You Can't Always Get What You Want

"More willow toys! What, no chocolate???"

Hell Hath No Fury Like A Rabbit Shorned

Nothing like getting the cold bunny butt when you've accidently clipped off one of their front claw/nails. In our defense, Cinnamon fidgetted just at the wrong moment; the next thing we knew there was blood and cries of guilt-ridden lamentation on our part as we whipped out some flour to stem the bleeding and dabbed on some antiseptic cream. (Of course, Cinnamon also received extra treats--victim's compensation.) We even gave her a shot of pain meds too since Cinnamon tends to stress out about the LEAST little issue. Now as I write this, she is snuggling with her mate, Woodstock, totally ignoring the human who had held her while her claws were getting clipped. Best I can tell, all is forgiven, but if two weeks pass and I haven't blogged here, then she very well may have had her revenge...: )

Book Review: Ninety-Five

Most people in America have never met a living cow or a pig, a chicken or a turkey. In No Voice Unheard's outstanding book NINETY-FIVE, through stunning photography and very moving stories, America can encounter the faces of animals normally perceived as mere food to be put on the table.

"Ninety-five" refers to the number of animals per year people on a vegan diet are estimated to save. Whether or not you accept that number, you will meet 95 of the millions of America's farmed animals in this powerful and moving book. These are 95 lucky souls who one way or another found themselves at animal sanctuaries around the country.


Take the rabbits, Farrah and Damien, for example. These poor animals were destined to be food until a kind person, horrified at that prospect, bought them, the rest of the litter and their mom from the marketplace and brought this fortunate rabbit family to an animal sanctuary. There is Julep the duckling, who had been rescued from a fois gras facility where she and other ducklings had been dumped into a trash can. And there is Peapod, a pig I happen to have met a couple of years ago at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary in Maryland--this poor "babe" had been a prize in a greased pig contest. The person who "won" him took him into a parking lot whereupon he began lobbing rocks at and beating him. A security guard's intervention brought Peapod through a rescue group eventually to Poplar Spring. I can personally attest to this pig's sweet nature--he was very small when we met him and he came running to us when we called his name. I will never forget how he bounced off all the other pigs in the barn to get to us.

But then like the animals at these special homes,I'm lucky. I live close to an animal sanctuary so I can visit--and do every year--and spend time with turkeys and rabbits and pigs and sheep. NINETY-FIVE may be the closest most people will ever get to seeing the faces of these animals and bearing witness to their suffering. Each story, each photo, is rife with emotion and will stir your soul. How can you not be affected by the love story of Libby and Louie, a hen and a rooster who stood by each other's side through near-fatal illnesses? How about Linda and Tricia's story? Tricia is a blind dairy cow who came to the sanctuary in total distress and mourning because her calf had just been taken from her and sent to slaughter before she missed being sent to slaughter herself. When introduced to Linda, a disabled cow who had been living with the sanctuary's sheep and goats to avoid accidental injury by interacting with other cows, Tricia took to Linda right away, licking her new companion for hours. They are now inseparable companions, fulfilling each other's needs, just as we humans do in this crazy world of ours.

NINETY-FIVE is one of those rare books that you want to give to everyone. You can order it via Amazon.com, OR even better, you can order it directly from NO VOICE UNHEARD, the nonprofit organization who produced it (http://www.novoiceunheard.org/index.html NO VOICE UNHEARD offers a giving packages deal, where you can buy 5 copies of the book at a discounted rate. Nonprofit groups can also get in on some discounts as well. Their online bookshop reads, "Because our goal is to educate and inform, we want to make No Voice Unheard publications as accessible as possible. We have set cover prices lower than similar quality books produced by commercial publishers. By ordering directly from No Voice Unheard you are helping to support ongoing outreach efforts."

Get a copy, everyone. Do it for you but mostly do it for Goosifer the goose, Swoozie the goat, Aunt Bea the bunny, Rhubarb the rooster, and all the lucky farmed animals who survived a horrible fate. Perhaps you will find you will want to help make millions of other farmed animals lucky too.

The Compassion of Animals

The first thing you need to know about my rabbit Cocoa is that, like most rabbits, he only tolerates being held--they really don't like it at all. We have worked out a system in how he indicates he wants to be put down (actually he worked it out, what choice did this poor human have but to acquiese??). When he is ready to be free, he nibbles on your shirt. You must be quick on the uptake in his signals, otherwise your shirt will go instantly from the outdoor clothing category to the "I-will-just-wear-this-around-the-house" pile. Only if you are lucky will he sit still for you for five minutes.

