A n i m a l
W r i t e s © sm
The
official ANIMAL RIGHTS ONLINE newsletter
Publisher ~ EnglandGal@aol.com
Issue #
08/05/01
Editor ~ JJswans@aol.com
Journalists ~ Park StRanger@aol.com
~
MichelleRivera1@aol.com
~ sbest1@elp.rr.com
THE FIVE ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:
1 ~ An Advocate For All Creatures
2 ~ Job Opportunities
3 ~ More Job Opportunities
4 ~ Innocent Inmates
5 ~ Memorable Quote
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An Advocate For All Creatures
By Linell Smith - Sun Staff
http://www.sunspot.net/features/arts/bal-as.stallwood29.story
Kim
Stallwood speaks out globally for animals and locally for his neighbors in
Canton.
The audience shudders as the brown, hairy face of a Norway rat, the kind
scurrying through their alleys, flashes up, larger than life, on the slide-show
screen. The good people of Canton have gathered in a neighborhood church to
learn how to defeat this enemy. Robert Eades of the city's Rat Rubout program
tells them the battle is all about garbage. If you clean up your trash, the
rats will go elsewhere. If you don't, the solutions -- poison, deadly gas --
become much nastier.
Kim W. Stallwood listens quietly, his expression difficult to read. As founder
and president of the Canton Community Association, the soft-spoken activist has
invited the rat-eradication specialist here to speak. But the topic is making
his stomach churn.
Stallwood is all for eliminating the trash that attracts the rats. But trashing
the innocent rats? Just because people won't pick up after themselves?
It's a moral dilemma that exposes his daily balancing act: On the one hand, Kim
Stallwood, community activist, hopes that learning how to control rats will
make life better for people in Canton. On the other, Kim Stallwood, animal
advocate, is pained by any proposal that harms animals.
"I understand why people are bothered by rats. I don't want to see Canton
overrun by them. But the problem with rats is not rats themselves, it's human
behavior," he says.
"Animals become expedient resources to solve human problems in which
they've played no part. ... When Robert was talking about lethal methods, it
sickened me. It was very difficult to sit there without leaping up and saying,
'There are other ways!' "
For almost 30 years, the British-born activist has worked to secure the
well-being of animals, whether in the wild, on farms or in laboratories. As an
organizer for various animal-rights groups, he has called public attention to
widespread abuses and to the benefits of "cruelty-free" vegetarian
living. Some years ago, his campaign brought him to Baltimore, where he runs
the animal advocacy group Animal Rights Network Inc. and edits its magazine,
the Animals' Agenda.
Published bimonthly, the magazine offers articles about society's treatment of
animals and the status of the contemporary animal rights movement. The current
issue, for instance, considers the likelihood of foot-and-mouth disease
occurring in the United States and discusses how it would be handled. Other
reports have covered such topics as the decline in dog racing, the
proliferation of deer in suburbs and how the manufacture of Premarin, the human
estrogen replacement drug made from the urine of pregnant mares, leads to
abusive conditions for horses.
Animals' Agenda cuts across ideological barriers within the movement. With a
readership of about 60,000, it speaks both to vegans who believe that owning
animals is akin to owning slaves and to meat-and-potatoes animal lovers who
insist that eating steak doesn't conflict with their efforts to rescue animals
from abuse.
"It's one of the most respected publications in the [animal advocacy]
movement and frequently has ground-breaking articles," says Howard White,
media relations director of the Humane Society of the United States, the
nation's largest animal-protection organization. "It's very much a voice
and conscience for the movement."
These days, the magazine is keeping particularly close watch on genetic
engineering. Like many activists, Stallwood fears gene manipulation may
introduce a new wave of animal exploitation.
"I've heard reports of scientists who say that cloned animals are
alternatives to using live animals in experiments," he says. "Their
idea is, 'They're not real animals, they're manufactured animals.'
"It's truly frightening. There were 30-plus sheep who were born malformed
in one way or another before they got Dolly. What happened to those sheep?
Those sheep were individual, sentient beings with their own wants and needs and
the ability to suffer."
Just like the rats searching for the good life in Canton.
Stallwood's beliefs
It's a good thing Kim Stallwood is a patient man, for he has chosen a life
which he must explain over and over:
Yes, he is a vegetarian. Also a vegan, which means he shuns using anything made
from an animal. Milk and eggs are taboo because they come from "factory
farms" which cruelly confine animals, then slaughter them when they are no
longer productive. For the same reasons, he also avoids products made with fur,
leather, wool or down. And he will not wear silk: no neckties created from the
labor of silk-producing worms.
He says horse racing, rodeos, circuses and zoos should be banned.
He believes no animal should be used to test household or personal care
products. Neither should any be used for scientific experiments.
Yes, he does live with companion animals -- the term "pets" makes him
wince.
