SVS Viewpoint archives

Business as Usual

Or Why New Orleans is the Top Animal Rights News Story of 2005

Having followed every major - and minor - vegan and animal rights news story of 2005, it's not difficult for us to pick the top news story of 2005.

But here's some real news to consider: I think we may have a Number One story primed for the December 2006 Top Five list as well. But we'll have to wait and see for that.

For now, let's focus for a moment on what made news in 2005 concerning animals and, most importantly, concerning animal rights.

Several vegan and animal rights news stories surfaced in 2005 which came close to making the Number One spot. They're listed for you here in brief, beginning with number five, as we make our way to Number One.

I've taken the liberty of including a sort of New Year's forecast, if you will, regarding where these stories might lead in 2006 and beyond.

I hope this countdown will inspire you to recall these stories as the New Year is “rung in” on December 31. I personally renew my PETA membership each December 31 just before midnight.

5

Rome bans goldfish bowls

MSNBC

10.25.05. Following a recent national law in Italy permitting jail sentences for citizens who abandon cats and dogs, the city of Rome has now banned goldfish bowls, and the distribution of fish and other animals as fairground prizes, citing that keeping fish in bowls is animal cruelty. Monica Cirinna, the councilor who initiated the bill, said, "It's good to do whatever we can for our animals who, in exchange for a little love, fill our existence with their attention." The international animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), awarded Cirinna its "International Humanitarian Award".

You wouldn't think that the mere act of banning goldfish bowls would make the Top Five. But stop for a moment to consider the global (no pun intended) implications. This is Rome, capital of Italy, home of the Vatican and the Coliseum, the place where aqueducts were invented. It's hard at first to feel empathy with a seemingly content little tropical fish staring back at you from the other side of the glass. But wait a minute, what if you were on the other side of the glass? I guess someone in Rome stopped to consider this. This is one of those stories that will be forgotten for a time (except for here of course), but will gain importance as “major” steps in the progress of animal rights are cited in the coming years.

4

Bison hunting resumes in Montana

ENN

11.16.05. Bison hunting resumed in Montana after a 15-year ban. A 17-year-old fired the first shot, killing a bison. Animal rights activist Dru Dixon, of the bison advocacy group Bison Field Campaign, filmed the hunt, including the first killing. Dixon reported that it took nearly 45 minutes, and four additional bullets, for the bull to die. Other bison from the herd remained with the bull, until hunters began throwing rocks to disperse the animals' mourning. The hunts will allow 50 bison to be killed between November and February. Alaska, Utah, South Dakota, Wyoming and Arizona will also allow bison hunting.

A particularly devastating blow to animal rights activists – and to all Americans. These majestic-looking animals inspire us with thoughts of ancient, even primeval times, and remind every American history student of their being hunted toward extinction on the American plains. With their near extinction here almost a global embarrassment for the US, you'd think that Montana would spare these rebounding animals. Not so fast. While nothing can detract from the sorrow that this inspires, luckily the Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) is in place and thought to film the first day of hunting. You can view the videos on the BFC Web site. You can also donate to help them in their campaign to save the American buffalo – once again. (The SVS will be showing two of the BFC's films in the coming weeks on Salem Access Television (SATV). Our time slot is each Friday at 10 p.m.) This story will undoubtedly bring about several lawsuits. The US recently reintroduced gray wolves from Canada into the central United States and then faced national embarrassment when talk of hunting them resurfaced. Alaska, Utah, South Dakota, Wyoming and Arizona will most likely continue to hunt bison for several years, but will be ridiculed as national embarrassments in the media and by national animal rights groups, and any hunters who had any inkling to shoot one of these creatures will quickly lose interest.

3

Humane Society sues US Agriculture Dept

ENN

11.22.05. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has filed a lawsuit against the US Agriculture Department, claiming that chickens and turkeys should be afforded the same rights as cows, pigs and other animals in the way they are slaughtered. Most livestock must be stunned prior to slaughter to prevent undue pain and suffering. Chickens and turkeys do not currently have this same right. The HSUS suit, filed in San Francisco, cites cruelty, and points out that present slaughter methods increase the risk of food poisoning among human consumers. Approximately 9 billion birds are slaughtered each year for food in the United States.

This is one of those stories that few non-animal rights activists will ever hear, or care, about – unfortunately. Yet to animal rights activists, this is almost like New Year's Eve: The Humane Society of the United States sues the United States. Great. I sincerely wish this had happened “last year” – but I'm celebrating now nonetheless. The Humane Society will most likely win this suit and poultry will be given the same rights as other animals before slaughter. But this will remain a somewhat sad or at least a bittersweet celebration – regardless of the outcome. The H5N1 virus, or bird flu, which did not make the Top Five, seems somehow more intriguing. Being vegan, I'd like to see PETA - or the HSUS - step forward with a more PETA-like lawsuit, one that seeks anything less than “free range” as cruel, and is therefore outlawed. These half-measures are frustrating in light of current poultry statistics and current undercover videos which are available and are now being shown in many US cities. Perhaps Rome can offer some consulting or diplomacy here? (Cough)

2

HSUS, Trader Joe's reach agreement on battery cages

The Humane Society of the United States

11.08.05. After several months of negotiations with The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Trader Joe's has agreed to purchase only cage-free eggs for its own brand of eggs sold at its 200 stores nationwide. This decision will improve the living conditions of approximately 380,000 egg laying hens that provide more than 100 million Trader Joe's eggs sold each year. The majority of eggs sold at Trader Joe's are their own brand. The company stopped short of adopting a total cage-free policy. Whole Foods and Wild Oats currently have company-wide cage-free policies for all eggs sold at their stores.

Certainly the single most joyous victory of 2005. This is Christmas and New Year's rolled into one. Yet I still cringe a little whenever I shop at Trader Joe's, knowing that they didn't have the heart (or mind) to institute a total cage-free policy. Do they think the farmers who are still using cages – and who Trader Joe's is still patronizing – will suddenly follow suit? That seems specious at best (no pun intended). I feel much more at ease shopping at Whole Foods knowing that they have a full “cage-free” policy in place – even for their bakery items. It's obvious from these very hopeful steps that all supermarkets will one day very soon – sooner than we all realize – stock only “cage-free” eggs. Unfortunately, in carefully following the news, I don't foresee a “free-range” day for all poultry and egg-laying hens any time soon. Please prove me wrong on this one. Even with all that I read and view regarding current animal statistics and animal rights, I still find the 100 million number in the above story to be very unnerving to read. What does Whole Foods use in their vegan scones? I suggest we all find out.

