Action Line Summer 2015

SUMMER 2015

ACTION LINE

MIXED MESSAGES THE BEST DOG TOWN IN THE SOUTHEAST LAST CHANCE MUSTANG

CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRAS SUMMER BOOK REVIEWS RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRAS RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRAS RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. TOTAL B$. GRASS FE GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRAS RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRAS RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FED. FREE RANGE. CAGE FREE. GRASS FED. FREE RANGE GRASS FED. FREE RANGE.

8 FEATURE

Mixed Messages

4 N EWS Victory Lap: The Latest News About FOA’s Advocacy 6 N EWS The War Against America’s Wild Horses

14 FEATURE Charleston, SC. The Best Dog Town 18 PROFILE Last Chance Mustang 20 FEATURE Labor of Love at Primarily Primates sanctuary 24 SUMMER BOOK REVIEWS A Matter of Breeding It’s Never Too Late To Go Vegan 28 INTERVIEW

Karen Sussman, ISMPB

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 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

30 UNCONQUERED

One rescue dog’s tale 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.

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

LETTERS

35 CHEERS & JEERS

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.

38 FOA MERCHANDISE Cover and Feature Illustration:

by Brent Arnold

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.”

Coconut-Peanut Butter dog biscuit in forthcoming cookbook

Action Line is a quarterly publication. Issue CLXVI Summer 2015 ISSN 107 2-2068

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] DIRECTOR, WILDLIFE LAW PROGRAM Michael Harris [CO] michaelharris@friendsofanimals.org ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY Jenni Barnes [CO] jenniferbarnes@friendsofanimals.org ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Kaylee Dolan wlp-admin@friendsofanimals.org CAMPAIGNS DIRECTOR Edita Birnkrant [NY] www.twitter.com/EditaFoANYC edita@friendsofanimals.org CORRESPONDENT Nicole Rivard [CT] nrivard@friendsofanimals.org SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Meghan McIntire [CT] www.twitter.com/FoAorg mmcintire@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 A TALE OF DOG BISCUITS As a food activist, I’ve authored two vegan cookbooks for Friends of Animals—Dining with Friends: The Art of North American Vegan Cuisine, and The Best of Vegan Cooking. Friends began asking me if I had a third book in me, and after noodling with the idea for a bit, decided no one had published a beautifully designed, intriguing dog biscuit cookbook.

So that’s FoA’s forthcoming book: a dog biscuit recipe cookbook that promises to thrill your dogs (testing the recipes resulted in a number of devoted canine fans) and enchant one’s dog-loving friends. The cookbook will be printed in time for holiday gift guides in August 2015.

We expect it to be a hit, as the dog treat industry leaves something to be desired.

Dogs were the first domesticated animals, and after they became human companions, their meals became scavenged scraps from the dinner table. By 1895, a biscuit for dogs was developed from a mixture of vegetables, grains, beetroot and remnants of meat, and these were fed to show dogs in the United States as their primary food. By 1907, an American inventor launched the idea of making dog biscuits in the shape of a bone – the only way his dog would eat them – and a year later, they became known as Milk-Bones.

Today, Milk Bone “crunchy” biscuits are scary – full of rendered products from animal tissues and bone (diseased or not), animal by-products, sugar, artificial color (includes Red 40), and chemical preservatives like BHA and BHT, which the World Health Organization has named as suspected cancer-causing compounds. Also, the state of California has identified BHA as a possible carcinogen.

Most commercial dog biscuits lack moisture and contain chemical preservatives for shelf-life. Other, more costly, naturally preserved pet treats like Buddy Biscuits or Mr. Barkey’s Vegetarian Dog Biscuits are priced at $6 - $8 per pound and include natural

preservatives labeled as mixed tocopherols – derived from palm, soybean, cottonseed, corn or other oils – excluding most vegetable oils. These mixed tocopherols achieve a shelf-life for ingredients of approximately one year. However, palm oil production is pushing orangutans to extinction.

In the 1980s, a Friends of Animals member devoted to her bull terriers developed a homemade dog, cat and horse cookie line. These treats were packaged in adorable bags, and shoppers at our re-sale shop in Connecticut would look for them as training rewards or desserts on a regular basis. Some biscuits were in heart-shapes, and all were full of natural ingredients, but without preservatives they had a limited shelf life since stores weren’t refrigerating them.

Would you believe dog treat sales in the U.S. were $2.6 billion a year in 2013? Unfortunately, today most American dogs are overweight, likely due to too little exercise and copious amounts of high calorie food. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Our two dogs compel us to take more walks and move around. Of course they get fired up over food and frequent dog treats. But by making a variety of healthy, delectable biscuits you can spare dogs the troubling ingredients found in most commercial treats, and the icing on the biscuit…you can also save money.

When I started writing and testing the recipes, such as Peanut Butter Carob Chip Biscuits, which I made with bulldog shape cookie cutters, not only were our dogs giving them high fives, Instagram followers pressed me to let them pre-order five to six copies of the cookbook for gift giving!

Stay tuned to our official announcement and sale of the forthcoming cookbook in the Fall 2015 Action Line.

Summer 2015 | 3

VICTORY LAP

FoA drafts bill prohibiting import, possession, sale or transport of ‘Big 5’ African species A bill drafted by Michael Harris, director of FoA’s Wildlife Law Program, that would ban the import, possession, sale or transportation in New York of the African elephant, lion, leopard, white rhino and black rhino, was introduced by NY state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Queens) in April.

“Hopefully this legislation, if enact-

4 | Friends of Animals

ed in New York, will send a message to every other state and the federal government, that the practices are inappropriate and that we are going to stop the importation of these body parts through New York,” Avella said at a press conference.

Avella explained that the already minimal populations of the African Big 5 are threatened every day by illegal poaching and legal sport hunting and are facing extinction. There is growing scientific evidence that the legal trade of trophy-hunted species actually enables the illegal poaching by reducing the stigma associated

with killing these animals and by providing poachers a legal market to launder their contraband.

“The ban eliminates much of the incentive to continue hunting these animals overseas and shipping their remains off to buyers in New York with a high price tag,” Avella said.

During the press conference Edita Birnkrant, campaigns director for FoA, pointed out that Dan Ashe, the director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife, acknowledged that Americans make up a disproportionate number of those who continue to travel to Africa to hunt these animals.

“Sadly, too many Americans continue to see sport-hunting as romantic, or for that matter as ethical,” she said. “Until we can get national bans put in place to reduce the number of sport-hunted African Big 5 species brought into this country, it is vital that state’s like New York, where a large number of these trophies are imported into because JFK is a major point of entry from Africa, take action on their own.”

If the bill becomes law—anyone violating the law could face up to two years in prison.

ILLUSTRATION BY MARCUS PIERNO

BY NICOLE RIVARD

THE LATEST NEWS ABOUT FOA’S ADVOCACY AND ACHIEVEMENTS NMFS considers ESA listing for common thresher shark thanks to FoA’s legal petition A legal petition from Friends of Animals provides substantial scientific and commercial evidence that the common thresher shark requires the protections of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), according to The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which made the announcement in March. The agency will begin a status review for the species and must decide whether it warrants ESA listing by the end of August 2015.

“We are happy that NMFS is recognizing the threats to the thresher shark and hope the agency moves forward quickly to ensure protections for these amazing creatures,” said Jenni Barnes, staff attorney at Friends of Animals’ Wildlife Law Program. “An ESA listing would prohibit the import and export of common thresher shark products, which would place a freeze on the fin market trade for common threshers.

Similar bans on the fin market trade in several U.S. states indicate that such a measure is much more effective for shark conservation than just a ban on finning.”

Friends of Animals’ August 2014 petition sought ESA protection for the common thresher shark. Thresher sharks face unprecedented threats to their survival, all caused by humans.

