February
2001
Filmmaker
and Animal Rescuer:
Matt
Mitler
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What
sort of animal rescue work do you do?
We’ve pretty much single-handedly
been taking care of the strays of our immediate block by capturing,
neutering and finding homes for them all. When we first moved here there
were tons. Right now we have just five cats and a dog in our home, but
overall my wife and I have probably taken in more than a dozen dogs,
and a dozen cats. But we’re cutting out the animal rescue part,
trying to narrow it down so that we can concentrate on fostering children.
Do you see a connection between the two?
Yes. One of the things that we’ve seen, especially working
with emotionally disturbed animals, is that there’s always hope.
There hasn’t been any animal that we couldn’t turn around
somehow, even the most biting, snarling, aggressive, fearful animals
that no one would take in. With time, attention and some study they’ve
all become great pets for somebody, somewhere; otherwise they would
have been put to sleep immediately. A cat we adopted was in danger of
being put to sleep; it was a hissing, spitting kitten that now sits
in your lap and purrs. Work can be done; it’s the same thing with
children. Children in the foster care system are all damaged in one
way or another. They’re not put to sleep, but what happens to them
isn’t much better.
Working with emotionally disturbed animals must be a challenging
task.
There have been dogs that were so aggressive that we couldn’t
even get them home. We’ve come to sort of specialize in taking
care of difficult animals or getting them acclimated so that someone
else can take them in. We calm them down using homeopathy and Bach Flower
remedies which we’ve found to be very successful with traumatized
animals. Sometimes animals have been left after being hit by a car,
or have had tar poured on them by someone. Sometimes they’re actually
very sweet but they’ve been dumped because there’s a problem
with them.
What compelled you to do a film about Tami Friedman?
I was given a list of potential subjects, and the thing I liked
about her was that she didn’t seem to fit the stereotype. A lot
of animal rescuers are fairly non-affluent people who spend their last
pennies on rescuing animals, maybe putting out a can and saying “If
you’d like to contribute...we’ve just rescued eight kittens.”
There was something interesting about the fact that Tami was working
on Wall Street in a pretty high profile job and yet still had such altruistic
intentions.
Did you learn anything new from this filming experience?
Well, I ended up coming home with a cat! We said we weren’t
adopting any more animals, but a situation arose during filming and
now it’s ours. Also, meeting Tami was a learning experience; she’s
a very interesting and valuable person.
On the down side, I saw things that I wished I hadn’t seen in terms
of an institution [the CACC] that we videotaped. It’s depressing.
We made a vow that we wouldn’t paint it in an ugly way, so there
will be edits, but we won’t be making a lie out of it—it’s
just that it doesn’t show everything that there was to see.
Is there anything in particular that you hope other people might
learn from Tami’s story?
The one thing that I felt Tami was moving in on, and that other
people seem to be talking about, is the effort to try to unify the animal
rights/rescue movements. A lot of people have their own individual things,
but now you hear about symposiums and meetings of smaller groups getting
together as a larger group. That seems to be a healthier, more productive
way to go.
Do you see any relationship between vegetarianism and what you do?
I have been a vegetarian on and off; I do try to eat consciously.
Do we make the connection that what we are eating comes from such and
such? America is a fairly unconscious culture, so animals are disposable;
old people are disposable. Even children are often disposable. But consciousness
is a responsibility and you just can’t turn your back on certain
things.