1

New Orleans' top chefs provide 'comfort'

Reuters

12.16.05. New Orleans' top chefs are now helping to revive a city still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Gulf Coast on August 29. About 450 restaurants have re-opened in New Orleans, a mere fraction of the 2,200 restaurants that operated in a city famous for its restaurants prior to Katrina. Many of the smaller, family-run restaurants re-opened weeks ago, and now the larger, more expensive restaurants - and tastes - are returning.

Without a doubt, the Number One animal rights news story of 2005 – although few would have considered this before reading our Top Five. This story – like none other – speaks volumes about what has gotten us into our current animal rights dilemma to begin with. A horrific hurricane has just ripped through New Orleans, destroying most of the city, and the only thing that people can think about is the “greatness” of gumbo, muffuletta sandwiches, Trout meuniere and oysters Rockefeller - and re-building the “great city.” The week of August 29, as the utter devastation in New Orleans was unfolding, I recall thinking to myself, “How long before the restaurants re-open?” That's why I wasn't too surprised to see this story appear about now. The sad truth is that this story will still be Number One on our Top Five list in 2006 – because by then 2,200-plus restaurants will most likely have re-opened. In 2006, as it was in 2005, it will continue to be "business as usual" in New Orleans.

Honorable Mention

Canadian company produces 'biodiesel' fuel from animal parts

ENN

12.02.05. A $12 million factory near Montreal is now producing 'biodiesel' fuel - made from the bones, innards and other parts of animals such as cattle, pigs and chickens. Rothsay, a division of Maple Leaf Foods Inc., plans to manufacture approximately 35 million litres of biodiesel annually. Motorists who use biodiesel to run their cars will receive tax breaks or subsidies from governments. Biodiesel can also be made from farm crops, such as soy or canola.

Words cannot express what I feel about this horrific news story.

May God grant you knowledge of animal rights in the New Year.

Return to top

Farm Sanctuary's

Celebration FOR the Turkeys

“O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained

With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit

Beneath my shady roof; there thou may'st rest”

More than two hundred years have passed since William Blake wrote his poem “To Autumn” in his Poetical Sketches of 1783. It's obviously a vastly different world today in the United States and globally, far removed from the first stirrings of the Industrial Revolution in 18th century England.

Blake's poetry was in fact a response to this earth-shattering Industrial Revolution (and this a literal shattering, with the arrival of England's Agricultural Revolution at about this time) that was well underway as Blake was beginning his career as a young poet.

Following the mid-eighteenth century, England was quickly transformed into something alien and more fast-paced. Gone were the familiar, comfortable pastorals and landscapes that inspired Sidney and Spenser, past too were the satires of Pope and Swift. Industrialization was driven by profit and it blended man with machine. The world would never be the same again. Or would it?

Gone were the familiar, comfortable pastorals and landscapes that inspired Sidney and Spenser, past too were the satires of Pope and Swift. Industrialization was driven by profit and it blended man with machine. The world would never be the same again. Or would it?

With industrialization came those who ran counter to it, and the changes it brought. With progress, observed Blake and the fellow Romantics of his age, came poverty, overpopulation, and destruction of nature in its kinder, simpler forms. The Romantics sought a new vision, or perhaps an older vision revived.

Blake's response brought with it another “revolution” of sorts, one as great, or perhaps even greater, than the Industrial Revolution he observed. If there was one thing that Blake could not abide, was to see something denied, or met half way. And luckily for us, he followed through on this conviction.

The Industrial Revolution As Ongoing?

Are we still witnessing this same Industrial Revolution that began in mid-eighteenth century England? In America and globally, we're only now uncovering the horrors that industrial farmers, even as you read this, are inflicting upon animals on mechanized factory farms. Protesters are presently reacting with violent opposition to “corporate farming” and global free trade agreements – the “business” of farming. Protesters and governments in France and South America are destroying “genetically modified” crops, while experiments involving GMO crops and animal and human clones continues.

What words do we have today that can help us to rise above and make some sense of this scientific "advancement"? What words can we turn to for solace in the face of the US Senate's approval of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (AWNR) on November 3? Is there another poet now witnessing this destruction who will help us to understand all of this someday?

I don't see another Blake on the horizon, and his absence greatly felt. Lyrics from American protest songs of the 1960s come to mind. But they're more relevant to the Vietnam era and the moral revolution of the 1960s in America. While often brilliant and inspired in their own right, they don't seem to resonate in the same way as we face factory farming, agricultural and animal rights issues.

Farm Sanctuary's Celebration FOR the Turkeys

If there are no artists who can approach this understanding today (Sue Coe perhaps, yet isn't this vision too negative, too limiting?), then what do we have? What starting point toward understanding can we look toward?

For those who follow animal rights closely, and for those who follow social and artistic trends, Sue Coe certainly does come to mind at first (as Farm Sanctuary has made evident on their FactoryFarming.com Web site).

But Blake was a visionary, often referred to as a “mystic.” No Romantic artist of his time can wear this title in quite the same way. Blake saw a better world, and found it his duty to share it with the rest of humanity. If his works tends toward the negative, and even towards madness at times, it's balanced with an equal measure of light and light-hearted genius.

Blake's “Autumn” poem, and the idea for this article, came to mind as I was glancing through the photos of Farm Sanctuary's past Celebration FOR the Turkeys events.

Each photo is a masterpiece, as inspiring and as exciting to view as one's first encounter with a Caspar David Friedrich, or indeed, with a William Blake.

Each photo is a masterpiece, as inspiring and as exciting to view as one's first encounter with a Caspar David Friedrich, or indeed, with a William Blake.

If you take a moment to quietly view the Farm Sanctuary "Celebration" photos, you'll notice that some of the images are in one sense surreal (the dark-haired woman lying down in a flower-filled meadow, smiling serenely as she gently strokes a turkey's delicate, pre-historic looking head (woman); or the photo of six turkeys seated at a red-checkered-cloth covered picnic table, pecking at a cranberry dessert (turkeys). And in another sense they appear very real, immediate, newsworthy, and most of all, hopeful; full of hope for the future. Which Blake would have loved.

To me, Farm Sanctuary's Celebration FOR the Turkeys brings to mind another emotion, one that's felt deep within, and stays with me long after viewing the images: it's a heartfelt sadness mixed with hope.

