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Be An Animal Hero!

There are loads of ways you can help the non-human animals that share our planet!

Some people start foundations - for example the Soi Dog Foundation ("soi" is Thai for "street") in Phuket(www.soidog.org).

My friend Renee Plunkett fosters rescued dogs waiting for their forever home through Sydney Animal Rescue (www.freewebs.com/sydneyrescue/index.htm)
and 4 Paws Rescue (http://4pawsrescuensw.org.au).  

Not everyone has the resources to do the above, but we can ALL do something - no matter how small.

To Start You Off, Here Are Some Inspirational Words

The following quotes are from the book Jivamukti Yoga by Sharon Gannon and David Life (Yogis and animal activists):

"…there's not really much difference between the hero and the coward: they both feel the same fears and anxieties. The hero acts in spite of these fears and anxieties, however, whereas the coward turns away from action. The cultural hero seeks to break the chains of his or her culture's particular illusions; the coward lives in denial."

"Throughout human history, cultural heroes like Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Mahatma Gandhi have chosen the path of non-violence...It is a challenging path to take, because it is rarely the path of the majority and because it takes more courage to meet violence with kindness and compassion than to meet violence with violence."

"Cultural heroes risk their own happiness by defying what the culture tells them they must do to be happy. They choose instead to do what they believe is just."

"Your cultural upbringing may tell you that you need to eat meat to be strong and healthy, for example, but your Yoga practice recommends that you practice ahimsa. Which path will you choose?"

"We cannot change what we have done in the past and there is no point in feeling guilty about it. What we can do is start living compassionate lives right now."

And Now Some Ideas Of What YOU Can Do

Join The Newly-Formed 'Animal Justice Party'

Check out this link: www.animaljusticeparty.org.

Feed Animals In Need With A Single Click (At No Cost To You!)

Go daily to The Animal Rescue Site and click on the purple button to give food to an animal living in a shelter -- at no cost to you: www.theanimalrescuesite.com

Become A Billboard For Animal-Friendly Causes

You can use your wardrobe to help animals! Check out some of my animal-friendly gear.

Most animal welfare/rights organisations have merchandise that advertises their causes, so pick your favourite organisations and check out what they offer by way of clothing, hats, pens, bumper stickers, etc. (You don't need to wear the logo if that's not your style - your car or bag can be the billboard instead of you!)

Participate In Events That Raise Money For Animal Organisations

For example, Australia's RSPCA has the following:

Desexing: The Best Thing For Your Four-Legged Friend

Quoting from the RSPCA website (www.rspca.org.au/advice_desexing.asp):

"The RSPCA receives thousands of unwanted, abandoned and stray cats and dogs each year. The majority of these animals are the result of uncontrolled breeding and, unfortunately, many must be euthanased because homes cannot be found for them.

Cats and dogs start their reproductive lives at a very young age, and throughout their lifetime can potentially deliver many litters of offspring. It has been mathematically calculated that in just seven years, one female cat and her young can produce as many as 420,000 cats! This problem underlines the importance of desexing pets at an early age and reducing the number of unwanted animals in our communities..."

And if you're in any doubt whatsoever, see why desexing is so important by visiting the following two blogs on the PETA website (WARNING: the pictures are stomach-turning):

Report Cruelty

It's important to report cruelty to the relevant authorities. And remember cruelty is not just outright abuse, it includes  hoarding (keeping of dozens of uncared-for animals) and neglect.

To conceal cruelty is to increase it.
Instead, decrease cruelty by exposing the truth.
Report animal cruelty.

Don’t just sit on your hands and pretend that you can’t do anything about it: you can do something. There are authorities that can step in, so report it and then follow up to see what was done. Complaints are confidential, and animal welfare officers know that this confidentiality is of major importance in encouraging people to make the reports in the first place.

You MUST speak for the voiceless animals that are being neglected or abused – they can’t report it so, for the animal’s sake, you must.

Making Cruelty-Free Donations

Donate To Organisations That Help Animals In Need

Besides that obvious donation of time and/or money, regularly gather and donate the following items to your local shelter:

  • Blankets
  • Towels
  • Tea towels
  • Newspapers
  • Garbage bags
  • Plastic bags
Only Donate To Non-Animal Charities That Are Cruelty-Free

When you want to donate to non-animal charities, pick ones that are cruelty-free (ie. that don't torture animals in the name of research). Check out the Australian Association for Humane Research (AAHR) to find out which ones they are:  www.aahr.asn.au/humane_charities.html.

