Animals

My good friend Jen Panton from United Action for Animals was walking her dogs on 5th Avenue close to Central Park early on Friday morning when she discovered a small bird on a window sill flailing its wings, seemingly unable to fly.

On the way back from her walk the bird was still in the same spot so Jen captured it and took it to her bird friend who confirmed that the bird was indeed a fledgling that could not yet fly. Her friend encouraged Jen to bring it back to the same spot she found it since there was a good chance her mother was nearby. Jen was torn. She knew if the bird stood any chance of survival it was with its mother, but she would be returning it to a busy street.

So Jen obliged her friend and returned the bird to the same window sill where she had found it and within seconds her mother swooped down and greeted the bird, speaking to it frenetically. A minute later, the mother bird flapped its wings to cross the street and the baby bird slowly followed. But because she could not open her wings to clear the street in time, she met her fate from a car that was headed in her direction.

Both Jen and the mother bird went to the fledgling who lay dead in the middle of the street. Jen said the mother bird stood over her young and paced back and forth grieving. Jen, also extremely upset, sobbed as she contemplated the lesson in all of it.

Last year I had my first experience with a fledgling and its mother who was trying to teach its young to find its wings. It’s an uneasy feeling, watching the baby bird get caught in places the mother bird cannot rescue it from. So you intervene where you can, torn about taking it from its mother or allowing nature to take its course…

A long, albeit exceptionally excellent and important article by Charles Siebert for the NY Times.

“…another significant reason for the increased attention to animal cruelty is a mounting body of evidence about the link between such acts and serious crimes of more narrowly human concern, including illegal firearms possession, drug trafficking, gambling, spousal and child abuse, rape and homicide,” the NY Times.

The Barbi Twins have once again lent their fame and faces to support the animal welfare cause. This time, Shane and Sia Barbi appear on the new poster for the documentary, Earthlings. Click here to read more…

As someone who runs but has not yet tried the Vibram fivefingers, and as someone who used to work at Goldman Sachs and was dismayed by the company’s “best practices” while there, (not to mention now), and as someone who is part of the animal welfare movement, I feel like this Huff entry was written just for me. Luckily, my compass is not broken and I was able to find this wonderful blog post.

Mr. Biggs awaits his turn to get neutered Sunday at UA4A's spay/neuter clinic in Jamaica, Queens

This is Mr. Biggs. Someone had big plans to make a champ out of him so they chopped his ears. But Mr. Biggs turned out to be a lover not a fighter, so they dumped him at a neighbor’s house saying they would return to get him in a couple of hours and of course never did. He is being fostered by this gentleman who lives in Brooklyn and has two dogs and several cats of his own. He adores Mr. Biggs but there’s only one problem: he doesn’t get along with cats. Despite this small caveat, Mr. Biggs has an amazing disposition and desperately needs a good home. He’s young and let’s not forget… he’s also neutered thanks to United Action for Animals! Please let me know if you would like to meet this special boy.

At the top of my dog Ella’s blog lies a quote from Ric O’Barry, one of my heroes. “We teach the child not to hurt the butterfly as much for the child as for the butterfly.” In my opinion, there is no saying more tender, more simple. Ella, a victim of animal cruelty, is my butterfly. She has given me the wings to embrace and advocate what I am most passionate about, protecting animals.

When I was a child I had dreams of becoming an ice cream truck driver. Luckily, for my waistline, those dreams later changed to becoming a marine cetalogist. I think I got off on telling people what cetology – the study of whales, dolphins and porpoises – meant. And no matter what, they always translated that into me wanting to be a dolphin trainer, like Ric O’Barry was to Flipper. Sure no one knew who Ric O’Barry was, but everyone knew who Flipper was. I would tell people that yes, I wanted to be like Flipper’s “former” trainer, but that no, I did not want to train Flipper, or any other dolphin for that matter. It seemed incredulous to me, even at a very young age, that anyone have the right to study these creatures anywhere, but in the wild.

Somewhere around 10th grade biology class, all my dreams of being a scientist, ceased. It turned out I was not very good at memorization, or test-taking for that matter, and so my apirations were rerouted once again.

I have always been distantly cognizant of the work of Ric O’Barry. The man spent 10 years in the 60’s working in the dolphin captivity industry training five dolphins to play the role of Flipper, and the next few decades activating against the industry. So it was of no great surprise to me that he’d be featured in The Cove, a ground-breaking documentary on the dolphin captivity and slaughter industry that garnered a wide theatrical release and went on to win an Oscar.

Even though the movie came out this past September it took being up thousands of feet in the air on a Virgin America flight last week, for me to see it. Sure, I cried — I’m not sure anyone can sit through this documentary dry-eyed. But watching these people band together to shoot this film… the courage, passion and extreme measures they went to, it was beyond humbling. And of course Ric O’Barry, remains, my hero.

I had just exited off the BQE on Sunday afternoon when I spotted them. A skinny, old black man and a mama pit bull with teets down to the ground. I was in the far left lane of a four-lane road with direct traffic that lead to the Brooklyn Bridge. Driving slowly, I couldn’t take my eyes off them. She was brindle, he wore a red tattered sweat shirt and they walked like a couple who had been together for decades.

I contemplated stopping but it seemed an impossible feat, not to mention that my motivation for stopping would likely turn out to be futile. At the same time, I couldn’t help but think that if I continued home, I would forever wonder about the mama pit and the man in the red sweatshirt.

Then it occurred to me that I was sans husband, who would most definitely not let me cut across three lanes of traffic to approach a perfect stranger, and so I did it. I cut 90 degrees across, pissing off several cars in the process, and pulled over onto a side street. I double parked the car, left the emergency lights on and got out just as the man and his dog were at the corner.

He looked at me, nodded and said, “good afternoon ma’am.” And then I went for it. I spoke to him about his pit – who was timid and clung closely to him – and told him about mine. I also told him how I work with a non-profit organization that holds free spay/neuter clinics once per month. His eyes lit up. He was not only interested but floored that we offered the service for free. I told him it’s $100 for poodles and free for pits, and he had a good laugh.

It turned out my new friend, Rufus, has three pits. Mama who was with him, papa and one of their daughters who were both at home. They are older – 10, 10 and eight – and he explained that the births were accidental. He had kept mama and papa separate assuming mama was only in heat for a week to 10 days. Little did he know that it could last up to a month.

While it’s great news and was well-worth the drama it took to stop and advocate, his pups are older, and will need special clearance from a vet in order to be operated on. I wish this had a happy ending but we will have to wait and see what happens…

The new documentary Skin Trade premieres tomorrow, and who best to promote it but two of the biggest anti-fur activists of our time… the Barbi Twins! Click here to read more…

As I write, twelve men and women sit inside a glass conference room at the Bronx Criminal Courthouse deliberating the facts and evidence surrounding a dogfighting bust in which eight men were arrested on June 14, 2008. Over the course of two weeks, the jury listened to both the prosecuting attorney and defense attorneys’ arguments, and now the fate of four men — of the eight men arrested, only four (Alexander Estephane, Juan Toledo, Auritz Acoy and Alterik Mason) were tried — is being decided by a jury of their peers.

To read more, click here….

Peaceful protest lead by UA4A outside the Bronx Criminal Courthouse

Please watch this short and very powerful video – even if you already foster, rescue or adopt. There are still many who don’t, so please share this video on your Facebook pages, blogs and websites…