A n i m a l W r i t e s © sm
The official
ANIMAL RIGHTS ONLINE newsletter
Publisher ~ EnglandGal@aol.com Issue # 07/08/01
Editor ~ JJswans@aol.com
Journalists ~ Park StRanger@aol.com
~ MichelleRivera1@aol.com
~ sbest1@elp.rr.com
THE
SIX ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:
1
~ The Vegetarian Lifestyle: Alienation vs. Connectedness
by Psych SLW@aol.com
2
~ Wasted Research, Continued Torture
3
~ Animal Rights 2001 - Success
4
~ American Veterinary Medical Association Supports Animal Abuse
5
~ Billy by Kristen Sharer
6
~ Memorable Quote
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The Vegetarian Lifestyle:
Alienation vs. Connectedness
by
Psych SLW@aol.com
Sometime
around the time the Beatles arrived on the music scene, I arrived on Planet
Earth. Delighted by the panoramic wonderland of trees, birds, blue sky and
little furry creatures running through the grass, I thought that I was lucky to
have landed on this planet.
My
disenchantment began when I started eating what our culture calls "real
food." I discovered, by asking my parents many questions about
"dinner," that the main course on my plate, was most often skinned,
dead, dismembered little furry or feathered creatures. Shocked and nauseated, I
began to push the carcasses to the edge of my plate. Sometimes this stopped the
repulsion, other times not. I was taken to a Doctor who diagnosed a
"nervous stomach."
School
started. The smell of the cafeteria sent me running to the restroom. Seen by the nurse, I was again diagnosed as
having a "nervous stomach."
My mother was instructed to pack lunches. The "comfort" of
food from home might do the trick. At first, I found dead, skinned little furry
or feathered creatures hidden between
two slices of bread. They called this a "sandwich," and apparently
everybody loved these. I gagged, and was often sent home. When I got home, they
typically gave me a big glass of the pus laden liquid that is extracted from
cow udders to soothe my stomach, and were dismayed when this made matters even
worse.
"What
is wrong with this child" they pondered?
It took the adults a long time to notice that I didn't gag on fruit,
lettuce, nuts any other food, just dead critters and their excretions!
My
mother started packing a bag of veggies and fruits in neat little baggies, and
I enjoyed my lunch alone in a classroom, away from the smells of the dead cows,
chickens, and fish and rancid milk in the cafeteria.
As
the years past, the nausea dissipated, allowing me to be a more social creature
on this planet. I am now able to sit at a table with another person who is
slicing into a dead animal. As I write that, I am somewhat disappointed in
myself. But I am also grateful. I enjoy and thrive on the company of others,
even the omnivores, despite our differences (unless of course, they mock or in
some other way disparage my vegetarianism).
My
own process has given me insight into how others assimilate into this strange
and cruel culture.
As
we get older, we tend to tune viceral sensations out, and allow ourselves to be
conditioned by social pressures to conform (not to mention massive advertising
campaigns sponsored by the greedy animal product industries). The penalty for not conforming can be harsh.
Alienation is extremely unpleasant, and the push to abandon our nonconformist
principles consequently, quite strong. It takes great strength to be the
outsider. It takes great patience to wait for alliances that are genuine, and
that do not require you to abandon your ideals. Each person must decide the
degree to which they can conform without losing themselves completely in the process.
One
of the keys to survival of body/soul on this planet is to constantly be aware
of your viceral reactions. As physical reactions are often dismissed as
"nerves" or psychologized in some other manner, a human being must be
wise enough to see physical symptoms as indicators that something is aberrant
in their lifestyle and/or environment and make the necessary adjustments. I
strongly believe that many major illness could be avoided if the early warning
signs of disequalibrium are acknowledged and acted upon. Of course some illness
is unavoidable, but symptoms may be lessened by a more astute awareness of what
feels "right" and what "doesn't"
Other
people should be treated in a kind and understanding manner, however one should
not allow others to unduly influence how we live our lives, unless they are
honestly trying to prevent us from harming ourselves or other people. We must
realize that alliances that are based on the lie of conformity are not genuine relationships. Genuine relationships
are based on acceptance and respect, not control.