Yes, he does care about people. At least enough to devote huge chunks of his
"free" time to organizing and advancing the interests of his
neighbors through the community association he helped create.
No, he's never taken part in a lab raid or destroyed a fur coat with a bucket
of red paint. He is not an animal rights "terrorist," one of the tiny
minority of activists who still define the movement in the popular imagination.
But you could hardly call Stallwood moderate about animal rights: He does not
believe, for instance, that there is a humane way to take care of lab or farm
animals; they should not be in labs or farms to begin with. But you can
consider him a moderating force in the hugely complex universe of animal
advocacy.
"This whole movement isn't monolithic in any way. It encompasses a range
of philosophies and opinions and calls to action," says the Humane Society's
White. "Everything from groups like PETA that argue against any killing of
animals for food or apparel to groups like the Nature Conservancy that argue
issues of sustainable use. If PETA is on the left of the spectrum and Nature
Conservancy is to the right, Animals' Agenda would be just left of
center."
"Kim is a very reflective activist, neither dogmatic nor dismissive of
others' opinions," says Bernard Unti, animal movement scholar and former
campaigner for the American Antivivisection Society.
One of Stallwood's major talents, colleagues suggest, is persuading people with
different opinions to work together to improve life -- whether in the streets
of Southeast Baltimore or amid the mechanized landscape of commercial farms.
Another strength is his ability to endure in an emotionally draining field.
Constantly assaulted by grim reports -- the slaughter of tens of thousands of
British farm animals, the drinking of snake blood for survival training in Asia
-- the animal activist nevertheless manaages to maintain focus and perspective.
"I still get very upset when I learn about animal abuse. It's the same
emotion I had many years ago. But you learn how to handle the anger. There's
nothing like work -- like working more on the issue."
Over the past few years, he has helped develop an archive of the movement at
the magazine's headquarters, a cheerful suite of offices in Canton's Broom
Factory warehouse. Animal Rights Network has amassed thousands of books,
magazines, articles, videos, oral histories and ephemera. Most concern activism
in the 20th century, but some materials follow animal advocacy back to its
19th-century beginnings in the child welfare movement.
So far, animal advocacy has been championed primarily by white, middle-class
activists, Unti says.
"In sociology literature, animal rights is grouped under new social
movements, like the environment and anti-nuclear movements, instead of under
labor and social rights movements," he says. "The latter movements
are filled with people who usually have a direct stake in the outcome, whereas
the new social movements are populated by people who are rather secure in
society but see things they want to change."
From chef to vegan
That would include Kim Stallwood. The 46-year-old activist grew up in a
working-class neighborhood of Camberley, an "outer suburb" of London,
with an appetite for red meat and the vague impression that vegans were
nudists. In those days he enjoyed food so much, in fact, that he decided to
become a chef.
One summer, while studying French cuisine and restaurant management, he spent
several months working at a chicken processing plant. His job was to place each
slaughtered bird in a plastic bag, squeeze out the air, twist the bag, seal it
and send it along to the freezer. He returned to school with the lingering
suspicion that what he had participated in was very wrong.
Finally convinced by the argument of a vegetarian friend, Stallwood gave up
eating meat completely, became a vegan, and never once reconsidered his decision.
He went to work for Compassion in World Farming, volunteering as an organizer
and speaker for other groups. Like many activists at the time, he was deeply
affected by Peter Singer's "Animal Liberation," the landmark 1975
book that recognizes animals as sentient beings and argues their right not to
suffer at the hand of another species.
He began corresponding with members of the nascent animal rights movement in
the United States, eventually moving to Washington in 1987 to become the first
executive director of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the nation's
best-known animal rights group. In 1993, he took over the job of editing the
Animals' Agenda.
He has become a sought-after speaker.
"In my opinion, there's not one single [animal advocacy] ideology that
says it all," Stallwood says. "Everything is too complicated to
squeeze it through one system of thought. Some animal activists are
misanthropic -- their motivation is a hatred of humanity because they see what
humans do to animals and they don't like it."
"For me, it's a question of compassion. If you have a compassionate,
caring society, then the issues and ideologies and belief systems get less
important. We really want to see a world where people can live and work
and play -- but not at the expense of animals."
Animal, human liberation
Stallwood believes animal liberation leads to human liberation: Vegan farming
feeds more people with healthier food, meat-free diets prevent disease. And he
sees many signs that "cruelty-free" thinking has infiltrated
mainstream America:
Chain supermarkets have plentiful supplies of tofu, soy "cheese" and
frozen veggie burgers. Restaurants offer vegan and vegetarian entrees. Fewer
people wear fur.
Consumers can choose from hundreds of personal care products that were never
tested on animals. Some attorneys specialize in animal rights, and law schools
have added courses on the topic.