The other night I was having an extremely bad hare day (sorry, can't resist a good pun). It was so bad that I had the need to hold and cry on a rabbit. Cocoa, always so amenable to cuddles on the floor, allowed me to pick him up. I sat on my living room steps with him in my arms and wept all over his back, sobbing apologies all the while as his fur got wet. I knew any minute he would stir and move to take a bite out of my shirt. Weep, weep, weep. Still he didn't stir; he sat patiently as I stroked his sides and kissed his head and poured out all my frustrations to his long loppy ears. Minutes ticked by. Still, he made no indications he wanted to leave. And then, as I leaned my cheek against his back, he began to softly purr! I was astounded. He certainly wasn't responding to my lame little finger strokes or my holding him to my chest. His purring seemed more like a conversation with me, as if he were somehow communicating to me that all would be okay, just as I have told him so many times in the past, when I have held him when he was sick. You'll be okay, I remember whispering to him back in 2004, as we rushed across town in the middle of the night to an emergency vet. Cocoa in my arms then was chattering his teeth, his body temperature was not good, and we of course were bracing ourselves for the worst.

Here we are, six years later, and this time Cocoa in his way was doing the same thing, reassuring, comforting, consoling me in the only way he knew how. Do you know, he let me hold him for fifteen minutes? He NEVER fidgeted. He waited till I was calm again and ready to release him. And I did feel so much better because I had felt to the very core of my being that special connection, our BOND. Cocoa has always been a sweet, good-natured rabbit, but on this night, a new profound appreciation for his compassion stirred my soul. I wish every person could truly know an animal, be they rabbit, cat, dog, guinea pig, etc. and they could experience as I have the compassion that lies within them. I have said it again and again--humans can learn so much from their fellow species--if they could just stop long enough and pay attention enough to get to know them.

Just let us be

It seems that's all my Ghirardelli and Willow want these days. Until today, they have stayed camped inside their huge bunny condo, refusing to come out to play in the rest of the third floor of my townhouse. Willow, the one-eyed fawn colored girl, is extremely jealous and doesn't appreciate it when I approach her handsome mate, Ghiri. She has been rather nippy of late, especially at me--my husband, on the other hand, can do no wrong with her. Mmmm...what could THAT mean? : )

Everyone should go to an animal rights conference

You don't need to be a card-carrying vegan or activist to come to an animal rights conference. In fact, I love seeing NEW people, the "mainstream" folk, as it were, coming in to stop at the tables and exhibits and ask lots of questions. Knowledge is power and I love seeing people willing to seek it out, however painful it may be.
No one ever wants to just preach to the choir--animal rights activists want what we already know to get out to more and more people because once you learn what we know, the only place to go is up toward enlightenment and action. I learn new things at each conference I go to, even when I think I have seen it all. Every conference is a precious, emotional and inspiring experience.

At the 2010 Animal Rights Conference sponsored by FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movement-http://www.farmusa.org/) last weekend, a young woman came up to the RabbitWise table which I helped man. As she looked at the photos of white rabbits being skinned alive for their fur, her eyes welled with tears. I asked her already knowing the answer if this was her first conference--she said yes. She further indicated that she knew alot already about the gruesome exploitation of animals, that she had done so much research ahead of time and yet to see the images of animals being tortured for commercial purposes brought a whole new dimension to her experience. The important part is, she looked ANYWAY even with all her knowledge gathered beforehand. It is one thing to read about animals in pain--quite another to stare it in the face.

This is what we all must do, dare to look. Get out of your comfort zone--wake up to what is going on around you. See the suffering that most of us have at one time contributed to either by eating and wearing animals or buying products by companies who have used animals in their testing. Seeing is the first step to change, to make a real difference in alleviating the suffering so many of our fellow earthlings endure. There are many of us out there who will stand by you as you look, help you through the angst of realizing what you have participated in all these years and lead you to better happier choices. Please join those of us already in the know to make the world a happier healthier place for ALL the earth's inhabitants. You can only feel BETTER about yourself by doing so.

For better or for worse

My oldest couple, Ruby the white Rex, and her mate Cocoa, who recently underwent surgery for a lump on his face. While she seems to perceive the antiinfection cream in the "hole" in his face as Twinkie filling and laps at it accordingly, she has also been seen kissing his face and grooming his ears, when she thinks we aren't looking. They are truly in this relationship for better or for worse. Human beings should be as loving in their relationships as well, but so often we forget, and we take our mates for granted. Just one more lesson we can learn from our beloved lagomorphs.

The Hoppy Vegan