The common thresher’s fin is highly

sought after for commercial exploita- endangered under the Endangered tion. Common thresher sharks are Species Act, which would halt further the third most targeted catch in coun- exploitation of the species, including tries outside of the United States. In brutal roundups and the forced drugthe Americas, threshers are often ging of the mares with the fertility caught as bycatch, and unlikely to be control drug PZP. released because threshers have high Wildlife ecologist and author of the commercial value and may even be Wild Horse Conspiracy, Craig Downer, sold for higher prices than the sword- engaged attendees with his personal fish that many gillnet fisheries are knowledge of Nevada’s Pine Nut Herd, designed to catch. as he’s been observing them since he was a boy and they inspired him to become a wildlife ecologist. He also talked about North American wild horses’ native species status and how reserve design would let them reoccupy their full legal Herd Areas as outlined in the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971 (WHBA). Reserve design involves utilizing natural and/or Attendees of the 33rd annual Public artificial barriers, natural predators, Interest Environmental Law Confer- as well as community-involving ence at the University of Oregon buffer zones. Once available habitat School of Law in Eugene packed into is filled, the horse/burro, as a climax Friends of Animals’ panel discussion species, limit their own population as on “Can the law save America’s wild density-dependent controls are trighorses” on March 7, eager to hear gered. about the scientific, legal and politAlso discussed were the shortcomical implications of protecting wild ings of the WHBA; it doesn’t protect horses in America. wild horse habitat and it gives authorEdita Birnkrant, FoA’s campaigns ity to the BLM to label wild horses on director, kicked off the discussion public lands as “excess,” opening the by dispelling the myths promoted door to their removal and/or slaughby ranchers and the Bureau of Land ter, and the negative long-term side Management that wild horses are effects of PZP, including foal births non-native animals who damage out of season, sterilization of mares the land and who are overpopulated. after multiple use and behavioral She also explained why FoA filed a changes that can affect the health of legal petition with the U.S. Fish and the herd.

Wildlife Service to list North America’s wild horses as threatened or

FoA presents panel about wild horses at prestigious environmental law conference

Summer 2015 | 5

BY NICOLE RIVARD

WITH ONE BATTLE WON, FOA CONTINUES TO FIGHT THE WAR AGAINST

AMERICA’S WILD HORSES

While in Nevada in late February for our wild horse rally at the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Tri Resource Advisory Council meeting, Friends of Animals also ventured out to the Virginia Range and Pine Nut Range to see some of the wild horses we saved from being rounded up, removed or forcibly drugged with the fertility pesticide PZP. In late March the BLM officially conceded and cancelled the roundup of Nevada’s beloved Pine Nut Herd following our Feb. 11 court victory.

We are more energized than ever to protect wild horses following that victory and seeing wild horses roaming free in Nevada. Our definition of wild means no human exploitation and manipulation. Humans should not be managing wild horses by keeping them in small “herd areas,” or limiting their population through culling or administering PZP. At press time we filed a legal petition with the Environmental Protection Agency to cancel the registration of PZP for wild horses. The Humane Society registration

was granted by the Environmental Protection Agency based on a limited number of scientific reviews regarding the efficacy of the drug. However those studies did not adequately consider the biological, social and behavioral effects the drug can have on wild horses, which have been the focus of newer research.

FoA has also commissioned wildlife ecologist Craig Downer, a native of Nevada, to conduct a three-month field research project in the Pine Nut Range. His assessment of the wild horses and ecosystem combined with habitat evaluation will bolster any future legal intervention for the Pine Nut Herd by FoA’s Wildlife Law Program.

Lastly, since BLM asked for comments regarding a proposed roundup of horses in the Pryor Mountain herd management area this month, we planned on delivering ones they couldn’t ignore in person at the Billings, Montana Field Office. Check our website, www.friendsofanimals.org and Facebook page to stay abreast of all our efforts to protect wild horses.

We were lucky to see a few bands of Nevada’s wild horses, including some from the Pine Nut Herd, left, and the Virginia Range Herd, right. Photographs taken by Jane Seymour

Summer 2015 | 7

STORY BY MEG MCINTIRE

MIXED MESSAGES Don’t be fooled by labels like humanely raised and cage-free. Small-scale farms thought to be superior to factory farms are anything but.

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Summer 2015 | 9

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ farming has made progress over the last decade, it is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ important to ask ourselves if we want to end something, what are we advocating should replace it? Unfortunately, $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ many consumers have decided that “humanely raised” $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ animal products are an acceptable alternative and we’ve $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ seen the “Happy Meat” market explode in the last several $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ years...spreading from grocery stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joes to chain restaurants like Chipotle and $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ In-N-Out Burger. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Fraudulent labeling using words like “humane $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ certified,” “cage free,” “free range,” “grass fed,” “organic,” $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ “local” and “sustainable” delude consumers into believ$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ing that if they spend a little more to purchase these products, they can eat cows, chickens, pigs, lambs, turkeys, $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ ducks, eggs and milk from idyllic “humane” farms that $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ treat animals with respect and kindness. In essence, the “EAT FRESH,” “FOOD WITH INTEGRITY,” “HAPPY COWS”... there are thousands of food companies that exist today who talk a big game when it comes to animal welfare and consumers’ health. So big, in fact, many of them have based their entire business models on the idea that by making a few minor changes to their practices and slapping certain animal-friendly labels or slogans on their products, profits will start rolling in. Unfortunately for animals, in many cases, they aren’t wrong.

This deceitful food labeling marketing trend has been fully embraced by the food and restaurant industry, but has anything really changed besides an increase in brightly colored “free-range” stickers and the consumer’s sense of accomplishment?

Unfortunately, only on the surface. Many restaurant-goers now feel as though it’s no longer enough to have the “antibiotic-free” stamp on their burger wrapper and dig in. They want the assurance that their dinner roamed free in a sunny pasture, slept on a billowy bed of hay, lived a happy life and died a dignified death. But then they still eat the animal product.

This is because many people generally want to accept that there are some things we simply need to do less, consume fewer of or not at all. Profiting off of this willful ignorance is something food and agriculture businesses delight in because it is a way for them to make typically meaningless changes in their meat and dairy purchasing and get a standing ovation from the media and consumers.

Although the movement to put an end to factory

10 | Friends of Animals

message being given to the public is that you can be an animal rights activist by EATING animals exploited and killed if they have the proper sticker on them.

Whole Foods markets provide an excellent example of this backwards labeling trend. Whole Foods unveiled its “Farm Animal Compassion Standards” in 2005, which consists of a five-step ranking system for cows, pigs, turkeys and chickens slaughtered to be sold as meat in its stores around the country. If you’ve ever been inside a Whole Foods market, you’ve likely seen the meat section, completely covered with marketing slogans and pictures of cows grazing in idyllic fields, all aimed at convincing shoppers that they’re doing the right thing by purchasing “humane” meat, eggs and dairy products at a marked-up price. The store even boasts in a pamphlet that, “As of June 2012, approximately 1,900 operations that supply Whole Foods Market, raising more than 147 million animals annually, are certified Step-rated farms and ranches, ranging from Step 1 to Step 5+ through the Global Animal Partnership Five-Step Animal Welfare Rating program.” One hundred and 47 million animals is a startling number, especially considering these were only the animals killed under their “welfare program” and that Whole Foods is rapidly increasing the program to cover other species of animals as well.

Let’s also consider Chipotle, a fast food company whose “food with integrity” slogan assures customers that, “when sourcing meat, we work hard to find farmers and ranchers who are doing things the right way.” But if you dig deeper into what exactly this message means when it comes to Chipotle’s business model, you’ll find that it lacks any meaningful commitment to animal

Purchase one of our new “Be Vegan” t-shirts and help support all of Friends of Animals’ animal advocacy efforts. Visit www.friendsofanimals.org

welfare practices—it only says it will make an effort to find farmers doing things “the right way.”

However by adopting animal welfare rhetoric and empty promises, Chipotle directly benefitted by gaining media attention that drastically increased demand for even more of its meat and dairy products. At one point, Chipotle had to stop serving pork because the “humane” farms they were using couldn’t keep up with demand.

But what do these labels that consumers crave actually mean? Does “Grass Fed” mean the cows are treated better? Are “Humanely Raised” animals slaughtered humanely too (isn’t that an oxymoron)? It’s this type of mixed messaging that allows false labeling and advertising to continue when it comes to marketing meat and dairy products to the public. So let’s take a look under the labels and reveal their actual meanings.

LABELS AND THEIR MEANINGS

HUMANELY RAISED AND HANDLED This term actually has no defined standards by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). A producer decides what it means to them and then labels the product if they feel they’ve met their own standards. They can ask the USDA to verify that they have met their own self set standards. If the USDA feels they have, they can then add “USDA Process Verified” to the Humanely Raised and Handled label.

CERTIFIED ORGANIC This certification is overseen by the USDA and requires that cattle be fed 100 percent organic feed. The truth is, the Certified Organic designation only requires that records be kept regarding the animal’s diet. There are no

Summer 2015 | 11

stipulations regarding treatment in this certification at all. That means the animal could be subjected to much the same horrors a factory farmed animal faces prior to being slaughtered for consumption, so long as the feed it was given was organic.

CAGE-FREE This term applies typically to eggs and egg products.

“Cage free” basically means the birds have never been confined in a cage. Although eggs labelled this way come from hens not confined to a cage, the housing density at many of these farms may be so high that some of the problems associated with caging are still experienced.