I
am always hopeful that my vegetarianism serves to tune others into the atrocity
of the meat industry. I do not preach, as this method is not only useless, but
against my principals as well. I am
delighted to see vegetarian selections on menus and in supermarkets. I'm happy
to know that dead animals make other
people's stomachs "nervous! " too. It helps me to feel more connected
and at home here on planet earth.
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Wasted Research, Continued
Torture
from
In Defense of Animals (IDA) - ida@idausa.org
This
is a story that has not broken mainstream media-you are privileged to learn it
first through the vast networking done by those who care about animals. Yerkes hired a vivisector as its new
director, one who slices monkey's brains then makes the monkeys do memory
tests. The animal concerned community learned this before the
public....Yerkes has leaks who are sympathetic to AR. Here is a press release that is circulating ....PLEASE PASS ON THE NEWS & take any
actions you feel appropriate....letters, calls to Yerkes, media...the web site
included in the press release has a
wealth of info.
Yerkes
Primate Center is Dumping Ground for Third-Rate Experimenter
Emory
University will announce that Stuart Zola will be named Director of its Yerkes
Primate Center effective September 1, 2001.
Former Director, Tom Insel, M.D., was transferred to another area as
Yerkes received national coverage concerning the 1997 death of a young
researcher; callous comments by Insel about the researcher's death to ABC's
20/20 and exposure to the same deadly virus by a second researcher during
OSHA's on-site investigation. A third exposure was announced earlier this
year. Tom Gordon, Ph.D., a long-time
employee at Yerkes was named interim Director.
Stuart
Zola (Zola-Morgan) has an established history of animal experimentation
and is leaving the University of
California at San Diego to join the Yerkes team. Zola has been conducting the
same experiment since March 1, 1983 and has failed to produce anything to help
sick people. This is not surprising since Zola has stated :
"Part of what's driving me is not the
fact that I want to develop a cure for brain
damage. It's
just that I want to be able to understand how this all works. I hope
others will be
able to use what we find in a practical and clinical way. But the
major reason
I'm doing this is that I want to know."
~ Dr. Stuart Zola
Local
activist, Jean Barnes stated 'Zola's statement sounds as if his experiments are
more of a hobby than really working to help sick people. Sick people need serious help; not quacks or
charlatans in laboratories'. Other
activists question why Emory and Yerkes have settled for Zola, who is not a
medical doctor, but a Ph.D and deficient in important training only an M.D. can
supply. Perhaps all these unfortunate incidents have reduced Yerkes to a
third-rate facility and a 'dumping ground'?
Pulitzer
Prize winner, Deborah Blum interviewed Zola and described Zola's experiments in
her book, 'The Monkey Wars' as follows:
"Zola-Morgan's
first job is to brace the head. There is no wiggle room in brain
surgery. He
opens the monkey's mouth and inserts a metal T-bar, the top of
the tee
catching behind the sharp canine teeth. Two metal prongs, blunt-ended,
grip the area
just outside the edge of the animal's eye sockets. With teeth and
eyes anchored,
the monkey's head is held rigidly still, awaiting the first cut.
Holding a
scalpel, Zola-Morgan traces a T-cut onto the top of the head, a line
behind the
brow-bone, a perpendicular cut down the back of the head......He
rolls the severed skin away from the
muscle. And the tough muscle holds hard
and tight to
the skull, resisting his efforts to pull it away. It is a good hour until
he can see the
left cheekbone, the pinkish-white curve of the zygomatic arch.
Still, he has
to free it further, hitching a square of gauze behind the bone,
dragging it up
and down until the muscle is polished off and the arch stands
clear. Then,
using a drill that fills the room with the whine of metal on bone, he
breaks out the arch. He cuts on,
opening a path through the muscle to the skull.
