A n i m a l   W r i t e s © sm
                                             
The official ANIMAL RIGHTS ONLINE newsletter
  

   
Publisher   ~ EnglandGal@aol.com                                          Issue # 05/06/01
        Editor    ~ JJswans@aol.com
    Journalists ~ Park StRanger@aol.com
                     ~ MichelleRivera1@aol.com
                    
~ sbest1@elp.rr.com

    THE NINE ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:
  
    1  ~ The Journey  by Crystal Ward Kent
    2  ~
Subscriber's Message  by CBishop986@aol.com
    3  ~
Job Opportunity
    4  ~
Announcing Grey2K USA
    5  ~
Elephants Recognize 'Self'  by Deborah Blum
    6
  ~ Writers, Supporters Needed
    7  ~ The Write Stuff: ASPCA Launches Online Children's Bibliography
    8  ~ For The Animals  by Kimberly McCandless
   
9  ~ Memorable Quote   
  

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The Journey
by Crystal Ward Kent

When you bring a pet into your life, you begin a journey - a journey that will bring you more love and devotion than you have ever known, yet also test your strength and courage

If you allow, the journey will teach you many things, about life, about yourself, and most of all, about love. You will come away changed forever, for one soul cannot touch another without leaving its mark.

Along the way, you will learn much about savoring life's simple pleasures - jumping in leaves, snoozing in the sun, the joys of puddles, and even the satisfaction of a good scratch behind the ears.

If you spend much time outside, you will be taught how to truly experience every element, for no rock, leaf, or log will go unexamined, no rustling bush will be overlooked, and even the very air will be inhaled, pondered, and noted as being full of valuable information. Your pace may be slower - except when heading home to the food dish - but you will become a better naturalist, having been taught by an expert in the field.

Too many times we hike on automatic pilot, our goal being to complete the trail rather than enjoy the journey. We miss the details - the colorful mushrooms on the rotting log, the honeycomb in the old maple snag, the hawk feather caught on a twig. Once we walk as a dog does, we discover a whole new world. We stop; we browse the landscape, we kick over leaves, peek in tree holes, look up, down, all around. And we learn what any dog knows:  that nature has created a marvelously complex world that is full of surprises, that each cycle of the seasons bring ever changing wonders, each day an essence all its own.

Even from indoors you will find yourself more attuned to the world around you. You will find yourself watching summer insects collecting on a screen. (How bizarre they are! How many kinds there are!), or noting the flick and flash of fireflies through the dark. You will stop to observe the swirling dance of windblown leaves, or sniff the air after a rain. It does not matter that there is no objective in this; the point is in the doing, in not letting life's most important details slip by.

You will find yourself doing silly things that your pet-less friends might not understand: spending thirty minutes in the grocery aisle looking for the cat food brand your feline must have, buying dog birthday treats, or driving around the block an extra time because your pet enjoys the ride.

You will roll in the snow, wrestle with chewie toys, bounce little rubber balls till your eyes cross, and even run around the house trailing your bathrobe tie - with a cat in hot pursuit - all in thhe name of love.

Your house will become muddier and hairier. You will wear less dark clothing and buy more lint rollers. You may find dog biscuits in your pocket or purse, and feel the need to explain that an old plastic shopping bag adorns your living room rug because your cat loves the crinkly sound.

You will learn the true measure of love - the steadfast, undying kind that says, "It doesn't matter where we are or what we do, or how life treats us as long as we are together." Respect this always. It is the most precious gift any living soul can give another. You will not find it often among the human race.

And you will learn humility. The look in my dog's eyes often made me feel ashamed. Such joy and love at my presence. She saw not some flawed human who could be cross and stubborn, moody or rude, but only her wonderful companion. Or maybe she saw those things and dismissed them as mere human foibles, not worth considering, and so chose to love me anyway.

If you pay attention and learn well, when the journey is done, you will be not just a better person, but the person your pet always knew you to be - the one they were proud to call beloved friend.

I must caution you that this journey is not without pain. Like all paths of true love, the pain is part of loving. For as surely as the sun sets, one day your dear animal companion will follow a trail you cannot yet go down.  And you will have to find the strength and love to let them go. A pet's time on earth is far too short - especially for those that love them. We borrow them, really, just for awhile, and during these brief years they are generous enough to give us all their love, every inch of their spirit and heart, until one day there is nothing left.

