August
1994
The
Satya Interview: Anne Earle
Outreach Coordinator for Friends of Animals,
New York City
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Q. How did you get involved with animal advocacy?
A. I like to think I was involved from way back. When I was in fourth
grade, I did a school project on African wildlife. I read the Born Free
sagas and wanted to be a game-warden; I actually ran a fund-raising
campaign for this program called "Camels for Kenya" which
basically bought camels for wardens to ride on and stop poaching. So
I ran around door-to-door, and had a slide show in my school. At the
same time, my favorite social studies teacher and I got into a discussion
about meat-eating, and the morality of it. I said I didn’t think
it was necessarily too moral to eat meat and he asked me whether I ate
meat. I of course said I didn’t, and right there I became a vegetarian!
This lasted for about a year and then I started caving in to the smell
of meat. It lay dormant until I was in my mid-twenties, and I stopped
by a table I had been avoiding in my neighborhood that had horrible
animal pictures. Anytime I saw the animal pictures I was outraged and
upset, but never went further than that. I picked up a PETA [People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals] magazine there and I read about
all the farm animals and ordered [Peter Singer’s book] Animal
Liberation. I remember thinking "Oh no, I’m gonna have to
stop eating all this!" ... and I did.
Q. How did you get a job working in the animal
movement?
A. I’ve been very fortunate to meet great people in the movement,
who have helped me, and helped me get my first job — as director
of adoptions for the ASPCA. The ASPCA was very fussy not to hire animal
rights people, not wanting people trying to radicalize the place. I
was lucky to get the job, because, believe it or not, it is not an easy
thing to get.
I left the A [ASPCA] for a whole host of reasons. I thought about other
shelter work, and went back to social work — I’m a trained
social worker — but I wasn’t very happy. I much preferred
to work in the movement. I was familiar with Friends of Animals. I liked
the stuff they did, I liked the staff I knew, and eventually this position
opened up. I’ve been working here for about a year and a half.
Q. What did working at the ASPCA teach you?
A. The A was probably the most challenging, difficult, and complicated
year I have spent as an adult. Leaving was a tough decision, filled
with pain and ambivalence, because I knew I was helping a lot of animals
by being there. What the A gave me was a perspective on the over-population
problem that I would not have had had I not worked there. I could really
grasp the problems people have with companion animals, and the complexities
of so-called animal control. I think there’s a tendency —
especially on the over-population issue and particularly in New York
City — to do a lot of finger-pointing at the organizations rather
than the problem itself. I don’t know why; but I imagine it’s
easier. The A is certainly fraught with problems and corruption, but
people should worry more about the problem than about the ASPCA. It’s
not the one creating the cruelty, it’s not creating the over-population
problem, it isn’t saying dump your animals here and walk away.
We need to change people’s attitudes about our relationships with
animals in general, not just change that ASPCA (although that would
be good too).
Q. And one solution is the Spay/Neuter Bill.
A. Yes. This is a solution-oriented approach to the problem of the homeless
and abandoned animals in New York. I prefer to be working on the solutions
rather than the symptoms. Symptoms drove me crazy as a social worker,
and they do so as an animal rights activist. I get overwhelmed by them.
I’m happy to be working on a piece of legislation that addresses
the problem of killing thousands of "unwanted" animals in
New York City and around the country through a more solution-oriented
approach: namely through trying to discourage people from breeding and
selling animals.
Q. What precisely is the problem?
A. In short, there are too many homeless animals, either because of
breeding or abandonment. Over 42,500 dogs and cats were killed at the
ASPCA last year. It costs more than $5.5 million a year for shelter
and related animal services. Too many people want to buy pure breed
puppies and kittens, too many of these animals are dumped at the shelter
when they’re no longer young and small. Some people literally
dump them in the park or on the street — afraid that they’ll
be killed at the shelter. These animals breed more and create more homeless
animals — not to mention how much they suffer. This whole situation
has to change and it can change.
Q. Tell us about the Bill.
A. Elinor Molbergot, our consulting attorney, basically drafted the
Spay/Neuter Bill herself. She has a lot of experience in the movement,
with lobbying, and is very knowledgeable about the legislative process.
She’s a total animal rights advocate, but very practical and realistic
about legislation.
The Bill, which is called Intro. 321, was introduced by Kathryn Freed
in September 1993. In the meantime, we have been revising the Bill,
getting a broad base of support — whether from grassroots activists
or rescue groups, etc. We have been having activists lobby their own
councilperson. We’ve really been laying the groundwork. Frankly,
I see the Fall and the year ahead as the period for getting the issue
before the public as much as possible, whether through advertising or
through our brochure, or through any kind of media events we can have.
We then put pressure on Speaker Vallone to have a hearing on the Bill
at which point the public is invited to come and make comments and changes
can be made, and ultimately, we go to a vote. But basically we have
a concsciousness-raising phase first, and that’s our goal at the
moment: to get enough interest that a hearing is held on the Bill itself.
Obviously people aren’t going to bug their councilperson if they
don’t think this is a problem. Things being the way they are in
New York City, it’s not top of everybody’s list. So we’re
going to have a lot of work to do to bring it to people’s attention.
We call it a mandatory spay/neuter bill — although that is a slight
misnomer. In fact it is not mandating anyone spay or neuter their animals.
It requires you to pay a permit fee if you are going to breed your animal,
thereby discouraging breeding. If you harbor an unaltered animal —
for any reason — no one is going to take your animal away, but
you have to pay. Because the fact is, that if you have an unaltered
animal, that animal is going to add to the already large over-population
crisis. This is a way of penalizing people for breeding.