Sadness that this Celebration and the Adopt-A-Turkey project has been going on since 1986, and that so little seems to have been grasped by the American public. We still shop in supermarkets, supplied by agri-business and factory farms, and firmly supported by traditional family values. The Industrialization that Blake rebelled against is indeed still taking hold all around us, and so few Americans seem to be even aware of this.

So where does the hope part come in? Well, somewhere, if only on two small farms in New York and California, I know that the turkeys are AT the table. That helps me to rise above all the rest of it.

"Thus sang the jolly Autumn as he sat;

Then rose, girded himself, and o'er the bleak

Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load."

Return to top

Come to the Fair

The Topsfield Fair and the Eastern States Exposition

Hundreds of thousands of fairgoers pour through the gates of the fairgrounds, a giant Ferris wheel spins fluorescent pink and turquoise against the cool fall night, and somewhere between the World's Largest Squash and the candy apples are the animals.

September and October in New England bring with them the famous, vastly popular “agricultural fairs.” The Eastern States Exposition, known regionally as The Big E, and colloquially as the Eastern States, runs from mid-September through the beginning of October in West Springfield, Mass., while here on the North Shore, the Topsfield Fair in Topsfield runs from the end of September through mid-October. At one time purely agricultural in nature, both have come to symbolize many different things to many different fairgoers.

Hundreds of thousands of fairgoers pour through the gates of the fairgrounds, a giant Ferris wheel spins florescent pink and turquoise against the cool fall night, and somewhere between the World's Largest Squash and the candy apples are the animals.

Both fairs are quite similar to each other, though the Eastern States is quite larger. You could even call them “sister” fairs – as one might refer to colleges in close proximity or philosophy as “sister” colleges. In skimming through brief online histories, it's clear to see how these fairs have adapted, and have vastly augmented, their original premise in order to appeal to the general public. And appeal they do. The Eastern States' attendance sheet closes out at a hefty 1,053,238 for 2005. That's attendees, not dollars. For a dollar figure, multiply by ten.

Both fairs have long-standing “traditions” in the region, dating back to the last two centuries. Both were originally founded to “showcase” and to “promote” livestock and agriculture in the Northeast, and in the United States in general. Such agricultural educational exhibits were traditionally held in the Midwest and in Chicago prior to 1900, with the exception of the Topsfield Fair, which dates back to the mid-19th century.

While the Topsfield Fair and the Eastern States still do “showcase” and “promote” livestock and agriculture on their fairgrounds – after more than 200 years – this is by no means their outward appearance – or their selling point – to the general public these days. Today, in order to draw in the hundreds of thousands of fairgoers (and the millions of dollars), they've both added Ferris wheels and Midway rides, arts and crafts, homemade apple pies, cotton candy, car racing, and yes, even the proverbial kitchen sink. They promise to get that shining for you, too.

Of course, all of this glamour had much humbler – and somewhat nobler - beginnings when these fairs were founded. The Topsfield Fair, which bills itself as the “America's Oldest Agricultural Fair,” was founded in 1818 by a group of “practical farmers,” according to the Fair's Web site. Its purpose was “to promote and improve the agricultural interests of farmers and others in Essex County."

At about this time, these farmers formed the Essex Agricultural Society, whose mission was akin to the fair's. The same year, they purchased the land where the fair is still held today, and obtained a Charter for their Society. Their first president, the Honorable Thomas Pickering, was a Harvard graduate, and it's clear that his intentions were high: the sharing of agricultural knowledge and practices with fellow Essex County farmers. Today's Topsfield Fair still claims the very same Mission Statement, but has added the “general public” to this "education" as well.

Their first president, the Honorable Thomas Pickering, was a Harvard graduate, and it's clear that his intentions were high: the sharing of agricultural knowledge and practices with fellow Essex County farmers. Today's Topsfield Fair still claims the same Mission Statement, but has added the "general public" to this "education" as well.

Similarly, the Eastern States Exposition was founded in West Springfield, Mass., at the beginning of the 20th century by Joshua L. Brooks. According to the Eastern States' Web site, Brooks recognized that agriculture was stuggling in the Northeast in the early 1900s and that production costs were high, so just as Pickering and the Essex farmers did in Topsfield exactly one century prior, Brooks rallied area farmers throughout Western Massachusetts, and convinced the Executive Committee of the National Dairy Show in Chicago to hold their annual fair in West Springfield. In 1917, the Eastern States Exposition was born.

Today, with its million-plus attendance, livestock and agriculture are still included in its advertisements, but they are clearly not the main draw of the Exposition. Animals are housed in a few buildings on the fairgrounds. Cows, pigs, goats, sheep, chicks and chickens are on hand for families to view and to pet. There are draft and 4-H horse shows, horse pulling contests, elephant and camel rides, and cow milking. So if the average urban or suburban fairgoer looks a little closer, past the rides and the games, past the Avenue of the Americas and the arts and crafts, they may be surprised to find that at the heart of the Big E, a strong allegiance to the fair's founding principles is still solidly intact; especially livestock agriculture, and especially among youth. As the Big E's Web site notes regarding the livestock judging, the title "Eastern States Exposition Grand Champion" is the coveted prize at stake - referring to the breeder categories.

Still, the Topsfield and the Eastern States fairs have been vastly transformed over the years into strange new animals. Not unlike America itself, gone are the horses and simpler paths, prevalent are the roadways. No longer content - or capable? - of simply remaining the “agricultural shows” they were intended to be, to educate fellow farmers about burgeoning farming practices and scientific farming techniques, they are now the giant, glittering Midways, where Carousel horses still go round, and where children continue to ride them, and to admire them.

Behind the Midway is still the cow barn and the chicken barn, now transformed into impressive brick buildings with cordoned wooden fences. While elephants and lions stand chained waiting their turn to perform at the circus in Boston each October, animals at these fairs are chained or penned, ogled and often handled by thousands of fairgoers who throng past their enclosures. Few of these animals will win the coveted prize sought by their breeders, yet all will face lifetimes of captivity.

The Boston Vegetarian Food Festival

Another fair, more recently formed than either the Topsfield or the Eastern States fairs, is the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival (BVFF). Founded in 1995, it celebrates its 10th annual festival this October. The BVFF is organized by a group within the Boston Vegetarian Society (BVS), a non-profit organization founded in 1986 to promote a vegetarian way of life.