NATURAL/ALL NATURAL Arguably the most meaningless label on the market right now, the terms have virtually no definition whatsoever. In the case of meat, the USDA defines natural as being minimally processed without the addition of preservatives or artificial ingredients. This refers only to the finished product, however. The cattle can eat any drugs, hormones, antibiotics, fillers or GMO laden foods out there as well as being subjected to the worst animal welfare atrocities imaginable but still be called “Natural.”

TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES So what are the consequences of consumers equating welfare “improvements” with making a positive impact in the lives of animals? One is clearly defined in a study that was completed after the passage of Proposition 2 in California, which found that consumers did not decrease their egg consumption after hearing of the horrors of egg production. Instead, they simply switched to cage-free eggs. Another disturbing example is a study that found veal consumption actually increased in Europe following the passage of a veal crate ban.

Friends of Animals recognizes the destructive impact of promoting labeling schemes that steer consumers away from “factory farmed” products and toward “humanely raised” animal products. Our stance has always been that animal farming as a whole is the problem, regardless of the size of the farm, or how animals are bred and raised for slaughter. The only antidote to the horrors of animal farming is a plant-based lifestyle.

TAKE ACTION Friends of Animals’ vegan cookbooks, Dining with Friends and The Best of Vegan Cooking, offer recipes from around the planet and for every occasion. If you’re not vegan yet but considering adopting a plant-based lifestyle we also have a Vegan Starter Guide.

Visit www.friendsofanimals.org

12 | Friends of Animals

Summer 2015 | 13

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

THE BEST DOG TOWN IN THE SOUTHEAST

BY NICOLE RIVARD CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS BY CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY

During a recent visit to Charleston, S. C., I was not only struck by its natural beauty and charm, but how doggone dog friendly it seemed to be. People and their pets dotted the landscape everywhere I went—from the small off-leash dog run at the apartment complex I stayed in on James Island to the sprawling four-acre open grass dog park and beach at James Island County Park.

14 | Friends of Animals

Summer 2015 | 15

It was a similar scene downtown, where lots of leashed dogs walked their people around White Point Garden, an historic waterfront park located in downtown Charleston. As luck would have it, I picked up a copy of Carolina Tails, a magazine dedicated to informing, entertaining and inspiring people who love all animals in Charleston County. Inside I learned that Charleston was actually named the Best Dog Town in the Southeast by Dog Fancy magazine last year, underscoring what I had seen during my mini-vacation.

I decided I had to learn more about how that recognition came to be—and I hope what I discovered will inspire others to lead the charge to get their own communities to treat pets as family members.

Just after Labor Day, Whirlin Waters Adventure Waterpark in North Charleston closes its pools to people for the season, but then opens them to dogs for the annual Dog Day Afternoon.

The event, which began seven years ago, welcomes pups of all shapes, breeds and sizes to get in a final doggie paddle before summer ends, and its popularity continues to grow.

“It’s hilarious to see. There are so many different breeds of dogs together,” said Joe Elmore, executive director of the Charleston Animal Society. “Actually, it’s a good lesson for people—if only people with that kind of diversity could get along like that.”

During the summer on James Island, another municipality in Charleston County, people and their four-legged friends are welcome to monthly Yappy Hours, happy hour-style events with live music and drinks hosted by James Island County Park.

Across town, Palmetto Islands County Park in Mt. Pleasant offers a similar social scene called Pups, Yups & Food Trucks.

And for one day in March, every dog is Irish at St. Paddy’s Pawlooza at Wannamaker County Park in North Charleston. In addition a Pet Fest in the spring and Pet Expo in the fall provide opportunities for local pet-related organizations and businesses to showcase their causes and services.

16 | Friends of Animals

These are just some of the pet-focused events that Elmore knew would give Charleston a chance to compete for the Best Dog Town title, so he nominated the city. But those weren’t the only reasons. While Dog Fancy editors carefully research each city and name the winner based on the presence of dog-centered activities, dog-friendly businesses and dog parks, they also look at rescue programs. And the Charleston Animal Society was the first to create a no kill community in the Southeast.

Elmore explained that no kill means saving every healthy and treatable animal. The 10-point strategy of No Kill Charleston, which was launched in April of 2013, includes initiatives Friends of Animals advocates for: an aggressive adoption program, preventing births of unwanted animals through a high-volume,high-quality spay and neuter program, and reducing the number of free-roaming cats through a trap-neuter-return plan.

“We like to refer to Charleston as a no kill community, because you can’t have a singular entity in a community that claims to be no kill and the community itself is not,” Elmore explained. “It’s really about the people who heed our call to make room in their home for another animal to foster. For example our facility can hold about 250 animals. In June of 2013, we had more than 800 animals in our system. More than 500 of those animals were in foster homes. There is just no way we could do it without our volunteer foster families.”

Elmore said that CAS takes in more than 90 percent of the animals in Charleston County, and it’s the only organization that doesn’t turn animals away.

“It’s really a collective effort,” Elmore said. “Last year there were 12,000 people who spayed or neutered their animals.

Then there’s the 9,000 schoolkids that we reached through our comprehensive humane education program. It really is a recipe for success that calls for a lot of ingredients.”

Illustrating that success, Elmore pointed out that last year CAS euthanized 694 animals compared to 723 in 2013; 2,151 in

2012; and 6,726 animals in 2008.

“In the summer of 2012 we really called out the community and it heard us,” Elmore said. “We took an ad out in the paper that said ‘Animal Population Crisis HELP.’ We waived adoption fees and we emptied our shelter of all the animals that were available for adoption. That was the most gratifying, exhilarating, emotional experience all of us have ever had.”

Three years later, CAS receives calls from as far away as France and New Zealand about building and sustaining a no kill community. “It certainly wasn’t easy, but people are seeing that it’s doable,” Elmore said.

What has been easy for the most part, though, is creating a park system that recognizes pets as family members, according to Tom O’Rourke, executive director of the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission, the entity that oversees the county’s large parks. Last year, 150,207 dogs came through the gates at Wannamaker, Palmetto Islands and James Island County Parks, all of which offer off-leash dog parks, some with natural boundaries and some fenced in.

“If you want to make it work it can work. If you want to find excuses, you can find excuses,” O’Rourke said, adding that he began to see an uptick in the demand for dog-friendly spaces about a decade ago.

“We certainly love dogs but we work for the dog owners.

We do what the dog owners want. They own our park system.

It’s up to us to manage what they want on the land that they own. And it is a strong loud message that the canine community in Charleston wants these areas for their pets. People also want it everywhere else in this country. It’s just they aren’t being listened to.”

The city of Charleston, which has 120 parks, offers seven parks with off leash areas and four with fenced dog runs. Jason Kronsberg, deputy director of Charleston’s parks department, says all the parks supply doggie bags so people can clean up after their pets, and the number of bags ordered has been increasing every year, indicating more visits from four-legged friends. Last year the parks department ordered 600,000 bags, up from 400,000 in previous years.

Where off-leash areas aren’t available, O’Rourke says people are perfectly happy to walk their dogs on leashes on park trails, and leashed dogs are welcome through the park system. For

instance, people and their pooches are flocking to Laurel Hill County Park, a new 745-acre urban nugget of nature wedged between U.S. Highway 17 and S.C. Highway 41 in Mount Pleasant. Long a privately held plantation, the commission recently acquired a long-term lease of the land.

“It has 10 miles of trails. There’s no off leash area but I would be willing to bet there are more dogs at that park than anywhere else right now,” O’Rourke said.

And when dogs and their humans get hungry after frolicking in local parks, they can grab a bite at Charleston’s dog-friendly restaurants. For example, DIG in the Park in North Charleston includes an outdoor dog-friendly space

almost double the size of the restaurant. Page’s Okra Grill in Mt. Pleasant provides bowls and snacks for your pooch, and Paolo’s Gelato Italiano makes a frozen gelato-soy based treat for dogs and cats.

Looking to the future, O’Rourke says the commission has purchased a lot more park land around Charleston County and it will include even more designated dog areas. He believes it’s necessary to serve the climbing number of local apartment rentals.“A lot of people rent so they don’t have places for their dogs to go,” O’Rourke said. “That’s why have to keep doing what we do. We hear all the time that people come home from work to their apartment, put the dog in the car and the dog’s tail starts wagging because the dog knows where it’s going.”

O’Rourke points out those doggie destinations have benefits for two-legged animals as well. “Honestly, there are more people meeting each other in our dog parks than at any bar in Charleston,” O’Rourke said with a laugh. “It’s very social.”

