It is always difficult to single out an animal rights
activist because there are so many wonderful activists out there getting
the job done! However, it is important to remember the people who blazed
the trail for the rest of us, our forefathers and foremothers (*Henry
Berg, **Peter Singer, ***Dian Fossey) who spoke out for animals long
before computers made our jobs so much easier. Think of all the things
we can do with computers that our predecessors had to do without the
help of the internet. Think of the research, the communication, the
reaching out to others of like mind who could help spread the word.
Letters were written to politicians and companies and newspapers in
longhand, or on manual or electric typewriters. Copies were made using
carbon paper or copy machines, and letters were sealed and stamped and
sent to people we hoped would care enough to make a stand. One of my
Animal Writes co-staff members remarked to me recently that, until we
were all brought together by EnglandGal and her organization, she felt
so isolated and alone. With no animal-rights activity going on around
her, it is difficult and discouraging to keep up the fight.
Throughout my years as an animal rights activist, I have
met some wonderful people. People like Susan Roghair, the President and
Founder of Animal Rights Online, Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)
spokesperson Howard Lyman and People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals (PeTA) co-founder Alex Pacheco. I've even met SIR Charles
Barkley, the Houston Rockets basketball star who once sent a vegetarian
recipe to (PeTA). These are the movers and the shakers of the animal
advocacy world. It has been my privilege to be among them.
But there are others who are not quite so resplendent.
People who move quietly through the world making life better for
animals. People of whom we never hear. These are the people who have
been quietly propelling the movement along. I know one who is an
inspiration and role model for all of us, someone of whom you will never
hear; someone who still writes her politicians hand-written letters
because she doesn't own a computer. Her name is Sophia Pia, and her
story is quite extraordinary. Sophia is not just an animal lover. Her
deep respect and admiration for animals goes beyond mere love. She has a
fierce loyalty to animals and to the people who work to save them.
I met Sophia through a series of unbelievable
coincidences. I had seen her name in print many times. It seemed that we
were destined to share ink in the Palm Beach Post as many of my "letters
to the editor" appeared beside hers! The topics and opinions expressed
were mirror images of each other. While working as a cruelty case
coordinator for the humane society, I was coordinating the efforts to
put pressure on the prosecutors and judges on the Timothy Craft cruelty
case. Through our newsletter and on radio interviews, I put out an
urgent plea for letters to the prosecutors for swift and just action for
his horrendous crime of killing his own dog with a baseball bat in the
presence of his other dog to "teach the other a lesson". Ms. Pia wrote
me what could only be described as "fan mail". She urged me to keep up
the fight, that there were those like her who were following my
directions, writing letters, backing me up. It was several years before
I was to meet Sophia, but what a grand moment it was when I finally came
face to face with the woman whose life had so paralleled my own. Through
a bizarre, third-person, chance encounter having nothing to do with
animals, I entered the world of this most delightful lady.
My first impression of Sophia was that she is full of
effervescence and fire. At the age of eighty-eight, she is an
inspiration to those who believe that activism is for the young. Her
eyes full of curiosity, her heart full of dedication, she possesses the
spirit of a soldier. We talked awhile about our mutual respect for
animals, our intolerance for those who seek to hurt them, our shame in
those who are indifferent to their existence. Sophia, the widow of a
former A.S.P.C.A. director, was raised by an animal-friendly, vegetarian
mother in an age when "going veggie" wasn't chic. Still a strict
vegetarian, Sophia is a model of health and vitality. Ms. Pia spends her
days caring for the ducks and homeless cats near her home, and her
nights writing letters, in longhand, to legislators, companies and
newspapers. Recently, she was approached and berated by an angry Animal
Control Officer who threatened her with punishment if she didn't stop
helping the cats whose lives depended on her. You can bet she was on the
phone to her county commissioner asserting her rights as a citizen. This
lady has led a remarkable life.
Sophia Pia has been a member and supporter of many local
and national animal groups, Peta and the HSUS among them, for years. The
day we met, she shared with me that for the first time since her husband
died she felt a sense of belonging. She was at home. It is important
that we activists stay together to keep up the fight. It is important
that animal activists take turns being the one who is sensitive, being
the one who is strong, being the one who always goes to demos, being the
one that always writes letters. It is important to note that some of the
most dedicated animal-rights activists are never in the public eye: they
are the mothers who carefully explain why mommy won't take the children
to the circus, they are the fathers who stop the car to help an injured
animal in the presence of his child who is a witness to this heroism,
they are the little children who sign up for a "clean the beach"
project, or raise pennies through cookie sales for their local humane
societies, they are wise, senior citizens who spend their time
bird-watching and reporting on changing migratory habits. They are the
newspaper writers and editors who slant the article about the rodeo
"just a smidgeon, just enough, barely noticeable, really." They are you,
they are me. They are all around us. Believe it. Believe that we are
never, ever alone.
There are those who make big bold strokes of brilliant
color on the landscape of the animal welfare movement; but there are
also those who create the canvas on which they paint.
*Henry Berg, Founder of the American Humane Association
in 1963
**Peter Singer, Author, Animal Liberation; considered the "father of the
animal rights movement
***Dian Fossey, martyred for protecting silverback gorillas from
poachers.
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