The Food Festival, held on one Saturday in October, is at once casual and wonderful, a bright cacophony of friendly, intelligent, and thoroughly cutting edge exhibitors and fairgoers, all of whom come together at Boston's Reggie Lewis Athletic Center each year to exhibit, promote and sample businesses and organizations whose products and goals focus on animal rights, a healthy vegetarian diet and lifestyle, and a clean and healthy environment.

Another fair, much more recently formed than either the Topsfield or the Eastern States fairs, is the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival. Founded in 1995, it celebrates its 10th annual festival this October. The BVFF is organized by a group within the Boston Vegetarian Society, a non-profit organization founded in 1986 to promote a vegetarian way of life.

Exhibitors from across the country provide free food samples and literature, yet more importantly perhaps, they bring to fairgoers a shared craft knowledge, and an ongoing conversation and education about animal rights and veganism. This fair, which has become a true colloquium of nutrition and vegan ideals, continues to remain vibrant, up-to-date, profoundly compassionate, user friendly, and more and more, as we have found, greatly needed; it's a refreshing change from today's often uncompassionate, heartless world that we tend to encounter more and more on a daily basis.

These folks are the local growers, the local craftsmen and craftswomen, who have embraced organic farming and cottage industries, who have seen the need for environmental change through local action, and who have acted to accomplish that change. The BVFF is their annual coming together to show the region what is really happening today, and what should truly matter to all of us. At this fair you'll discover that you don't need eggs or milk to make a pie, and that animals don't have to be raised or slaughtered for us to eat well, to raise our children, and to prosper as a society.

In examining brief histories of the Topsfield and the West Springfield fairs, having attended the Eastern States annually as a youth growing up in Springfield (it was my first assignment as a fledgling reporter on my high school paper), and from attending and volunteering at the BVFF, I find that the Boston festival is what the Topsfield Fair and the Eastern States Exposition were meant to be when Pickering and Brooks first initiated them in the 19th and 20th centuries: cutting edge thought, earnest attempts to advance our citizens as craftspeople and as a society, shared knowledge, and promoting those ideals we believe are good and necessary. The BVFF certainly does all of these things, and more. It's a fine example of what we should all aspire toward, for ourselves and for our children.

I find that the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival is what the Topsfield Fair and the Eastern States Exposition were meant to be when Pickering and Brooks first initiated them in the 19th and 20th centuries: cutting edge thought, earnest attempts to advance our citizens as craftspeople and as a society, shared knowledge, and promoting those ideals we believe are good and necessary.

While the Topsfield Fair and the Eastern States Exposition may have sought these goals at one time, many hundreds of years ago, I wonder if they're still accomplishing those same goals today. Most of us have heard of, perhaps have even viewed video footage of, the horrible plight of farm animals raised on “factory farms” today. Yet how many of us here in the United States are currently vegan, or even think of veganism? How many of us are able to look beyond the notion of “free-range,” toward animal liberation?

Stop to consider for a moment how many Topsfield Fair and Eastern States fairgoers are aware of animal rights issues, yet simply choose to ignore the scientific evidence presented in the news about veganism, while continuing to support the multi-million dollar hometown "fairs"? What does this say about American society? If we're listening and reading, why aren't we truly hearing and understanding the message?

To be honest with you, I prefer the hometown feel over Boston. It's just a personal preference. I prefer the country and the outdoors to the city. So in October, having read and observed animal rights and vegan trends for the past several years, I'd much rather support those who are able to envision animals one day living naturally and free, and not destined for the dinner plate, providing milk and eggs to our youth, or worn as clothing. I'll take the T over the Ferris wheel these days, and I sincerely hope that you will, too.

If you missed this year's 10th Annual Boston Vegetarian Food Festival that took place on Saturday, October 22, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the Reggie Lewis Athetic Center on Tremont Street in Boston, don't worry. There's another one next year. For more information, or to become involved: Boston Vegetarian Food Festival

Return to top

September 2005

What is Katrina's Lesson?

Thursday afternoon, September 1: Day Four following Hurricane Katrina's initial landfall just south of Buras, Louisiana, on August 29. After four days of listening to numerous radio news reports on NPR about Katrina and her wake in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas, both at home and at work, I leave work on the MIT campus at 5 p.m. and head for the Kendall subway station. News reports about the situation along the Gulf Coast are still back-to-back over most of the news stations.

As I approach the Kendall station, I begin to notice something odd. I look up and wonder if I'm the only one on the sidewalk experiencing this same sensation. A beautiful, cool, strong wind is blowing, almost continuously, as I make my way along Main Street approaching Cambridge Center. Massachusetts was due to experience some minor effects of Katrina at about this time today, and lo and behold, she arrives right on schedule. A luxurious feeling, cool and caressing; oddly refreshing amid the string of 80-degree days.

As I approach the Kendal station, I begin to notice something odd. I look up and wonder if I'm the only one on the sidewalk experiencing this same sensation. A beautiful, cool, strong wind is blowing, almost continuously, as I make my way along Main Street approaching Cambridge Center.

I feel sad and somewhat guilty for a moment as I survey the patches of lush tree crowns along Main Street as they're raked indiscriminately in Katrina's remnants. About a thousand miles away, these more gentle winds are all that remain of her. How can something this great-feeling have been the cause of so much misery and destruction? But the sad, guilty feeling subsides and I walk the rest of the way to the subway entrance in a sort of cool delight, Katrina's grasp ebbing, but still causing a minor and not unwelcome stir in far-Northern Cambridge.

The radio paints a vastly different picture. Just before leaving work I listened intently as reporter John Burnett spoke with NPR host, Robert Siegel, by phone (Analysis: Looting, snipers mar New Orleans evacuation , 9/1, National Public Radio), about what Mr. Burnett had just witnessed at the Ernest Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, the site that had become the overflow emergency shelter once the Superdome had been filled to capacity following Katrina's initial impact and during the flooding that followed.

Burnett is reporting in a somewhat excited and apparently disgusted tone as he recounts the conditions at the convention center, about 10 blocks from the Superdome.

From NPR transcripts:

“ROBERT SIEGEL, host: After speaking with Mr. Chertoff [US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff], we were joined on the line by NPR's John Burnett, who had been to the convention center earlier in the day.

