Action Line Fall 2015

FALL 2015

ACTION LINE

VEGAN ATHLETES FOR THE LOVE OF DOG BISCUITS CHRISTO CROSSES THE LINE LOVE AT FIRST MEOW

THE PLANT POWER OF VEGAN ATHLETES

8 FEATURE

PLANT POWER

4 N EWS Victory Lap: The Latest News About FOA’s Advocacy 6 NEWS For the Love of Dog Biscuits

16 FEATURE Love at First Meow 20 FEATURE Christo Crosses the Line 24 IN DEFINING ALASKA

CONTACT US NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS 777 Post Road Darien, Connecticut 06820 (203) 656-1522 contact@friendsofanimals.org NEW YORK OFFICE 1841 Broadway, Suite 350 New York, NY 10023 (212) 247-8120 WESTERN OFFICE 7500 E. Arapahoe Rd., Ste 385 Cetennial, CO 80112 (720) 949-7791

26 BOOK REVIEW

The Vegan Pantry 30 FOA’s NEW PSA

Ruff Life 32 NEWS

FBI Upgrades Animal Cruelty 34

WHO WE ARE Friends of Animals is an international non-profit animal-advocacy organization, incorporated in the state of New York in 1957. FoA works to cultivate a respectful view of nonhuman animals, free-living and domestic. Our goal is to free animals from cruelty and institutionalized exploitation around the world.

LETTERS

35 CHEERS & JEERS 38 FOA MERCHANDISE

Cover and Feature Design:

by Brent Arnold Cover Photography:

by Luis Escobar

PRIMARILY PRIMATES SANCTUARY P.O. Box 207 San Antonio, TX 7891-02907 (830) 755-4616 office@primarilyprimates.org VISIT US www.friendsofanimals.org www.primarilyprimates.org

OUR TEAM PRESIDENT Priscilla Feral [CT] www.twitter.com/pferal www.twitter.com/primate_refuge feral@friendsofanimals.org VICE PRESIDENT Dianne Forthman [CT] dianne@friendsofanimals.org DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Robert Orabona [CT] admin@friendsofanimals.org DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Dustin Rhodes [NC] dustin@friendsofanimals.org ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT Donna Thigpen [CT] SECRETARY TO THE PRESIDENT Shelly Scott [CT] SPAY/NEUTER PROJECT Paula Santo [CT] CAMPAIGNS DIRECTOR Edita Birnkrant [NY] www.twitter.com/EditaFoANYC edita@friendsofanimals.org CORRESPONDENT Nicole Rivard [CT] nrivard@friendsofanimals.org SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Meghan McIntire [MA] www.twitter.com/FoAorg mmcintire@friendsofanimals.org

FOLLOW US facebook.com /friendsofanimals.org facebook.com /primarilyprimates.org

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MEMBERSHIP Annual membership includes a year’s subscription to Action Line. Students/Senior membership, $15; Annual membership, $25; International member, $35; Sustaining membership, $50; Sponsor, $100; Patron, $1,000. All contributions, bequests and gifts are fully tax-deductible in accordance with current laws.

DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC INITIATIVES Charlotte Min-Harris [CO] charlottemin-harris@friendsofanimals.org

REPRODUCTION No prior permission for the reproduction of materials from Action Line is required provided the content is not altered and due credit is given as follows: “Reprinted from Action Line, the Friends of Animals’ magazine, 777 Post Road, Darien, CT 06820.”

Action Line is a quarterly publication. Issue CLXVII Fall 2015 ISSN 107 2-2068

DIRECTOR, WILDLIFE LAW PROGRAM Michael Harris [CO] michaelharris@friendsofanimals.org

ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY Jenni Barnes [CO] jenniferbarnes@friendsofanimals.org ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Kaylee Dolan [CO] wlp-admin@friendsofanimals.org EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PRIMARILY PRIMATES Brooke Chavez [TX] brooke@primarilyprimates.org CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jane Seymour [NY] jane@friendsofanimals.org

Printed on Recycled Paper

BY PRISCILLA FERAL, PRESIDENT

IN MY VIEW IF FUR IS BACK, THEN HOW COME NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT IT? During Fashion Week 2008, when high-end designers such as Charlotte Ronson joined a list of almost two dozen other fur-free labels such as Betsey Johnson, Marc Bouwer, Ralph Lauren, Nicole Miller, Calvin Klein and Stella McCartney, fashion columnists saw a fur-free campaign bandwagon afloat. “Using fur in 2008 just isn’t cool or modern,” New York-based Ronson cooed.

In July of 2015, Fendi hosted “haute fourrure,” the first fur-only extravaganza by a major design label during the Paris haute couture shows. It coincided with Karl Lagerfelds 50-year anniversary with the brand. These days Lagerfeld makes keychains out of real fur, but 20 years ago, opposition to using real fur fueled the fake fur trends—fabrics made of acrylic or other synthetic fibers, and Lagerfeld was persuaded to mix up fakes, real furs and fabric, sometimes in the same apparel. As fashion columnists noted, it was impossible to tell which was which. “It really doesn’t matter anymore,” Lagerfeld said.

“Real furs often look like fakes.”

And that is the crux of the problem. The fur industry is literally banking on consumers to buy dead animal skins or anything that resembles them, so that fur in general stays relevant, rather than unnecessary, indulgent and an affront to non-human animals. The industry wants designers to feel that in 2015, it is suddenly cool and modern to use fur.

Sadly, Stella McCartney has fallen right into the fur industry’s trap. No pun intended.

McCartney, who has been celebrated for shunning fur—real and fake—launched her #Winter15 collection of fake fur monstrosities, long-haired synthetic coats with a label “Fur Free Fur.” When asked, with vegan fashion on the rise, why she’d market a fake fur that looks like real fur, McCartney said something strange about speaking to younger women who don’t want real fur, “So I feel like maybe things have moved on, and it’s time, (to) use fabrics which look like fur, if we take them somewhere else.”

Cha-ching!

As FoA’s 24-year-old Meg McIntire said: “To the untrained eye (98 percent of society), who’s going to know if your Stella McCartney fur-ball studded sweater is real or fake? People will make assumptions and many will lean toward believing you’re wearing animal skin, which, regardless of your intentions, makes you a walking billboard for the fur industry.”

That’s not something McIntire believes young women her age are striving for.

Since real fur can now be easily camouflaged in a vast sea of faux-fur, designers are hoping it will be less likely for them to be confronted for showing indifference to suffering fur-bearing animals. Interestingly, in the July 3 New York Times article, “Fur is Back in Fashion and Debate,” the reporter noted that the majority of designers who have made fur a runway star again don’t want to talk about it.

He writes: “That’s the curious state of fur in 2015: So many people seem happy to sell it and show it, but nobody wants to talk about it.”

Which is music to our ears. Because that means underneath all the hype from the fur industry … it’s still not cool or modern to wear fur. And FoA would like to add that in 2015 it’s not cool to wear fake fur either.

Each winter FoA displays prominent billboard ads in the heart of the fur industry, New York City, to remind consumers that fur is a sick, blood-drenched business that murders animals with no moral justification. We’ll launch another fur campaign this winter, focusing on next-generation designers like 32-year-old Jason Wu, who opines that animal fur is an all-season fabric. His spring 2016 collection includes a pink fox fur powder-puff coat.

And it will address designers like McCartney— who we feel has betrayed the animal rights movement. She told The New York Times that her fake fur line looks great and is consistent with her philosophy on luxury and cruelty-free fashion. Wrong on both accounts, Stella.

When it looks, feels and sells at the same price as real fur, there isn’t a philosophy at work that spares foxes or anyone else with a beautiful skin to steal.

Fall 2015 | 3

VICTORY LAP

BY NICOLE RIVARD

USFWS considers ESA listing for Egyptian tortoise, long-tailed chinchilla

can still be found in Libya and in parts of the Negev Desert in Israel.

Friends of Animals (FoA) received a positive 90-day finding on its petition to list the Egyptian tortoise under the Endangered Species Act We have some big news for the small (ESA). This means the U.S. Fish and Egyptian tortoise, the second small- Wildlife Service found FoA’s petition est species of tortoise, which is be- presents substantial scientific or lieved to be extinct within Egypt but commercial information indicating

4 | Friends of Animals

that the ESA listing may be warranted, so it will conduct its own status review. An ESA listing would prohibit the sale, purchase and transport of the species in the United States.

FoA also received a positive 90day finding on its petition to list the long-tailed chinchilla under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). An ESA listing would prohibit people from killing chinchillas in the wild or on fur farms or to sell their pelts.