To quote Animals Australia (www.animalsaustralia.org/issues/
animal_experimentation.php): 

"It is easy to think that animal experimentation has nothing to do with the average Australian—but it does. Any person who donates to a medical charity is potentially assisting to fund research involving animals...

Animal experimentation and the invasive use of animals for teaching, is inherently wrong. The use of animals in research and teaching is more about tradition and history than it is about science. Animals Australia is not opposed to ‘scientific progress’, but we are opposed to the use of animals in the pursuit of that progress."

Buy Art AND Donate To Animal Organisations By Doing So

If you're an art-lover or know someone who is, Faye Leister is donating 100% of the proceeds of some of her works to help various animal charities. Go to www.fayeleisterart.com/gallery4.html to view Faye's work.

Got No Spare Money? Then Donate Your Time!

All you need is an hour a week - get your your local shelter and walk a dog!

Buying Cruelty-Free

Cruelty-Free Products

Check out these links to find out which companies make cruelty-free products:

Buy cruelty-free body care, hair care, clothing and household products:

Invest your money in a way that doesn't harm animals:

Make Vegan And Vegetarian Choices

If slaughterhouses had glass walls you'd see the brutality. But they must hide their dirty little secrets to stay in business. This is what REALLY happens behind those doors: www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/slaughterhouses.html

Adopting a vegan or vegetarian diet (or making as many vegan and vegetarian choices as you can) is a powerful way to show your compassion for animals.

For me, it dawned on me in this way: I asked myself what I'd do if there were suddenly no farm animals to eat. Would I then kill, skin, cook and eat my dogs? The answer was (obviously) no.

An ad by Mercy for Animals: www.mercyforanimals.org explains my epiphany best: "Why Love One But Eat The Other?" So, from that point I decided that I'd love all animals and eat none of them! (Get the full scoop on my transition to veganism from my bio on Robert Cheeke's 'Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness' site: www.veganbodybuilding.com/?page=bio_despina.)

"If you knew how meat was made,
you'd probably lose your lunch.
I'm from cattle country.
That's why I became a vegetarian."
- k.d. lang (musician).

Even if you decide that veganism/vegetarianism is not for you, one thing you can do whenever you eat meat, is give thanks to the animal that suffered and died for you to nourish yourself. And remember: it doesn't have to be all or nothing. Every time you make a vegan/vegetarian choice, you help reduce suffering.

Happy Cow - www.happycow.net - has over 10,000 listings in over 100 countries to help you find veggie food wherever you go!

Find Out Why A Veg Diet Is Cruelty-Free

The animal's dead by the time he or she gets to your plate so what difference does it make at that point that you're eating it? It doesn't matter in that precise moment, it's all the stuff that goes on BEFORE the animal's death that is cruel.

Check out the following sites to find out precisely why vegan and vegetarian choices are cruelty-free:

"Like the victims of the Holocaust,
animals are rounded up, trucked hundreds of miles
to the kill floor and slaughtered. Comparisons to the Holocaust are not only appropriate but inescapable." - Isaac Bashevis Singer (Jewish Nobel Prize winner).

And have a read of the following books:

  • Vegetarianism by Bodhipaksa

  • Skinny Bitch and/or Skinny Bastard by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin

  • But You Kill Ants by John Waddell

Find Out How To Go Vegetarian Or Vegan

Read the info on these links:

And for a free starter kit:

Eat Cruelty-Free Foods

Australia-wide:

For Sydney-siders:

Cook Cruelty-Free Foods

Have a look at these websites:


Me, the walking billboard, wearing a paws cap from the RSPCA: www.worldforpets.com.au. 

"I am an Animal Rescuer.
My work is never done.
My home is never quiet.
My wallet is always empty,
but my heart is always full."
- author unknown.


Wearing the "I Choose Cruelty Free" singlet from the Choose Cruelty-Free site: www.choosecrueltyfree.org.au/merch.html.


Telling the world "My Dog Is A Rescue" with a t-shirt from PETA: www.peta.org/shop.

Remember and remind others:
an animal companion is FOR LIFE,
not just for Christmas!


Jasmin - on the far right in an orange coat - racing for Jack Russel Rescue (www.jrtrescue.net) at Petfest 2007. (And, yes, she won the race!)

