PAW PRINTS ON MY HEART
By
Gudrun Jones, President & Co-Founder of the Lakeside Spay & Neuter Center A.C.
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Now that the holidays are just around the corner and the New Year is only a breath and a heartbeat away we fleetingly think of the things we plan to change in the coming year. When we make our resolutions (whether we keep them or not) let us add one more resolution to our list - the one that promises to be kind to animals and have an open mind relating to animal issues. Compassion in people touches all living things, and when we come to understand that if we start a policy in our community that no dog shall be cast out, then also no elderly person will be cast out. If we can establish that every sick or injured dog is treated with kindness, sick and injured humans also will be treated with kindness, because the bottom line for what society accepts is what society allows to be done to animals. If we raise the standards for the care and well-being of all living things, then maybe we’ll raise the standards for the whole community. This is a cause to which almost every person can be inspired to contribute. If St. Francis of Assisi was able to launch the Franciscan Order of the Catholic Church of helping lepers, at a time when there was no cure for leprosy and no disease was more feared, surely we can raise the funds we need to cure street dogs of mange, prevent cruelty, prevent rabies and stop dog overpopulation.
In the New Year let us realize that all living things have a right to peacefully exist, and without fear face each new day. We all can be part in breaking ranks and tradition. We can be instrumental in strengthening Animal Law Enforcement by not accepting any kind of animal abuse be it vivisection or simply the force feeding of ducks and geese to create the palate pleasing “foie gras.” We can stop the torture of small farm animals – which are often subjected to the pain and terror of being brutally skinned, immersed in scalding water, and dismembered while still fully conscious. We can contact the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and protest their classification of chickens, turkeys and rabbits as non-animals to avoid enforcement of the Federal Humane Slaughter Act. This law requires animals to be rendered unconscious before they are butchered. Perhaps you will remember when the USDA declared that ketchup was a vegetable. You can email Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture: Email: agsec@usda.gov and show your outrage at the well-established pattern of the word games the USDA is playing to avoid compliance with the Federal Laws.
Let us build a world where caring counts and let us reach across all species and recognize that animals can teach us a lesson in heroism, tolerance and peaceful co-existence: Case in hand…
“Baby Abandoned in Kenya.” Witnesses say, “A newborn baby abandoned in a Kenyan forest was saved by a stray dog that apparently carried her across a busy road and through a barbed wire fence to a shed where the infant was discovered nestled with a litter of puppies.” This was reported by the Associated Press and authenticated by the North Shore Animal League in Port Washington, NY.
How many times do we pass an animal in need and simply close our eyes and heart. Can we not learn from the stray in Kenya whose compassion transcended beyond her species when she rendered help when it was needed.
The Lakeside Spay & Neuter Ranch is not funded by any organization but we will render help when it is needed. Our only income is through fundraisers and your generosity.
Please go to our Adoption Page (Meet Our Dogs) and see the wonderful critters that are looking for a forever home. Thank You.
"We are always looking for volunteers to walk dogs, or just to spend time with them If interested please call 766-3813 If you don't want to walk dogs but would like to make sure that the food dishes are filled your donation can be dropped off at Handy Mail (Between Superlake and Mail Boxes etc.) Thank you"
http://www.LakesideSpayandNeuterCenter.com
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