Despite an Appendix I “threatened with extinction” listing by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, there has been consistent illegal trade in protected tortoises, and wild-caught individuals are exported under the guise of being bred in captivity. Urban development, tourist development, agricultural expansion and livestock overgrazing have already destroyed more than 86 percent of the tortoise’s historic range.

Hunting chinchillas for their pelts has caused the population in the wild to plummet to near extinction.

There are now more chinchillas held in captivity and killed for their pelts than there are in the wild. The legal commercialization of the animals may actually make matters worse for wild chinchillas. Laundering offers a vehicle to use illegal supplies to satisfy excess demand among legal consumers. Also the availability of legally harvested species may confuse customers by sending a signal this specie is no longer endangered.

THE LATEST NEWS ABOUT FOA’S ADVOCACY AND ACHIEVEMENTS Other human activities such as cattle and goat grazing, mining and local firewood collection are destroying the species’ habitat. Chinchilla are also captured to be sold as pets and exploited as research subjects. They have been used as models for the study of hearing because they respond to pure tones and they have the same middle-ear anatomy and nervous system connections as humans.

FoA files legal petition to cancel registration of wild horse fertility control pesticide PZP In May Friends of Animals (FoA) filed a legal petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requesting the agency consider new scientific evidence demonstrating the need to cancel the registration of porcine zona pellucida (PZP) for population control of America’s wild horses and burros, which was issued to the Humane Society of the United States in 2012. Information is now available to the EPA regarding the unintended— and previously undisclosed—side effects on both targeted mares and wild horses in general. It not only shows unreasonable adverse effects, but also indicates the use of PZP on wild horses likely violates the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971.

“When the HSUS obtained ESA registration for PZP, the organization

never provided evidence that PZP doesn’t have negative side effects…it just provided information about the efficacy of PZP and actually requested waivers for most of the studies ordinarily required from an applicant seeking pesticide registration—including a toxicity study, ecological effects and environmental fate guideline study,” said Michael Harris, director of FoA’s Wildlife Law Program.

“The majority of research submitted by HSUS was published by Dr. Jay Kirkpatrick, a veterinarian who manufactures PZP, and did not consider the biological, social and behavioral effects the drug can have on wild horses.”

Recent research has demonstrated repeated applications of PZP can cause physical damage to treated mares; it is not completely reversible; it can increase mortality in foals postPZP effectiveness; and it interferes with herd cohesion, which is critical to the overall health of wild horses. In addition, preventing mares from producing foals can create a genetic bottleneck that may ultimately extinguish the species as a whole.

With the passing of the Wild Horse and Burro Act (WHBA) of 1971, Congress declared that “wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment or death. FoA is adamant that new studies indicate that PZP use is harassing, and even killing, wild horses in ways not considered as part of the initial registration process. While the WHBA provides for an exception from general mandates to protect wild horses to control their populations, this exception is both narrow (the animal must be deemed “excess”) and can only be applied if the implementing agency first completes certain statutory requirements.

“It may be that with regards to the decision to dose a particular mare, the implementing agencies can comply with the WHBA. However, the other horses in the herd that are not dosed with PZP as well as the unborn foals cannot be legally defined as “excessive” and, thus, the risk of harassment or death to these animals posed by PZP violates the WHBA,” said Harris.

RECENT RESEARCH HAS DEMONSTRATED REPEATED APPLICATIONS OF PZP CAN CAUSE PHYSICAL DAMAGE TO TREATED MARES; IT IS NOT COMPLETELY REVERSIBLE; IT CAN INCREASE MORTALITY IN FOALS POST-PZP EFFECTIVENESS; AND IT INTERFERES WITH HERD COHESION, WHICH IS CRITICAL TO THE OVERALL HEALTH OF WILD HORSES.

Fall 2015 | 5

FRIENDS OF ANIMALS’ LATEST COOKBOOK IS FOR THE FOUR-LEGGED MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY

BY NICOLE RIVARD

RECIPE FROM THE COOKBOOK

“Scary” is the word Priscilla Feral, president of FoA, uses to describe some commercial “crunchy” dog biscuits. That’s why as a food activist and author of two vegan cookbooks, she decided to write For the Love of Dog Biscuits—a cookbook that provides recipes for healthy, all natural, nutritional and delicious dog treats that won’t break the bank. With recipes

6 | Friends of Animals

made entirely from plant foods, dog owners can rest assured they are feeding their best friends safe treats suitable for their own palate.

The icing on the dog biscuit— they’ll be extending compassion to all animals.

The timing couldn’t be better.

According to new research from the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, 53 percent of dogs

in the United States were overweight in 2014. The study also found a significant “fat pet gap,” in which 95 percent of owners of overweight dogs incorrectly identified their pet as a normal weight.

According to the organization, the amount of calories in treats is a significant factor in the rise in pet obesity. To purchase a copy, visit fortheloveofdogbiscuits.com.

PUMPKIN-FLAXSEED BISCUITS Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Mix the flour, flaxseed meal, pumpkin, water, peanut butter and cinnamon in a bowl. Knead the dough until workable, but the dough should be somewhat dry and stiff. Roll the dough to a ¼” thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes and lay them 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheets.

2 1⁄2 cups whole wheat flour 2 Tbsp. Golden Flaxseed Meal 1⁄2 cup canned pumpkin 9 Tbsp. water 2 Tbsp. all natural peanut butter 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Bake at 350 degrees about 25 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool the cookies on a rack before serving. Store in airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.

MAKES APPROXIMATELY 18 3-INCH OR 4-INCH COOKIES

OUR RECIPE FOR

SEPTEMBER

8 | Friends of Animals

BY NICOLE RIVARD & MEG MCINTIRE PHOTOGRAPH BY LUIS ESCOBAR

PLANT POWER If you think vegans are frail, thin, weak and sickly, think again.

Vegan athletes are rising above the competition with their focus, stamina and endurance.

Fall 2015 | 9

ULTRARUNNER

SCOTT JUREK

Bill Bryson’s novel, A Walk in the Woods, was not exclusively about America’s 2,189-mile Appalachian Trail—it also emphasized the life-changing impact the AT can have on those who hike it.

Vegan ultrarunner Scott Jurek knows exactly what Bryson means.

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n July 12, 2015, Jurek became the fastest person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trial. Fueled by his plant-based diet, it took Jurek 46 days, eight hours and seven minutes to travel across 14 states from Georgia to Maine, beating the record by three hours and 13 minutes.

“Being able to break the record despite all the obstacles and challenges—it still kind of blows my mind that just when I think I don’t have enough strength or just when I think I can’t dig deeper, somehow I find that strength,” said Jurek, who grew up running through the wooded trails of Minnesota. “I think that’s a big take away for me. I have a greater appreciation of what we as humans have the capacity for, and also the potential we have. That’s what I learned and how I was changed. ” Just four days into his attempt, Jurek suffered severe knee pain and a subsequent quad strain. “You don’t go through a journey like that, 50 miles a day, without having self-doubt. You just have to get through it,” said Jurek, who has been able to strike a balance between being humble yet powerful throughout his career.

Jurek’s outstanding competitive résumé includes victories in nearly all of ultrarunning’s elite trail and road events, including the 153-mile Spartathlon in Greece and the Western

10 | Friends of Animals

States 100 Mile Endurance Run, which he won a record seven straight times.

He credits his plant-based diet for his superior endurance, recovery and overall health and believes everyone can run an ultra and access their body’s innate capacity to heal.

Jurek transitioned to a vegan diet for health reasons. “I grew up hunting and fishing…I was not the typical plant-based convert,” Jurek said. “But I saw chronic disease in my family. My mother had multiple sclerosis for 30 years before she passed away recently, and I was working at hospitals as a physical therapist. I was just seeing a lot of chronic disease around me and wanted to avoid it.”

Jurek was convinced that processed, low-quality food was keeping his physical therapy clients sick, so he decided to adopt a vegetarian diet in 1997 and a vegan diet by 1999. After that is when he notched his string of Western States 100 victories. He hadn’t thought much about the impact a plant-based diet would have on his athletic performance.

“But I lost extra body fat, my skin got healthier and I felt like I could

bounce back from hard workouts quicker,” Jurek explained. “I think the fact that I have had such a successful career for so many years—I’ve been doing this sport for 22 years now—I think that is where a vegan diet plays a huge role, long-term performance and recovery and just having a lightness and stamina”.

“It also provides a psychological advantage too because you know what’s going into your body. You know it’s going to perform better because the fuel you are putting into it….so I think that is a big advantage mentally.”