"If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can get going without pep pills,
If you can eat the same food every day
and be grateful for it,
If you can conquer the world tension
without medical help,
If you can relax without liquor,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
Then, my friend, you are
almost as good as your dog."
- author unknown.


Desexing your animal companion is an essential part of being responsible. Above is my dog, Jake, just after coming home from the RSPCA. As all adopted dogs from shelters, Jake had been desexed - you can see the shaved fur on his right front leg where they administered anaesthetic for the operation.

"Unseen the suffer,
Unheard they cry,
In agony they linger,
In loneliness they die
...The victims of vivisection."
- author unknown.


The dog above has been horribly maimed in the name of 'research'. Buy products NOT tested on animals.
(Oh, and before anyone does the "What about the poor little kids with leaukemia?" routine...there are ways to do medical research WITHOUT torturing animals. The reason they don't is that, as progressive as science is, it refuses to progress in this particular way. In other words, the problem is obtuse scientists using the pathetic excuse of 'tradition' (ie. "We've always done it this way!"). And that is NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

The Australian Association for Humane Research (AAHR) lists which charities don't torture animals
in the name of research:  www.aahr.asn.au/humane_charities.html
PETA's list of companies that
do and don't test on animals: www.caringconsumer.com/resources_companies.asp
Choose Cruelty Free's list of companies that
don't test on animals: www.choosecrueltyfree.org.au/list.html


Don't just take my word for it about supporting cruelty-free products and eating vegan and vegetarian food - have a look at the documentary film Earthlings to get the full scoop of what difference it will make to the furry, feathered and scaly friends that share our planet. Click on the picture above or this link: EARTHLINGS for a free download of the entire film.


Wear cruelty-free clothes. Remember, fur IS dead: www.furisdead.com.


Eat cruelty-free food.


Animal-loving kids and adults alike will gain a tremendous amount of information from this excellent book by Faye Leister. Have a look at this PDF or the free downloads on the book's official site: www.animalsandus.com.au/activitypages.html.


Above is a lamb on a spit...


And here is a dog being butchered and packaged to sell.

Is there a difference between these two pictures? Of course there's a difference in species, but essentially both pictures are the same in that they are of an innocent animal that’s been killed. However, many people typically find one picture completely normal (the lamb) and the other utterly offensive (the dog). The difference really lies in that we’ve been told that one is food and the other is a companion. The reality is that you have two equally loveable creatures with the only difference being that you’ve been instructed that you should love one but eat the other. Otherwise, the pictures are basically the same. Once I challenged this paradoxical thinking of 'love one but eat the other', I changed what I ate and decided to love ALL animals and eat none. Now I’m challenging YOU to challenge your way of thinking.

"Non-violence leads to the highest ethics,
which is the goal of all evolution.
Until we stop harming all other living beings
we are still savages."
- Thomas Edison (scientist, inventor).
 

  

In the words of Mahatma Gandhi: "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

SAY NO TO BACKYARD BREEDERS! SAY NO TO PUPPY MILLS! SAY NO TO ANIMALS IN PETSHOPS!

At Say No (www.saynotoanimalsinpetshops.com) it's estimated that 130,000 dogs and 60,000 cats are killed every year in Australia because there are not enough homes for them all.

Backyard breeders (people who breed their animal companion) are a large part of this problem. All animal welfare organisations agree that desexing is part of being a responsible animal guardian, so be part of the solution and desex your dog or cat (or any other animal in your family)!

Puppy mills contribute to the enormous problem of overpopulation by irresponsibly breeding for profit without any care for the animals whatsoever. The dogs live in appallingly dirty, cramped conditions all their lives, and when they no longer serve their purpose they're killed, dumped or sold for cruel medical testing.

And how do petshops fit in? Well, puppy mills and backyard breeders are where petshops get their animals from! No responsible breeder would EVER give their animals over to a petshop. Besides supporting irresponsible breeders (backyard breeders and puppy mills), having animals in shop windows encourages impulse purchases. Adding an animal to your family should be a conscious, careful decision - NOT one to be made while shoe shopping.

For all these reasons, a shelter is a far better place to buy a pet: Google "animal shelters" to find one in your state and country, and visit Death Row Pets (www.deathrowpets.net) to see what else you can do to help.

"To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being." - Mahatma Gandhi

All information and photos are copyright © Despina Rosales.
Apart from any fair use of the information on this site for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review (as per the Copyright Act),
written permission must be sought before reproducing it for any other means.