The cat that only yesterday was a kitten is all too soon old and frail and sleeping in the sun. The young pup of boundless energy wakes up stiff and lame, the muzzle now gray. Deep down we somehow always knew that this journey would end. We knew that if we gave our hearts they would be broken.  But give them we must for it is all they ask in return. When the time comes, and the road curves ahead to a place we cannot see, we give one final gift and let them run on ahead - young and whole once more.

"Godspeed, good friend," we say, until our journey comes full circle and our paths cross again.
  
[Editor's Note:  There are millions of cats and dogs dying for a home, please make room in your heart and adopt one or two from your local shelter or rescue.]

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Subscriber's Message
by CBishop986@aol.com

Dear Susan-
Just thought I'd pass this on.  You and/or your readers may find it interesting.  I have a 14-year-old son.  I had him late when I was 40, mainly because I had a screwed up reproductive system.  I had been toying with vegetarianism for years.  When he was 6 months old, we went "cold turkey."  No pun intended.  Our family has not eaten meat in 14 years.  I myself try to go the vegan route.  My son and husband haven't quite learned to give up cheese, even tho they do eat vegan cheese also.  But anyway, the point of all this is that when people think that vegans or vegetarians are scrawny, sickly etc., you can tell them that my vegetarian/vegan son who is 14-years old is 6'4" and 230 pounds!  People are just flabbergasted when they find out he is "only" 14.  They usually think he's 16 or 17 or above.  And I used
to get crap from my mother and my mother-in-law about how he would grow up to be small, skinny, and scrawny.  "Aren't you worried that he isn't going to get enough to eat or enough of the "right" (whatever that is) things to eat?", I'd hear.  They both keep their mouths shut now!  And these measurements were taken about 3 months ago so he's probably grown even more.  I'd love to be a bit scrawny, skinny, and small myself!  Anyway, feel free to use this info if it does any good.  Granted, he ate meat baby-food from jars for about 3 or 4 months after he was weaned but after that, he has been a vegetarian/vegan.  And what is surprising, especially since he is now going into those "peer pressure" years, is that he shows no interest in eating a hamburger or any meat at all.  We have 8 regular pigs, 2 bulls, and a duck
so he is quite aware of where those hamburgers come from.  He is horrified at the idea of anyone cutting any of their throats and eating them.  Once in awhile, I love to rub my mother's nose in it.  We don't see eye-to-eye on a great many things so this is no big deal for me.  Trying to change their (both my mother and my father plus my in-laws) eating habits is like talking to a brick wall.  But I love to point out to them how big this kid is and he's a vegetarian/vegan.  And my husband and I are not small either, (unfortunately, for me anyway!)

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Job Opportunity
from AAVSKL@aol.com

Issues Specialist -- Companion Animals

The individual selected for this position will handle all aspects of specific issues related to the exploitation of companion animals.

Responsibilities: Develop and implement major campaigns to affect positive, lasting changes in practices where companion animals are exploited. Work to establish grassroots activism and support for the campaign, including writing and planning printed educational materials and media outreach.  Coordinate with regional offices and government affairs department to monitor, create, and support legislation; present written and verbal testimony at public hearings and act as a liaison for the companion animal department with local, state, and federal legislators. Serve as the primary media contact for print and broadcast media on specific issues concerning animal exploitation.  Respond to all inquiries and requests for information or assistance from members of the public and animal shelters regarding issues of animal exploitation. Offer presentations at public and private events and workshops.  Represent The Humane Society of the United States in coalitions with other humane organizations.

Qualifications: At least three years experience in legislative advocacy and campaign planning, including public speaking, coalition building, and media relations.  Excellent interpersonal communication, writing, and research skills a must.  Should possess a strong desire to work as part of a team and to build relationships with grassroots animal protection organizations. Background in animal advocacy preferred.

Send resume to AAVSKL@aol.com

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Announcing GREY2K USA
from End Greyhound Racing - grey2kusa@yahoo.com 

We are proud to announce the formation of GREY2K USA, a new political advocacy organization dedicated to ending greyhound racing nationwide.

As I write to you, thousands of greyhound dogs are suffering at 49 racetracks in 15 states nationwide.  In 2001 alone, an estimated 20,000 will be taken from their cages and killed. Next year, an equal number will be crammed inside the same cages and then put to death when no longer profitable...a truly vicious and inhumane cycle.