Addressing the protein question, Jurek says athletes do need enough amino acids to repair muscle, but getting enough calories is most important. “If you aren’t getting enough calories you are going to feel low energy.

I think the big misconception is that you need tons of protein, but in a lot of cases people should be asking themselves if they are getting enough calories,” Jurek said.

He had to pack in at least 6,000 calories a day while he was on the Appalachian Trail, so he sometimes ate vegan junk food like donuts and pizza.

Scott Jurek arrives at the summit of Maine’s Mount Katahdin on July 12, 2015, breaking the speed record for a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY LUIS ESCOBAR

“In doing a 46-day hike speed attempt, you are trying to get those calories however you can,” Jurek said.

“In regular training I’m able to eat great things like salads. But on the AT I might have had three salads the whole time. You are trying to pack in 6,000plus calories a day and you don’t have a lot of time to eat. I’d come in around midnight or 1 a.m. and I would have 20 minutes before I would have to get to sleep.”

Since Jurek and his wife only had so much room in their renovated van, they had to resupply for a plant-based diet as efficiently as possible. Jurek is grateful to the many people who ventured out to the trail to cheer, share some miles and bring him vegan food.

One family from Pennsylvania brought him fresh fruit and meat substitutes. “A way to get dense protein is to do a smoothie with protein powder. That was a big part of my breakfast calories,” he said. “During the evenings I would have a meat substitute with pasta or rice. I also had coconut Thai curry with tofu when I could.”

While eating on the AT was a bit of a challenge, getting to eat whatever plant-based meal he wanted—including coconut milk ice cream— was fun too. “That encompasses my approach with a vegan diet in general. People shouldn’t feel that they have to eat so pure all the time,” Jurek said. “You want to eat well, but I think the key thing is making the diet more accessible to people — making them realize they don’t have to eat twigs and berries and that a vegan diet is not a deprived diet. That’s what I’m about.”

Jurek is also all about inspiring people to get outside, enjoy and protect the wilderness, and he hopes completing the Appalachian Trail in record time did that. Jurek isn’t planning on running any other races in the near future, although he says there is a

“I THINK THE FACT THAT I HAVE HAD SUCH A SUCCESSFUL CAREER FOR SO MANY YEARS—I’VE BEEN DOING THIS SPORT FOR 22 YEARS NOW—I THINK THAT IS WHERE A VEGAN DIET PLAYS A HUGE ROLE, LONG-TERM PERFORMANCE AND RECOVERY AND JUST HAVING A LIGHTNESS AND STAMINA.” part of him that would like to reclaim the United States record for 24-hour distance on all surfaces. In the meantime, he wants to devote more time to advocating for a vegan diet at conferences, volunteering to do trail work and raising awareness for non-profits like Paradox Sports and Guiding Eyes for the Blind.

And of course he will continue preparing vegan delicacies in his kitchen, which he admits he missed during his journey along the AT.

“The weirdest thing about the AT was not having my kitchen,” Jurek said with a laugh. “I hadn’t cooked at all for two months because my wife Jenni did the cooking out there. I’m used to cooking all the time. My first night back, I made some tempeh with mushrooms and fresh veggies from a farmer’s market.”

SCOTT’S MEAL TO START THE DAY: A smoothie with protein powder, coconut milk, yogurt and bananas or a green power drink. Blend 2 bananas, 1 cup fresh mango or pineapple chunks, 4 cups water, 2 teaspoons spirulina powder and 1 teaspoon Miso until smooth.

Fall 2015 | 11

MEAGAN DUHAMEL

E

arlier this year, Olympic medalist Meagan Duhamel and her partner Eric Radford won Canada’s first world pairs figure skating title in 14 years, capping a perfect season.

But if you ask the world champion what accomplishment she is most proud of, she says it’s being vegan.

“It changed my whole life. It changed what I want to do with my life,” Duhamel said, explaining that she originally switched to a plantbased lifestyle to eat healthier, but now it’s more about not wanting to contribute to animal cruelty and exploitation.

While she has her sights set on the 2018 Winter Olympic Games—she

12 | Friends of Animals

won a team silver in Sochi in 2014— off the ice she would like to open an animal shelter with her husband, as well as a vegan café and perhaps even write a book for vegan athletes.

Duhamel, who was wearing vegan skates before she went vegan, says her a-ha moment to adopt a plantbased diet actually happened because a best-selling book that touts a vegan diet caught her eye at an airport back in 2008. She devoured it in one sitting, and rid her refrigerator of animal products the next day. She never looked back.

That’s why she sometimes gets frustrated by people who tell her it’s too difficult to be vegan. Everybody can make different choices, she says, like instead of driving to McDonald’s for a burger and a milkshake, stay home and make a salad with fresh vegetables and a fruit smoothie.

“We are lucky to live in North America, a part of the world where we have the freedom to choose anything we want to eat,” Duhamel said.

Duhamel believes her choice to be vegan has boosted her athleticism and skating.

“I can focus and concentrate for longer periods of time since I started

eating a clean, whole food plant-based diet. That’s important because pair skating can be dangerous,” explains Duhamel, who performs a quadruple throw Salchow with Sanford in their long program. “Our training sessions go for one hour at a time. And we do three or four a day.”

Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford won gold at the 2015 World Championships.

Duhamel also has more energy and doesn’t hit a wall after her skating sessions, which are often followed by pilates, yoga or choreography sessions. And she finds it easier to maintain her weight, even during the offseason, which is important in pair skating because routines involve a lot of lifts.

The hardest part was getting organized. Because she travels a lot for competitions, Duhamel has to prepare foods in case there aren’t vegan options on the road. Her diet is full of green vegetables, chia, hemp and flax seeds, ancient grains, avocado, quinoa, tempeh and lots of beans and fruits.

While she doesn’t push her lifestyle choices on others, she loves to educate people who have misconceptions about veganism.

“We are taught growing up you have to drink three glasses of milk a day to stay strong. We didn’t learn that there were other ways to get calcium that didn’t involve animal products,” she said.

SKATE CANADA/STEPHAN POTOPNYK

FIGURE SKATER

Duhamel taught herself as much as she could about plant-based diets to make sure she was getting adequate amount of nutrients. She even became a certified holistic nutritionist.

She admits one of her coaches was concerned that she would be malnourished, but now he talks to other athletes about the benefits of a plantbased diet. She and her other coach, who she married in June, are enjoying creating a cruelty-free home.

When they decided to adopt their beagle Theo last year, they discovered

T

his summer, vegan rower and Olympic hopeful Michaela Copenhaver came away with two national titles at the U.S. Rowing Elite National Championships, one in the Lightweight Women’s Quad and one in the Lightweight Women’s Double.

As excited as she was, it was actually the quad’s second place finish at the World Championship Trials in

the Beagle Freedom Project, which finds homes for beagles used in research for pharmaceuticals, household products and cosmetics, reinforcing their commitment to buying cruelty-free products.

“Every time we discover a new brand that we didn’t know was cruelty free, we are so excited. My husband says we are saving all of Theo’s friends,” Duhamel said.

MEAGAN’S MEAL TO START THE DAY:

June that really thrilled her.

“We posted a blazing fast time of 6:29:47, less than 14 seconds off the world record. Mostly I’m focusing on getting faster,” said Copenhaver, who trains at GMS Rowing Center in New Milford, Conn.

That her speed is fueled by a plant-based diet is just fine by her coach, Guenter Beutter.

“He’s like, ‘You are still getting faster, so eat what makes you feel good,’” Copenhaver said.

But her former coach had the ever-present protein concern, which was one of the reasons she left California and came to the east coast to train.

“My other coach believed if you are only eating plants, you aren’t getting enough protein,” Copenhaver said.

“He was trying to have me consume 120 or 130 grams of protein every day. But he didn’t have a medical or nutrition background, and I am one of those skeptical people. If you want me to get 130 grams of protein, where are you getting that information from? Who is the study being done on—weightlifters or people who are in my shoes trying to be a high-performance Olympic lightweight female?”

Since becoming vegan in 2012, Copenhaver says she finds it easier to maintain her weight without sacrificing the amount she can eat.

A smoothie with spinach or kale, banana, mango or raspberries, chia seeds, almond milk, cinnamon and nut butter. Or a breakfast kale bowl— kale chopped really small with grapefruit juice (it draws out the Vitamin C in the greens), blueberries, goji berries, pumpkin seeds, and banana mixed with granola or cereal and almond milk.

ROWER

MICHAELA COPENHAVER

“I row lightweight so we have maximum weights and the athletes have to be under 59 kilos on race day, which is about 130 pounds—which means I have to stay pretty thin,” Copenhaver said. “Being vegan I still get to eat a lot. The sheer volume that I eat compared to other lightweight rowers is fabulous,” she adds with a laugh.

