Reminder: NYC Thanking the Monkey tonight at East West Wed 12/3/08

2008-12-03T11:03:38Z

I am sending a reminder to Tri-State folks that I have a reading tonight of "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals" tonight, Wednesday, December 2, at East West bookstore.

I will paste here the information from the website, but if you hope to come and could go to www.ThankingtheMonkey.com to RSVP that would be helpful.

UPCOMING EVENT:

NEW YORK CITY
December 3, 2008,
7pm
East West Living Bookstore - in the cafe
78 Fifth Avenue @ 14th Street

Come laugh at the cartoons, cry over the touching stories, and be intellectually challenged by the arguments in Karen Dawn’s critically acclaimed yet “Access Hollywood” promoted new book, “Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals.” Be part of the conversation that is sparking a peaceful revolution.

Karen and some special guests will read from "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals" – followed by question and answer and then signing.

In full color, packed with cartoons and great art as well as thoroughly researced information, Thanking the Monkey was designed as the perfect gift for yourself, or for people in your life who are interested in animal issues but haven't yet made the leap to veggie or vegan. And the newly renovated East-West store has so many other beautiful books and various gift items. So why not come do a little holiday shopping?
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Hope to see you this evening!

Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn

Please go to www.ThankingtheMonkey.com to read reviews of Karen Dawn's new book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals” and watch the fun celebrity studded promo video.

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Date: Wed Dec 3 11:03:38 2008

Connecticut Post article on "Our Furry Friends" exhibition. Nice letters opportunity 10/16/05

2005-10-16T15:11:35Z

The article below advertises an exhibit at the New Haven County Historical Society called "Our Furry Friends." The piece presents a nice opportunity for serious letters on related issues, such as animal overpopulation, homelessness and 'euthanasia', and the benefits of spay-neuter and adoption. Letters could also examine the way our society treats animals considered pets as compared to other animals. The Connecticut Post takes letters at edit@ctpost.com.
Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.

Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, CT)
October 16, 2005 Sunday

Exhibit celebrates 'recent' love affair with pets

FRANK JULIANO

MILFORD -- The two young girls in their fancy dresses are petting their dog, back when Maple Street here was a dirt road.

Very little is known about the photo, including the girls' names, why they were so dressed up, including a bow in the older one's hair.

But the photo, taken by New Haven photographer T.S. Bronson on May 17, 1908, is one of the earlier examples of city residents enjoying their pets.

The original photo, taken on a glass plate, is part of a new exhibit at the New Haven Colony Historical Society, called "Our Furry Friends," that examines when and why animals became pets.

Curator Amy Trout, herself a cat-lover, said she noticed that among the society's collection of thousands of glass-plate photographs from the turn of the last century was an astounding number showing people playing with their cats and dogs.

She decided to mount the exhibit, which also includes gilded bird cages and other equipment, to explain how a family's creatures went from being an investment to an expense lovingly made.

"We don't know too much about what is going on in the Milford photo, or who the girls are, but it shows that people 100 years ago, especially children, enjoyed their pets, loved and doted on them," Trout said.

While most domesticated animals were a source of food, clothing material and even labor, for families in the Colonial era and in the early years of the United States, historians agree that the Industrial Revolution created a middle class with free time and disposable income.

"It wouldn't be good history to say that there were no pets earlier than the late 19th century, but certainly in the Colonial days animals were not coddled," Trout said. "They were not members of the family as they are today. Sometimes it was a matter of survival."

Chickens provided eggs, cows milk and meat, and sheep wool to area families, she said.

But pets are certainly big business now, with veterinarians doing the kind of complicated surgeries on domestic animals that were once reserved for humans and done only at large reaearch hospitals.

The cost of owning a cat ranges from $491 to $822 in the first year and between $310 and $527 in succeeding years, according to the Web site, PetEducation.com

Dogs can cost from between $511 ad $1,977 in the first year [the higher range includes the purchase of a registered breed] and from $287 to $807 in succeeding years, said Dr. Race Foster, a veterinarian in Rhinelander, Wisc., and co-owner of the site. He estimates that over a typical dog's 14-year life the pet's upkeep will cost its family more than $12,000.

Of course, when it comes to a family member, money is no object, said Trout, the New Haven curator. But when did dogs and cats become family? She believes that it happened as an outgrowth of the reform movement in the mid-19th century, at the same time that child welfare organizations were created.

"You started to see school textbooks appear with lessons on morality that urged people to treat animals with kindness," the historian said. "There was an attempt to show pets in literature and art."

Among the "famous pets" shown in the New Haven history exhibit is Handsome Dan, a bulldog who was the first Yale mascot, who was anything but handsome judging from the 1897 photograph.

Another well-known dog discussed in the exhibit is "Lex," who was listed in a New Haven city directory by its owner as a member of the family in 1905. Lex's occupation was given as "night watchman," Trout noted with amusement.

Cities began to make accommodations for families with pets at the start of the 20th century, including the creation of animal control departments, "leash laws" and other legislation, officials said.

Milford has long had a large enclosed area within its 300-acre Eisenhower Park where dogs can run free and play, said Mark Lofthhouse, a member of that city's Planning and Zoning Board.

That feature is likely to remain after a redesign of the sprawling park complex is completed, Lofthouse said.

Dr. Sheldon Yessanow, a Trumbull veterinarian who operates the Oronoque Animal Hospital in Stratford, said the inclusion of pets among family members became an issue during the evacuation of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

Many evacuees refused to leave without their pets, a position that Yessanow said he can understand. "There is a special, important bond between people and their pets, and to break that is devastating to both the people and the animals," the veterinarian said.

He said in an earlier interview that despite some objections to the barking and to the sanitation issues dogs can create in shelters that pets will be included in future disaster relief efforts, due to new laws.

Trout said the Victorians themselves may have had a reputation for being fussy about their personal appearance and squeamish about health issues, but they loved their pets. "We have a photo in the exhibit of two ladies with the flowing skirts and blouses they wore back then, with dogs on their laps.

"And they are smiling with a look in their eyes that says, "we know we have dog hair on our clothes, and we don't care'."

The exhibit runs through Jan. 14 at the New Haven County Historical Society, 114 Whitney Ave., New Haven. The museum is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and from noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, call 562-4183.
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Date: Sun Oct 16 15:11:35 2005