I happily closed the store today in honor of the Humane Society’s Lobby Day in Albany. This was a totally volunteer event for any who would make the effort to travel to Albany and lobby on behalf of animal welfare. There are so many people out there that have a care for our fellow creatures but are unsure of how to help, but the most powerful way is ironically not just a donation but, to go face to face with our local and state legislators.
I know there are 1000’s of issues from education to taxes needing attention; but animals are our fellow living creatures that are being treated terribly for big business on an hourly basis-and they need a priority. We have to think outside ourselves beyond money, and try to be the people our pets think we are. Yes, it takes an effort, yes it takes some time, but in person is the single most influential way to get the issues heard. When constituents tell their local politicians that they are not happy-they listen. It may take awhile but with consistency, they get the message that as their local supporter-this is what you support. You are the one who put them in office, and they want to keep you feeling that way.
There are so many animal welfare issues from inhumane treatment to poaching that it is difficult, but I ask you to choose which is your sore spot and go with it. I ask you to please take a moment and really think about which is more important …to take a half day from work or the thought of an abused animal out there getting no help or retribution-every working day. Or maybe a family of Yorkshire terriers kept in a 3 ft. cage at a puppy mill their entire lives while you go to the beach. I feel it is an obvious with no option.
We all know something in some area of animal cruelty and we need to stop pushing it to the side and “not thinking about it because we cannot handle it”; but yet how the animals are handling it. Humans are at the top of the natural world, and that privilege comes with the responsibility to care and watch over those creatures under us. Contact your local politician, sign a petition, make a phone call-if the tables were turned the animals would do it for us. I know my Willow would do anything to save me as I would her. It’s just the way it is.
Here the bills we were supporting today-and there are 100’s more waiting:
- A.1769a/S.1711a, which would prohibit the possession, sale, offering for sale, trade, or distribution of shark fins in New York, introduced by Assembly member Alan Maisel, D-Brooklyn and Sen. Mark Grisanti, R-Buffalo. Sharks are a menacing creature to most, but they are a vital part of the ecosystem keeping it in balance and their numbers are dropping so fast that they will soon only be a memory. They are tossed back in the water after the fins are sliced off-perishing because they can’t swim. New York City has one of the highest consumption rates of shark fin in the country.
- A.775a/S.1776, the Consolidated Animal Crimes Bill, which would modernize and improve New York’s anti-cruelty statues, introduced by Assembly member Linda Rosenthal, D-Manhattan and Sen. Charles Fuschillo, R-Massapequa. Right now if you call a police officer about an animal abuse, they can basically do nothing as animals are governed as farm animals that are considered even less by Agriculture & Markets. If your precious dog is terrorized and hurt by a neighbor, right now they basically get little more than a hand slap. The laws in effect are outdated and near 100 yrs old; we need new & stronger laws and we need enforceable penalties, and we need them now.
- A.1656, which would prohibit gestation crates for breeding pigs and veal crates for calves, which virtually immobilize the animals for their entire lives and prevent them from turning around, also introduced by Assembly member Rosenthal. I would guess that 80% of the population does not know the horrific conditions on factory farms. These animals live so cramped their entire lives with little to no room for movement-all for tender meat and money. The shrink wrapped meat at the grocery comes to your table with a horrific past and it is an atrocity to the morals of our society.
- A.3767, which would regulate the sale, possession and transportation of feral pigs, introduced by Assembly member Deborah Glick, D-Manhattan. Wild pigs and hogs are bred and brought into NY for trophy hunt outings, an inhumane hobby in itself; but they are an invasive animal species now proliferating the forests and farms; devastating the environment and food crops promoting this radical hunting. It is not the animals fault, they are bred for this odd sport and highly intelligent enough to figure escape routes from the enclosures-which drops them with no place to go except in our laps.
- A.1655a, which would create better housing and sanitary conditions for dogs raised and kept in high volume breeding facilities, otherwise known as puppy mills, introduced by Assembly member Rosenthal .Puppy mills are hidden compounds that crate purebreds for perpetual breeding. They live in deplorable conditions in tiny cages with their puppies getting minimal care and never let out, thus developing both permanent physical and behavioral issues. These are the same dogs purchased online, in pet shops and big box pet stores and often advocated by the AKC.
As always, I ask you to please educate yourselves on what is going on within our animal world and take any action you can muster, no matter how small. If you love horses-look into their slaughter issue. If you adore elephants-google their poaching situation. If you identify with whales & dolphins watch Whale Wars on Animal Planet and get motivated. Money talks, so look for purchases that are animal friendly and cruelty free, or that give a percentage to your certain sore spot like Brooklyn’s Rescue Chocolate that supports shelter dogs, or my Flowers For A Cause with flower designs that I donate part of the sale to a specific benefit. Any small act will make a difference and when compounded by many, it is huge. You or I alone cannot save the world, but together we most definitely can because there truly is power in numbers-I saw that today.
I thank the Humane Society and prompt you to visit the site