. What political
parties they belong to. Are they involved in any scandals?
3. Keep organized -- I kept a folder with sections on the press, my
speeches, research, etc. and put contact people's phones and emails on the flap
so I always had it handy.
4. Never underestimate the power of elderly people! I spoke to a former
county commissioner to learn from him when he fought this issue many years
ago. He is now 80 years young and came to our meeting and spoke for us --
God Bless him!
5. I was told by people with experience not to focus on animal research
or we will lose. We didn't but it's hard not to since people on the other
side think it is noble to sell pets to research to cure diseases. We had
to refute that.
6. Unless you have been active in your county commission, ask for rules
for speaking. It's good to let everyone know you care about things like
that. It helps to be friendly with the office people (who work hard
anyway. usually) as they will be giving you the agenda so you know how many
minutes to speak, etc.
7. Don't allow anyone to tell you "outsiders" can't speak or
should not be involved unless there is some specific rule. In our case we
even had a letter inviting people from outside our county to speak and one
commissioner complained about it anyway. A favorite tactic of the
opposition is to discredit outsiders, to split us up. I doubt this would
happen on anything but an animal issue. Dogs and cats obviously don't
respect county lines should they get loose. Also anyone traveling an
interstate or other road can be in an accident -- where do you think the
officers will take your pets? Pound seizure matters to everyone -- it is
a REGIONAL issue. Your county is not an island. If your area had a
disaster like a hurricane, I doubt anyone would gripe that the volunteers
coming in were from "out of town." Also any
"outsiders" coming to your area to assist you are also spending their
money at your copy places, restaurants and motels. Some may come later to
visit for the fun places too.
8. Know your opposition -- it helps to know everything you can about the
people who you will be interacting with. At meetings dress like you were
going to church -- it makes a difference in how you are perceived, right or wrong.
9. Whenever negotiating, always ask for more than what you expect to
get. Unions have always done this. Don't just ask to Ban B dealers,
ask for a complete ban on pound seizure or a better term is pound release since
"seizure" confuses people.
10. When making up your fliers or contacting commissioners, divide your
arguments in half -- present the side you or I would listen to, the
compassionate one but also present arguments for people who could care less
about animals -- money issues, political futures, fear of lawsuits, etc.
You can argue all you want about compassion for animals but some people who
fear or hate them will just tune you out. If you live in a hunting
community and the Board is filled with hunters, they may feel threatened (from
ignorance) that next time you will be going after their "hunting
rights." To me this is why I believe it is necessary to distance
some campaigns from "animal rights." Really, what does not
selling lost and homeless pets to research have to do with not eating meat or
wearing fur?
11. Keep track of what press attends a meeting. It helps to have a
good relationship with them too. With a smile I asked one young female
reporter to please refer to us as animal advocates. She was glad to do it
and later wanted to know if I would like to be interviewed. Some of the
press may feel uncomfortable contacting us too --especially if all they know of
us is what they read in most papers, which is generally not positive. We
must lobby the press too because they have an influence over which clip to show
on TV or the best quote to write in the paper. Watch their coverage and
if you don't feel it was fair, contact them.
We have decided we are not giving up. I want to find research or stats
done by any of the East coast states where pound seizure is illegal now.
I need info on farm bureaus in those states and whether they backed out of the
fight there, and why. In November we will have some new commissioners and
hopefully with them, people of wisdom. A good friend of mine reminded me
of scripture that speaks of sowing seeds that you will reap later. I pray
she is right. I am asking that any of our readers who have helpful
information on successful ways to fight pound seizure to please email me -- put
Pound Seizure in the subject line. I remember seeing a piece written
about how Abraham Lincoln failed at so many endeavors in his life, yet ended up
being our most beloved president. We must never give up.
I believe there is always a book helpful for any problem in life:
1) How to Argue and Win Every Time By Gerry Spence (St. Martin's Griffin, New
York) -- I found my copy at a bookstore for $14.95. One thing he mentions
on P. 199 is ".....we never attack the decision maker."
On P. 203 "The power argument begins and ends by telling the truth.
Truth is power." "Giving respect to one's opponent
elevates us." Mr. Spence is a lawyer and writer and he never
lost a criminal case. I highly recommend this book since animal advocates
often must function as lawyers.
My favorite quote is on P. 26 where he says: "The great men of
history were great dissenters. Christ was a dissenter who kicked the
money changers out of the temple and dissented from the ideology of 'an eye for
an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' ......Jefferson, Lincoln, Martin Luther
King, Jr. -- all were great dissenters. ....... But they argued out of
strength, not weakness, out of conviction, not insecurity. They argued
toward the fulfillment of a purpose and in service to mankind."
2) Doing Democracy: The MAP Model for Organizing Social Movements
by Bill Moyer with JoAnn McAllister, Mary Lou Finley and Steven Soifer, New
Society Publishers (P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, B.C. Canada VOR1XO)
2001 $16.95
3) Organizing for Social Change (Midwest Academy Manual for
Activists-Third Edition) by Kim Bobo, Jackie Kendell & Steve Max (Seven
Locks Press (3100 W. Warner Ave. #8, Santa Ana, CA 92704) 2001 $23.95
(these 3 books have nothing to do with animal issues but are very applicable)
****Great Non-profit organization who can teach us how to lobby for animals and
who needs donations to produce a training manual for all of us who speak for
animals --please send whatever you can -- even $1 goes a long way if everyone
sends just one:
National Institute for Animal Advocacy - President, Julie Lewin (203)453-6590
Website: NIFAA or http://www.nifaa.org/
Send donations to help get a manual published for all of us:
CCHE/NIFAA
c/o Lewin
6 Long Hill Farm
Guilford, Ct 06437
"There are hundreds of paths to scientific knowledge. The cruel ones
can teach us only what we ought not to know." George Bernard Shaw
Judy
Staff: Animals in Print (free online animal publication)
http://www.all-creatures.org/aip/
*´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`³¤³´`*:»³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`´`*:»«:*³¤³´`³¤³´`
~2~
National Primate Liberation
Week
[October
1] National Primate Liberation Week begins tomorrow with protests,
rallies, and other media events taking place across the US. For a
list check out our web page at http://www.all-creatures.org/saen/event-nplw-2004.html
we have more events coming in daily. More events are being posted daily,
so look often. This year's NPLW (October 2nd - 10th) will be the biggest
ever, with possibly as may as 20 cities participating.
