“The message we are getting is that if we don’t take care of nature, it will take care of us.” —Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, deputy executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme
PJ: Our treatment of animals is linked to key crises affecting us today like pandemics and epidemics, climate catastrophe and pollution, antibiotic resistance and other threats to public health, and even violent crime. We too are animals.
Today, ethologists confirm many resemblances between humans and animals, from whales to even invertebrate creatures like bees. They describe these and other animals as sentient, intelligent beings who express emotional states.
The Animal Agriculture Alliance has concluded the release of reports from four prominent animal rights extremist conferences held throughout 2023.
The conferences included: Direct Action Everywhere’s Animal Liberation Conference (ALC) (held June 9-14), The Animal and Vegan Advocacy Summit (held July 27-30), Humane Society of the United States’ Taking Action for Animals (TAFA) Conference (held August 5-6), and Animal Legal Defense Fund’s Animal Law Conference (held October 20-22). The Alliance also released a report from The Reducetarian Summit (held October 27-29).
Our team of fabulous women staff is growing! We currently have 35 incredible women employed in Animal Aid who are essential in making Animal Aid the love-filled place that it is.
Many of our women employees come from rural backgrounds and traditional families where it’s not always encouraged for women to work outside of the house. Indeed, in our early years when we only had male employees we had almost no applications from women. But one by one as women joined, they helped encourage others to do the same. Many of our female staff have overcome many obstacles and are the sole bread-winners of the family, and working at Animal Aid gives them independence. They excel at their jobs here because they understand nurturing from having cared for their own children, and they understand how to get a job done from having managed their households.
Thank you, supporters, for not only saving animals, but also giving employment that has improved so many human lives.
Daffodil was a wilting flower. When she healed from mange, she bloomed.Daffodil was a wilting flower. When she healed from mange, she bloomed.
Daffodil’s red encrusted face looked almost like burn scars from a distance. But once we got closer we could see that her face, throat, chest and arms were fiery red because of an extremely ravaging case of mange. She could barely open her eyes, because the parasites had advanced to her eyelids, and she seemed to be wearing a mask of pure pain. She wouldn’t survive much longer without treatment. We took no chances of her getting away from us and caught her using the net.
But by the time we gently lifted her to the treatment table her exhaustion made her completely docile. She could barely stand. We immediately treated her for pain, and applied soothing cream over all the hurting skin, and then gave her a few hours in the sunshine to rest and adjust to her new surroundings. We treated her with mange medicine including weekly medicated baths. She was an extremely shy girl–at first! But watch this transformation to withdrawn and afraid, to falling in love, beaming in joy. Completely pain-free and all healed, meet delightful Daffodil now!
When he healed, this boy became the world’s sweetest Saber-Toothed Tiger!
When Saber emerged from his hiding place under a car, our rescue team gasped. This beautiful old street dog’s lower jaw at first seemed simply–gone. The skin was entirely detached in a tangled confusion of flesh and maggots. We lifted him gently and hurried back to Animal Aid where our team began assessing his horrible maggot-filled wound. We were extremely worried that the wound could never heal, but he had such a fighting spirit, we knew we had to try.We were surprised and so relieved that his appetite was incredible, and his courage to eat despite the pain humbled our hearts.
This frightful beginning turns into one of THE HAPPIEST endings–or should we say, new beginnings! Meet Saber now, and check out the single tooth on his jaw–you’ll know why we named him Saber. It’s short for Saber-Toothed Tiger!
Courage can best be measured in relation to someone’s fear. This dog had good reason to be afraid, and he showed incredible bravery after a forehead wound became a massive hole filled with life-threatening maggots.
He didn’t give up, although we had to see through his shyness to fully grasp his strength. Melvin remained shy throughout his 6 healing weeks, but the gradual emergence of his smile told us the story in his heart.
Rita (Germany) is travelling with an appetite for the unexpected and spontaneous. We were so all so lucky that when she “stopped in” at Animal Aid to experience volunteering here, she found such a sweet fit that she gave the animals almost two months of the most loving care. We were thrilled to see Rita transform into an Animal Aid “regular” and eagerly await her return.
Stefanie (Germany) has volunteered numerous times over the last 8 years. She returned last month and warmed the hearts of everyone here–such a gentle soul with unbelievable patience, focus, and caring for animals and the people who care for them. We feel so lucky to have amazing Stefanie in the lives of so many dear animals.
Jen (USA) has been a delightful multi-time addition to our volunteer crew, and took time off from her job as an EMT helicopter pilot to swoop down to help the animals once again. We thank Jen for her unwavering good cheer, her deep sensitivity to what animals need one by one, and for brightening all our lives every day she was with us.
