Advocacy Revisited

I mentioned in an earlier post that I do what I can at present to advocate for various causes, but mostly for animal rights and such.  Some days are just tough to keep going and not give up.

I get news articles about things people do to their pets (or other people’s pets) and to wild animals as well.  I also see so many pets that need to be adopted or they will be euthanized.  It’s heart-wrenching.

Their are neglect cases all over the place.  Animals are cut, shot, beaten, abducted and then beaten, shot, and or cut, stolen to be sold, and on and on.  And, of course, there is dog fighting.

But, again, it’s not just the domestic animals that suffer.  One thing I came across is a tradition in a town in Carolina (I forget if it was North or South) in which a possum is caught and tortured as part of their New Year’s Ceremony every year.

I’ve signed petitions that are sent to colleges demanding they stop performing experiments and surgical training on living animals that are not injured in any way, but being injured as part of training people.  40 beagles were recently rescued from a lab that experimented on them.

And some of the pets aren’t abused or neglected, but simply couldn’t be cared for by older owners or owners that moved or fell on financially difficult times.

I sometimes see the amount of animals needing help and the thought occurs that I’ll never save them all, and I’m not likely do anything to help that great a number of them.  There are so many.  And I lose any hope for the human race to move past these behaviors.  How do you save the greatest number of those needing help and enlighten those who refuse enlightenment?

But then guilt seeps in, and I have to resume the effort.  I started getting involved in all of this a few months ago, and I need to continue in the new year.  If I have a resolution, it’s to keep it up while giving a great life to my own pet.


I have  spent a lot of time on Facebook doing various “advocacy” things.  There are pages for The Animal Rescue Site, and other things I’ve come across along the way which will send me posts to sign various petitions, such as blasting Obama for okaying the sale of horse meat (yes, for consumption), protecting wolves from being hunted by helicopter, boycotting Chicken of the Sea for fishing practices that also ensnare rays, dolphins, turtles and other creatures, cracking down on puppy mills and dog fighting.  I also get a lot of these via email.

I am obviously for the animals, and would love to do so much more than sign petitions, but limited time and extremely limited money prevent this.  I am doing what I have the ability to do at present.  If you’re supposed to “be the change you want to see in the world”, this is my way of performing that task.

The one that has me using the most time is Pet Pardons on Facebook.  I don’t know how, but they get profiles of domestic animals in kill shelters which you can click on and “advocate” for their stay of execution.  Going pet by pet can definitely consume the afternoon, but when the posts come that an animal was spared, it’s just wonderful.  The down side is that, in order to accept my “advocacy” for any given animal, I have to agree to have Facebook post each profile I’ve clicked on, which I’m sure is annoying for my friends.  But the goal is to have everybody who might be willing to respond to do so.

Oh, I just remembered another petition I’ve signed: to stop the use of inhumane gassing chambers when shelters do end the animals’ lives.  They basically suffocate.  It’s terrible, and costly.

I don’t only sign things for animals, though, the first human-based thing that comes to mind is signing a petition to allow the continued access to birth control for lower-income women.  I don’t want to get into religion or other political or moral aspects surrounding such things, but accessible birth control should help us as a race avoid over-population, crowded orphanages and foster homes, children whose needs aren’t met, and landing people in the position of considering abortion, which I’m not getting into.  I’m just saying we can help it not get to that stage.

A lot of the time, especially with the animal activism, it’s hard to continue because there is just so much need out there.  It gets overwhelming.  I have made a lot of progress this year as a person, and I think doing this helps me to continue in this fashion as well as helping make change in the world (hopefully).