We all know that greyhound racing is in steep decline.  But this may soon change.  In the wake of degenerating revenues from live racing, tracks are reinventing themselves as full scale entertainment centers.

Across the country, racetracks are seeking to expand their simulcasting rights as well as begin offering casino-style gambling in the form of slot machines and video poker to their patrons.  New grandstands and new restaurants with fine food and dancing, celebrity appearances -- even special holiday events for children are being provided to customers in a disgusting attempt to lure them to dog tracks!

But these distractions will not change the miserable lives and brutal deaths of racing dogs. The culling and killing of greyhound puppies on breeding farms will continue.  The confinement and neglect at racing kennels will continue.  The electrocution, the vivisection, the abuse, and the wanton torture will continue.

We must work together to end this cruelty.  The adoption community has been fighting this battle single-handedly for far too long!  Please join with us as we attack the racing industry where it lives -- in state legislatures.  This means stopping the flow of state subsidies to racetracks, preventing the proliferation of slot machines, and averting the expansion of simulcasting.

When we increase our presence in the capitals and courts, in the media and in the mainstream, we will become the political voice that greyhounds so desperately need.

Please look for our upcoming mailing containing specific information about the GREY2K USA campaign.  A new web resource is currently under development as well.  But there is simply no time to waste.  The greyhounds need us now. You can do five things right away to promote this important work:

1. Educate yourself further about the greyhound industry.  Check out web sites like www.greyhounds.org or www.greyhoundracingsucks.com immediately.

2. If you don't already, please subscribe to the Greyhound Network News. You can find them online at www.greyhoundnetworknews.org

3. Read newspapers and write Letters to the Editor on greyhound racing.  We will be glad to help with fact checking and composition.

4. Distribute information from greyhound advocacy and greyhound adoption organizations, like the Greyhound Protection League and the National Greyhound Adoption Program.  The Greyhound Protection League can be contacted at 888-842-4404.  The National Greyhound Adoption Program can be contacted at 215-331-7918.  GREY2K USA will make its own informational brochures available in the near future.

[Editor's Note: For further information on how you can help, email     grey2kusa@yahoo.com ]

Over one million dogs have been murdered in the seventy-five year history of greyhound racing.  Let's bring an end to this bloody industry!

Carey Theil & Christine Dorchak
GREY2K USA
PO Box 442117
Somerville, MA 02144
617-666-3526


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Elephants Recognize 'Self'
by Deborah Blum - Discovery.com News

August 28, 2000 -- Just as a person looking into a mirror and seeing a dirty face will try to clean up, an elephant studying its reflection will try to rub smudges off its forehead with its trunk.

The basic finding that elephants recognize themselves in the mirror is a startling one for scientists who had long assumed that only humans and a few higher apes were smart enough to achieve "self-recognition."  Many behavioral researchers consider that ability to be a hallmark of complex intelligence.

"Actually, one of the reasons I did the study was that I got tired of hearing people say that only humans and chimps do this, only humans and chimps do that," said Patricia Simonet, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Nevada in Reno. "Elephants are so smart -- I was sure they could do it."

Simonet presented her finding at last week's international conference on Animal Intelligence and Social Complexity.

"I was absolutely intrigued by the study," said Katharine Payne, a biology professor at Cornell University, who studies sonar communications between elephants. "Elephants are just surprising all of us."

It's been 30 years since researchers seriously began using mirrors as a way to test animals' intelligence, notably whether they had a sense of "self" versus other. Human infants, in fact, seem somewhat confused by mirror images until about the age of 18 months, leading development psychologists to suggest very young babies tend to see themselves and their mothers as part of the same unit.

The basic test is simple: A scientist paints spots on an animal's face and then allows it to see its reflection in a mirror. If the animal recognizes itself, it tries to clean itself, while watching the face in the mirror.

Chimpanzees and gorillas are astonishingly good at this. Many smart monkeys are not. Rhesus macaques, a species of Asian monkey that can play computer games, tend to look behind the mirror for the rest of that strange, spotty animal.

Simonet did her study with two Asian elephants -- 45-year-old Bertha and eight-year-old Angel -- both performers at a Las Vegas casino. For about two weeks, she simply put up a large mirror in the elephants' barn so that they could get used to it and their images. Then, with the help of the elephants' trainer, she painted large white blotches on their foreheads, cheeks and hips.