IF YOU WOULD LIKE YOUR HOMETOWN TO BE MORE DOG-FRIENDLY, MAKE YOURSELF HEARD BY CONTACTING YOUR LOCAL PARKS DEPARTMENT

Dogs of all breeds and sizes are welcome to Dog Day Afternoon at North Charleston’s Whirlin Water Adventure Park.

Summer 2015 | 17

LAST CHANCE MUSTANG SAMSON WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ONE OF THE “LUCKY” ONES, BUT BLM’S WILD HORSE ADOPTION PROGRAM SENTENCED HIM TO YEARS OF ABUSE.

BY NICOLE RIVARD

18 | Friends of Animals

When Mitchell Bornstein first laid eyes on Samson at an Illinois farm in the summer of 2009, he knew instantly that the last six years of the wild mustang’s life had been a dark, painful, living hell.

He would learn that Samson had been hunted down by a helicopter and captured in Nevada in 2003, and became nothing more than a number and statistic in the Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Program.

“It was so gut wrenching. I could see something was so wrong with him,” explained Bornstein, an attorney who has been working with abused horses for two decades. “Samson was so beside himself and so alone, yet still proud. He still was like, ‘You respect me.’

“But there was so much anger… and it was ingrained in him. Like when a doctor hits you in the knee during a physical exam, your leg shoots out as a reflex action. He didn’t think about it; his body was saying, ‘I’m going to put you down.’ He was so brutally violent and aggressive. But I knew it wasn’t because Samson was a malicious

horse. So much had been done to him, he had decided he wasn’t going to take the chance to see if you were a good or a bad person.”

Samson had never received any training as he snaked his way through the adoption program. Instead, the instructions passed down from owner to owner dating back to Samson’s first days in the domestic horse market were: Beat this mustang to get his attention, hurt him and he will comply. And he had the scars from bullwhips and lariats to prove it, Bornstein said.

But Bornstein sensed there was a little voice in Samson’s head telling him he needed Bornstein’s help—it was either accept the help or end up in the illegal rodeo circuit or a slaughterhouse.

Samson had run out of chances. And so began Samson’s rehabilitation—a journey from pain and fear to love and mutual healing.

Bornstein, who now cares for Samson and moved from Chicago to rural Illinois to be closer to him, says the mustang oozes wild horse despite living in the domestic horse world. “You have to love him for it,” said Bornstein, admit-

Left Mitchell Bornstein and Samson share their story from pain and fear to love and mutual healing in Last Chance Mustang.

ting that Samson still has good and bad days. “I wouldn’t change that. That’s why he is such a good representation of America’s wild horses…they tried to beat and bleed the wildness out of him but it’s still there. In his mind, he is still that wild horse with no tattoo on his neck running around the range.”

Bornstein decided to document helping Samson have a better lease on life because he wanted something good to come from Samson’s suffering.

“I felt a book could educate about what is happening to America’s wild horses.

Last Chance Mustang is representative of not just Sampson, but how all wild horses are up against their last chance right now. We have all these herds beneath genetic viability and the BLM wants these herds far below genetic viability. The BLM is completely disastrous; it is broken, and Samson is representative of what is broken.”

FROM EXALTED STEED TO EASY TARGET Samson was supposed to be one of the lucky ones saved by the adoption program, avoiding slaughter. While the BLM claims not to sell wild horses to slaughter, there have been a fair share of documented cases before and after December of 2004 when Congress began allowing the BLM to sell wild horses outright if they are more than 10 years old or have been unsuccessfully offered for adoption at least three times. Just months later, in May 2005, National Geographic reported that 35 wild horses were sold to a Sioux Indian tribe and another six sold to an Oklahoma man but then ended up at a slaughterhouse. Bornstein’s year of research for the book uncovered that in 1978 a BLM official conceded that 50 percent of horses funneled through the adoption program ended up at slaughter plants.

Wild horse advocates have been scrutinizing the BLM, but when they

find out about wild horses going to slaughter, the BLM manages to be a step ahead, using spin tactics to avoid blame and manipulate public opinion. In 2013, ProPublica broke the story that from 2009 to 2012, the BLM had sold more than 1,700 wild horses from its holding facilities to Tom Davis, a livestock hauler and proponent of horse slaughter, and the horses have disappeared. The story prompted an investigation by the Interior Department Office of the Inspector General (OIG). But the BLM said it would be unfair for to look more closely at Davis based on the volume of his purchases. “It is no good to just stir up rumors,” the BLM said.

“We have never heard of him not being able to find homes. People are innocent until proven guilty in the United States.”

When Friends of Animals recently inquired into the Davis case, the BLM responded that even though it’s two years later it has yet to receive any findings from the inspector general and referred us to this post on the BLM website: “The BLM condemns any sale of wild horses for slaughter… . It remains the policy of the BLM not to sell or send wild horses or burros to slaughter. We take seriously all accusations of the slaughter of wild horses or burros. The OIG initiated an investigation and we will work in conjunction with Colorado throughout its investigation. We look forward to the results of that inquiry. Anybody that is found to have violated the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act should be held accountable.”

Samson’s story begs the question, who will be held accountable for the animal abuse caused by the adoption program? “You have a program that basically says take the horses—we are overburdened, we don’t want them and who cares what you do with them,” Bornstein said. “I’ve never heard from an adopter that the BLM showed up at their barn for a compliance check. My opinion is that I don’t think there is any oversight.

“And I don’t think the adoption program started as ‘Own a piece of Americana’ like they tout it. I think it was, ‘Oh crap, these horses are filling up these mud lots so let’s give them away.’ The BLM isn’t sending out the message to treat these horses with care. It’s more like a Kmart blue-light special. Like we are overstocked. That’s why I say the program started broken.”

Being a wild horse cost Samson and his kin so much in the domestic market.

Wild horses are labelled as combative— but the only thing they know is to defend themselves and their families. Bornstein is adamant that if you are going to take a wild horse in, don’t blame the horse for being wild. He hopes readers will question if it’s really smart to throw a wild horse in a trailer and command him to be a domestic horse.

He also hopes people will start to question how the BLM arrives at the Appropriate Management Levels in Herd Management Areas and why 80 percent of the forage in wild horse HMAs is allocated to welfare ranchers so they can graze their cattle and sheep.

“What bothers me the most after doing all this research is that we are managing a national treasure based on methodology and statistics that are not only outdated but were promoted by special interests,” he said. “We don’t have a wild horse problem. We have a BLM problem.

He hopes people will read Last Chance Mustang advocate for wild horses—perhaps by reaching out to their members of Congress to introduce legislation to put a moratorium on roundups.

“When I had the opportunity to help Samson, I couldn’t turn my back,” Bornstein said. “Without saying it directly to people, I put the question out there: “Can you continue to turn your backs on what’s going on with America’s wild horses?”

Last Chance Mustang will be released

by St. Martin’s press in June.

Summer 2015 | 19

BY DUSTIN RHODES • PHOTOGRAPHY BY JANE SEYMOUR

LABOR OF LOVE Enriching the lives of primates is the ‘best job in the world’ Enrichment staff member may sound like an odd job title if you aren’t from the sanctuary world, but inside Texasbased Primarily Primates (PPI), managed by Friends of Animals, it’s about the best job in the world.

Each morning, the enrichment staff arrives at the sanctuary and chops fresh fruit, sweet potatoes, melons— you name it—for the more than 400 animals that live at PPI. Enrichment, however, is not their daily diet; it’s more like a complement to what the animals normally eat—a way to enhance their carefully planned diets. And sometimes enrichment is not food-based at all.

The idea behind enrichment is to provide the animals with novel foods and experiences that stimulate their taste buds and their brains, too; it’s sometimes a way to foster behaviors and activities that they’d experience if they were still living in the wild. For instance, staff members might put some nuts or berries inside a container that they have to figure out how to open. Maybe the primates will have to use a tool, like a stick, to get to the treats inside. The experience is part of the goal.

Enrichment is also a way to add beneficial ingredients to a primate’s diet. To promote a shiny coat and reduce any sort of inflammation related to aging, staff members have found that adding flax oil to a primate’s diet is beneficial—just like it is for humans. Staff members might drizzle some flax oil on carrots, with some herbs, as a special treat. The primates are eating something new and different—and something that’s good for their health.

To say the least, it’s a very rewarding job. To spend time thinking of new ways to present health-promoting foods to our residents is also exciting. Sometimes, the sanctuary throws a big watermelon party; and then the chimpanzees are the ones delirious with excitement.