People cannot throw garbage on the side of the road and not have to
pay for it; yet at the moment people can bring a litter of kittens to
our shelter, or dump them on someone else’s door, or leave them
on the street, and nothing happens. These are living, breathing animals
who have no-one to care for them. Bringing lives into the world with
no consequence must come to a halt: people will have to learn that you
have to be responsible about this. We live in a situation — especially
in urban centers, but this is true everywhere — where domestic
cats and dogs cannot live on their own: they require us to live. Their
breeding needs to be controlled. We’ve created their problems
— we have to solve them.
Q. What do you do day-to-day at Friends of
Animals?
A. People call us with their immediate animal-related problems, and
because there isn’t good animal "control" in New York
we get the spillover of a lot of calls. I think I had about 25 calls
today about unwanted animals. We try and network them through the no-kill
system, but ultimately that’s impossible if someone simply doesn’t
want to work to find them a home. In effect, there is no guaranteed
no-kill solution for homeless animals right now. In the New York Office,
we’re helping a lot of animals out on the streets every day, and
we try to empower the individuals who call in to do the same. We’re
also doing other campaigns: Fur, wildlife campaigns, trying to persuade
CITES [Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species] not
to downgrade the status of elephants. We hope to do a big campaign in
early Fall. We aren’t as savvy at grabbing the media attention
as we should be. But it isn’t always possible or do-able, as some
issues don’t interest the media and they have to be done anyway.
We are involved with some nitty-gritty stuff, and it’s not always
glamorous, but we do the best we can.
Q. What do people do when they want to spay
or neuter their companion animal?
A. People can get their animals altered anywhere. First I usually recommend
that if you have your own veterinarian, go there. That’s the best
thing to do. You already have a relationship and they know your animal.
Many people — especially those who rescue stray animals —
want to save money. There is a low cost spay/neuter program which is
there for that purpose. In New York, the number to call is 1-800-321
PETS. The program has been around for many years, and I think it’s
pretty effective, with close to 70,000 operations last year nationwide.
We believe spaying and neutering should be available and affordable.
Maybe there’ll someday be a low-cost spaying and neutering clinic
here in New York — I hope so. Friends of Animals doesn’t
have any plans to start it, but I’ve heard rumblings that some
people are interested.
Making it available, however, is only one part of the solution. As long
as people don’t realize they are part of the problem by breeding,
or buying an animal in a petstore, they’re not going to think
it’s necessary. So really I think this kind of legislation will
make people see we’re all responsible for these animals, and if
we aren’t part of the solution, we’re part of the problem.
I know it’s a cliche, but in this case it’s very fitting.
Q. Do you think pet stores should disappear,
then?
A. I’d like to see pet stores sell pet supplies for people’s
companion animals. That’s what they should be in the business
of doing. I use my petstore, and it does not sell animals. I wouldn’t
use one that did because I don’t think animals should be in a
position of being bought or sold. As long as that is the way we regard,
interact and deal with animals, I see constant exploitation and abuse.
What you should have, particularly with companion animals, is a situation
where people who qualify and who would provide a nice home can adopt
animals — just like with humans who want to adopt children. Animals
aren’t our property, we shouldn’t be able to go out and
buy whatever we want.
Q. How can people get involved with Friends
of Animals?
A. They could come to our meetings, for a start. Our next one is scheduled
for October 18th. It will be an activist meeting, and will be at the
West Side YMCA, 5 W 63rd Street. We usually have speakers, and announcements
of upcoming events. We sometimes have a video, and materials from different
groups including our own. It’s a good place to network and meet
other activists. One thing I’ve tried to work at since I’ve
been here is to put people together to do things, or having people feel
part of a group. From my own experience of working with other people,
I’ve noticed that people are intimidated about being active, even
if they feel very strongly about something, because they don’t
want to do it on their own. So by coming to meetings, and by meeting
fellow-activists, people can take the next step of activism and get
more involved.
For other FoA activities, people can call our hotline number —
(212) 757-2166 — or they can speak to me directly at the New York
Office. There are plenty of places in the New York area where people
can get more involved. We can also offer support to people who want
to get together on a special project; we can suggest ideas on direction
and resources.
Q. Many animal rights activists find it hard
to keep up their morale. How do you keep being able to get up in the
morning?
A. Well, sometimes I don’t feel like getting up. But I must say
I feel very inspired by the activists; I guess I’m in the right
job — I love the activists I work with. I think also seeing their
inspiration is very inspiring, and seeing the work people do after hours,
on the weekends, after a long New-York-City-job-day and going home to
their own companion animals and their own problems. I am fortunate to
know a lot of extremely dedicated people in this movement. So to answer
the question, it’s the people: they drive me crazy, but they are
also very inspiring, and I think the movement is made up of some of
the best people I’ve ever met.
I think also a lot of what keeps us going is how we think of ourselves.
Unfortunately, in the movement, we have a tendency to look at what we
do as never enough, because the task is so overwhelming; and I have
to retrain the way I hold things, so I can make them more empowering
for me rather than always feeling there is so much more to do. And that’s
tough. I’m very critical of myself, and I tend to always think
of what we should be doing rather than what we’ve done.
But I feel it’s very important for us — because I’ve
seen a lot of people burned out and disillusioned — to acknowledge
what we have done or what we are accomplishing. Also, we need to recognize
that we are closely involved with something that is terribly painful.
After all, we all have to be complete idealists to be animal rights
advocates, and live up to a non-violent ideal. We don’t generally
have broad social support; we really are radicals, on the outside. So
we have to support one another and really appreciate ourselves for even
being a part of the whole thing. Of course, as difficult as it is, it’s
probably the most satisfying part of my life.
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