In addition, Copenhaver doesn’t get sick anymore. “I think just simply eating more fruits and vegetables has helped a lot. Even when other people in my house get sick, I am much more resilient,” Copenhaver said.

The book, On Food and Cooking,

by Harold McGee is what peaked Copenhaver’s interested in a plantbased diet in 2011. In the book, the author discusses the chemical properties of onions and how they fight cancerous cells.

“It was one of those a-ha moments, what I eat actually does affect my body’s performance,” recalled Copenhaver. “From a chemical perspective I began to understand how vegetables are going into my body and doing good things. So then I concluded I should probably eat more vegetables.”

A couple months later one of

her teammates asked her what she was giving up for Lent. Though not really a religious person, Copenhaver thought it sounded like a good thing.

She didn’t want to give up cookies, so she decided to give up meat because she thought it would force her to eat more vegetables.

“I was a big meat eater before that.

I thought it was going to be terrible and it wasn’t. So I never began eating meat again,” Copenhaver said.

The more books and blogs she read (she started her own blog, www. lightweighteats.com) the more she discovered about veganism and the ethical and health issues behind it, and it very quickly became apparent that was the next step she had to take.

“I was travelling for a race and didn’t have any way to keep anything refrigerated. Most animal products require refrigeration so I just stopped eating all animal products for a week and again it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be,” Copenhaver said.

“I think there is this sense of I can’t change because I have been eating meat forever,” she said. “It’s ok to make the transition slowly. I think that’s a big misconception that it is all or nothing.

The main thing Copenhaver struggled with the first few months was getting enough calories. During a typical week she generally is involved in 14 to 16 hours of training with her heart rate elevated. She was burning 3,500-plus calories a day and kale salads just weren’t cutting it. She recalls eating a jar of peanut butter a week those first few months.

But then she bought some cookbooks and kitchen gadgets and built her recipe repertoire.

“I’ve found a lot of things that are delicious like tempeh and so many different ways to prepare tofu and beans that I didn’t know existed,” Copenhaver said. “And just so many fabulous recipes and cuisines. I think I was really fortunate I became vegan at the same time I was learning to cook for myself”.

MICHAELA’S MEAL TO START THE DAY: Oatmeal or cold cereal such as bran flakes with soy milk, topped with fresh or dried fruit or nuts, with either black coffee or tea.

FIONA’S MEAL TO START THE DAY: Protein-packed foods like lentils, almonds and pine nuts provide an energy boost in the mornings. Broccoli and figs also are top picks for providing calcium.

Michaela Copenhaver’s lightweight women’s quad broke the world record at the World Championship Trials in June.

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ULTRARUNNER

FIONA OAKES

A

lthough she’s been bestowed with the title “Queen of the Extreme,” vegan marathon runner Fiona Oakes has remained determinedly modest about her incredible athletic feats.

After completing and breaking records in more than 50 marathons and ultra-marathons, she confessed to us that she hasn’t kept track of any of her medals and trophies and has no interest in cutting newspaper articles out that discuss her accomplishments.

“I would never say to people: ‘I am this’ or ‘I am that’–it’s not something

that I’m predisposed to shout about.

I don’t think I’m very special at all, to be honest,” Oakes said. Many would disagree.

Hailing from the UK, Oakes became vegan at the age of six, explaining it was a “natural progression from being a vegetarian” and she made the switch as soon as she was able to make the conscious decision. She started running competitively over a decade ago, and since then has continuously blown her competition away. In 2013, she broke three marathon world records—all certified by Guinness— and is the fastest female to run a marathon on each continent, something she achieved in less than 24 hours.

She is also one of only 800 female firefighters in the country and manages her own sanctuary, Tower Hill Stables, with 400 resident animals.

She is known for venturing to some of the most extreme locations on the planet to participate in the toughest endurance marathons, like the Volcano Marathon in Chile’s Atacama desert (a 150-mile ultramarathon run at altitudes of 14,600 feet) and the equally challenging Marathon des Sables where competitors run six marathons in six days through the Sahara Desert.

“If you do want a top tip to losing weight, I would have to say enter the Marathon des Sables. I lost 6 kilos in one week running it, but this is rather extreme as it is 155 miles in the harshest desert conditions you can imagine, crossing the toughest terrain carrying a backpack with all your supplies, weighing around 12 kilograms,” said Oakes.

Oakes says there’s no denying that her vegan lifestyle has greatly bene-

fited her athletic performance, and she says she fully encourages any budding athlete to adopt a vegan diet. She finds that her habits help her stay fit. “Due to my lifestyle it is impossible, as I never know what I am going to be doing or where I am going to be from one minute to the next. I only actually eat when I am hungry and when I do it tends to be nuts, fresh fruit, rice, pulses and bread. I do not spend too long analyzing my diet. I know what

Oakes completing the Rio De Janeiro marathon in 2014 where she broke her own world record.

works for me but that might not suit everyone.”

Health and wellness benefits aside, Oakes says the biggest benefit that’s come from veganism for her is that, “I do not carry the burden of guilt that I would have to endure knowing that I abused others for my own ‘benefit’.”

This attitude is reflected in her work at her sanctuary, Tower Hill Stables.

“My philosophy is that I am privileged to be able to care for my animals, I do not regard them as my property. I do not attach a financial value to any of them. I try to allow them to interact with each other, where appropriate, in as natural environment as possible with me being there as the ‘overseer and caregiver.’”

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LOVE AT FIRST MEEEOOOW...

16 | Friends of Animals

BY NICOLE RIVARD • ILLUSTRATION BY MARCUS PIERNO

CAT CAFÉS AND KITTY YOGA PROVIDE THE PURRFECT SETTING FOR BONDING AND BOOSTING FEELING ADOPTIONS

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ack in June, during the soft opening of KitTea, San Francisco’s first cat café and Japanese teahouse, co-founder Courtney Hatt relished every moment of watching people interact with cats in the space—which she described as a very Zen, calming environment. It is exactly what she envisioned when she embarked on the project two years ago after becoming burnt out from her career as a marketing specialist for a tech start up.

“You could just feel the serotonin,” Hatt said with a laugh. “People coming out of the space had big wide smiles—it was like they recharged for the day after getting to hang out with cats in a nice relaxing environment.

It’s really a nice mixture of two different concepts.”

Hatt is referring to being inspired

by Japanese cat café concept that took off in the early 2000s—most Japanese landlords do not allow pets so cat café enabled pet deprived people to enjoy the company of felines—but also wanting to do something about the large number of homeless cats in California.

So unlike cat cafés in Japan, the main mission at KitTea and other cat cafés that have popped up in America is to facilitate cat adoptions. Cat Town Café in Oakland, Calif., which opened in October of 2014, is the United States’ first cat café.

KitTea is partnered with the San Francisco-based rescue Give Me Shelter, which rescues cats from around the state. KitTea was open to the public for less than two weeks and already had facilitated 10 adoptions.

“It’s been stressful but now it’s paying off in terms of all the people I have met in the community, all the support I have received and just the happiness it’s brought to both cats and people” Hatt said.

Among the challenges Hatt faced was finding a location accessible to locals but also near public transportation for people coming from out of town. Another was determining state and city regulations about animals and food and complying with them as well as dealing with the timelines involved with applications and approval.

At KitTea the felines are in a lounge separate from the teahouse but connected through a vestibule, and guests can observe the felines through a window or bring their tea, which comes from a small tea farm in Kyoto, Japan, into the cat space. No food is prepared on site but prepackaged items, such as pastries and sandwiches are available for purchase.

The cat lounge at KitTea can house 15 cats (felines live at the cat cafés until they find their forever home), and 12 humans per hour. The hourly price is $25 per person, including unlimited refills of premium teas.

At Denver Cat Company, which opened in Colorado in December of 2014, felines roam around a community space, where art and book-lovers can come together over coffee to buy or exchange books, appreciate art, take painting classes or hold meetings and events. Owner Sana Hamelin is allowed to serve drip coffee and tea but can’t make any specialty drinks.

She also can’t prepare any food on site, but she can serve prepackaged

items. An area at the back of the café is reserved for cats to retreat to if they need a break from the attention.

Meow Parlour, New York City’s first cat café, which also opened in December of 2014, sells homemade pastries, macarons, Blue Bottle Coffee and Harney & Sons Tea out of a neighboring storefront called Meow Parlour Patisserie. Visitors to Meow Parlour can order treats from the Patisserie with delivery to the Parlour for no additional charge. The space houses a dozen cats at a time provided by rescue group and partner KittyKind.