Over the past two years, we’ve gotten even more

20 | Friends of Animals

Clockwise from left Calder, a rhesus macaque, nibbles on Hope’s Favorite Roasted Carrots, depicted in the center photo. Lemons, limes and oranges are sliced for citrus green tea. Laurie samples avocado chocolate pudding, which is also depicted in the next photo alongsiside chia pudding.

Wonderful Wanda’s Jicama Watermelon Salad. Ringtailed lemur Uvuli enjoys Okko’s Peanut Butter Banana Quesadilla.

Summer 2015 | 21

Over the past two years, PPI has gotten even more creative with enrichment. Several care staff members who are excellent, imaginative cooks have brought their fabulous recipes to PPI’s residents.

They’ve discovered what the animals love (and, a few times, what they don’t). They’ve created ice creams, muffins with chocolatey frosting (that’s made without sugar) that the animals adore.

During PPI’s accreditation process with the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (the most prestigious accrediting body for animal refuges in the world), the sanctuary was told its enrichment program was stellar; it received official accreditation in December 2014. PPI also recently joined the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance, so that it can exchange ideas with peers in sanctuaries throughout the country.

Another exciting development is that PPI expects to receive a USDA license, which will allow it to bring guests to the sanctuary. While PPI will never be a zoo where spectators come to ogle the animals, the sanctuary wants to be able to bring members to PPI on occasion to the see the amazing animals and the work staff members have accomplished. Thanks to support from Friends of Animals, PPI has opened several new state-of-the-art, naturalistic habitats in recent years, and has opened three new green spaces in the last year alone. In April 2015, we opened our new capuchin habitat, which is extraordinary (if we do say so ourselves).

Right now, staff members are preparing an enrichment cookbook, which they will share with all sanctuary peers. It will include a few dozen recipes (with gorgeous photographs) that are unique, delicious and, most of all, enrich residents’ lives.

Above: Sweet Potato Samplers and Amy’s Apple Crisp

22 | Friends of Animals

Clockwise from far left Rudy is delighted by Amy’s Apple Crisp.

Fancy Pants Pizza with Happy Chimp Hummus. Pancho enjoys some Sweet Potato Samplers. Jordan’s Pumpkin Ice Cream. Chocolate Pumpkin Fudge.

Freddie’s Tea Time Snacks.

Please consider becoming a “friend” of Primarily Primates by liking our Facebook page; you can be an even better friend by becoming a member!

A basic membership starts at $25.

You’ll receive our quarterly newsletter, and if you’re in the San Antonio, Texas area you’ll receive occasional invitations to the sanctuary.

Spring 2015 | 23

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A MATTER OF BREEDING: A Biting History of Pedigree Dogs and How the Quest for Status Has Harmed Man’s Best Friend

BY MEG MCINTIRE

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he dog enters the ring, head held high as it gets into position. The crowd cheers as trained judges begin to meticulously evaluate every limb, muscle, fur pattern and paw placement, determining if this canine is worthy of battling against dozens of its own species for the honor and entertainment of the audience.

The evolution of this exact scenario, from the Westminster dirt pit in England to the Westminster dog show in New York City, is what author Michael Brandow examines thoroughly in his new book, A Matter of Breeding: A Biting History of Pedigree Dogs and How the Quest for Status Has Harmed Man’s Best Friend.

The book is a fascinating and at times, disturbing, journey through the rise of purebred dogs and how their health and well-being have been corrupted for looks, style and social and economic status of their owners.

Brandow uses his journalistic background to compile vast amounts of historical research, coupled with his own experiences as a dog-walker/sitter in New York City, to illustrate how the day-today experiences of innocent animals like French bulldogs and cocker spaniels are fraught with hardship due to centuries old inbreeding practices that focus on appearance instead of function.

Beginning with a tale about the special care and instructions needed just to take a pedigreed English bulldog puppy on a walk, Brandow dives into the history behind the deformation of this breed, explaining how they were used for centuries as “...mad fighting machines that would stop at nothing to subdue and kill their opponent,” which was in many cases, a bull. A large jaw, bulging muscles and a small brain enclosed in an overly large skull was what was needed to create a

24 | Friends of Animals

successful “fighting machine” and these were the traits that continue to be selectively bred in bulldogs.

More recently, however, these traits have practically nothing to do with fighting ability and more to do with the social desires of the dog’s owners. Brandow discusses how he believes that dogs are now used to demonstrate their owners’ spending power, social standing, refinement, taste and even racial purity—in other words, to show off our own breeding in a way that is no longer socially acceptable in our society.

He takes this idea further, pointing out how it was a sign of status when well-to-do families in Europe kept special types of hunting hounds and bird dogs in the Victorian ages and how the laws that existed in England and Continental Europe prohibited lower classes from even being seen with greyhounds, deerhounds and other types of breeds that outclassed them.

The arrival of dog shows in the early 19th century can be considered a natural progression of humans’ intense and deeply-rooted habit of making dogs into hand-picked status symbols. The major difference this time was that groups like the American Kennel Club were incorporated, and began setting absurd standards for breeds, resulting in dogs being less valued for their skills, intelligence or durability and instead for their ability to meet beauty pageant ideals that branded them as custom-made products with huge price tags.

Although the damage inflicted on many canine breeds by human egos and selfish desires is largely irreversible, Brandow is optimistic about the future of dogs and points out that the tide is changing as more pet owners reject false and unnatural standards and instead embrace

mutts and mixes found at animal shelters.

It is his hope (and ours as well) that our society truly lives up to our claim that we’re a “dog-loving culture” by throwing out the unnecessary, asinine and abusive standards that have become widely accepted when it comes to breeding this species.

The history that is so well presented in A Matter of Breeding is an essential part of understanding the relationship that exists between humans and dogs. Brandow sums up his research excellently, explaining, “The assumption of this book has been that the preventable suffering of a single animal is too high a price to pay for flattering the socially insecure, supporting the illusion of the perfect pet, or helping humans.” It is a highly recommended read for any current or prospective pet-owner as it perfectly illustrates how important it is that we separate our social desires from our dogs, who truly depend on us to have their best interests in our hearts and minds at all times.

Available at amazon.com for $18

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IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO GO VEGAN The Over-50 Guide to Adopting and Thriving on a Plant-Based Diet Reviewed By Dustin Garrett Rhodes

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was recently at a vegan dinner party when the conversation diverted to what many vegans would consider a cliché: We started talking about why and when we converted. But what set this conversation apart and, really, what inspired me was the fact that several of the people there were in their 60s and 70s, and were recent converts. At a time in life when many people are happy to live with the habits they’ve cultivated over a lifetime, I was being regaled by tales of people who’d made big changes at a later stage. And I was deeply moved by this.

I am ashamed to admit how often, at the semi-ripe age of 42, that the voice in my own head often admonishes, “You’re too old for that.” Whether it’s to learn a new language, try a new hobby, do something fun, impulsive, etc., I am my own

worst enemy, and I suspect that we are all too intimate with the voice in our heads that tells us it’s too late to try something new.

When do we become “too old” for something, to give our lives new purpose and meaning? When do we become too old to make a difference? As I sat listening to these people sharing their stories of how adopting a plant-based lifestyle had dramatically changed their lives, I was struck by all the assumptions I’d clung to about the aging process itself.

It occurred to me that I actually might not really know anything about aging and growing old—a word with so much cultural baggage.

It’s Never Too Late to Go Vegan—The Over-50 Guide to Adopting and Thriving on a Plant-Based Diet, by Carol Adams, Ginny Messina and Patti Breitman—is

a book I highly recommend. It’s not just a book about becoming vegan; it’s ultimately a book about living a full life. Not only will you find all the reasons to adopt a plant-based diet, this book lays out a path: how to do it, what to watch out for, and how to get started in the kitchen.

And more than that, this book turns the process of aging on its head, and artfully dispels myths about the process of aging.

You might be surprised to find out that much of what we think of as inevitable is not at all.

Messina, a registered dietitian who’s an authority on vegan nutrition, was kind enough to discuss the book, aging and why plant-based diets inspire its adherents, young and old alike.

Summer 2015 | 25

IN MANY WAYS, IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO GO VEGAN IS AS MUCH ABOUT HEALTHY AGING – AND DISPELLING THE MYTHS OF AGING – AS IT IS VEGANISM.

What inspired the three of you to write on this topic?

We were inspired by the fact that there was this large group of people who were being overlooked in vegan advocacy. And there are some compelling advantages for older people in adopting a vegan diet and exploring a vegan ethic. Some of those are, of course, the advantages associated with eating more plant foods for healthy aging, so we naturally included information about that. Although the book is about veganism, it’s all placed within the general context of aging.

children and from grandchildren who are bewildered by changes in holiday meals.

