We are beginning with companion animals, as people have
close relationships with them, usually as adopters rather than "owners."
Changing people's minds is a difficult task, but the rewards will be
enjoyed by animals everywhere. To transform their social and moral
status from property to living beings with their own needs and interests
initially requires language changes from "owner" to guardian, "pet" to
friend, "it" to he/she, "that" to a given name and other like
substitutions. The 1995 Summit for the Animals passed a resolution,
signed by 19 national animal organizations, committing to these very
changes. To promote the new language and the ethic underlying it, our
campaign is committed to a nation-wide effort to reach the hearts and
minds of the public, with the help and support of animal organizations
everywhere. When momentum is achieved, a legal test case will be sought.
Society's acceptance of a new belief system which
rejects ownership and embraces coexistence with non-human animals will
radically alter their plight across the board, while helping shelters to
substitute adoption for purchase and enhancing activists' efforts to
promote their agendas. We -- you, the animals and I -- are in this
together. Let's lay siege to the blasphemy of animal ownership and
herald a new state of affairs. They are not our property. We are not
their owners.
(Text inspired from letter written by Alan W. Boessmann,
D.V.M., former director of Animal Rights Advocacy, In Defense of
Animals, to animal shelters and advocacy groups across the country to
launch "They Are Not Our Property" campaign.)
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9 August 2000 Issue
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