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The BBC News Web site reports, “Pammie strips off for Peta in Stella McCartney’s shop window. She disses Beyonce and J-Lo for wearing fur: ‘They’re such beautiful women I wish they would be more of a role model for young girls… it’s so unglamorous. It’s stupid.'”
Pammie, dear, have you looked in the mirror lately?
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No dog was ever turned away. As Kate’s activities became known, people increasingly left dogs on her doorstep, sometimes in shopping bags or tied to her front door knob. Some dogs were left with her “just for a week” but no one returned to claim them. Other people left their dogs with her permanently because they could no longer look after them. The police also brought her dogs. Mysteriously and miraculously, some dogs found their way to her. Kate’s meager state pension did not adequately meet the costs of feeding and caring for so many dogs. She began to receive donations as she became known. Television film crews often reported on “Camberley Kate.” Even Lord Snowden, Princess Margaret’s husband who later became an acclaimed photographer, made a film about her. Although she became famous, her dogs always came first. Kate also spoke of a “gentleman” who helped to pay her expenses. She deposited into a trust any unused donations as she did not want to personally benefit from the dogs in her care. A local veterinarian, Geoffrey Craddock, regularly visited Kate from 1954 until her death in 1979 aged 84. “All the dogs were incredibly healthy and they lived to a ripe old age. She had great humor, great character, and great determination. I shall miss her very much indeed,” he said. Camberley’s Baptist minister, Reverend Christopher Russell, told the local newspaper, The Camberley News, on Kate’s death that she “was an incredibly generous person on the quiet – she just gave and gave and gave to hospitals, charities, and churches.” Despite rumors to the contrary, Kate was not a wealthy woman. “She just gave away every penny she had,” said Reverend Russell. She left her home and bank account to her remaining seven dogs who lived in nearby kennels at the time of her death.
“Camberley Kate” had her detractors. They complained about the number of dogs she cared for and how she lived. Her eccentric behavior did not help. She reportedly confronted people taking her photograph because she had her own postcards to sell. There were also allegations of her ramming the wooden cart into cars that blocked her way.
My parents always let me and my sister, Wendy, watch “Camberley Kate” and her dogs make their way against the one-way traffic along the High Street. I do not recall them saying very much about her. We were always encouraged to be kind to animals. Mother wanted to work with animals but never had the opportunity. Father brought home, Tinkerbell, a small grey kitten quite soon after I was born. Her passing was my first exposure to life’s play with death. Today, I’m proud to say that Wendy is a vegetarian of many years standing.
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From looking back on my life and my contribution to animal protection, I developed my personal creed of what I believe are the core values of animal advocacy: Truth, Compassion, Nonviolence (Ahimsa) and Interbeing – the interrelatedness of all.
These core values are the foundation of how I think, feel, speak and act for a peaceful and compassionate world. They are the foundation to my understanding of animal protection.
Truth
Inasmuch that I know from my own experience humans have the capacity to think, experience emotions and feel pain and suffer, I logically conclude that animals must be also equally capable because fundamentally there is no difference physiologically and behaviorally between us. I believe human rights and animal protection are absolute truths and reject the argument that there is a competition between them with the former trumping the latter. I believe human rights and animal protection are moral truths that are inextricably interwoven. One cannot be achieved without the other.
Compassion
I believe our ability to fully understand and share another’s feelings is our single greatest attribute. Compassion empowers us to connect with others. When we feel compassion for others, we are empowered to see into their world and inspired to act on their behalf.
Nonviolence (Ahimsa)
I believe violence is immoral whomever or whatever the target. Violence results in more violence. In order to stop violence to people, animals and the earth, we must be first at peace with ourselves. The power to build a peaceful and compassionate world starts with our ability to be at peace with ourselves. This starts with an understanding of Ahimsa, which Mahatma Gandhi describes as the “only true force in life.”