They may find that longtime friends are confused by and uncomfortable with this change. On the flip side, many over-50 vegans say that their dietary choices have positively influenced spouses and adult children.

There’s a lot of talk about “vitality” in the book – discussed in ways I’d never considered. What is it about removing animal products from your diet that lends itself to vitality and a positive aging process?

The dictionary defines vitality as the “capacity for survival or for the continuation of a meaningful or purposeful existence.” It’s often thought of as “energy,” and certainly adopting a healthy vegan diet may make you feel more energetic if it improves your health. But it’s really the second part of that definition that we were after. We referred to vitality as “the flame I think one of the most important things within.” Again, it’s about this feeling of we share in this book is that veganism is empowerment and purpose. About doing a way to feel empowered. And the reason something that feels vital—or necessary. that this is important is because aging Which is absolutely how veganism feels to brings perceptions of diminished influmany people who discover it later in life. ence and relevance. Veganism is a simple way to reclaim or reassert your influence A lot of people think becoming vegan and your power. It has an impact every will make them a social pariah. What single day and allows anyone to make a do you say to that? critical difference in the world.

It’s true that when you first go vegan some What do you think some of the chal- friends may feel discomfort about shared lenges are to becoming vegan? Do you meals. It’s important to be proactive about think some are specific to people past that and to put any concerns to rest. Offera certain age? ing to bring food to social gatherings (and making sure it’s really good food There is a learning curve with veganism. that others will want to taste, too) relieves You need to learn where to get calcium your host of any worries about what to and protein and vitamin B12. And how feed you. Choosing restaurants that are to bake a cake without eggs and find a likely to accommodate everyone’s needs brand of plant milk that you like. That all can take some of the angst out of mixed takes time and a little bit of effort. But for dining experiences. The most important many people, the most challenging part thing, though, is to let others know that lies in social situations and family situayes, you are eating differently, but nothing tions. And this may be a little bit more of in your relationship with them has actua hurdle for people over 50. Older vegans ally changed. may experience resistance from adult A lot of people believe that it does become “too late” to do something like become vegan; that it won’t help animals. But many people say it’s the best thing they ever did, regardless of age. What is it about a veggie-based diet that’s life changing?

26 | Friends of Animals

What about the food aspect of veganism. How do you help people get past the belief that vegan food is weird or nutritionally incomplete?

My own work is devoted to helping people understand the (very simple) principles of vegan nutrition so that they will feel confident about the safety of vegan diets.

The information on planning healthy vegan diets is available and we just have to make sure that people are directed to reliable sources. But it’s pretty hard to even contemplate veganism if you think the food is awful or that you have to give up all of your favorite dishes. We might be more successful as vegan activists if we feed people first and then talk to them about veganism. And maybe show them that there is a vegan version of everything in the world. That’s why the recipes in Never Too Late to Go Vegan include, in addition to healthier fare, mac ‘n cheese, artichoke dip, and chocolate cake.

Do you advocate for a cold Tofurkey approach to veganism or something more gradual?

It depends. My experience from years of dietary counseling is that many people do best with lifestyle change when they take it one manageable step at a time.

And that’s a good approach for those who are feeling hesitant about going vegan.

However, some people, when they realize the impact of dietary choices on animal suffering, feel an urgent need to go vegan right away. And this often works very well for them. So, I advocate whatever approach feels most manageable and necessary to an individual.

Are there certain dietary needs that older individuals need to watch out for when transitioning to a plant-based diet?

Older people may have higher protein needs, although the research on this isn’t clear. And since some older people

“IT’S ABOUT THIS FEELING OF EMPOWERMENT AND PURPOSE. ABOUT DOING SOMETHING THAT FEELS VITAL—OR NECESSARY. WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY HOW VEGANISM FEELS TO MANY PEOPLE WHO DISCOVER IT LATER IN LIFE.” see their calorie needs decline, they may of expressing core values that remain a need to choose more protein-dense diets. constant even as so many other things are It’s not at all difficult to do this; it’s just changing. a matter of boosting intake of legumes— beans, soy foods and peanut butter. Any last words of wisdom or advice for Calcium needs to increase as well, so it’s some considering eliminating animal very important for older people, vegan or products from their diets and lifestyle, not, to identify good sources of calcium especially someone consumed by that in their diets like fortified plant milks, nagging voice in one’s head that says, certain leafy greens and calcium-set tofu. “It’s too late for me!”?

Reading your book, and I intend this as the most sincere compliment, I was surprised how inspired I felt about the aging process itself. It’s something we’re culturally taught to fear. How has veganism affected your own life and your own process of aging?

Aging has its downside, that’s for sure. But it also has some perks. It’s an experience that really does yield wisdom and especially perspective. It can bring freedom from certain types of obligations or expectations. There is also the incredible sweetness of long-term friendships and other relationships and the joy of shared memories that stretch back for decades.

Would my own experience of growing older be different if I weren’t vegan? It’s hard to say because I’ve been vegan since my 30s. I don’t know how my non-vegan self would have experienced the aging process. I might be healthier than I would otherwise have been since vegans often have less heart disease and diabetes. But successful aging isn’t just about physical and social health. It requires that we feel useful and that we have contributed to leaving the world better than we found it.

For me, making choices with the intention of causing the least harm is a way

Going vegan is a way to bring your actions in line with an ethic of compassion and with concerns about fairness and justice.

And it seems like the older we are, the more likely we are to have a sense of urgency regarding this harmony between belief and action. Whatever time we have left in this life, we can use it to express our beliefs and to let go of habits that harm the environment and animals. It could not possibly ever be too late to do that!

Available at barnesandnoble.com; indiebound.org; amazon.com for $16.95

Summer 2015 | 27

THE SPIRIT OF WILD HORSE ANNIE LIVES ON IN THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF MUSTANGS AND BURROS COMPILED BY NICOLE RIVARD

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o bolster efforts to save America’s wild horses, Friends of Animals has partnered with the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros (ISPMB), the oldest wild horse and burro organization in the United States led

by Karen Sussman. In this Q&A, Sussman talks about the origins of the ISPMB, and how it’s evolved into a conservation organization and leader in studying the behavior of America’s wild horse herds.

When and why was ISPMB created?

ISPMB was created by Californians Helen and John Reilly. They were on Vaudeville and heard of the plight of the wild horses and burros and personally met with Velma Johnston, a.k.a “Wild Horse Annie,” who had started a campaign to create legislation to end the massive slaughter and roundups of wild horses/burros in our country. Helen then volunteered for Velma as her personal secretary and she and John created the ISPMB in Nevada in 1960 to assist Velma. The organization played a crucial role with Annie in getting Congress to pass the Wild Horses and Burros Act in 1971. Helen and Velma traveled together all over the west working on wild horse/burro issues. When Velma died in 1977 in Nevada, Helen became the second president of ISPMB. How did you become involved?

I had adopted my first wild horse in 1981 and it was then that I realized that there was so much misinformation out about wild horses. There were only four organizations at that time of which I interviewed for three.

I chose ISPMB because of its history and ability to achieve the goals to save America’s wild horses and burros. I became president in 1989 but took over the reins of the organization in 1993 when Helen, then executive director, passed away.

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Can you discuss the evolution of ISPMB as a conservation organization dedicated to saving rare gene pools?

In 1999, ISPMB moved to South Dakota and began its conservation program, rescuing intact herds. The first was a herd of 70 horses known as the White Sands herd from New Mexico. The horses were left intact in their herd on the range undisturbed for at least 25 years, giving us our first herd that represented behaviorally functional horses.

On the heels of the first rescue came the Spanish Gila horses who were never categorized under the Wild Horses and Burros Act until ISPMB intervened in 1997. Then the BLM was required to protect them, however, within two years, they were facing roundups and slaughter so ISPMB intervened again.

This second herd represented the second behaviorally healthy herds under the care of ISPMB because they hadn’t been rounded up in nearly 50 years.

The third herd is from the Sheldon Wildlife Refuge operated by US Fish and Wildlife Service, unprotected by the Act. ISPMB received this herd in 2004 in anticipation of the elimination of these horses on the Refuge. Now ISPMB has the only breeding herd of Sheldon horses in our country.

Eighty-two horses from the Catnip Mountains of the Sheldon Range reside here.

The fourth herd, the Virginia Range Herd, is from the state of Nevada, another unprotected herd under the WHBA. These horses were gifted to The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in 2001 and when they could no longer care for the horses, they came to ISPMB. These horses have special significance in that these were the first horses protected in the U.S. by Velma Johnston under the Storey Co. law (1952) but ultimately were not protected under the WHBA since they were on state land.

