A n i m a l W r i t e s © sm
The official ANIMAL
RIGHTS ONLINE newsletter
Publisher ~ EnglandGal@aol.com
Issue # 10/27/02
Editor ~ JJswans@aol.com
Journalists ~ ParkStRanger@aol.com
~ MichelleRivera1@aol.com
~ sbest1@elp.rr.com
THE ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:
1 ~ Halloween Safety Tips from HSUS
2 ~ Victims of Greed
3 ~ My Animals Need A Loving Home - A True Story
4 ~ The Pieces of My Heart
5 ~ Memorable Quote
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Halloween Safety Tips From HSUS
The Humane Society Of The United States Offers
Tips To Keep Pets Safe From Halloween Tricks And Treats
WASHINGTON (October 7, 2002) – The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)
wants to remind people with companion animals that Halloween can be a really
frightening holiday for pets. While adults and children alike enjoy the
costumes and candy, these things can actually distress or endanger a companion
animal.
Nancy Peterson, HSUS companion animals issues specialist, cautions, “Dogs and
cats rely on daily routine. When that routine is disrupted by lots of noise and
commotion, like trick-or-treaters ringing the doorbell or lots of strangers in
unusual clothes in their house, pets can become frightened or agitated. It’s
best to keep pets at a safe distance from the festivities.”
To help people keep their pets safe at Halloween, The HSUS recommends taking
these precautions:
• Keep pets safely inside, away from trick-or-treaters and other
Halloween activities. This will ensure that pets won’t become frightened or
feel threatened at the sight of noisy costumed children. Cats, especially black
ones, may be the target of pranksters. In addition, frequently opened doors
provide a perfect opportunity for escape, which can go unnoticed during all of
the commotion. Be sure all pets are wearing collars with ID tags in case of
accidental escape.
• Keep candy out of your pet’s reach. Candy can be harmful to pets
and chocolate is toxic to cats, dogs, and ferrets.
• Keep pets away from decorations. Flames in jack-o-lanterns and
candles can quickly singe, burn or set fire to a pet’s fur. Pets can become
tangled in hanging decorations like streamers and can choke on some decorations
if they chew on them.
• Resist the urge to put your furry friend in costume. Most pets
dislike the confinement of costumes and masks, and flowing capes can cause
injuries if pets get caught on something.
• Don’t bring the family dog along for trick-or-treating. Dogs may
become difficult to handle during the noise and confusion of the festivities. A
lost dog or dog bite will quickly end your Halloween fun.
The HSUS also cautions animal shelters not to adopt out black cats during the
Halloween season. Unfortunately, during Halloween black cats are the targets of
pranks, mischief, or worse—that can put cats at a high risk of being harmed.
People with black cats should be extra careful about keeping their cats safe
during this time.
“Keep your pet safe in an enclosed area with a toy and soothing music,” adds
Peterson. “Resist the urge to include your pet in your Halloween activities,
and everyone can enjoy the holiday.”
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation’s largest animal
protection organization, with more than seven million members and constituents.
The HSUS is dedicated to protecting all animals through legislation, education,
investigation, litigation, advocacy, and fieldwork. The HSUS has programs
protecting wildlife, companion animals, farm animals and animals in research.
The HSUS is headquartered in Washington, DC and has ten regional offices. Visit
The HSUS on the Web at www.hsus.org.
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Victims of Greed
by Wayne Mayes
http://www.hua.org/Prisoners/Articles/Mayes.html
Driving
down the winding back roads of America's heartland our eyes take in the beauty
of the world around us as we listen to the radio and forget about the cares of
the world we live in. We feel the warm sun as it shines down around us and look
at all the trees and wild flowers and wonder how things could get any better
than this as we roar on down the highway to our destination.
If we were to turn off the highway on to almost any one of the millions of
miles of back roads in the heartland of our country, turn the radio off, roll
down our windows and drive slow we would hear a much different sound. We would
hear the sounds of song birds singing in the trees, we would hear the sounds of
cattle as they called to each other, and we would hear the sounds of gravel as
it crunched under our tires as we drove.
We wouldn't have to drive very far before we would hear a much different sound
way off in the distance. This isn't the sound of some happy bird or the sound
of any cow as it calls to it's calf. It is the sound of an animal in distress.
It is the sounds of hundreds of poor defenseless animals held prisoner because
of greed. If you followed the sound it would take you to some locked gate with
a sign that said, NO Trespassing, or Keep Out and what lies behind the gate
would be left up to your imagination as you slowly turn around and drive away.
