"THE
TIDE IS TURNING"
By
Ron Hevener
Article Used with Permission
What is it that drives us on? In spite of sorrow, loss,
and all the battles of life, how do we keep going no matter
what?
Those
of us with animals know the answer. It's heart that keeps us
going - passion; love. Isn't that what having animals is all
about? But, as life becomes more political, with laws and public
opinion telling us what we can and can't do - how we should
think, how we should feel - what else are animals showing us?
Let's talk about how our love for animals, and doing right by
them, could be the very thing taking them away from us. And
how it's not too late to turn the tide.
Lots
of us contributed to groups claiming to have great compassion
for animals over the years. We all wanted to do the right thing
and it felt good being told how nice we were for donating to
their "cause." We were doing something for animals
and we all slept well because of it. The trouble is, it's about
twenty years later now. Those little groups on the lunatic fringe
became organizations, the organizations became publicity mongers
and the whole bunch of them became full-scale corporations with
payrolls, lawyers and presidents. It all morphed into something
totally different from what we wanted and all of a sudden, their
idea of compassion is turning out to be quite different from
ours.
In recent
days, the Associated Press has been reporting some interesting
- and significant - developments affecting all of us with animals.
At a standing-room-only hearing in the U.S. Senate, the Center
for Consumer Freedom gave testimony blasting "the most
visible animal rights groups" for hypocrisy and support
of national terrorism. Yes, that's correct: terrorism. And,
for the first time, these familiar organizations are being forced
to defend themselves instead of attacking others.
The
tide is turning. Besides this Senate hearing, the state of Florida
took action against what we all know as HSUS (Humane Society
of the United States) just a few days ago. What could the Humane
Society do wrong, you ask? How about stealing an identity for
starters? Lots of us are too busy taking care of our dogs to
figure it out. But, "HSUS" isn't the local "humane
shelter" in town. It isn't a humane shelter at all. It's
a business name. Did you know you can register the name of a
legitimate business in another state and nobody can stop you?
How many of us gave money to "HSUS" thinking we were
giving money to the humane society in our local county?
Florida
lawmakers are just like the rest of us. They were busy making
laws and confused about who this "HSUS" organization
really is. Trying to do a good thing, they allowed this company
to benefit from a lucrative state program. But, when they realized
their mistake - to the tune of millions - Florida surprised
everybody and fixed it. Of course, Florida is also the state
that let HSUS get constitutional rights for pregnant pigs.
Sometimes,
editors think my comments are bitter. I don't think they are
bitter at all. I grew up loving animals and always will. But,
along the way, I figured out something important, maybe even
revolutionary: it's people that animals depend on. They cannot
survive in this culture without us. They cannot buy their food.
They cannot pay their vet bills (and perish the thought of any
animal ever being able to pay thousands of dollars for the kind
of care mentioned in a recent column of mine). When an organization
pushes for laws that inhibit us from breeding animals, racing
them, showing them, or having as many as we can care for - they
are threatening the well-being of those animals and their many
generations to come.
That
isn't compassion. It isn't anything close to what animals stand
for or how they inspire us to be. A horse named Afleet Alex
bravely making his way around the far turn, past the corner
pole and into the home stretch is the sight to behold. Before
the eyes of millions, he drives his way forward - trying, doing
his best, giving his all - and, suddenly, he stumbles. Like
you - like me - out there, working day after day, giving all
we've got to make a life for ourselves and our kids, buying
a car, a house, paying our bills and getting ahead. And, just
when you're getting somewhere, something trips you up. But that
horse never takes his eyes off the finish line, the goal he's
determined to reach - that horse keeps going. He keeps going
and he pulls away from the pack! He keeps going, and he wins
that race not by a nose, not by a neck. He wins it by four and
three quarter lengths!
If anyone
watching The Preakness could see that great horse and not be
thrilled by what he showed us with his body, his heart and his
mind, then they don't understand what animals and people are
all about.
Sucking
the air out of a record crowd of 115,318 and millions watching
on NBC, a horse showed us what no high school, no Sunday school
and no college ever could. That horse inspired us. He showed
us never to give up. And people felt it.
The
governor of Maryland felt it, too. As he presented the most
valuable trophy in American sports to the team of people that
brought the bay colt to glory, his law makers were dangerously
close to losing one of the greatest sporting events on television.
Accused of making "some kind of political statement"
by refusing to approve measures that would increase the growth
of Maryland's horse racing industry, they risked losing respect
around the world and ripping the hope right out of people. The
governor had seen for himself what animals mean to us and how
we need them in ways that no law should touch - or ever take
away. "We'll work it out," he told reporters. "The
Preakness will never leave Maryland."
In time,
we will understand how much of our joy and passion these organizations
have taken away from us. Maybe the people who run them have
never known the great heights, brilliant emotional colors and
deep feelings that the rest of us know with our animals. Maybe
they all live in a bland, polite, Ritalin world. But, time will
change them. As people begin waking up, and lawmakers begin
to see their mistakes, they will take more than a second look
at the corporations that started with our contributions and
grew up to bite the hands that feed them. You will see things
like Wisconsin passing laws to protect its agricultural industry
against interference by animal rights activists. You will see
things like Michigan Institute of Technology taking a second
look before offering credit courses on how to destroy the Greyhound
racing industry instead of improving it. You will see less and
less about them in the news, because press releases by animal
rights groups will be more carefully evaluated by editors and
program directors before being reported as gospel. The circus
will be fun again, breeders won't worry about the safety of
their animals, and horse races, county fairs and dog shows will
be bigger than ever.