The national Petsmart pet store chain does not sell dogs or cats but recommends
adopting them from local shelters. More secondary schools are introducing
virtual reality dissections in science classes. And the term animal rights no
longer appears in quotation marks.
If it were possible to compare public attitudes toward animal testing and
vegetarianism 30 years ago with the present, people would see a tremendous
change, says Deborah Rudacille, author of The Scalpel and the Butterfly, a
history about the struggle between scientists using animals in research and
animal protectionists.
But the largest obstacle remains: As much as Americans love animals, they also
love to eat them.
"A whole lot more attention and protest has been directed toward the use
of animals in research than in eating," Rudacille says. "But the
treatment of animals in factory farming is far, far worse than in laboratories.
People tend not to want to look too closely at the fact that, in our world,
life feeds on life."
Airing the subject is at the heart of Stallwood's public awareness campaign.
Davy Davison, president of VegTime magazine, recalls his diplomacy at a
conference of "animal lovers and spiritual seekers."
"I would say that 85 percent of the people were not full-time vegetarians.
And Kim delicately and beautifully made the link between a spiritual and
compassionate life and what we do with our forks three times a day. He made a
bridge so that the animal rights view was heard, but the non-vegetarians were
not made to feel guilty or ashamed or pressed into a corner."
Building the archives
Munching on veggies, chips and other dairy-free appetizers, activists from the
Summit for the Animals conference are touring the archives at Animal Rights
Network. They admire a political banner, "Indiana For the Animals,"
carried during the movement's 1990 march on Washington. They touch a protester's
papier-mache turtle costume and point to the blown-up, anti-Perdue ad from The
New York Times that reads "Frank, Are you Telling the Truth about Your
Chickens?"
ARN is also sorting and cataloging materials on behalf of The Animal Welfare
Institute.
And Stallwood suggests his guests consider contributing some of their groups'
documents as well. Valuable materials from the movement have already been lost,
he reminds them. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a central repository, a
museum, for all of the movement's materials and artifacts? Something with its
own Web site?
Something to remind people of just how far they've come?
"The animal rights movement has been [perceived as] a lunatic banging on
the door of society asking to be let in and listened to," he says later.
"The door has opened. We're being heard."
The next stage includes finding a new headquarters in Southeast Baltimore that
is more accessible to all who want to learn about animal advocacy and
vegetarianism. And he wants to add an institute to commission research and
recommend policies regarding animals. Stallwood imagines reports on such
subjects as the comparative success of lethal and nonlethal methods of
controlling stray animals. And he'd love to know the "real" cost of a
pound of meat -- "after you remove the corporate welfare, tax subsidies,
labor and environmental costs."
An institute could also look into such matters as how America defines
"humaneness."
"What are the psychological and social consequences of taking children to
see a rodeo? Of compelling children to dissect dead animals? Why is there a
need to behave this way? What does it satisfy?" he says. "What's so
wrong about being a species that lives in co-operation or compassion or respect
with others?"
Stallwood has compiled a book about humans who are doing just that. The
just-released Speaking Out For Animals: True Stories about Real People Who
Rescue Animals (Lantern Books, $18) gathers stories and interviews published in
Animals' Agenda with a foreword by primatologist Jane Goodall, the world's most
famous animal advocate.
The collection creates a nuanced portrait of the human calling to work on
behalf of animals. There are profiles of such famous advocates as musician Paul
McCartney and Body Shop founder Anita Roddick; histories of individual animals
rescued from abuse and a section about such "unsung heroes" as
Phyllis Lahti, who persuaded libraries in Minnesota to provide safe havens for
cats abandoned in parking lots and dumped down book-return chutes.
Spreading the word
The editor hopes the new book leads others to take up the cause.
"Even though animal abuse is so widespread, people are outraged when they
hear about individual acts," he says. "When you abuse an animal, you
abuse an innocence. I think that when people see that abuse, they identify with
that suffering."
Most animal sympathizers aren't ready for a world where alley rats are treated
humanely and chickens no longer live in factory cages. But they are eager to
help in other ways. Take, for instance, the issue of dog parks.
Stallwood has often wished he could unleash his chihuahuas, Annabelle and
Bambino, so that they could socialize with other dogs. But as president of the
Canton Community Association, he understands why humans need leash laws to
protect them from unruly or vicious animals.
Establishing a fenced-in area for dogs only would create a win-win solution --
one for which he has already raised $600.
"I can help create something that will benefit the neighborhood," he
says. "But more importantly for me, it means the dogs can run free."
And whenever making Baltimore better for people merges with making it better
for animals, Kim Stallwood feels one step closer to a compassionate world.