Let me tell you what lies past that gate and just out of sight. The first thing
you would hear is the sounds of hundreds of animals whimpering and crying
begging for someone to help them. Your stomach would turn over as the intense
smell of ammonia drifted out through every crack in the dilapidated buildings
where the cries from help came from. Your heart would be breaking as you
reached for the handle to the door of the first building take a deep breath and
try to hold it and rush inside.
As the light streamed inside the building the sounds of the animals gets louder
as some bark while others to week to bark just lay and whimper. You would see
rows of tiny wire cages stacked one on top of the other where the urine and
feces of the animals above fell down on the animals below. The piles of animal
waist all along under the bottom row of cages You would see them crammed full
of animals almost unrecognizable by any breeds you know of. . You would see
adults and puppies with missing limbs from being attacked by other animals
while trying to get enough food to eat, injury from getting their limbs caught
in the holes in the cages, and from mutilation by the miller. You would see
animals that are terrified of people because all they have ever known was pain
and exploitation at the hands of the millers. You would see diseased and dying
and dead animals in some of the cages. One look in their eyes and you can see
their plea for help. "Please help me."
If you haven't already lost the cheese burger you had for lunch in the first
building we could venture into the next building or room of the puppymill.
Behind that door you would see rows of cages full of mothers with puppies. You
would quickly notice the deformed faces of many of the mother dogs and when you
asked I would explain how the millers break the jaws of the mother dogs if they
try to defend their puppies when the brokers come. How most of these animals
have never had proper medical care and the broken bones are left to heal on
their own. You would see puppies so far from the breed standard they looked
like a totally different breed than the one they were supposed to be. You might
see dead or sick puppies laying in the cages as the others walked over them.
Like the rock song says, "The smell of death is around you."
If we had time to hang around we could wait for the puppy broker to come. You
would see a truck or van stacked full from the floor to the ceiling with tiny
plastic cages. Many of them already crammed full of puppies of every imaginable
breed. All stacked in their like cord wood. The sounds of hundreds of terrified
puppies waiting in those dark cramped quarters waiting for their ride into the
unknown. The broker will take most of the puppies if they aren't to sick or so
deformed he can't sell them. He will take any puppy the millers say is 8 weeks
old. Many of the animals are under 6 weeks but they are the right weight and
size so they are torn away from their mothers, by force at times, and sold to
the broker.
As we walk away from this place you remember back in school when you read about
the concentration camps during WWII. This place is just like that. The animals
are abused and exploited until they are no longer profitable to the miller and
then they are sold and most are killed. The females are breed every cycle from
the time they first come in heat until they die. The puppies are sold to
unsuspecting pet buyers all over the world as registered animals and no mention
is ever made about the hell holes the parents live in or the genetic problems
the puppy has. The Animals in the puppymills are truly prisoners of greed.
The next time you walk by a pet store stop and listen. If you try you
will be able to imagine the suffering and pain it took to put that puppy in
that window. The broken jawed mother as she struggles to eat so she has enough
strength to go on another day. The tiny puppy with the lower part of its leg
missing because it was torn off while trying to free it's self from the holes
in the wires of the cage it calls home or was eaten by another dog because it
was starving to death. The whimpering of the animals as they beg for the tender
touch of a humane hand. The cries for help as they slowly die from neglect and
starvation.
People wonder why some rescue people do puppymill rescue and now you know. They
do whatever has to be done to help end the suffering of the animals in these
places. You may not be able to go to a puppymill and see the things many of us
have but you can help end the suffering right where you live. Tell everyone you
know not to buy products from pet stores that sell puppies and kittens. When
the demand goes away the mills will close. Help by promoting rescued animals as
an alternative. Every animals that finds a new home from a rescue group makes
room for another to be saved by rescue. Donate money to help purchase the
freedom of a puppymill baby. The animals at auctions can and many are being
rescued when the funds are available. Send a little note to a rescue person
thanking them for what they do to save animals. It's easy to become burned out
in this business when we keep seeing so many animals that desperately need our
help.
Copyright © WM 2000 Wayne Mayes
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My Animals Need A Loving
Home! - A True Story
by Patty Adjamine
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/5418/home.html
The
man walked into the lobby of the animal shelter. Behind him, two dogs followed
faithfully, without leashes. Both dogs were calm, obedient and apparently
well-trained Chow mixes. Their guardian was distraught.