Then more
drilling, making a walnut-sized hole in the skull itself. Then carefully,
he chips away
the bony skull to expose the tissue that covers the brain, the thin,
gray
rubbery-looking sheet of the dura. And then the whole process must be
repeated on
the other side of the head.'
Zola,
in the 18 years he has received our tax dollars to fund experiments on monkey
brains, has produced and discovered NOTHING to help sick people. Repeat - NOTHING. Zola has written papers,
attended meetings and even does magic tricks to entertain children but the
scientific facts
are
that Zola has squandered real opportunities to help sick people and raided the
public till. But again, Zola has stated he is not interested in helping sick
people. Emory endorses useless research
like Zola's because it garners our federal tax dollars to pay Emory's
administrative costs and salaries for those performing experiments at Emory and
Yerkes.
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Animal Rights 2001 - Success
from
FARM - farm@farmusa.org
Between
June 30 - July 4, 115 speakers representing 60 organizations from every faction
of our movement addressed a thousand participants from as far away as Australia
and Japan in more than 160 sessions. The sessions included workshops dealing
with various forms of animal abuse
and
organizing and outreach skills, 'rap' sessions on ideological and ethical
issues, campaign reports, and plenary addresses on strategy for the next
century. Keynote speakers included the
movement's veteran philosopher Tom Regan, renowned whale defender and
Greenpeace co-founder Paul Watson, and former rancher and feedlot operator
Howard Lyman.
More
than a hundred videos, ranging from "Chicken Run" to ELF's
"Igniting a Revolution," were screened, as 75 organizations exhibited
their literature and merchandise. Other features included Newcomer Orientation,
Employment Clearinghouse, Planning Meetings, a banquet, awards to journalist Daphne Bramham and film stars
Linda Blair and James Cromwell.
Following
the conference, a hundred activists distributed 10,000 leaflets to the throngs
at the July 4th celebration on the National Mall, as SHARK's 'Tiger Truck'
circled the Mall showing slaughterhouse footage on 8-ft projection screens. A
number of activists took part in the HSUS Lobby Day on Capitol Hill the
following day.
Animal
Rights 2001 was the first national conference of the new millennium and marked
the 20th anniversary of the movement's birth at a small gathering in Allentown
PA in July 1981. The conference was organized
by FARM, a national organization advocating plant-based eating. Supporting
organizations included PETA, Humane Society of the United States, Farm
Sanctuary, In Defense of Animals, and New England Antivivisection Society. Also, American Anti-Vivisection Society,
Animal Protection Institute, Doris Day Animal League, Fund for Animals,
Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, National
Antivivisection Society, and LW Robbins Associates.
Hundreds
of conference photographs are posted on the web site below. Audio tapes of workshops and plenary
sessions may be obtained for $9/18 from JOB Recording Service,
job_crs@worldnet.att.net; 202-269-2001; 4610 S Dakota Ave NE, Washington, DC
20017. Video tapes of the plenary
sessions may be obtained from FARM for $20.
Five Activists Inducted Into US
Animal Rights Hall of Fame
from
choice@choiceusa.net
Five
animal rights activists were inducted into the US Animal Rights Hall of Fame on
July 3, at the Animal Rights 2001 national conference in McLean, VA. They
included founder of FARM and Great American Meatout Alex Hershaft, co-founder
of PETA Alex Pacheco, co-founder of Animals' Agenda Jim Mason, and co-founders
of Farm Sanctuary Gene and Lorri Bauston.
The
US Animal Rights Hall of Fame was established last year to recognize and honor
the outstanding contributions of individuals to the promotion of animal rights
in the United States. Votes are cast by speakers at the Animal Rights
conference. Past winners were Cleveland Amory, Howard Lyman, Ingrid Newkirk,
Peter Singer, and Henry Spira.
Thank
you for making Animal Rights 2001 a truly millennium event!
Look
for conference photos at http://www.animalrights2001.org
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American Veterinary Medical
Association
Supports Animal Abuse
from
www.Sharkonline.org
Does
your veterinarian care about animals?