Guests are charged $4 per half hour or $30 for five hours.

Co-founders Christina Ha and Emilie Legrand are proud that so far 45 cats have found homes through Meow Parlour.

“Many of the cats we’ve had at Meow Parlour would have had a more difficult time getting adopted in a more traditional shelter setting,” said Ha. “Like Cupcake, who had eye surgery and was a little less traditional looking—he found a home with a wonderful young girl who adores him. Or Ricky, who did poorly in cages. And cats whose age may have prevented people from considering a senior cat, like Fang.”

Ha and Legrand go out of their way to get cats who would benefit most from an environment out of a cage.

“We feel really proud that cats who may have been so shy that they were

Right Cupcake found his “fur-ever” home thanks to Meow Parlour in NYC. Summer 2015 | 17

Below At cat cafés, patrons get to experience feline personalities and envision them as pets in their home more easily.

considered unadoptable are coming to our space, getting comfortable to the idea of meeting new people and finding forever homes with our guests,” Ha said.

Ha admits that opening a cat café requires a lot of planning.

Hamelin’s biggest challenge has been making the café financially sustainable. She instituted a $5 cover charge on weekends a month after opening. Hamelin found she could not meet overhead and make a living if she relied solely on sales as quite a few visitors chose not to make a food or drink purchase. However she doesn’t put any time limits on how long someone can stay in the café.

Since Hamelin opened Denver Cat Co. with her sister Marwa, and barista Erin Wolf, 51 cats have been adopted.

They are currently partnered with two rescues. Hamelin, who describes herself as a refugee from the hard-nosed world of corporate litigation, decided to open a cat café after reading about a pop-up version in New York City sponsored by Purina back in April 2014.

“I had never heard of the concept before, and thought it was the best thing I could ever have imagined,” said Hamelin.

And her patrons share her sentiment. Faced with a lawsuit (the plaintiff has since dismissed the lawsuit) over an alleged cat bite, a patron set up a GoFundME page to raise money for the Denver Cat Co. to defend the legal action. The community donated generously, exceeding the crowdfunding goal in just a few days.

“It made me realize how much people love the cat café and wish to see it stick around,” Hamelin said.

Likewise, Hatt’s customers think KitTea is the cat’s meow. “People are like, ‘I am coming back. This made my week. This made my month,’” Hatt said.

TAKE ACTION If you would like to open your own cat café, get tips from Sana Hamelin, owner of the Denver Cat Co. at www.denvercatco.com/how-to-open-a-cat-cafe If you are prepared for the lifetime commitment of owning a cat, Friends of Animals offers a low-cost spay and neutering program, which is an effective means of preventing homelessness. For information, call 1 (800) 321-7387 or visit www.friendsofanimals.org.

18 | Friends of Animals

MEOW PARLOUR PHOTOS BY ETHAN COVEY

FROM OUTSIDE THE SHELTER TO INSIDE A NEW HOME As a volunteer for Homeward Bound Pet Shelter in Decatur, Ill., Jeanette Skaluba uses her filmmaking skills to create videos to promote adoptable pets. One day Skaluba, who is also a yoga student, was visiting with Oreo, one of the senior cats , and he started climbing all over her—his movement and energy evoking moves from yogis— and the idea for a “Yoga4Cats” adoption event and accompanying video was born. The goal for the event, which was held in June at her instructor’s studio, Yoga at Connie’s in Latham, was to find homes for the six cats who interacted with the class either through the students or viewers of the video.

Skaluba said that meeting cats outside of the shelter gives cats exposure and allows people to really see their personality and envision them as pets in their home more easily. The event resulted in two cats getting adopted, and the money raised from the donation fee for the class — a total of $500— went directly to the shelter. And the video (www.Yoga4Cats.com) has gone viral since the animal news website The Dodo featured it.

“I had no idea that the story would go viral—a media report showed that this story was viewed over 13 million times all over the world,” Skaluba said, added that she was a bit disappointed that the story took a yoga focus rather than on the need for the cats, especially seniors, to be adopted.

The owner of the yoga studio, Connie Pease, said that she hopes the “Yoga4Cats” concept catches on with other studios as it’s a win-win for students and the cats.

“There are lessons that we learn from cats in our yoga

practices—when to be present in your space, when to detach, and also how to focus,” Pease said. “Cats are intensely focused if they hear a bird or something. That simulates meditation in yoga.

“At the same time, we are getting the message out there that the older cats like Oreo need to be adopted, and to bring attention to the shelter itself.”

Jeanette Skaluba poses with Oreo, who inspired her Yoga4Cats video that went viral.

Cat yoga classes, which are offered every other Tuesday, have become popular with the cats and humans at NYC’s first cat café, Meow Parlour, although co-founder Christina Ha admits the cats were a little confused at first.

“Suddenly, the tables were turned, and humans became the show pieces…the cats would gawk at us,” she said. “Then everything just came together so nicely—the peaceful atmosphere, the Zen environment, Amy Apgar’s great ability as an instructor, and the idea that we’ve always had of Meow Parlour as a calm oasis in a very busy city.”

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WOLFGANG VOLZ © 2011 CHRISTO

Below Christo in his studio with a preparatory collage for “Over The River”

20 | Friends of Animals

FOA INTERVENES WHEN CHRISTO CROSSES THE LINE BETWEEN ART AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION

BY NICOLE RIVARD

When people hear the name Christo, more often than not they will think of the famed Bulgarian artist and his massive, outdoor, temporary art installations. They might envision his “Gates” project—7,503 gates with free-hanging saffron colored fabric panels that created a golden river through the trees in New York’s Central Park—or the 11 islands in Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, that he surrounded with 6.5 million square feet of floating pink woven polypropylene fabric.

The group Rags Over the Arkansas River Inc. (ROAR) has little name recognition compared to Christo. But that’s not stopping members of this grassroots organization from trying to put a halt on the artist’s plans to suspend 5.9 miles of fabric panels in eight separate areas above a 42-mile stretch of the Arkansas River in southern Colorado, a project he refers to as “Over the River.”

Attorneys from Friends of Animals’ Wildlife Law Program are representing ROAR, which was established in 2005, in this David and Goliath style battle.

ROAR sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in 2011 for approving Christo’s project, saying the agency violated federal law and its own policies. “Over the River” would be built almost entirely within the federally designated Arkansas Canyonlands Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC), key habitat for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep. An ACEC is a place set aside primarily for protection of wildlife, for scenic value and for low-key recreation. The stretch of the Arkansas River running through the area is also among the most popular rafting rivers in the world.

Fall 2015 | 21

“IT’S NOT ABOUT ART. WE DON’T HATE ART. IT’S ABOUT A FEDERAL AGENCY VIOLATING LAWS AND POLICY THAT IT IS BOUND TO OPERATE BY.” At press time, the project continued to be stalled as FoA’s attorneys had submitted arguments to the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit after U.S District Judge William Martinez’s January 2015 ruling against ROAR. “Christo and his public relations machine are emphasizing that the proposed project will just be a two-week display…hoping people will think, ‘So what’s the big deal?” said Joan Anzelmo, a spokeswoman for ROAR. “But it will be at least 2 ½ years to construct it, and another six months to deconstruct it. Even at two weeks, it would be very impactful and harmful to wildlife and to people.

“The members of ROAR live and breathe this place every day. It is their home. They know exactly what the risks are if this project is allowed to go forward and they are not at all daunted. Even though the courts have thus far ruled more favorably for the BLM, we aren’t stopping until there is nothing left to do to stop this.”

Cathy Young, an occupational therapist and board member of ROAR, is credited with first pulling together a group of locals to focus on the impact of the $50 million “Over the River” project back in 1997, when Christo and his late wife Jean Claude first visited Colorado and began to identify the Arkansas River and Bighorn Sheep Canyon as the place to install their project.

Many of Young’s patients were homebound and on oxygen, or had advanced diseases that sometimes required instant emergency medical attention. When she began to understand the implications of a 2 ½- year-long industrial-scale construction project that would block the road, her first concern was for the safety of the people who live there. She was soon joined by ecologist Ellen Bauder, local businessman Dan Ainsworth and geophysicist Janice Yalch, among others, who were troubled by the potential impact on the wildlife and the environment.

Construction and demolition for “Over the River” will include the use of equipment commonly used in mining and road building, including hydraulic drills, long-reach

22 | Friends of Animals

excavators, wheeled excavators, boom truck cranes, grouters, air compressors, water tanks, grout mixers, support trailers, steel rock anchors and anchor frames.