JOHN BURNETT reporting:

Let me clarify for the secretary and for everyone else what myself and (audio loss) Hawk just drove away from about three blocks from here at the Ernest Morial Convention Center. There are, I estimate, 2,000 people living like animals inside the city's convention center and around it. They've been there since the hurricane. There's no food. There's absolutely no water. There's no medical treatment. There's no police and no security. And there are two dead bodies lying on the ground and in a wheelchair beside the convention center, both elderly people, both covered with blankets now. We understand that two other elderly people died in the last couple of days. We understand that there was a 10-year-old girl who was raped in the convention center in the last two nights. People are absolutely desperate there. I've never seen anything like this.

They have seen buses go past. They have seen police cars go past. They have had the National Guard visit them. But no one has brought them food or any provisions whatsoever. They're living like animals, very much what the conditions were inside the Superdome.”

No one would dispute the fact that what Burnett saw and experienced at the convention center was highly disturbing. Indeed, as the story began to unfold following August 29, it became increasing grim and disturbing. But if I may – for the benefit of those who do find this reporter's – and other reporters' – choice of words to be perhaps even more disturbing than the scenes and incidents about which they're reporting – allow me to clarify at least one thing: The phrase “living like animals” is way out of line here, and is, in fact, out of line in any report. It is most certainly, sadly and ironically, the very basis of the problem at hand.

The phrase "living like animals" is way out of line here, and is, in fact, out of line in any report. It's most certainly, sadly and ironically, the very basis of the problem at hand.

Burnett was not – and is not – the only reporter to use phrases like “living like animals,” or “sub-human conditions” when attempting to describe horrible or violent conditions or events. I will never forget the Boston Herald's giant one-word, front-page headline, ANIMAL, sprawled in huge bold letters above a 2004 story, describing how a witness to a murder described the murderer. The witness had testified to the court that the murderer was an “animal.” And, of course, the Herald captured this phrase. Boy, did they ever capture it! Yet the question remains: did they, or will they, ever realize that their choice of headlines, their choice of words, in my opinion anyway, causes much more harm than good in the overall scheme of things.

It's these vastly misguided human perceptions, and ways of reacting, such as Burnett's “animals” phrase, and the Herald's ANIMAL headline, which tell the all-too-obvious story, that these reporters and editors are clearly completely out of touch with the role that animals currently play, or I should say, should be playing, in American society today. Do animals today live in squalid conditions? Yes, billions of animals do – many of them chickens and pigs raised on factory farms. Are their dire conditions their fault? Absolutely not. Are animals violent murderers? Some do kill for food, but their kill is most often a race to the finish, a hunt within nature, without guns or traps or iron cages. It's a fair fight.

Living like animals? This phrase should be stricken altogether, since it's impossible to justify using it in these times of factory farming and human overpopulation. Animals lucky enough to live in the wild today live in complete harmony with nature. There are no squalid conditions for them. They've learned to adapt – they've learned to sense the tsunamis and the hurricanes and to move out of nature's way in time. It's only the unlucky ones, held captive by humans, who, unfortunately, must remain subjected to the squalid and violent conditions prepared for them by their human captors.

Grave errors in perception and understanding, these poor choices of words and phrases, which in fact shape our reality and our progress, aren't limited to news reporters. Listening to NPR's extensive coverage of Katrina's wake and of the emergency relief efforts, the same animal analogy comes up time and again in the words of ordinary people describing their conditions. Fear and disgust are evident in their voices, their comments usually running something like, “They're living just like animals!” or “We're being subjected to sub-human conditions!” If these people only knew the half of it – from an animal rights perspective. They would then realize the embarrassment that their phrases inspire in those who remain aware of the current plight of billions of animals used today for food, clothing, entertainment, and research.

Listening to NPR's extensive coverage of Katrina's wake and of the emergency relief efforts, the same animal analogy comes up time and again in the words of ordinary people describing their conditions. Fear and disgust are evident in their voices, their comments usually running something like, "They're living just like animals!" or "We're being subjected to sub-human conditions!"

Another almost equally prevalent sentiment or phrase that has sprung from the NPR reports, has come from those who have apparently paused to speculate upon the obvious, or at least the hoped for, “end” to all of the “misery” that Katrina has wrought – for humans. This sentiment runs something like, (not a direct quotation), “Once we've cleaned up from this destruction, New Orleans (substitute place of destruction) will rise up to become an even better place than it was before Katrina.”

President Bush was one of the first to publicly declare a phrase akin to this. His exact words were, “New Orleans will become a great city again.”

Great is a highly subjective term. What makes a city truly great? To some the plains are great. To some New York is great. And, frankly, hearing the use of such phrases strikes in me the same chords that the “living like animals” phrases and that the Herald's ANIMAL headline strike in me when I hear or read them. They strike me as leading vast numbers people, some of whom may be less-than-thoughtful in their daily lives, perhaps even less-than-caring, to the wrong kinds of conclusions or assumptions about our role and about our fate.

To state such a thing is to utterly ignore the true lesson that Hurricane Katrina should be teaching all of us, whether we were harshly affected by her full strength in the South or gently caressed by her cool winds in the North. Katrina's most basic lesson is obviously this: The powerful combination of her strength and her width was rare for this country, but it's a combination that did reach us, and that will most likely reach us again in the form of future storms, called by different names. Yet the political powers that be are even now fueling the rhetoric that inspires us to rebuild: bigger, greater.

Katrina's lesson should be this, though perhaps this is too promising for us to consider at this time: Before we go about rebuilding bigger and greater, let's stop for just a moment, or perhaps for a time, and think more honestly about our lives and about our homes before the destruction. It's an age-old tale, but one that is seemingly lost to us today. Are you prepared? Are you aware of the day and the hour? Are the intense winds and waves that destroy places like Bangladesh, the coastlines of the Ring of Fire in the Pacific Basin, and now Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, perhaps trying to teach us this greater lesson? Katrina was simply nature being nature. Animals live in harmony with nature. Perhaps we should be more like Katrina, and more like the animals which have learned to evade her grasp – all of which are simple and natural and free.

Return to top

August 2005

Facing Reality

The World's Sexiest?

For the past few years, I've researched vegan and animal rights issues on the Internet weekly, sometimes almost daily. During this time, I've had the bad fortune to come across news stories, statistics, and documentation describing some of the cruelest and most inhumane treatment of animals that the planet has ever witnessed – perhaps in its entire, long history.

About a month ago, I began to notice another type of headline. Not only one headline, but many, all having to do with the same topic. Several news sources “picked up” this story (decided to publish it) at the same time, so this is a good indication that the story is very popular - at least to editors, if not to the general public. The headline that appeared again and again had to do with the “World's Sexiest Vegetarians".

