Regarding Animals

Animals have voices: they speak. Some sing, others whinny; whales produce sounds so inaudible to the human ear that only other whales — sometimes 500 miles away — can hear them. Animals talk…

Of Violence and Popcorn

The release of several major motion pictures has given me serious pause for reflection. They’re not movies I’d generally pay to see, but they reflect blatant and hidden messages representative of our times, the times we, as activists, are creating…

Reflections on the Normal Majority

I’m at the brunt of activists’ wrath sometimes myself. “Is that leather?” someone will ask, fondling my shoe. And even I get righteously indignant. “Leather? Do you have to ask?” They do. They’re relentless — excuse me, rabid…

In the Saying Goodbye

Most of my work has been about images. Pictures with words. That’s where I seem to do my best, for some reason (I guess because I figure a picture says so much). Images. A man wielding a club over the head of an infant seal — that’s a powerful image. It needs no words…

Fearing for Your Sanity

Animal rights is the single greatest calling facing the human race. Our movement tackles nearly every aspect of so-called civilized society — and consists of human beings, not animals. And there are billions of them, weaved so firmly into our daily fabric we ourselves who care about them don’t often see them…

I’m a Believer

I saw God today. And not being a believer in any traditional God, that says a lot. But I did see God today. I had joined the director of the Wild Horse Sanctuary this past weekend on long, seemingly endless and barren desert highways in Arizona…

Taking Inventory

A vacation in Washington, D.C., is paradise for me. I know, there are other, more romantic, places in the world to go: Venice, Bali, the Bahamas. But I’m a D.C. fan. Having lived in other countries as a child…

Hopeless Romantics

I called him “Dusty” because he was found among the debris in a slaughterhouse yard, so weak from starvation and disease, he could barely stand without locking his hindlegs together for balance…

Hoof-free Marshmallows: Life Imitates Art

“Genuine synthetic leather.” Honest, that’s what it said, engraved neatly on the inside of a plastic fashion belt. Times are a-changing….Recently, however, while at an animal rights conference, I happened to glance across to the neighboring table and spied–you guessed it–bags of marshmallows for sale! …

The Change

She nodded suredly. “All animals dream,” she said. “And they are afraid of nightmares, too.” And those were the facts as she saw them. Five years old and she believed animals dream, that they have feelings, much like the feelings she herself has…

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