Letter to the Editor
WESTCHESTER RISING
We are awestruck and deeply grateful for the eloquent, poignant article, Animals are People too by Eric Wolf Schoen.
The internet and particularly Youtube has shown the world the sentience, the true depth of emotion and intelligence of animals…and also the horrifying, mindboggling cruelty we casually bestow upon them in the name of greed and ignorance, because its so easy to hide and no one’s checking: In horse racing, puppy mills, zoos, rodeos, factory farms, laboratories, sport hunting and even to their own homes and habitats, which we destroy by the second; avoiding also the fact that animals and nature are proven to be beneficial to human health – much less the fact that they have a right to live on this earth too.
The animals and nature are part of our life, not something alien; indeed they were here before anyone else. Along with children and the elderly, animals are the most victimized in society. But there is room in our hearts for the care of both human and non-human animals. Animal advocacy is one of the most agonizing and spirit-crushing…perhaps the most difficult such effort in the world. We see nightmare images that seem unstoppable; then the thoughtful, considerate words of Mr Schoen remind us that in 2023 there is hope.
Kiley Blackman, founder,.Animal Defenders of Westchester, www.ADOW.org