To accommodate the nearly six miles of polypropylene, Christo’s team will have to drill 9,100 holes, each approximately 30 to 50 feet deep, along the river bank and in bedrock for bolts nine feet long. They will also need to install 1,275 steel cables, which will hover 8 to 25 feet above the water, as well as 2,275 anchor transition frames, most of which will be left behind when the project is over.

Anzelmo points out that bighorn sheep are entirely dependent on the Arkansas River for water. Die-offs in bighorn sheep populations from stress factors like increased human activity, car and truck traffic, dust, noise and possible displacement of water sources have all been documented in the Environmental Impact Statement provided by the BLM. Christo himself acknowledges that up to 50 percent of the sheep may perish, but he says he can just buy some replacements to bring into the canyon.

Impacts to the bald eagle, golden eagle, peregrine falcon and osprey, including altered habitat, possible collision with cables and fabric panels leading to injury and death and disturbance to nesting birds have also been documented.

“There is also the question of what the project will do to the native trout. There are so many unanswered questions,” Anzelmo said. “I think that it’s just tragic that people don’t understand what the scale of this project is.

It’s not about art. We don’t hate art. It’s about a federal agency violating laws and policy that it is bound to operate by.”

A project like this does not belong in an Area of Critical Environmental Concern, says Mike Harris, director of FoA’s Wildlife Law Program.

“Outside of opening this area up for oil and gas drilling, there couldn’t be anything that could be much more disruptive to the landscape,” Harris said. “The court overlooked all of our zoning arguments and instead just

ANDRÉ GROSSMANN © 2010 CHRISTO. WOLFGANG VOLZ © 1996 CHRISTO

JOAN ANZELMO, ROAR

Clockwise from top Sketch of “Over the River” project. The Arkansas River is located within the federally designated Arkansas Canyonlands Area of Critical Environmental Concern, set aside primarily for protection of wildlife. Christo and Jeanne-Claude posing alongside the river, which is among the most popular rafting rivers in the world.

agreed that the BLM had done an adequate environmental review, which is totally not what we are arguing.”

Harris is optimistic the appellate judges will see the merits of ROAR’s case, which he is approaching as a zoning case.

“If your city was zoned for parks and homes and all of a sudden City Council approved a high-impact, private shopping mall, it would be out of place. That’s why we have zoning laws, so we aren’t all over the board putting parks next to factories or schools next to liquor stores,” Harris explained. “Well it’s the same here—there is zoning that takes place on public lands. But the BLM— without changing the land-use plan—is approving a

high-impact project that not only destroys the very wildlife that it is intending to be protected, but totally disrupts the low-key recreational setting for rafting, birdwatching, hiking, camping, etc.

“When BLM looked at this project 10 years before it was approved, the agency was very cold towards the project. It didn’t think it made a lot of sense. But year after year of Christo wining and dining state and federal officials, low and behold all of a sudden it was a good idea.

Friends of Animals and ROAR disagree.”

Fall 2015 | 23

KUDOS TO PRESIDENT OBAMA FOR PROPOSING TO PROTECT 12 MILLION ACRES OF THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE PHOTOGRAPH AND STORY BY NICK JANS

24 | Friends of Animals

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stood on the ice-rimmed edge of the Beaufort Sea, several miles from the Inupiaq Eskimo village of Kaktovik, in Alaska’s remote northeast corner. More than a dozen polar bears glowed in the slanted autumn sun. To the east stretched the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (known as ANWR); in the distance, peaks of the Brooks Range shimmered like sails on a blue-white sea of land.

As a longtime former resident of Arctic Alaska, I joined millions of Americans in celebrating President Obama’s proposal earlier this year to extend wilderness status to 12 million acres of the Arctic Refuge, including 1.5 million acres of its coastal plain. If approved by Congress, such protection would bar roads and other human development from the area; and if it does not pass, the president’s executive power would hold sway— at least until a future administration changes course. Given the current Congress’s curled lip toward Mr. Obama and conservation in general, it’s a slim hope, but I’ll take it.

For more than three decades, ANWR’s sweep of Arctic seacoast, wet tundra and rolling uplands, ultra-remote even by Alaska standards, have been the focus of bitter wrangles between pro-development forces and conservationists. The drill-it crowd touts the coastal plain as America’s best remaining onshore prospect for a world-class oil strike, and has labeled it an otherwise useless wasteland. Environmentalists maintain it’s a vital element of one of our great landscapes, a northern Serengeti worthy of enshrinement alongside Yosemite and the Grand Canyon.

Both sides may be guilty of straying into hyperbole, but the war over the Arctic Refuge has always been as much about symbol as substance.

To fully understand the historical

IN DEFINING ALASKA, POLAR BEARS OUTWEIGH OIL

context of the battle over ANWR’s existence, one needs to understand that the refuge is scorned by many Alaskans as a crowning insult in a massive, federal land grab dating to the 1970s, a gestapo-like seizure of state assets barring the way to life, liberty and the pursuit of fat paychecks. That sentiment is fanned by an oil-driven economy, now in production decline as the vast fields west of ANWR run dry and prices dwindle and most proven or suspected remaining reserves lie on federally restricted territory.

No surprise that virtually all of Alaska’s elected leaders over the past three decades have opposed ANWR’s protection, often with militant, overthe-top rhetoric. In a recent rant, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski called President Obama’s proposal a declaration of war on Alaska; Congressman Don Young labeled it “an attack on our people and our way of life.”

The truth is, beyond geologists’ extrapolations, there’s no proof that a Prudhoe-Bay-class oil pool, similar to northern Alaska’s other great finds, exists under ANWR’s coastal plain.

Intensive exploration would be necessary to determine its scope, and such an undertaking has been banned in ANWR for decades under a series of temporary protections, dating back to President Jimmy Carter’s stop-gap invocation of the Antiquities Act in 1978, cemented into law by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980.

In summer, the ANWR provides vital habitat for the Porcupine caribou herd and nesting grounds for uncounted throngs of migra-

tory birds. The ground teems with lemmings, ground squirrels and ptarmigan, and predators from Arctic fox to grizzlies. And in winter’s cold silence, the coastal plain serves as Alaska’s single most important onshore habitat for female polar bears, who dig maternal dens where they give birth to their cubs.

Considering that caribou and polar bears, iconic creatures of the north, both notoriously intolerant of human development, are in decline— polar bears at such a pace that mainstream scientists have predicted they may vanish from Alaska within the next half century—the National Arctic Wildlife Refuge seems, indeed, a fitting name for one last, wild place that lies at the far northern edge of this great country. Without polar bears, what’s next? What best defines Alaska, not only to us, but the world: one last wild, protected space, or another guzzle of oil?

Sorry, Congressman Young. I’ll take polar bears any day.

Alaska writer Nick Jans is a contributing editor to Alaska Magazine and a member of USA Today’s Board of Editorial Contributors. His latest book, A Wolf Called Romeo (Houghton Mifflin), is available from your favorite bookseller or from nickjans.com

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The Vegan Pantry: The Art of Making Homemade Vegan Staples REVIEWED BY DUSTIN GARRET RHODES PHOTOGRAPHY BY EVA KOLENKO

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hen first becoming vegan, it’s a common trap to think that the only replacements for every day staples—think milk, jam, butter, meat substitutes, pasta, etc.—are store-bought. This is a new phenomenon, of course, because vegan versions of fundamentals and condiments used to be hard to find; now they’re ubiquitous—lining the majority of shelves of health food stores and mainstream grocers. But there are myriad questions begged: Are they good? (some are). Are they good for animals and/or the planet? (many aren’t—palm oil being the worst culprit). Are they good for our health? (depends).

Miyoko Schinner has rendered these questions moot with her exceptionally good new cookbook, The Homemade Vegan Pantry: The Art of Making Your Own Staples (10 Speed Press; $22.99). Inside, there are recipes for soy milk, mayo, jams, mustards, sauces, butter, several different kinds of cheese, stocks, homemade tofu, desserts…and that’s just the tip of the vegan iceberg. To say that The Homemade Vegan Pantry

is comprehensive is a serious understatement. The recipes are meticulous, surprising, creative and, most importantly, very, very delicious. If this is the very first vegan cookbook you purchase, well, that’s perfect: Schinner teaches you how to avoid the pitfalls of beany tasting soy milk; she’ll show you the ropes for making a vegan butter that not only preserves orangutan habitat by not including palm oil, but that’s also other-worldly delicious (and easy to make!). You’ll learn how to make the perfect pasta, crisp crackers, vegan sausages and homemade extracts for baking and flavoring. Within these 223 pages, there’s an excellent recipe for nearly everything.