Rachel (UK) has graced these newsletter pages several times before; she is a mainstay among our volunteers and can be easily mistaken for staff, given her growing knowledge of our systems here, her charisma with newcomers, and the loving help she lavishes on animals and all the people here.
…Just cuz!
It’s always a great reason to buy a gift
for a friend, or for yourself!
Cuz your purchase here is always a gift of love for the animals.
100% of the proceeds go to our street animal rescues.
Breaking – Animal Rights Advocate Benjamin Zephaniah dies
A very bad day for animal rights
He was diagnosed with a brain tumour eight weeks ago, a post on his Instagram page said, describing him as a “true pioneer and innovator” who “gave the world so much”.
We try to avoid using the word “miracle” in our newsletter and social media posts, even though there are plenty of times when we’re tempted to use it–when we thought a cut was too deep, the cancer too advanced, the damage from maggots too pervasive for the animal to heal. But we usually choose not to say “her healing was a miracle” because we feel it discounts all the effort and hundreds of combined hours of human help that make the healing possible. But yet, there is something more than the sum of its parts, taking place in the relationships that make everyone coming together to help animals a family, a team, a group of friends, whose affection is sealed by our shared love of animals.
And now we want to use that very word: the miracle of friendship. There is an unspoken understanding between all who care for animals, many who have sometimes been deeply misunderstood. Your love, our love of animals, is not casual. It hovers within us at all times. An animal’s smile turns our hearts to mush; the abuse of an animal astonishes and ignites us. These are what forge this miracle of friendship we experience together.
May all the blessings of peace rain down upon us all as we continue rescuing these vulnerable animals from injuries, illnesses, and abuse, and may our hearts, too, find deep happiness in their recoveries. Thank you for your gifts of help, and for your gifts of friendship to Animal Aid and to the thousands of others weaving this beautiful blanket of compassion.
A mere rubber band almost ended Chicky’s life.
We were stunned to see that a rubber band could so horribly injure this puppy’s neck. The rubber band penetrated deep into the tissue and caused a horribly painful and deep wound.
As soon as we had Chicky on the treatment table of course we cut the rubber band off, and although the removal stung a bit, we suspect that relief was almost immediate. We then treated the wound like any other serious laceration, and supported her with antibiotics, a hydration drip, food and–yup, cuddles! It took her a couple of weeks to no longer need the bandage, but we were thrilled at how quickly her little body healed.
Turned out, to no one’s surprise, that Chicky is a huge love bug, eager to forget her weeks of pain, ready to leap into a long happy life ahead.
Help us say “We can fix this!” – make a donation today for street animal rescue.
Pihu’s sparkling eyes say “I survived cancer!”
If you’d just looked at Pihu’s eyes, you wouldn’t know she was dying. But the advanced cancerous tumor on her backside was slowly taking this beautiful street dog’s life. The cancer type is called a Transmissible Venereal Tumor, (TVT) and it usually affects the reproductive areas.
A several months’ course of weekly chemotherapy was necessary to shrink the tumor. But such therapy is not always successful, and the more advanced the tumor is, the more difficult the recovery. If a dog’s overall condition has been greatly weakened by the cancer, he or she cannot always be saved. But Pihu is as strong as she is sweet, and she inspires love to last a lifetime–and hers, we hope, will be a long one.
For the ones who need so much more than just medicine to recover – Make a donation today.
Haldi’s tail thumped in hope, just when her life was in gravest danger…
Beyond Haldi’s huge neck wound, her tail wagged, as if pleading for help. When our rescue team arrived, we found her unbelievably gentle despite her terrible pain. She would need surgery as soon as possible, so once back in our hospital we cleaned and put on a temporary bandage at the site of the worst of her wounds (she also had a less serious wound on her hind leg).
Once the operation was complete, Haldi’s rapid healing simply galloped along. And Haldi made her wound dressings a breeze, she was just so full of trust and love. All healed, meet the strong, radiant Haldi now!
When surgery is their only hope, let’s be there. Please donate.
…These are a few of your fav-o-rite things….
Your purchase is a gift to your friends, yourself, and best of all, to animals.
100% of the proceeds go to our street animal rescues.
Born in Kent to Irish parents on Christmas Day 1957, MacGowan in his autobiography described early childhood summers spent at an Irish farmhouse with his family, drinking, smoking and singing traditional songs.
‘It was like living in a pub,’ he told the Guardian in 2013.
After winning a scholarship to the prestigious Westminster School in London, MacGowan struggled to fit in and was expelled two years later for drug use and started hanging out in London bars with other musicians.
In the old office I used to get a wild fox come through the door, up the stairs and sit next to me in the office while I worked. We just chilled out and when he was ready, he went back downstairs and returned to the wild. My anti hunt advisor !!!
World Animals Voice 