"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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