The man waited nervously on a line of other people surrendering animals to the
pound. His eyes were desperate as the two dogs stood quietly beside him. He
frantically looked around the lobby.
He spotted me with two cats in carriers as I was taking papers from a shelter
worker and preparing to leave. He quickly sensed a rescue situation and begged
me if I could also take his dogs. "My dogs are wonderful," he told me.
"They are well trained, gentle, affectionate, good with kids. They are
only two-years-old. I am moving and cannot take them with me. My animals need a
loving home!"
I could see his dogs were nice dogs. One of them licked my hand when I petted
him. But, I could not take them.
I explained to the desperate man that while I could not immediately take his
dogs, I would get their intake numbers and let him know what was happening with
the animals. I promised, if possible I would try to find a placement situation
for them. He gave me his pager number as he did not yet have a phone. He then
reluctantly signed his dogs over to the shelter. When a shelter worker came to
take the animals away, both dogs tried desperately pulling back towards their
former owner. The former guardian fought back tears and then forced himself to
look the other way -- and exit the shelter doors.
That evening I called the shelter to check on the status of the dogs.
One had already been "put to sleep."
I was told that both dogs behaved "aggressively" in the shelter. One
had been euthanized because he had attempted to bite a shelter worker. The
other was being held for another day or two for a "reevaluation." I
asked if I could see the surviving dog and was told I could.
I raced to the shelter to see the dog who still was alive. From the back of the
cage, this formerly friendly and loving dog was now snarling and assumed a
defensive/aggressive posture. The same dog who earlier licked my hand, now
threatened to lunge at me. I dared not attempt to pet him. He was
terrified.
Upon arriving home, I immediately called the former owner's pager number. Less
than five minutes later he called me back. I told him what happened and about
his surviving dog. "If you want this dog to live, you need to get to the
shelter and reclaim him immediately! He is not going into adoptions."
The man started screaming hysterically on the phone. "THEY KILLED MY
DOG??!!"
I tried to explain that his sweet, loving dogs had become fearful and stressed
in the shelter. There was no way the shelter could have placed them, but the
man was no longer listening to me.
The next day the Director of the Shelter called to admonish me for giving the
man the information. "The man caused a scene in the shelter! We had
to return the dog to him. We cannot have this kind of chaos!" I told him
he should be happy that his shelter had one less dog to kill.
This true event happened several years ago. Since then I have witnessed
hundreds of formerly loved and loving pets suddenly undergo drastic personality
changes when subjected to the stresses, depression and fears associated with
abandonment and being thrust into unfamiliar and frightening surroundings.
Sadly, most of these pets die.
The lesson to be learned is that the acquisition of animals is a
responsibility. When one's bond to a pet is broken for whatever reason, too
often, there is no one else to "pick up the pieces" of that broken
commitment. Shelters and rescue groups are not the "solution." We are
merely a stopgap for SOME animals. But, quite literally millions fall through
the cracks. The real solution is in human responsibility:
YOU ARE YOUR ANIMALS'
"LOVING HOME."
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The Pieces of My Heart
(On Fostering)
Copyright Jim Willis 2001
tiergarten@onebox.com
http://jimwillis0.tripod.com/tiergarten/
Our
paths will cross for only a short time,
but while you are in my care I will be devoted to you.
If memories of your former life are painful, I will help erase them.
No longer will you hunger and I will help to heal your wounds.
If your former life was good, I will promise you an even better future.
One day our time together will come to an end
and you will go off to your new home, healthy, happy and healed.
As a parting gift, I will give you a piece of my heart to remember me by.
I may shed a tear...not for my loss, but for your gain.
Perhaps our paths may cross again for a fleeting instant
and I will be comforted by the aura of love that surrounds you.
There will always be a bond between us,
though we walk separate paths through this life.
After we reach our heavenly reward our paths may cross again.
You may try to return the piece of my heart
with thanks for all that I did for you.
I will tell you to keep it and thank you
for showing me that I could be better
than I thought I could be,
and that I learned in giving came the greatest gifts.
The pieces of our hearts are like grains of sand.
They are pulled along a current beyond our control
until they come together and form a safe haven.
I, like you, came to understand what it meant to be saved.
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Memorable Quote
"I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us.
Pigs treat us as equals."
~ Sir Winston Churchill
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Animal Rights Online
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