It was my intention to write about the plight of
abandoned house cats and the public's reluctance to accept and adopt
ready-aged, used cats, preferring instead to start their own from
kittenhood. In the course of my work, I discovered that many cats are
about as important as last season's bell bottoms to many people who move
leaving the kits behind to make their way in an unknown, hostile
environment. But I got severely sidetracked.
Along the way to this article, I discovered definitions
and distinctions between and among animal rights people (wanting no
cages), animal welfare people (wanting bigger and cleaner cages) and
animal rescue people (wanting to find homes for the animals in those
cages). That might sum it up neatly, but I can think of no better or
unproductive way to alienate, divide and disengage people who might be
sympathetic to animal issues. Labels and generalizations disturb me
because the truth of such can only be measured in grains not grams.
There is always some truth in those grains. But what purpose does it
serve beyond alienation?
My bottom line is pretty black and white; either you
care about animals or you don't. How's that for a simple concept? If you
do, you find ways to help. You "adopt", you don't breed or buy. You take
in more than one if you can. You support the organizations of your
choice financially and morally as best you can. You give of yourself and
your time to better the plight of animals. And you don't fight against
what others are doing. The style you might bring to the process of
animal protection, welfare and rights has little meaning. It all has to
be accomplished, now, not later! While it would be impossible for me to
believe animals are not entitled to basic rights, legal and humane, I
MUST do what I can do while I am growing old waiting for those rights to
be bestowed by society. Must I watch animals suffer while I am waiting?
Helping animals one by one is a slow and frustrating process indeed, but
one-by-one is better than none-by-none.
I am proud to see others demonstrating because that is
not something I find I can do. But I can write an article, a letter to a
congressperson. I can screen prospective guardians for displaced
animals. I can and do put my money, and more than 40 hours a week
without pay, where my mouth is. That's something I can do. I also
support as many organizations as I can; those that fight to keep fur off
women's backs, those that provide a legal apparatus to put animal
abusers where they belong, those who provide needed care for marine or
land animals, those who provide protections for animals as entertainment
and those who offer "no-kill" sheltering or the spaying and neutering of
feral cats. It all counts and it all matters.
We have all learned that united we conquer, divided we
fall. That has never been as true as it is now concerning animal issues.
The help they need can come in whatever form it might take for the
individual. Do it however, wherever and whenever you can. We can focus
on our differences. Or we can more productively put our efforts and
energy in our sameness -- the beneficiaries being the animals. Whether
your interest is in shutting down every testing lab in the country,
demonstrating in front of stores that sell fur pelts or writing letters
to editors and legislators, it all adds up to bettering conditions for
all animals.
I welcome fellow activists of every cut and stripe.
Let's not waste time and energy fighting or disputing among ourselves.
We all have to stand together in our upward battle to change the
perceptions and misperceptions of those who would like to write us off
as 'loons' and 'fringe elements'.
Lyn Gladstone, Founder and Director of All Creatures
Animal Caring Society
P. O. Box 3664 / San Rafael, CA 94912 / Office: (415) 456-1941 /
FAX (415) 456-2003 / e-mail: [email protected]
www.SwiftSite.com/AllCreatures
Go on to Listen
With Your Third Ear (Poem)
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