About a month ago I began to notice another type of headline. Not only one headline, but many, all having to do with the same topic ... the "World's Sexiest Vegetarians".

It began showing up with some regularity about mid-July. Between headlines like “More bite than bark needed in laws, humane officer says” and (one of my personal favorites) “Protesters Picket Primate Provisions,” was this most prevalent one, “Sexiest Vegetarians: Underwood, Martin,” with several variations.

What this headline is referring to, of course, is the annual “World's Sexiest Vegetarians” contest, sponsored by the international animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). If you're not familiar with this contest, the public is invited to vote for the male and the female who they believe are the “sexiest” vegetarians on the globe. Voting is conducted on PETA's Web site at www.peta.org.

Here's a brief, wonderful excerpt from PETA's “World's Sexiest” site to give you an idea of how the contest is presented:

“The veggie voters have spoken, and American Idol winner Carrie Underwood and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin have been selected as PETA's 2005 “World's Sexiest Vegetarians,” narrowly edging out a host of other veggie Valentinos and Venuses, including David Duchovny, Reese Witherspoon, Joss Stone, Avril Lavigne, Joaquin Phoenix, and Prince, as well as previous winners Tobey Maguire, Andre 3000, Josh Hartnett, Alicia Silverstone, Natalie Portman, and Shania Twain.

“Going green is all the rage among the red carpet set. Celebrities cite many reasons for forgoing flesh foods, from avoiding the cruelty that is inherent in all meat production to improving their health and energy levels to helping the environment by not contributing to factory-farm pollution.”

All excellent reasons, no doubt. But to be honest, although I love the concept of PETA and what it stands for (because when you come right down to it, given the overwhelming scope of the problem, how many groups really care about animals the way that PETA does?), and although I am a dues-paying member of PETA, I love the “World's Sexiest Vegetarians” contest the least of all of PETA's campaigns.

It's a gut feeling. Factually, a government or academic white paper could probably easily be written about the “1,001 reasons for conducting PETA's World's Sexiest Vegetarians contest in America,” but in my heart, I'd probably beg away from contributing to it at this time. There's something about the contest that just doesn't feel right. Not that its heart isn't in the right place, but something is still odd about it. Or maybe some small nuance is there that shouldn't be. Let me explain it this way.

Reality 101

I first began to get involved in the animal rights movement when I moved to Salem in 1998. When I say, “get involved,” I mean getting out of the house one or two Saturdays each month and actually “doing” something to educate others about the rights of animals in society today, or in our case, the severe lack thereof.

At that time, I was working in Cambridge. I made the daily commute each weekday into North Station, on to Cambridge, and back again the same route. Work occupied most of my time. Prior to that time, animal rights was something I'd only read about, and was interested in, but which I had never taken the time to become actively involved in. Although I thought I knew all about animal rights, there was still much that I didn't know.

I remember walking down the steps of the old “green line” subway entrance (no longer there since the construction of the new underground station) in front of Boston's North Station, and seeing animal rights activists (who, it turns out, would eventually become the founding members of the Massachusetts Animal Rights Coalition (MARC)), holding signs and passing out education leaflets and brochures.

When I say, "get involved," I mean getting out of the house one or two Saturdays each month and actually "doing" something to educate others about the rights of animals in society today, or in our case, the severe lack thereof

It was October, the Ringling Bros. circus was playing at the FleetCenter (now called the Banknorth Garden), and the activists were handing out orange and beige pamphlets (published by PETA) with a picture of an elephant's leg wrapped in a large metal chain and locked in place. The elephant's leg, still attached to the elephant, belongs to a circus performing elephant, and the chain belongs to the circus.

I felt funny each time I walked down the stairway and came just about face-to-face with the animal rights folk. Not funny because they were there, since I understood why they were there and I identified with them, but funny because I wasn't standing there with them. Until one day, I was brave enough to find out where this feeling was coming from, and hopefully to resolve it.

That Friday before the circus' final weekend in Boston, I walked down the stairway on my way into North Station, but instead of walking past the protesters, I walked up to one of the women who had been handing out animal rights literature there each day during the circus' stay, and I started a very simple conversation with her. By the time I left her on my way into the station, I was “signed up” to be back there the next day to hold a sign with them. Mission accomplished.

After all's said and done, this is animal rights in action. Nothing really sexy about it. Animal rights is the average person, in the average community, suddenly recognizing that they have to actually “do” something to stand up for animals. While that “something” could mean subscribing to an animal rights magazine or filling out a check each year to your favorite animal rights group, I have a strong feeling that the “something” must involve more than simply that.

The “something” has to be active, and individual, and it must take place in your community. Filling out a check or entering your credit card number into a computer is only the beginning. There are many, many individuals in your own community, probably even your neighbors, who do not know and do not care that you support a national animal rights organization. It's not until they notice you out on Route 1A holding a sign that reads something like, “KFC Tortures Chickens,” that they'll truly get the message.

There are many, many individuals in your own community, probably even your own neighbors, who do not know and do not care that you support a national animal rights organization. It's not until they notice you out on Route 1A holding a sign that reads something like, "KFC Tortures Chickens," that they'll truly get the message.

To be honest, that first Saturday that I joined the other activists outside the FleetCenter to protest Ringling Bros., I didn't know what to expect. Everything I knew about animal rights at that time was what I'd read in newspapers, in magazines, and on the Internet. When I arrived on the scene, I'm pretty sure I expected to see an actual celebrity holding a sign there with us, or perhaps protesters dressed up in animal suits.

There were no celebrities there. No animal suits. It was just us, ordinary people from Boston and surrounding communities, with our signs and our literature, trying to reach out in some way to the hundreds of parents and children who were entering to see the circus. And the even sadder reality that I discovered once I was there, was that many hundreds of people did see our signs, did “receive” our message, but chose to ignore it by entering the show anyway, which they always do, with few exceptions.

I still manage to get away from the computer to protest at events like the circus, and at other animal rights related events or locations, whenever I have a free weekend. I've never actually seen any “sexy” celebrities outside of North Station or along the roadside at other protest sites. Actually, I wish there were some, it would make the protests much more, well, sexy, I guess. But that's simply not the reality of an animal rights protest. It's not what standing up for animals is about for the average person, in the average community.

I may be biased in the following statement, but I would venture to say that the Salem Vegan Society is, without question, the single most important – and the sexiest – group or organization in Salem today. We offer each resident of Salem, approximately 42,000, the opportunity to connect with others in your community and to make your voices heard on the topic of animal rights, a vitally important issue in today's society, and one which far too often is sadly overlooked and neglected by most people.