I practically live off of salads during the summer—enjoying at least one every day. I like to be creative with the toppings; but when it comes to dressings, I sometimes find myself in a rut. Schinner offers some excellent choices, with a creamy ranch dressing (page 39) that’s sublime. It’s cashew based, with the right touch of dill. And if you’re the no-oil type, she offers a tangy Caesar dressing (page

41) that’s got the perfect amount of fishy flavor thanks to the nori she thoughtfully includes.

All of us at Friends of Animals are fans of Schinner’s recipe for butter.

All store-bought butter replacements are full of palm oil, and as animal advocates, we can’t ignore the fact that palm oil production is an ethical and environmental disaster. Orangutan habitat is destroyed and it contributes to the destruction of vital forests. But Miyoko managed to create a butter that’s got an even better flavor and mouth-feel than the store-bought substitutes. The Glorious Butterless Butter (page 58) is truly divine. In my humble opinion, this is the very first recipe you should make from this collection, and while you’re letting it set in the refrigerator, get to work on the Classic Fluffy Biscuits (page 160). These biscuits are flaky perfection, and the ideal vehicle for a very thick slab of the butter you just made. Trust me.

I tried my hand at making soy milk back in the day and, to be honest, it was always pretty offensive—tasting nothing like the smooth, creamy vari-

Fall 2015 | 27

There’s also a “meat” section, and it, too, is beyond fabulous. The Unribs (page 117) are so mouthwateringly tangy they’re almost impossible to put down; they’re really the perfect centerpiece for your next vegan BBQ, and for those who have yet to see the vegan light: These will tempt and inspire to forgo eating animals once and for all. Serve them with a side of the Well Crafted Macaroni and Cheese (page 151) for the ultimate comfort meal (see recipe on next page). (There is really nothing more glorious than the combination of BBQ and a cheesy pasta). Again, trust.

The best compliment I can give this cookbook: There’s nothing that doesn’t sound and/or look delicious.

Obviously, I haven’t made my way through the whole cookbook. Like most people, that’s something I rarely do, as I tend to get distracted. But The

Vegan Pantry looks to be an inspiring exception. I am dying to learn how to make meringue and tofu and my own coffee creamer and…you get the picture.

If it’s not obvious, I recommend that you hurry to the store for this cookbook. Share your delectable creations on Friends of Animals’ Facebook page, and we’ll compare notes on our favorite recipes.

The Vegan Pantry is available at bookstores nationwide.

Left & above Fluffy biscuits; UnRibs Previous spread Clockwise from top left: San Francisco fab cakes with capers; roasted tomato skin pesto; chocolate cake and baking mix; almond feta

28 | Friends of Animals

REPRINTED FROM THE HOMEMADE VEGAN PANTRY COPYRIGHT © 2015 BY MIYOKO SCHINNER. PHOTOGRAPHS © 2015 BY EVA KOLENKO. PUBLISHED BY TEN SPEED PRESS, AN IMPRINT OF PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE LLC.

eties available in the grocery store (which are also full of additives, thickeners and often sugar). I never knew why. But Schinner cracked the code by figuring out that it’s the process of soaking the beans before cooking them that produces the bitter, beany flavor. Her Creamy Soy Milk with No Beany Flavor (page 51) is smooth and light, and different from any other soy milk I have ever tasted; of course it’s better, too. There are also recipes for almond- and cashew-based milks.

In case you didn’t know, Miyoko is famous for making the world’s best (seriously!) vegan cheese. Lucky for all of us, it can be ordered online at MiyokosCreamery.com. Luckier still, she includes some exceptional recipes for various types of staple cheeses here, too. Melty Mozzarella (page 72), Melty Cheddar (page 73), Shaved Parmesan (page 77) to name but a few. They are all outstanding.

Well-crafted macaroni and cheese mix MAKES 1 2/3 CUPS, OR ENOUGH TO COAT THE EQUIVALENT OF 5 STORE-BOUGHT BOXES INSTANT MACARONI AND CHEESE 1 cup cashews 3/4 cup nutritional yeast 1/4 cup oat flour 1/4 cup tapioca flour 1 tablespoon paprika 1 tablespoon organic sugar 2 teaspoons powdered mustard 2 teaspoons sea salt

Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and process until a powder is formed. There should not be any discernible chunks or large granules of cashews, so this may take 3 to 4 minutes of processing.

Store this in a jar or portion out into 1⁄3-cup increments and put in ziplock bags and store in the pantry for a month or two or in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.

2 teaspoons onion powder

HOW TO USE WELL-CRAFTED MACARONI AND CHEESE MIX Cook 1 cup of dry macaroni according to package instructions and drain. Combine 1⁄3 cup mix with 1 cup water or unsweetened nondairy milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk well and bring to a boil. Simmer for 1 minute, then toss with hot cooked macaroni.

These mixes are also a great answer for turning yesterday’s leftovers into a quick casserole. Just combine leftover pasta, potatoes, or grains, some veggies, and any other odd scraps you think might be a good fit and mix it in a casserole dish with some of the cheese mix and water. You can add additional spices and herbs if you wish. Then bake it all up into creamy goodness. You can also use the mix to make quick sauces for veggies or add it to soups for extra cheesy flavor and richness—it’s quite versatile.

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ACTORS LEND THEIR STAR POWER TO FOA’S NEW SPAY/ NEUTER PSA Clockwise from top Behind the scenes shots of cast and crew on set.

Right Dog at the North Central Animal Shelter in Los Angeles, Calif. where the video was filmed. Jane Seymour, FoA’s creative director, and Jaleel White, flanked by Chris Breen and Tim Smith from Breensmith Advertising

30 | Friends of Animals

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t’s the middle of August in Los Angeles, Calif. and Danny Trejo is standing in the hot sun, completely covered by a full-body, shaggy polyester dog suit, with a gigantic smile on his face despite the heat. That’s the kind of dedication every actor had on the set of our upcoming Spay, Neuter, Adopt video that was released earlier this month and is now available on our YouTube page.

Jaleel White and Cynthia Kirchner also participated in the filming of this public service announcement and helped to bring this important message to life in a way that’s never been done before. Using a documentary-style approach, Breensmith Advertising and Tacklebox Film were able to give viewers an understanding of the importance and immediacy of the situation many homeless animals find themselves in on a daily basis, but incorporated humanizing and humorous moments to give the ad a unique feel.

The video aims to educate viewers about the huge role spay and neuter procedures play in significantly lowering the amount of unwanted dogs and cats who are roaming the streets or housed in shelters around the country. Since Friends of Animals’ beginnings, we have assumed a leadership role in advocating low-cost spaying and altering as

the most effective means of preventing the births of dogs and cats, and their subsequent abandonment, suffering and mass killing. For more than five decades, we have operated the only nationwide breeding control program in the United States facilitating more than 2.6 million spay/ neuter procedures.

This newest video ad campaign will continue to raise awareness and engage people about these issues and highlight the lifesaving solutions of Spay, Neuter, Adopt.

Watch our video!

Friendsofanimals.org/ruff-life YouTube.com/user/FriendsofAnimals

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BY MARTHA ROSENBURG AND ROBERT WILBUR

FBI UPGRADES ANIMAL CRUELTY, PAVES WAY TO HELP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SURVIVORS AND THEIR PETS

W

hat do Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffry Dahmer, and a rogue gallery of other serial killers have in common, besides murdering enough adults and children to stock a city morgue? The answer is that as children they tortured animals, Dahmer may be the most bizarre: After he had tortured and killed frogs, cats and dogs, he decapitated them and mounted their heads on sticks. His own puppy suffered this fate.

The good news is that it may soon be easier to track down serial killers and other lowlife. A year ago this month, in September, 2014, after 12 years of pressure from animal groups and the National Sheriff’s Association, the FBI announced that it would upgrade animal cruelty to a Group A felony, along with homicide, kidnapping, and rape. The FBI’s tougher position means that it will monitor animal cruelty more closely, alerting local law enforcement to patterns of criminality in their area.

What is more, legislators are likely to take animal cruelty more seriously, leading to tougher laws.

A literature search of crime reports involving “domestic violence” and “animal cruelty” reveals chilling examples of how the two are linked. In one domestic violence shelter 71 percent of women with companion animals reported that their partner threatened, injured or killed their pet. What is more, surveys indicate that between 18

percent and 48 percent of battered women delayed their escape or returned to their violent partner out of fear for the welfare of their companion animals.

