The Los Angeles Times has had two gorgeous profiles on animal advocates in the last few days. The Saturday, July 19 edition had a front page story about Wayne Pacelle, head of the Humane Society of the United States. And today's Tuesday July 22 edition has a lovely piece in the Sports section, about Johanna McCloy's "Soy Happy" efforts to get veggie dogs into all the baseball stadiums.
Saturday's front page story, by Carla Hall, is headed, "Career ark of an animal defender; Wayne Pacelle has retooled the Humane Society into a forceful advocate for all fauna. His epiphany came on a moonlit canoe trip."
It tells us that Pacelle admires the brute strength of the National Rifle Assn but he says:
"I'd rather be loved -- and feared."
Hall tells us:
"In the four years since the 42-year-old vegan -- he neither eats nor wears animal products -- ascended to the top spot at the Humane Society, Pacelle has retooled a venerable organization seen as a mild-mannered protector of dogs and cats into an aggressive interest group flexing muscle in state legislatures and courtrooms.
"His predecessors may have built the Humane Society's wealth, but he doubled its net assets to nearly $207 million. (The Humane Society is the largest and richest among hundreds of nonprofit animal advocacy membership organizations in the country.) He didn't pioneer the use of hidden-camera video to reveal animal cruelty (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals did), but he has increased the number of Humane Society undercover investigators and packaged the resulting videos with the flair of TMZ and the intensity of '60 Minutes.'
"The Humane Society's hidden-camera video of cows at a Chino slaughterhouse being dragged, pushed and hosed got the plant closed in February and sparked the largest meat recall in U.S. history. Recently, the Humane Society released video of abuse of dairy cows at five animal auctions."
The piece discusses how Pacelle and HSUS differ from some of the other groups, and cites some of his critics. And it discusses his strengths:
"Pacelle is particularly proud of the Humane Society's track record using ballot initiatives.
"One of its most ambitious campaigns, launched with Farm Sanctuary, a longtime farm animal protection group, is underway in California. The Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act -- Proposition 2 on the Nov. 4 ballot -- would ban small, confining crates or cages for egg-laying hens, veal calves and pregnant sows. No portion of that measure has ever survived a trip through the Legislature of this agricultural state.
"Pacelle casts it as a no-brainer for voters. 'I don't believe that the people of California are going to vote against a measure that simply says that animals raised for food should have an opportunity to turn around.'"
The article has the usual chat about his personal charm, and more than the usual information about his personal life. And it discusses his transformation from student who founded the Student Animal Rights Coalition to politically savvy animal protectionist, who "never refers to himself as an animal rights activist, always an animal protection 'advocate."
The article is a fascinating read. You'll find it on line at
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-pacelle19-2008jul19,0,2544569.story
OR at this Tiny URL http://tinyurl.com/5qy37x
[I cannot help but send this out with a big thank you for the kind piece Pacelle wrote about "Thanking the Monkey." You can read it on his blog at http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2008/06/index.html -- just scroll down to "A New Dawn." And you can subscribe to Wayne's blog, and to HSUS alerts, on that same page.]
And now.... Today's, Tuesday July 22 "Crowe's Nest" column in the Sports section of the Los Angeles Times, by Jerry Crowe, is headed, "Half of baseball buys into her idea for veggie dogs." (Pg D2)
We learn about activist Johanna McCloy:
"The Berkeley-based McCloy, a self-appointed advocate for meat-eschewing baseball fans, has crossed the San Francisco Bay to promote her dreamer's quest: to add veggie dogs to the menu at every major league ballpark.
"Eight years into her mission, the 43-year-old actress and Duke graduate is halfway there, with Dodger Stadium among the first to sign on..."
Of people who challenge her efforts, even calling her "un American" McCloy says, "This is a nation of immigrants, this is a nation of diversity, this is a nation of opportunity, this is a nation of saying 'yes' to everybody. How are you threatened by a couple of people to your left at a baseball game choosing to eat something other than what you're eating?"
The article includes a fun tale about how her mission began. You can read it on line at
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-crowe22-2008jul22,0,4736790.column
OR at this Tiny URL: http://tinyurl.com/6exgqc
Either or both of the articles cited above offer wonderful opportunities for animal friendly letters to the editor. So let's be busy bees and keep the editorial pages abuzz with animals!
The Los Angeles Times takes letters at letters@latimes.com
Always keep an eye out for animal issues in your local media and send letters to your editor.
Also, always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor, and remember that shorter letters are more likely to be published.
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)
----------------------------------------
You are subscribed to DawnWatch using the following address:
example@example.com
Date: Tue Jul 22 13:25:45 2008