Not if he or she follows the guidelines and policies of the American
Veterinary Medical Association. Check
out the AVMA website listing all AVMA official policies: www.avma.org/care4pets/morewelf.htm#about
The
American Veterinary Medical Association has an Animal Welfare Committee that is
supposed to write animal welfare policies to protect animals from inhumane
treatment. However, the AVMA Animal
Welfare Committee is composed of pro-industry veterinarians who have more
interest in economics than the humane treatment of animals. According to the AVMA, "The Committee
has 13 members who represent small animal practice, swine practice, private
equine clinical practice, private food animal clinical practice, poultry
medicine, laboratory animal medicine, government service, humane or animal
welfare organizations, industrial veterinary medicine, veterinary education and
research, pet bird medicine, zoo and wildlife medicine, and the student
AVMA." (1) Please notice. The majority of animals treated by
veterinarians are cats and dogs. Yet only one practitioner represents small
animals on the AVMA Animal Welfare Committee.
Small animal practitioners tend to be more sympathetic to individual
animals but they are overwhelmed by industry veterinarians on the
Committee. Read on!
The
AVMA does not recognize any animal rights and has been a scathing critic of
anyone wishing to address the inherent needs of animals. McDonald's required its suppliers to enlarge
the size of the hen's cage and to stop forced molting. However, the AVMA still
supports forced molting and tiny cages.
The AVMA states, "Housing Layer Chickens in Cages: The current use
of cages to house layer chickens should be continued, and present knowledge is
not sufficient to support a radical change or ban of this system." WHY?
A poultry industry veterinarian is on the AVMA Animal Welfare Committee.
(2)
Coca
Cola has withdrawn its rodeo sponsorship after viewing violent tapes of rodeo
events and reading descriptions of injuries to rodeo animals described by meat
inspectors, according to Dr. Peggy Larson and Mr. Steve Hindi. Coke was extremely concerned about rodeo
animal violence
and
its effect on children. The AVMA was
presented with the same information and yet continues to adamantly support
rodeo. WHY? A pro-rodeo veterinarian, a spokesperson for the Professional
Rodeo Cowboys Association, is on the AVMA Animal Welfare Committee. (3)
The
AVMA does consider the steel-jaw leghold trap to be inhumane. However, the wildlife veterinarian sitting
on the AVMA Animal Welfare Committee wants that policy changed to allow use of
the steel-jawed leghold trap. WHY? A pro-trapper is on the AVMA Animal
Welfare Committee. (4)
This same individual advocated shooting feral cats as a solution to the
feral cat problem
The
AVMA acknowledges that there are "spectator events involving animals where
injuries may occur" but continues to support these events, including
Greyhound racing, the Iditarod, roadside animal parks (notorious for their poor
animal care), rodeo (five horses were killed in rodeo events last year and the
dead and injured bovines are not even counted), polo, horse racing (a dirty
business where horses are killed by veterinarians for insurance money),
cutting, reining, jumping and field trials.
The AVMA merely condemns the practice of "soring" horses but
does not consider it inhumane even though the federal government (USDA)
considers this practice in violation of the Animal Welfare Act. "Soring" is deliberately causing
pain in the front feet of Tennessee Walkers to make them step higher. WHY?
Veterinarians favoring animal use in spectator events are on the AVMA
Animal Welfare Committee (5)
The
AVMA supports the "Use of Random-Source Dogs and Cats for Research,
Testing, and Education." "The
AVMA believes that there is ample justification for the prudent and humane use
of random-source animals in veterinary medical education and biomedical
research." WHY?
A
research veterinarian is on the AVMA Animal Welfare Committee. (6) No pound dog or cat is safe from the
AVMA!
The
AVMA supports the use of biologic specimens, cats, frogs and other animals, in
pre-college education. With the help of
the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, many educational
institutions are opting for non-animal specimens. WHY? A research veterinarian is on the AVMA
Animal Welfare Committee. (7)
The
AVMA "defends and promotes the use of animals in meaningful research,
testing and education programs."