Copyright © 2001, The Baltimore Sun
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Job Opportunity
From LawrenceCarter-Long@api4animals.org
Lawrence Carter-Long
Communications Coordinator
Animal Protection Institute
email: LawrenceCarter-Long@api4animals.org
phone: 916-447-3085 ext. 201
fax: 916-447-3070
http://www.api4animals.org
http://www.ChooseVeggie.com
The
Animal Protection Institute seeks to achieve equal opportunity for all staff
members as articulated by federal, state and local laws. API actively
seeks to recruit individuals without regard to race, creed, color, gender,
sexual orientation, disability, marital status, veteran status, national
origin, age or physical characteristics. Our equal employment philosophy
applies to all aspects of employment, including recruitment, training,
promotion, transfer, job benefits, pay and dismissal.
Each year, API participates in the Management Center's "Wage and Benefit
Survey of Northern California Nonprofit Organizations." The results
of the survey are used by API to provide competitive compensation and benefits
for all of our employees.
The following position is currently available at API's Sacramento, CA.
headquarters:
Program
Director
Job Duties: Direct all program activities including development of program
materials and information for API publications. Supervise program department
staff and field representatives. Coordinate news releases, media relations, and
web site information with the Communications Coordinator. Represent API as appropriate
at meetings, conferences, and events. Establish cooperative efforts
with other animal protection/rights organizations. Develop quarterly reports
and an annual budget and campaign plan for the program department. Participate
in individual animal advocacy campaigns as appropriate.
Qualifications: Bachelors degree required; advanced education in public
administration, law or public policy preferred. 3+ years of management
experience required. Background with a nonprofit advocacy organization,
experience in public policy, and a strong knowledge of animal protection/rights
issues is essential. Excellent oral and written communication skills. Strong
leadership skills; ability to work in a team environment.
Salary commensurate with experience. Excellent benefits.
Please submit résumé with cover letter by September 30, 2001
by mail, fax or email (no phone calls, please) to:
Alan H. Berger, Executive Director
Animal Protection Institute
P.O. Box 22505
Sacramento, CA 95822
916-447-3070 (fax)
ahberger@earthlink.net (email)
<> <> <> <> <>
The following position(s) are currently available at API's Texas Snow Monkey
Sanctuary:
Texas Snow
Monkey Sanctuary: Internship/Volunteer Program
Job Duties: Assist staff in feeding and caring for over 400 rescued primates.
Other duties may include, but are not limited to, cleaning cages, facility
maintenance, updating computer records and general office tasks.
Qualifications: Graduate student, recent graduate or upper division
undergraduate student. Prior experience in animal care and educational
course work in primatology required for internships. Must be able to
handle hard physical labor and be able to relocate to Dilley, Texas, about 75
miles south of San Antonio.
Housing provided. No benefits.
These are temporary, full-time positions. Internships are for four to six
month periods and only two positions are open each year. Volunteer
positions are for two to six month periods. Applications are accepted
year-round.
Résumés with cover letter for the positions above may be submitted anytime by
mail, fax or email (no phone calls, please) to:
Alan Berger, Executive Director
Animal Protection Institute
P.O. Box 22505
Sacramento, CA 95822
916-447-3070 (fax)
ahberger@earthlink.net (email)
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More Job Opportunities
from staffing@farmusa.org
FARM
has the following openings at our national headquarters in suburban Washington,
DC:
PUBLICATIONS DIRECTOR (designs and produces brochures, newsletters, fact
sheets, and other publications; maintains web site)
DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT (plans and implements FARM's fund raising and
membership recruitment efforts)
DIRECTOR OF CHOICE (compiles educational modules, trains local activists, and
interacts with other interested organizations)
CAMPAIGN COORDINATOR (assists with organizing the Great American Meatout and
other national grassroots campaigns)
Each position requires applicable prior experience, dedication to promoting
animal rights and a vegan lifestyle, self-starting, and ability to work in a
team setting.
We offer an unparalleled opportunity for professional growth, and personal
fulfillment, along with modest pay and housing, if needed. The office is
located in a safe and pleasant residential neighborhood of Bethesda, MD, 20
minutes from downtown Washington.
FARM is a national organization promoting planetary survival through
plant-based eating. Our programs include the Great American Meatout, World Farm
Animals Day, National Veal Ban Action, Letters From FARM, CHOICE, Industry
Watch, and the Animal Rights national conventions. To learn more about FARM,
check our website at www.farmusa.org
To apply, send resume and a letter noting position(s), special qualifications
and interests, availability, and salary requirements to: Staffing, FARM, 10101
Ashburton Lane, Bethesda, MD 20817, or e-mail staffing@farmusa.org
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Innocent Inmates
Caged Lion in the Zoo
Pacing,
Pacing,
Ever tracing
Misery
On
The savannah
Of your barren cage.
~ Ann Cottrell Free,
No Room, Save in the Heart
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Memorable Quote
"The moral duty of man consists of
imitating the moral goodness and
beneficence of God, manifested in the
creation, toward all His creatures."
~ Thomas Paine
(1737-1809)
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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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