Bertha almost immediately began scrubbing at her marked forehead with her trunk. She then backed up, noticed her stained hip in the mirror, and began trying to clean as well.

But when Angel tried to look at herself, an unexpected problem arose.  The older elephant, it seems, loved looking at herself in the mirror and wouldn't share.

"It was funny," Simonet said, saying she now plans to expand the study to a larger group of elephants. "She would share anything else with the baby. She let her have all the toys. But the mirror -- it was hers."

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Writers, Supporters Needed!
from HOLLROCH@aol.com

Hello !  I'm writing to you from the SouthFLorida area.  I am involved with a new progressive SFlorida Newspaper called Free Ink PRess.  It's an open forum for activists, thinkers, writers, poets, artists, & anyone looking to express their concerns, knowledge, experience and ideas about society and politics and everything else.  We will cover current issues as well as ongoing community concerns.  The first bi-monthly issue will be out in May, hitting initially the WPB, Broward, and Miami areas.

If you're interested in submitting any writing or if you'd like to know more about Free Ink Press and our communities involvement let us know!  Also, if you'd like our premier issue in the mail for free, email us at freeinkpublications@yahoo.com

Thanks for your time!  I hope to hear from you. 

Holly, Personal Rep.
Free Ink Publications

[ Editor's Note:  Let's use this opportunity to speak up for the animals.]

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The Write Stuff:
ASPCA Launches Online Children's Bibliography

The quest for good animal-themed children's books just got a lot easier, thanks to the latest addition to the ASPCA's website -- "Kids, Animals & Literature," an annotated bibliography of more than 300 titles. Each book has been reviewed by ASPCA's Humane Education department and recommended for its accuracy, humane themes and "readability." Pet care guides, nonfiction works on all types of animals, picture books and poetry collections are all included here, as are novels and nature guides, and tales
of humane heroes such as John Muir and Rachel Carson.

"You would be amazed at how many children's books feature animals in inappropriate situations or convey inaccurate information," says Zoe Burkholder, Coordinator of Special Projects, ASPCA Humane Education. "Many parents and educators have been disappointed to find children's science books that encourage kids to collect and kill insects or pet care guides that advocate terrible training techniques. This bibliography allows parents to make a quick, yet informed decision when selecting a book."  To access this valuable resource, visit -- and be sure to bookmark --  http://www.aspca.org/bibliography.  Books are available for purchase through links to Amazon.com, and a portion of the proceeds from each sale will be donated to the ASPCA.

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For The Animals
by Kimberly McCandless

I sit here in pain
with tears gently flowing
into the rivers
of pain

there are too many rivers
where does one start?
the animals are drowning
does anyone hear them?

There are too many rivers of pain

adults have a choice
they can leave
reach out for help
speak up, speak out

so please stop your whining
don't you understand how easy you have it?
would you rather be experimented on
put into a cage
tortured, abused, and broken, day in and day out?

There are too many rivers of pain

Spirit is within ALL things
try not to forget
that as you do to another
you do to yourself

when did making a profit and God knows what else
become much more important than
honor
integrity
common decency?

There are too many rivers of pain
love is the only way out
so stop inflicting hurt
start inflicting love to ALL beings, great and small

Copyright © 1998 by Kimberly McCandless. All Rights Reserved
May be used in unchanged form by avowed Animal Rightists if
accompanied by this copyright message.

Animal Rights Counterculture
http://www.animalsong.org

  
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   Memorable Quote

    "I am a vegetarian because the honor, love and respect I have for my brother and sister animals and for the whole world is a reflection of the love I have for the divine spark within us.
                                                                                           ~ Ally Sheedy

   «¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»
  
Susan Roghair - EnglandGal@aol.com
   Animal Rights Online
P O Box 7053
    Tampa, Fl 33673-7053
   http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/1395/

   
-=Animal Rights Online=- 
   &
Advisory Board Member, Animal Rights Network Inc.,
not-for-profit publisher of The Animals' Agenda Magazine
http://www.animalsagenda.org/
The Animals' Agenda Magazine: WebEdition
   «¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»
   (Permission Granted To Quote/Forward/Reprint/Repost This Newsletter In
Whole Or In Part with credit given to EnglandGal@aol.com)

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