By contrast, the World's Sexiest Vegetarians contest is pure Hollywood. A fantasy. Something on a page and on a computer screen. Still, I challenge each of you to review the celebrities in next year's contest, and to discover what it truly means to you as an individual. The World's Sexiest Vegetarians vote, whether or not you personally like it, or even bother to follow it, is moving the United States, as a nation, one step closer to a world that is hopefully more concerned about animal rights.

However, keep in mind, as you're online choosing between the likes of Pamela Anderson and Lauren Bush or Moby and Ricky Williams, the reality of the work that must be accomplished is much more unkind, and a much more dire road. There are no celebrities there to join you or to hold your hand, just the folks in your own community. And how well do you really know them?

Return to top

July 2005

A glacial pace?

The Lobster Edition

For lack of a better name, I call the issue the Lobster Edition. It's that issue of the newspaper (any newspaper, since they all have a Lobster Edition) that arrives, usually at the end of June, just before the Fourth of July. Inserted at the top of the front page, next to the newspaper's title, is a small photo of a boiled lobster. The photo is there to draw readers inside to the lobster recipes and to herald the unofficial start of the summer lobster season.

That unmistakable red image in the upper right-hand corner of the page, its once-powerful claws now sprawled awkwardly akimbo, parenthetically framing a small headline (itself meant to be the epitome of journalistic wit), announces the latest summer lobster recipes: “A Shell of a Catch - Fruits of the Sea to Sweeten your Summer Days, And Nights. Recipes on page C6”. The image never fails to touch me, and I've thought about it in many ways.

That unmistakable red image of the lobster in the upper right-hand corner of the page, its once-powerful claws now awkwardly sprawled akimbo, parenthetically framing a small headline, itself meant to be the epitome of journalistic wit, announces the latest lobster recipes: "A Shell of a Catch"

The Lobster Edition is by no means limited to small town news. I've lived in several cities and towns over the years, and I don't ever recall missing a Lobster Edition. The image and the story change only slightly from year to year. One year blends into the next. School's out, lobster's in.

Before I became a vegan, and more aware of animal rights, the image seemed to be saying, “We're with it, it's summer!” Inside the annual recipes are presented, and with them the great American tradition of the lobster-as-meal continues.

The Lobster Edition is also a grim reminder of the many lobster images we can count on running into from June to September: lobster T-shirts, baseball caps, key rings, stuffed animals, serving platters, inflatable pool rafts, lollipops, pendants, door knockers, silverware, and on. Not offensive in-and-of themselves, sometimes quite beautiful, they nonetheless have become forever linked to the tradition of the lobster-as-meal.

Before the Lobster Edition itself became a sort of object of my affection, I used to ponder, “Why lobster?” Not in the sense of, “Why lobster over other animals,” but more, “Why must this happen to the lowly lobster?” Now I'm simply content to marvel at the Lobster Edition. No philosophical questions spring to mind. I simply turn on the fan, hold up the front page for one brief, shining moment, smile, and shake my head at the image. “A Shell of a Catch”

The image of the lobster has taken on a vastly different meaning for me now that I'm a vegan. I no longer “buy into” the image, as they say. And I don't have any children to pacify regarding it. With no need to coo such phrases as, “Look at the pretty lobster,” my practice of veganism has provided me with what I believe are far more meaningful insights than those who believe - for whatever reasons they might hold – that they must carry on the tradition of the lobster-as-meal.

The lobster image in the upper right-hand corner of the Lobster Edition is somewhat large, considering the size of the front fold of the newspaper, which measures 12-by-11.5 inches. Its red color is eye-catching, and makes the lobster stand out. And it is a very powerful image, what we might call iconic, capable of evoking memories from childhood and of the varied paths we've chosen to take in life. (Do we eat them? Do we protect them?)

It has the power to touch all of us in some way. The particular way in which we interpret the image depends on our social, ethical and spiritual development.

Who hasn't wondered, “What do lobsters eat?” Well, the answer is: Lobsters eat fish. Shellfish that live on the ocean floor. And they're also cannibals, eating other weaker lobsters. “What do you eat, by the way? Do you eat what the lobster eats?” According to current statistics, many billions of people still do. Part of their justification, other than their claim that it “tastes good” (or is that the butter sauce?), may run something akin to, “Well, if animals eat other animals, then why shouldn't humans?” And so it goes.

The Glacier

All of this reminds me of the NPR story I heard this summer about a popular ski resort in Andermatt, Switzerland, that's currently taking measures to, in a sense, save its business. The ski resort uses part of a large glacier atop a mountain for skiers to access its ski routes. Skiers ride a cable car to the top of the glacier. Before global warming, skiers could step directly from the cable car onto the glacier; now they must use a man-made snow ramp.

Global warming has caused the actual size of the glacier to become smaller. Before global warming, the glacier would have melted a bit from the summer sun, and would have then replenished its size and strength with each winter snowfall. However, the warming effects presently affecting Earth are causing more snow to melt each summer and less and less snow to accumulate each winter. This is true of many glaciers throughout the world.

Global warming has caused the actual size of the glacier to become smaller. Previously the glacier would have melted a bit from the summer sun, and then would have replenished its size and strength with each winter snowfall.

The ski resort company doesn't necessarily care about the rest of the glaciers; they care mainly about their glacier, which in its rapid diminishing in the past 20-or-so years has caused the cable-car gap. The company has had to implement the ingenious measure of piling up and packing snow on the glacier during the winter months in order to continue to provide access for skiers without completely rebuilding the cable-car line.

The company is now taking another, even more newsworthy measure: They're wrapping part of the glacier in a protective "fleece" blanket. They've contracted a glaciologist with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology to advise them, and a Swiss textile mill to fabricate a huge durable polyester-and-polypropylene cover for the section of the glacier where the access ramp rests. If the plastic “fleece” blanket works, it will prevent further melting of the ramp, if not the glacier itself.

According to the report, glaciologist Andreas Bauder doesn't view the wrapping method as a realistic option to prevent the melting of glaciers worldwide, but he says that it may be a solution for certain sections of “commercially important” glaciers, such as Andermatt's Gemstock glacier. Similarly, in the report, a spokeswoman for World Wildlife Fund Switzerland warned that while the reflective blanket may work in some cases, she believes that it may be only “disguising,” as it were, the underlying problem of global warning, caused by the excessive burning of fossil fuels by humans.