The FBI’s upgrading of animal cruelty to a Group A felony is almost certain to give a boost to a bipartisan bill introduced in the House of Representatives by Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Ileana Lehitnen (R-Fla). The Pet and Women Safety (PAWS) Act of 2015 addresses “the one third of domestic violence victims who delayed their departure from abusive relationships out of concern for the well-being of their pets”.

The bill would expand federal law to include protections for pets of domestic violence victims and establish a federal grant program that will help ensure that victims have access to safe shelter for their pets. Specifically, the bill aims to assist both female and male victims with pets by: making threats against a pet a stalking-related crime; providing grant funding to increase the availability of housing for victims that accommodates pets; encouraging states to provide coverage for pets under protection orders; and requiring abusers who harm pets to pay veterinary and other expenses incurred as a result. The PAWS Act was referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security in March of 2015. The bill has bipartisan sponsorship in the Senate.

“One of the most dangerous things that can happen to a child is to kill or torture an animal and get away with it.”

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NATURE VS. NURTURE Y ou don’t have to be a spouse abuser or serial killer to commit acts of unspeakable animal cruelty: The preschool years are late enough, and children of five or six are capable of even more imaginative torture. This raises the nature versus nurture question: Are children animal abusers because their brain circuits are “hard wired” from birth, or is the reason a failure of some kind, such as child abuse, by the parents?

Most likely the answer lies somewhere in between. Children may have an inborn predilection that can in some cases become unmasked by failed parenting. Whatever the truth may be, we would do well to heed the admonition of anthropologist Margaret Mead, who observed, “One of the most dangerous things that can happen to a child is to kill or torture an animal and get away with it.”

We now know that, if there is to be any hope for such a child, remediation must begin before the age of three, when the neural pathways in the brain are being developed at a rapid pace—assuming any intervention at all will abort a streak of cruelty.

Martha Rosenberg has been an investigative journalist for 20 years. Her new book is Born with a Junk Food Deficiency: How Flaks, Quacks and Hacks Pimp the Public Health.

Robert Wilbur is a consultant in psychopharmacology; he also writes semi-popular articles on animal rights, psychiatry and the criminal justice system.

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LETTERS BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT IS ARCHAIC, USELESS Nicole Rivard’s timely article about Samson the mustang and his rescuer, Mitchell Bornstein, only reinforced my total disdain for this most archaic and useless branch of an equally inept cabinet department. It took me back to the story the Denver Post broke two years ago about Tom Davis, described as a livestock hauler and proponent of horse slaughter who purchased 1,700 from BLM through its Wild Horse Adoption Program and then couldn’t account for either the whereabouts or very existence of the creatures. Hey anyone can lose 1,700 horses right? And besides, he said he loved horses so we have his word on that. He just didn’t say whether he liked them better dead or alive. Outside of the lackies and hacks at BLM and the Interior Department it would take the most credulous fool in the world not to believe that every one of those horses died in Mexican slaughterhouses after having their necks stabbed with a knife or skulls crushed with a hammer. But that’s only part of this macabre story.

The Post indicated that Davis lived and/ or operated in the San Luis Valley in southwestern Colorado near Alamosa. Among his friends and neighbors there were the Salazars; Ken, the Interior Secretary, and his brother John, representing the 3rd Congressional District in the House. I recall that Ken downplayed their relationship while saying Davis was a good man who liked horses. In some perverse verbal translation that’s probably true.

Well it’s been two years now and still nothing from BLM or Interior other than some spokesman/buffoon chastising those of us who suspect the worst for pre-judging Davis’ guilt based solely on the large number of animals involved. While we try to ferret out some meaning from that vacuous statement we’re told that Salazar’s friend, Davis—brain cramp and all, has been referred to the

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Inspector General of the Interior Department, which Salazar recently headed, for disposition. Certainly no conflict of interest there. And seeing that the so-called investigation has already taken two years without any findings or charges, I am reminded again of an old Chicago saying describing the political theatre there—“One hand washes the other.”

Can we expect some resolution of this matter soon? Don’t hold your breath. Authority doesn’t like to cede power or truth to anyone seeking to shine a bright light on its systemic failures. And we certainly didn’t need any Tea Party diatribes or the racist rants of a semi-literate freeloading Nevada rancher to see the BLM for what it is—a noxious bureaucratic stew that accomplishes nothing of any significant good. But I’ll look forward to reading Last Chance Mustang and commend Bornstein for his compassion and activism.

HARRY C. KOENIG • PUEBLO, COLO.

UNCONQUERED Kudos to Jay Mallonee (Unconquered, Summer 2015, Action Line) for his valiant rescue of Highway, the wonderful Karelian bear dog, and giving him a chance to have a life of love and caring however short it may be.

All of our non-human animal friends have perfect souls and they will live forever when they go home after this earthly life ends. Of this I am absolutely certain.

No human can be as good as a non-human animal until, one-by-one, we evolve to a level of understanding much higher than materiality can ever provide. Humanity desperately needs to attend a great truth-telling session, void of all lies.

Could you please print in Action Line the complete poem “Invictus” from which the headers were taken?

Keep up the great work.

JOHN KURTZ • LANSDALE, PA

Editor’s Note: Here is the poem “Invictus”.

“INVICTUS”

By William Ernest Henley Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.

LET’S HEAR FROM YOU! MAIL US: Editor, Action Line Friends of Animals 777 Post Road Darien, CT 06820 E-MAIL US: contact@friendsofanimals.org

BY MEG MCINTIRE AND NICOLE RIVARD

CHEERS GOOD SAMARITAN LAW EXPANDED We have a cheer for the expansion of a state law that makes it legal for citizens to break the window of a car to free a trapped animal. Unfortunately, there are dozens of pets who die every year due to neglectful owners leaving them trapped in a car. The state of Tennessee took action to help prevent these tragedies. Fifth District Rep. David Hawk, from Greeneville, helped expand the Good Samaritan law, which allows someone to rescue a child from a vehicle for safety reasons. Now the law also prevents a person from being sued if they break into a car to save a cat or dog.

JEERS NEW JERSEY’S LEGHOLD TRAPS Jeers to New Jersey’s Fish and Game Council, which recently agreed to allow raccoon trappers to use cruel leghold traps that FoA helped outlaw in 1984. The Department of Fish and Wildlife claims these traps “do not result in the death of the captured animal, or in the potential for significant injury such as is possible will steel- jawed leghold traps.“ Hunters say these traps are more “humane” than previous versions, but these traps are just as cruel as those FoA helped ban in NJ more than 30 years ago.

GIGGIN FOR GRADS Jeers to the people who participated in a horrible event called “Giggin’ for Grads,” which was held on June 19 by The Dekalb County Farmers and Ranchers in Tennessee. Participants were allowed to go out at night and stab frogs with a sharp long weapon or pitchfork, which is a type of hunting called “gigging.” The people who finished with the heaviest bags won scholarship money. Friends of Animals, Nashville Animal Advocacy and other organizations created a petition to cancel this horrible event, which reached nearly 6,500 signatures.

The only good news is that there was a much lower turnout than last year, according to the Nashville Animal Advocacy, who protested the event.

MUMBAI BANS CARRIAGE INDUSTRY Cheers to the Bombay high court in the city of Mumbai, India, which recently ruled that horse-drawn carriages, also known as “Victorias,” are illegal and must be off the streets in a year.

The court order resulted from a petition filed by animal rights groups that said the horses were malnourished and denied adequate care and rest. The court also ordered that all of the stables where the horses are kept must be closed down and directed authorities to come up with a scheme to rehabilitate those involved in the trade.

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IN MEMORIAM Friends of Animals has received kind donations in memory of the following individuals:

LISA ENSMINGER

ELIZABETH HEARN

COFFEE

GERALDINE SANTOS

DOLORES MINKIN

CUJI

MARK DAVID LEVI MILLER

THOMAS KERR

SOFIE

CAROL “DOLLY” ROMAN

ANN STANWELL

CURRY

RENEE COTTON-PAONE

LUNA SWING

WINNIE

SANDY LONGO

DAKOTA PETERSEN

BAXTER

JOAN PENCE

CODY

WOODY

YOLANDA WILDE (LONNIE)

KASS

NATALIE, ROSE & MINI

ARAMIS RAMIREZ

BUTTONS

JUANITA R. SCHNEIDER

KESHA

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Fall 2015 | 37

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FOR THE LOVE OF DOG BISCUITS COOKBOOK This 7x7, 64 full-color page book features 12 beautifully illustrated recipes—one for each month, which contain seasonal, plant-based ingredients and complement the holidays.

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THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE RIGHT JOB. BE VEGAN Available at Friendsofanimals.org

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