Our 15 years of studies on behaviorally

healthy herds has yielded much information about how critically important it is not to disturb these family units. Keeping families intact allows for strong social bonds and stability reducing growth rates of the herds. It is BLM’s own management that has created an increase in the fertility rates of horses on public lands by the constant roundups and destruction of the family units.

We hope to have published information this year available to Congress, BLM and the public.

At one time you administered PZP to the mares in two of your herds? What is the most startling thing you learned about PZP to cause you to stop using it and to speak out against it? Do you plan to research what happens to mares when they are no longer given PZP? The BLM must remove nearly all the horses (approximately 90 percent) within a Herd Management Area to give the drugs to the mares, which actually destroys the family units once again defeating any purpose of fertility control. Secondly, instead of nature deciding who breeds and who does not, it now lies within the realm of humans to determine who carries on the genes. This has

Left Karen Sussman became president of ISMPB in 1989.

Del Rio Grand Jury investigation, which alleged that BLM’s own employees were sending wild horses to slaughter. The Grand Jury was convened for five years and not one shred of evidence was ever presented to the jury because the BLM employees’ subpoenas were held in abeyance – meaning they were prevented from testifying. ISPMB organized a coalition to help the law enforcement agents who were eventually forced out of the BLM. To date, there has been little enforcement of what happens to wild horses sold and adopted.

not worked in the domestic horse industry and this will create failure within the realm of wild horses because only the horses and nature knows who should survive and who should not. By this intrusive management of PZP, we will eventually destroy the true nature of wild horses.

ISPMB will have the future to determine the effects of PZP on the last two herds in our conservation program and information will be forthcoming. We know that permanent infertility happens as early as five consecutive years of treatment. We also know that 4.5 years of treatments produced infertility for two years in our Virginia Range herd.

We have noticed that in several of the mares who cannot have foals, they have actually stolen foals from mares who may be having their first foal and can’t guard against a more dominant mare. It is heartbreaking to see how badly a mare really wants to have a foal. Nature designed the females to carry their genes forth through birth. We have noticed in the Catnip herd that when mares cannot get pregnant that they have “loose” social bonds. When a foal is born, the mare and a stallion with whom she approves become a family. Without foals, we don’t see that close family bond developing. We are now monitoring the health and well-be-

ing of foals born to mares that have received the drug for nearly five years. We have also noticed that coming off birth control, the general foaling cycle is interrupted and we are having late season births.

What do you think Wild Horse Annie would say about the BLM’s treatment of wild horses and the fact that there are more in dismal holding pens than roaming free today? Do you have any knowledge of horses ending up in slaughterhouses?

Annie and Helen knew in 1976 that the law would be as good as the enforcement of the Act. But she would be furious at all the groups who have not stood up to fight for the rights of the horses, having less than viable numbers of horses on the range, losing more than half of the horses/burros that were counted in 1974, and allowing the ranges to be degraded by overgrazing by cattle. Why don’t groups work toward ENDING cattle grazing on the Herd Management Areas and stop the roundups that way…or stop them legally in courts? Constant removals and the use of PZP only continue to destroy the true nature of our wild horses.

In the 1990s ISPMB worked with six law enforcement agents of the BLM in the

INDEX OF TERMS Herd Management Area In 1971, when Congress passed the Wild Horses and Burros Act, wild horses were found roaming across 53.8 million acres known as Herd Areas, of which 42.4 million acres were under the BLM’s jurisdiction.

Today the BLM manages wild horses and burros in 179 subsets of these Herd Areas, known as Herd Management Areas, which comprise 31.6 million acres, of which 26.9 million acres are under BLM management.

Appropriate Management Level The Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) has defined AML as the ‘optimum’ number of wild horses, which results in a thriving natural ecological balance between wild horse and burro populations, wildlife, livestock and vegetation, and to protect the range from the deterioration.

PZP (PZP) is a fertility control pesticide used by the BLM in two formulations. There is a one-year liquid vaccine that must be re-administered annually, as well as a longer-lasting, 22-month, pelleted PZP agent (PZP-22). The pelleted vaccine can be administered by darting into a few mares, but typically it is hand-injected after the mares have been captured. This method of treatment means that during gathers, more mares need to be captured (for treatment and release) than would actually be removed from the range if removal was the only goal.

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UNCONQUERED

BY JAY MALLONEE

HOW ONE RESCUE DOG EMBRACES LIFE DESPITE ADVERSITY

30 | Friends of Animals

Right Highway, a Karelian bear dog, bonded quickly with his rescuer.

“I thank whatever gods may be . . .”

On Oct. 12, 2012, I was returning home from work with my black lab Shyla. As we entered the 70 mph curve just before turning off the main highway, I saw a medium-sized black and white dog emerge from the national forest where we live and attempt to cross the road. I quickly slowed, and as we passed by I could see he was old with matted hair. I pulled over and jumped out of the truck, knowing more traffic would arrive quickly. I yelled and waved for him to come over, and he walked the center line in my direction. I did not yet know he was deaf. I heard cars coming but the curve blocked my view. I scooped him up in my arms and headed to the truck as a vehicle whizzed by. At that point I realized he had lost an encounter with a skunk. I lowered the tailgate and lifted his fragrant body into the truck bed under the canopy. I drove the last few miles home thinking, “What just happened?”

The next morning we stopped by the vet clinic. He was chipped, and I called the owner within minutes. She explained that she had lived alone on the ranch just south of my cabin, but age forced her to move into town 40 miles away. She had already been there three months and claimed to have driven out to the ranch once or twice a week to feed him. He had wandered the national forest the entire time and was now just above starvation level weight. We met several days later and she officially gave me the dog. I also learned more

about his past, which matched what the vets had found.

“For my unconquerable soul.”

He was a Karelian bear dog, and they estimated his age at 12 years. He was dying from an oral infection so two weeks later the vets pulled six teeth.

The others were either missing or broken. His left knee was damaged and had not healed properly, and he was deaf from a shotgun blast next to his head. He was put on a month of antibiotics to keep him alive, and over the next week he slept 18 - 20 hours each day. I kept looking to see if he was still breathing. He didn’t urinate for three days, despite drinking water, so apparently his kidneys had been shutting down. The vets didn’t know if he would live or not.

After several weeks of uncertainty, his personality suddenly sprang to life. He pranced, twirled, play bowed and even sat on his abdomen and beat his arms on the floor when excited. He was hilarious. I named him Highway.

“I am the master of my fate:” Since the beginning, Shyla and I have been Highway’s source of reassurance, and a bond of trust quickly developed. At work he often peered around the corner to see where I was

then go back to his pad and sleep.

During lunch we went for walks to build up his strength, and I saw then some of his limitations. He trotted stiffly because of his old and damaged knees, and ran by pushing off with both legs simultaneously.

Yet he seemed to see more than his cataracts indicated, like when dogs walked by. He went from zero to bonkers when he saw them, a response that undoubtedly helped to fend off predators in the forest. I also found that if I clapped loudly enough within a few feet of him he could hear it. Now I use hand signals and clapping so we can wander the property at home without a leash.

By the end of the first year, he still had not gained much weight. I found out why on Nov. 4, 2013. He spewed blood and mucous everywhere while defecating. Then the vomiting began.

Within 24 hours he had almost died from dehydration and was put on IVs for three straight days. Although the vets had prevented disaster, they weren’t interested in finding the cause.

Highway continued to deteriorate over the next two months and stomach issues now contributed. As in human medicine, not all doctors are caring, and sometimes bravado is substituted for knowledge. Highway lost more and more weight, and I looked desperately for a vet who was compassionate and good at diagnostics. Then one day I found her. She

Summer 2015 | 31

saved his life. With diligent care and persistence, we discovered that chronic inflammation throughout the GI tract was causing the stomach issues. Antibiotics and steroids help, and I cook every meal for him, which includes increased fiber content. For animals with such disparate needs, perseverance from everyone is required.

“I am the captain of my soul.”

Since Highway’s arrival, death has been a frequent visitor. It seems to negotiate with him the date of his final release. It’s patient, always knowing the inevitable outcome. He responds by fighting when he must, but continues to enjoy each day. He knows now a life of contentment, rather than pain and suffering.

32 | Friends of Animals

When I first found him he ate wood, dirt, plants, feces—anything to stay alive. Another result from his abuse by neglect. A year later it apparently triggered an immune response in his GI tract, the source of chronic inflammation. It could be fatal someday but he has finally gained weight.