I view the glacier in much the same way that I view the lobster: exposed, vulnerable, and in grave danger from human carelessness and overpopulation. I view the new high-tech protective glacier blanket as similar to the lobster image in the upper corner of the Lobster Edition, and to the lobster trinkets and the summer lobster memorabilia: pretty, safe, user-friendly, protective, a façade that disguises much more serious social and moral problems.

But I think more important than these simple, rather obvious comparisons, easy for most of us to make, is the comparison which must take a bit more thought: that the evolutionary progress of both the glacier and the lobster are being impeded by human tradition, that is in itself impeding the evolutionary progress of humans. In case you missed the David Snieckus informal discussion at O'Neill's in Salem on June 22, David pointed out for us our evolutionary progress from a Macrobiotic perspective, i.e., in terms of what we have eaten throughout the millennia. Therefore, aren't our traditions, the annual Lobster Edition, oil and coal, impeding what could be, or more sadly, what might have been?

Return to top

June 2005

Using the news wisely

I don't follow the news quite as closely as I used to these days. The real world, job, family, friends, causes, have managed to sneak up on me and get in the way of my time spent with the news. But I haven't quite put blinders on either. Habits can be hard to break, and I find myself drawn again and again to the headlines, to the breaking stories, and to political commentary.

One story that caught my attention appeared on the front page of The Salem News on June 2. Its headline: “After 110 years, Woman's Club folds”. It announced that the Peabody Woman's Club, founded in 1895, hostess to US Presidents and scholars at her bi-weekly lecture teas, has this year, under the leadership of current president Lillian Huszti, decided to disband, due to lack of interest in membership in recent years from the women of Peabody.

Habits can be hard to break, and I find myself drawn again and again to the headlines, to the breaking stories, and to political commentary.

The Peabody Woman's Club, according to the Salem News article, was founded by two local women who had traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, where they had taken a course in “current topics.” Upon their return to Peabody, having been so inspired by their newfound knowledge of the news, they founded the Peabody Woman's Club as a way to “better themselves.” They began sponsoring lectures on such cutting-edge topics-of-the-day as “interior design” and “wireless telegraphy.” All the latest news. The Peabody women became, in essence, modern-day “bluestockings” in their own New England “salons.”

According to one former member, the club was simply “the thing to do.” But now, as Huszti states in the article, although she doesn't want to give up the friendship of some of the women she's met through the PWC, neither does she sense the same life that the former group once had, now that most women are committed to career, with little interest in an organized group.

I can relate to how Ms. Huszti feels. Having formed the Salem Vegan Society in the summer of 2003, we have gained 35 members, out of a city of 40,000. Coincidentally, like the former PWC, the SVS was also formed out of a desire to bring current topics to the forefront for local residents. We also invite authors to speak and present films. Although, unlike the PWC's more general interest in embracing all topics, the SVS's focus is solely on vegan and animal rights news. (We equate veganism and animal rights.)

Unlike the PWC in another sense, the SVS has not yet had a so-called “heyday,” or popularity in Salem. And, oddly, whereas Huszti and other club members wish that the PWC could have forged ahead and continued to bring news and lectures to members and Peabody residents, members of the SVS most likely envision and hope for a day when our service is no longer needed in the community, when we can disband. After all, a group whose sole purpose is to bring to light the current abuse of animals would obviously like nothing more than to fold, to be able to disband; our service no longer needed, free to enjoy a soy latté and discuss nanotechnology or robots.

A group whose sole purpose is to bring to light the current abuse of animals would obviously like nothing more than to fold, to be able to disband; our service no longer needed, free to enjoy a soy latté and discuss nanotechnology or robots.

But alas, this is not the case just yet. Allow me to cite an example of exactly what the case is today, in 2005. As a few SVS members sat discussing animal rights at the Salem Access Television building on May 24 with invited lecturer, Erik Marcus, author of “Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating” and the newly-released “Meat Market: Animals, Ethics and Money”, I presented a news clipping I had brought along to share from a Boston Herald article dated May 23. The headline read, “Speaking frankly: Safari, so good”.

The Herald article provides a brief sketch of an event that has now occurred for the sixteenth time in Boston: the 16th annual Hot Dog Safari, sponsored by AM 1510 The Zone sports radio, at Suffolk Downs racetrack. The article states: “More than 30,000 people loosened their belts and devoured about 150,000 hot dogs to raise money for the Joey Fund, which supports cystic fibrosis research.”

The brief article and accompanying photo mostly relates how those who attended, and in the case of this article, how children and young adults in particular, reacted to encountering so much of their favorite fast food at the Hot Dog Safari. It reports that 4-year-old Lauren Rapaglia loves her hot dogs well-charred with plenty of the usual condiments, such as ketchup and mustard, and that she waited weeks for the event. It reports that one 23-year-old Safari-goer managed to eat seven hot dogs, some of which were “smothered in cheese,” in one hour. The photo shows a handsome 7-year-old boy in a baseball shirt biting with gusto into a hot dog and bun.

The moral of this news story, according to the Herald reporter: Safari founder Joe O'Donnell, of Belmont, whose son, Joey, died of cystic fibrosis at the age of 12, hopes that the annual event will help in finding a cure for the disease. The moral of this story from a vegan or animal rights perspective, a perspective which was never alluded to in the Herald story: O'Donnell and supporters are not only helping to find a cure for cystic fibrosis with their annual event, they're also contributing to the confinement, suffering and death of over 10 billion animals in the United States annually.

The moral of this story from a vegan or animal rights perspective... O'Donnell and supporters are not only helping to find a cure for cystic fibrosis with their annual event, they're also contributing to the confinement, suffering, and death of over 10 billion animals in the United States annually.

It is events such as the Hot Dog Safari which are the raison d'etre of the Salem Vegan Society, and other vegan and animal rights groups. It's why we continue to exist. And the point that I made on May 24 following the Marcus speech was that for every event such as the one at Suffolk Downs, there must be an equal and opposing event. Not opposing as in confrontational, but opposing as in opposite; working for the welfare of animals, instead of for their confinement, suffering and death. If any reader is interested in helping to make this a reality, there is the Salem Vegan Society (SVS) here in Salem, the Boston Vegetarian Society (BVS) in Boston, the Massachusetts Animal Rights Coalition (MARC) in metro-Boston and throughout Massachusetts.