It's
summer here. I go outside and look at the lake that I fell in
love with the first time I saw this place that has become my
home. The place where my horses and dogs live along with Mamie,
the wild cat who isn't really so wild. I walk along the lake
and imagine it's an ocean. Tossing a stone into the dark water,
I pretend the ripples are waves rushing over the sands, then
pulling back and leaving behind new things for us to think about,
new things to discover. That's how it is at the shore, in your
bare feet, as the waves roll a little further out each time.
That's how it is when the tide is turning.
Sources:
CCF
Knocks Animal Rights Groups Back On Their Paws
5/19/05
The
nation's ultra-wealthy animal rights groups usually get a free
pass from the media for being "compassionate." But
from New York to Washington and beyond, the Center for Consumer
Freedom is exposing those groups for their hypocrisy, and for
their support of the movement's terrorist underbelly. Our work
is paying off. The most visible animal rights groups are now
being forced to turn their attention away from their propaganda
and toward defending their indefensible acts.
Since we launched www.PetaKillsAnimals.com, hundreds of thousands
of people have learned People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals'
dirty little secret. And yesterday, we told a standing-room-only
U.S. Senate hearing how groups like PETA, the Humane Society
of the United States, and the Physicians Committee for Responsible
Medicine offer rhetorical and monetary support for groups like
the FBI-designated terrorist Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and
Earth Liberation Front (ELF). Agent John Lewis, deputy assistant
director for counterterrorism, told the hearing that those groups
pose the most serious domestic terror threat, saying: "There
is nothing else going on in this country over the last several
years that is racking up the high number of violent crimes and
terrorist actions."
Judging from the comments of PETA, HSUS, and a leading ALF supporter
in the wake of the Senate hearing, it looks like we've hit a
nerve:
" An HSUS spokesman attempted to label our claims as "outrageous."
That's certainly the appropriate word for HSUS's behavior.
" PETA's attorney said the group "has no involvement
with alleged ALF or ELF actions." Yet a sentencing memorandum
for convicted ALF arsonist Rodney Coronado indicates PETA president
Ingrid Newkirk had advance knowledge of his crime.
" University of Texas El Paso professor Steven Best --
an ardent defender and press officer for ALF who refused to
appear at yesterday's Senate hearing or assist in any way --
said: "I am in the above ground support movement, I do
not operate in both worlds such that I am in contact with anyone
in the ALF or recruit anyone for it." That's funny, since
Best has been caught on camera saying: "It's the same thing
with the ALF. We are breaking down doors, breaking into buildings,
rescuing animals, and smashing property." [emphasis added]
He's also posed on camera posing with Rodney Coronado. The El
Paso Times quotes CCF noting: "Dr. Best's academic position
affords him a position of regrettable influence within the animal-rights
movement."
Yesterday's Senate hearing received widespread media attention
from outlets like the Associated Press, Copley News Service,
UPI, and the San Diego Union Tribune. As CNN noted, Sen. James
Inhofe "said there was 'a growing network of support for
extremists like ELF and ALF,' and he singled out People for
the Ethical Treatment of Animals for giving money to members
of both groups." The Des Moines Register also reported:
Inhofe said that although no one has been killed in an eco-terrorist
attack, experts believe it is only a matter of time. "It
is time to take a look at the culture and climate of support
for criminally based activism like ELF and ALF and do something
about it," he said.
May 13, 2005
Florida Neuters HSUS Funding
While
leading animal rights groups spend top dollar trying to steal
meat off
our tables, they spend precious little in the way of directly
helping
animals. As we've highlighted with our popular new website,
PetaKillsAnimals.com, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
spends
millions on offensive PR campaigns while it penny-pinches by
killing more
than 10,000 dogs and cats rather than caring for them or finding
them new
homes. This week, Florida legislators took funds from the state's
"friends
of animals" license plate away from the radical Humane
Society of the United
States (HSUS) after they discovered the ultra-rich HSUS doesn't
operate any
spay/neuter programs.
HSUS has over $113 million in assets and an annual operating
budget of $69
million. The group's recent merger with The Fund For Animals
will likely
bump its budget into the $80 million range. HSUS poured more
than $175,000
into a 2002 Florida ballot initiative which gave constitutional
rights to
pregnant pigs.
Meanwhile,
as HSUS itself admits (in a disclosure buried deep within its
website):
The
Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is not affiliated
with, nor
is it a parent organization for, local humane societies, animal
shelters, or
animal care and control agencies ... The HSUS does not operate
or have
direct control over any animal shelter.
Reporter Mike Jackson poses the obvious question:
Since
HSUS doesn't administer any spaying or neutering programs, the
legislature was quite correct to have blocked their receiving
any future
funds. The unanswered questions causing the red cheeks are simple:
How did
HSUS manage to get designated as a recipient of the funds in
the first
place, and will there be any move to recover any funds they've
already
received since they were apparently given to HSUS under false
pretenses?
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