Education programs use either live or dead animals as teaching aids.
WHY? A research veterinarian is on the
AVMA Animal Welfare Committee. (8)
The
"AVMA commends livestock and poultry producers, animal scientists, and
veterinarians who have advanced the science of animal agriculture to the
benefit of animals and mankind."
To this end, the AVMA supports the confinement rearing of livestock and
poultry." The AVMA supports raising
veal calves in small stalls where they cannot turn around and are fed an
unbalanced diet to make "white veal," pigs confined in crates, calves
fattened in feedlots where they are fed antibiotics, laying hens confined in
tiny cages, and PMU farming where pregnant mares are confined to small stalls
for 6 months and their foals are sold to slaughter. WHY? Livestock industry veterinarians are on the AVMA
Animal Welfare Committee. (9)
THE
AVMA CHOOSES ECONOMICS OVER ANIMAL PROTECTION.
THE AVMA EXISTS TO PROTECT PRO-INDUSTRY VETERINARIANS AT THE EXPENSE OF
HUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS! THE AVMA
IS NOT YOUR ANIMAL'S FRIEND.
If
you are concerned about the AVMA policies, contact the American Veterinary
Medical Association at:
Bruce Little, DVM
AVMA
Executive Vice President
1931
North Meacham Road, Suite 100
Schaumburg,
IL 60173-4360
Phone
847-925-8070
Fax
847-925-1329
e-mail: blittle@avma.org
SOURCES OF THE ABOVE INFORMATION:
(1)
Information on the composition of the Animal Welfare Committee was taken from
the AVMA Directory and from the AVMA website.
(2)
Quoted from the official AVMA Animal Welfare Position on the AVMA website
(3)
This information was provided by Dr. Peggy Larson who addressed both the Animal
Welfare Committee and Coca Cola. Also
from Steve Hindi who presented video material at the Coke meeting.
(4)
The provider of this information wishes to remain anonymous because he is an
AVMA member.
(5)
The harm caused by these events are well-known and documented. The veterinarians who killed horses for
insurance money were tried in Illinois and convicted.
(6)
(7) (8) (9) Quoted from the official AVMA Animal Welfare Position on the AVMA
website
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Billy
by
Kristen Sharer
from
"Vicki Sharer" - Vicki.Sharer@wku.edu
When Billy was
6
One fine
Easter day,
He received a
gift
With which he
could play.
It was a sweet
little bunny
With hair to
the floor.
What could
have happened
When it was
found dead by the door?
Accidental,
they said.
Billy’s just a
child.
He just played
too rough.
He got a
little bit wild.
When Billy was
10
At a
neighbor’s house,
He poured some
bleach
On a friendly
pet mouse.
Boys will be
boys
Is what they
said.
Be careful,
they added
As they patted
his head.
When Billy
turned 12
They found
some deep cuts
On the face
and the neck
Of the sweet
family mutt.
No harm was
done.
The dog’s not
hurt bad.
He didn’t mean
to do it.
He truly feels
sad.
When Billy was
16,
He took a gun
to school.
He fired upon
them
While calling
them fools.
When Billy was
finished
Having his
fun,
He smiled at
his carnage
And lay down
his gun.
The town went
on weeping
All through
the trial.
He showed no
remorse.
He showed not
a smile.
What happened,
they asked,
To a boy so
fine?
How could it
be
He showed not
a sign.
What about me?
Said the ghost
of the long dead mouse?
And I the
rabbit
Who was found
dead in his house?
And the
elderly dog
With scars
that still showed
Softly whined
and wondered,
HOW DIDN’T
THEY KNOW?
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Memorable Quote
"The casein content of cow's milk is
300% more than is contained in mother's milk.
Casein is a milk by-product used as one
of the most tenacious glues for
gluing wood together."
~
Dr. N.W. Walker
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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
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