We will be working with local activists to expose abuses within these
labs and on the national level. The report that we will be releasing to
the media: Primate Experimentation in the US: The Facts We Weren’t Supposed
to Know is posted on our website at: http://www.all-creatures.org/saen/articles-rep-prim2004.html
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~3~
Student Animal Rights Alliance
National & Regional Conferences
Ready
to take action for animals with hundreds of other young activists? Student
Animal Rights Alliance is inviting you to attend the 4th annual “Liberation
Now!” national student animal rights conference over the October 29th to 31st
Halloween weekend in Berkeley, CA and “Demand Liberation” regional student
action conferences in November 2004 in Philadelphia, PA and Boston, MA and
February 2005 in Gainesville, FL, Austin, TX, and Minneapolis, MN.
For more details, visit: http://www.LiberationNow.com
for the national conference, and http://www.DemandLiberation.com
for the regional conferences. APPLY NOW for travel grants to the “Liberation
Now!” national conference!
<>
Student Animal Rights Alliance
PO Box 932, New York, NY 10013
(212) 419-1487 - info@defendanimals.org
http://www.defendanimals.org
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~4~
Help Save Animals While You
Shop Online
The Vegetarian Site Will Donate 10% of October
Sales to API. As you consider what gifts to buy for your loved ones, it’s
important to remember the power you hold as a consumer. By shopping with
compassionate values on your mind and in your heart, you can truly make a
difference in the lives of animals! To help get the compassionate
shopping season off to the right start, The Vegetarian Site, an online resource
offering 100% cruelty-free items including shoes, books, clothing, groceries,
personal care products, and more, has chosen API as its "organization of
the month" for October. For the entire month of October, 10% of
your order will be donated to API by The Vegetarian Site to benefit API
programs. To order, go to www.TheVegetarianSite.com.
*´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`³¤³´`*:»³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`´`*:»«:*³¤³´`³¤³´`
~5~
Ten Year Sentence For Cruelty
(Houston Chronicle, 2 Sept. 2004)
Associated Press
DALLAS
- A 23-year-old Dallas man who unleashedd his two pit bull terriers on a
neighbor's dog and watched as they mauled the hound-Dalmatian mix has been
sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $14,000.
Carey D. McMillian received the maximum possible sentence on Wednesday at the
animal-cruelty trial.
A witness to the September 2003 attack in Pleasant Grove described seeing
McMillian goad his dogs to attack and ultimately kill the dog named Cisco.
"The only reason for killing Cisco was for his own perverse
pleasure," lead prosecutor Rick Jackson said in closing arguments.
"This case cries out for the max."
When the panting and exhausted pit bulls let up, McMillian would grab Cisco and
shake the dog to provoke the pit bulls to "tear the dog apart," the
neighbor said.
A neighbor surreptitiously videotaped a portion of the attack. Jurors
watched the tape three times before deliberating for 30 minutes and returning a
guilty verdict.
The charge of animal cruelty carries a maximum punishment of two years in a
state jail, but the offense was enhanced to a third-degree felony after prosecutors
proved that state law could define the two dogs as "deadly weapons,"
The Dallas Morning News reports in its Thursday editions.
Jurors also found McMillian guilty of a lesser misdemeanor charge of dog
fighting.
"This happens every day, but in most cases it's not caught on tape,"
Ken Qualls, an investigator with the SPCA of Texas, told the Fort Worth
Star-Telegram for its Thursday editions. "This shows that behavior like
this will not be tolerated."
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~6~
Where's Her Baby?
By Linda Beane - Ljbeane1@aol.com
Every animal is someone's baby.
Are you aware of that?
Did you ever think "Where's their baby now?"
Is it in the hamburger your eating?
The steak you had last night?
The roast, the corned beef?
Still in the freezer?
GRILLED? BAKED? FRIED? BOILED? BREADED?
Maybe smothered in mushrooms?
Where's the baby?
They took her baby before she could even nuzzle it.
My God - the baby has been missing for so long!
The baby, HER BABY!
Have you seen her baby?
She trusted you.
PLEASE, PLEASE HELP HER FIND HER BABY!
It`s been so long!
It was HER very own special baby.
MOTHER n: "One who gives birth, one who CARES and PROTECTS.
BABY n: "A newborn, helpless, in need of nurturing, offspring of a
mother."
Have you seen her baby?
Please...........HAVE YOU SEEN THE BABY??
Even "PART" of it?
*´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`*´`³¤³´`*:»«:*´`³¤³´`*:»³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`´`*:»«:*³¤³´`³¤³´`
~7~
Memorable Quote
"By having reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual
relation with the world."
~Albert Schweitzer
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»
Susan Roghair - EnglandGal@aol.com
Animal Rights Online
http://www.oocities.org/RainForest/1395/
-=Animal Rights Online=-
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»
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