Interbeing
I believe everything is interrelated. It is therefore important to understand to the best of our ability our actions have consequences often beyond our knowledge and comprehension. Consequently, I believe my thoughts, speech, writings and actions must be based on my life-long quest for an understanding of truth, an uncompromising commitment to nonviolence and a compassionate heart. The concept of interbeing was originally developed by Thich Nhat Hahn, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk who teaches a socially engaged form of Buddhism.
It has taken me decades of activism and thinking to develop and understand my core values of animal protection.
Questions about our frequently cruel behavior toward animals go to the heart of our humanity (or the lack of it). No one is completely innocent of animal cruelty and exploitation. Our relationship with animals is contradictory and complex. We call some animals “pets” and others “dinner.” This confusion is reflected in our inability to coexist compassionately with others irrespective of species. Human history is replete with violence, rape, murder, war, cruelty and environmental devastation – and our often instrumental use of animals to commit these acts. But we can be equally capable of great acts of humanity toward others, including animals. I believe acts of humanity happen when we intuitively know the truth, when we are grounded in nonviolence, motivated by compassion and connected to the world by a strong sense of interbeing.
Questions about what it means to be human and what constitutes humanity have been asked ever since our ancestors began to think about the world they lived in and tried to make sense of it. I am not the first (or the last) to dwell on this complex issue. But we must at least try to understand – however inadequately – why animal cruelty and exploitation occur. Otherwise, how can we realistically expect to build a peaceful and compassionate world?
We live in a world that is simultaneously simple and complex, small and large, finite and eternal. It is important that all of us who want to make a difference for animals understand how we live impacts the lives of others.
Our only alternative is to view the world through the prism of what is the opposite of the four core values of animal protection: lies, hatred, violence and alienation. Indeed, these are the values of the pro-animal-use-economic-interest groups claim that this is the message of the animal protection movement. Their mission is to convince the public that our actions for animals are motivated by lies, hate, and violence and that we are alienated from society. True, there are a very small number of activists whose actions invoke these negative values but they do not help to make a peaceful and compassionate world.
With so much animal suffering in the world and the seeming indifference of most people, it is easy for those of us who care about animals to lose hope and confidence that we can make a difference. The misery of misanthropy is tempting for many who grieve over our inhumanity to animals. The four core values of animal protection shows us, however, that it is possible to develop a long-term strategy that will achieve fundamental, institutional, permanent and positive change. Ultimately, we are answerable to no one but ourselves. “Be the change you want to see in the world,” said Gandhi. We may not be able to save the world. But we can save our own individual worlds when we lead by example when we speak the truth, act peacefully and with compassion.
The BBC correctly asks “How did the anti-whalers lose?”
It seems that anti-whaling nations and pro-whale non-governmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide stood by as Japan recruited other nations to join the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Their objective? To stack the votes in favor of whaling. The last time the Grumpy Vegan looked such countries as Morocco and Cambodia had no interests in whaling. But why are they voting in support of the return of commercial whaling? Answer: The Yen. Lots of it.
While the whales are relatively safe – notwithstanding Papastavrou’s prescient remark – IWC member nations who support commercial whaling do not make up the 75 percent that’s needed to overturn the ban. It’s doubtful that this will be ever the case. But, in the meantime, we’re responsible for making sure that pro-whale NGOs increase their effectiveness in mobilizing public opinion and demand more from our national governments to keep commercial whaling outlawed.
We thought the world’s whales had some protection. We thought the Canadian seal kill was in decline. It’s clear. National pride and financial gain will always trump the lives of animals.
In his autobiography Transplant, U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, while in medical school, admits to adopting cats from shelters, living with them as companions, and then using them in his research experiments. In all fairness, it must be pointed out that Frist describes this behavior as a “heinous and dishonest thing to do.”
This victory — and others I’m writing about which are such good examples of (stage two) public policy in my five stage analysis — shows how the animal protection movement is poised to move into the third stage: legislation.
The single greatest challenge we face is making animal protection movement a mainstream political issue.
The next decision to be made after Safeway’s and Whole Foods Market’s is for state assemblies to legislate against keeping live lobsters for sale.