This past February his current vet reevaluated his age to be about 17 years, given his weakening hindquarters and thickening cataracts. I have since upgraded his life journey from remarkable to astonishing.

Now when he stares at me I look into his eyes and wonder, “Who are you?

What planet are you from?”

I know the end will come soon, although he remains serene, joyful and play bows every day. We get back what we give: I provided the pathway, and Highway chose life. He has made it clear that until his body undergoes

complete and catastrophic failure, he will remain here with us.

Jay Mallonee has studied a variety of animals since 1977, from wolves to whales. His research on wolves began in 1992, and he has written extensively about them in his scientific publications, magazines, newspapers and on his website (www.wolfandwildlifestudies.com). Jay also wrote the book Timber - A Perfect Life, an account of his 16-year relationship with a profound canine companion. *The headers in the article above are lines from the poem Invictus – Latin for “unconquered.”

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

SUSANNA GOLDMAN

RICK SERSEN

RALPHIE

MALCHRIN BEMILMANS

FREYDA FAIVUS

MISTY

ADDIE REARDON

NORTON MAJETICH

CLEO

THE LATE HAROLD COLTMAN

MORTICIA ADDAMS HOFFMAN

NUGZ

GILDED LILY

DOLORES KENNELLY

LUCY

MILTON CRENSHAW

DELILA PONTIUS

DOLLY

JAMES LOUGLIN

SHIRLEY BISCHOFF

LUCKY

CALVIN HONG

ROCKY CHARNECO

CINDY DIALOP

DUSTIN

TATIANA (THE SIBERIAN TIGER)

It is with sadness we announce the passing of Carol Roman — Friends of Animals’ longest-running volunteer.

Roman died at age 93 on May 4.

A resident of Maple Shade, N.J., south Jersey’s cats and dogs lost a true friend. For the past 55 years, Roman served as FoA’s representative for our low-cost spay/neuter certificate program. Roman sold thousands of low-cost spay/neuter certificates to people with pets. Buyers of the certificates used them at the Animal Welfare Association in Voorhees or at select veterinary offices to have their cats and dogs altered. Roman often went above and beyond—whenever a caller couldn’t afford the cost of a certificate, she dug into her own pocket to pay for it. Roman also organized numerous fundraisers for FoA. Until the day she died, Roman advocated for spay and neutering to prevent births of unwanted animals in a nation where shelters are overpopulated and millions of cats and dogs are still put down each year because there aren’t enough good homes for them.

For that, FoA is eternally grateful.

Barbara Leap will serve as FoA’s south Jersey representative.

If you live in that area and are interested in a certificate, please visit www.friendsofanimals.org.

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LETTERS A ONE OF A KIND VET

HUNTERS ARE INSUFFERABLE

Enclosed is a copy of the Rainbow Bridge which my vet gave me after my kitty, Tigger-Marie, passed away from kidney failure on 2/20/14.

She would have been 17 years old on 6/1/14 and she was the last born of four in the litter. Her sister Peek-a-boo Jean, the first born is still with us and will be 18 on 6/1/15. She’s happy and healthy.

I just want to say “way to go” to Priscilla Feral for contacting that hunter in her neighborhood. I find hunters to be ignorant, loudmouthed and, most of all, cowards. They know how to yell over a phone because they cannot hold an intelligent argument. I’d love to see them be a thing of the past.

Everything that could be done for Tigger-Marie was done, no stones were left unturned. It came on quick and left a hole in my heart. I sat with her before the shots were administered and until she passed, and for a long time after that, holding and cherishing her. She knew she was loved and cherished her whole life. We had four kitties and a sister, Sunshine-Louise and Tigger-Marie were very close. She goes to their special spots for naps and sleeps on our bed as they both did. We miss her very much.

We had her cremated and found a kitty urn for her. It has brown hues of cloisonné with two kitties. Her tags hang from freshwater pearls for the little lady. She’ll never be forgotten.

Good for her!!

My vet, Chris Elson, from Burnt Hills Vet, Ballston Lake, NY, made the grieving process easier with his kindness and care.

Mr. Elson is an exceptional vet and has been Vet of the Year several times, I believe. He and his wife, Paula, raise exotics – Bengal kitties, but not a kitty mill. They are well cared for and all are cherished. He is an exceptional vet, not the run of the mill kind. If you call and have an emergency, he takes you right in, no waiting and makes you and your pets feel special – A One of a Kind Vet. He helped me when I needed it most and I cherish his care for my pets.

Thanks for your Action Line magazine.

Sharon Pappas Ballston Lake, NY Editor’s note: The Rainbow Bridge ran on the Letters page in Spring 2015, Action Line.

34 | Friends of Animals

Tami Reed Via e-mail

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 VEGAN CHILI FOR THE HOMELESS Cheers to New York City mom Michelle Carrera and her 4-yearold son Ollie, who are helping to feed the city’s homeless -and they are doing it with vegan chili. As a vegan family they were concerned the city’s soup kitchen meals all contained meat. In November 2014, they started making their own vegan chili to distribute to those in need on Thanksgiving, and Chili on Wheels was born. After beginning in Brooklyn, the duo is now also serving homeless in Union Square and Tompkins Square Park. Carrera is raising funds to keep the program going and to create a stationary table in the parks to better reach the city’s homeless. She has also started a Chili on Wheels chapter in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. For information, visit https://chilisonwheels.wordpress.com/donate.

JEERS NEW JERSEY BLACK BEAR HUNT Jeers to the New Jersey Fish and Game Council for approving an updated Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy that would open additional land in northwest New Jersey for the harvest of black bears, beginning this year. In 2016, the state would add a six-day black bear season in October.

The plan would also increase the harvest limit to two bears per hunter, provided one is taken in October and one in December. The Council’s proposed policy will be sent to state Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin, who must approve it before it is published in the New Jersey Register and opened for a 60-day public comment period. NJ residents please contact Martin and tell him not to approve this gruesome plan.

Phone: 609-292-2885.

Email: Bob.Martin@dep.nj.gov.

KARL LAGERFELD As a high-end fashion designer, you would expect Karl Lagerfeld to have a semblance of class. Regrettably, this isn’t the case, as an article in The New York Times fashion section revealed the designer will stage Haute Fourrure, Fendi’s first ever couture show, in July, that will feature absurd amounts of cruelty by draping models in outfits made of fur. Lagerfeld didn’t get the message that fur is a thing of the past because he came out in support of the industry by saying, “It’s very easy to say no fur, no fur, no fur, but it’s an industry. Who will pay for all the unemployment of the people if you suppress the industry of the fur?” What about the millions of abused animals who were tortured to death in the name of fashion?

AUSTRALIA’S BAN ON LION TROPHIES Cheers to Australia, which has banned the import and export of hunting trophies made from the body parts of lions, in an attempt to help curb the organized hunting of Africa’s wildlife.

The trophies are often derived from “canned” hunting in South Africa. Captive-bred lions are put into enclosures where tourists pay thousands of dollars for the dubious privilege of shooting them. From 2010-2013, Australian hunters imported the bodies or body parts, such as skulls and claws, of 91 lions. Under Australian law, the maximum penalty for wildlife trade offenses is 10 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $170,000 for individuals and up to $850,000 for corporations.

Summer 2015 | 35

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Summer 2015 | 37

NEW CROSS OUT T-SHIRT “There’s no right way to do the wrong thing” Navy 100% combed and ring-spun cotton T-shirt. Available in women’s sizes S, M, L, XL. Men’s sizes S, M, L, XL, XXL. Females should consider ordering up a size for great fit. $24 including shipping

NEW CHIMPANZEE T-SHIRT for Primarily Primates sanctuary Solid dark gray 100% combed and ring-spun cotton T-shirt in unisex sizes. XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL.Females should consider ordering a size down for great fit. Artwork by Jordan Rowe. $24 including shipping

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WILD HORSES TEE BY VAUTE COUTURE Help support our efforts to get wild horses protected under the Endangered Species Act with this new T-shirt, available for a limited time. Shirts are unisex and are 100% certified organic cotton. Ladies order one size down for a more fitted look. Sizes: XS, S, M, L, XL

VEGAN T-SHIRT Men’s and women’s 100% certified organic cotton black and white. Men’s and women’s sizes. S, M, L, XL. Artwork by Nash Hogan at Hand of Glory Tattoo, Brooklyn, NY $22 including shipping

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

NEW BE VEGAN T-SHIRT Dark gray heathered high quality ring-spun cotton/polyester T-shirt.

Available in women’s sizes S, M, L, XL. Men’s sizes S, M, L, XL, XXL. Females should consider ordering up a size for great fit. $24 including shipping