It's About Animals

Bob DeFranco's It's About Animals newspaper columns that appear weekly in 7 New York City newspapers.

A Reason for Hope

As we enter a new millennium, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by an outlook of hopelessness and sorrow. Despite the vast amount of educational resources and forms of communication available to us today, we humans are sometimes a stupid and selfish lot. We continue to destroy the balance of nature on the very planet that gave us life, as if our natural recourses were never ending. We ignore science and follow like lemmings the marching orders of corporate America’s McDonalds, Phillip Morris, Proctor and Gamble, Exxon and alike. We pollute our water and air in the name of gross domestic product. We destroy forever the rain forests that filter the pollution and turn out the clean air that we need to breath. We suck the coal, the oil, and the natural gas that took millions of years for the earth to produce. It will be gone in just a few hundred years. We raise animals in the most inhumane and deplorable conditions. We then slaughter them early in their lives so that we can eat their flesh and pick at their bones when, as a "civilized" people, we could easily live on plant foods that could extend our lives and drastically reduce cancer, heart disease and even aging. We over reproduce. There are too many humans in some parts of the world. There is too much consumption in others. There is human cruelty to man and beast alike. There is intolerance, violence, terrorism and far too many wars.

Humans are amazing, problem-solving creatures with brains capable of understanding the basics of life itself. Our progress in agriculture, medicine and technology over the past century has greatly benefited millions of people around the world. Why then do we not use our talents and abilities to conduct our businesses and lives in an environmentally friendly way without causing pain and suffering to others? Fortunately, I believe that there is hope.

Hope lies with the hundreds of industries, businesses and communities around the world that have begun adopting "Green Ethics." Their leaders have become educated in ways to better produce products and services efficiently, while being environmentally friendly and non- harmful to others.
Hope lies in the fact that in spite of human destruction, nature is remarkably resilient. Given the chance, a poisoned lake or river can live again. Deforested land can be replanted by us and made to blossom once more. Soil can be made fruitful once again. Even a land devastated by fire or buried in molten lava can spring life once more.
Hope lies in individuals who take the time to identify the corporations that are environmentally unfriendly, those that harm children and animals in the name of higher stock prices for their shareholders, and refuse to buy their products and services. This information is readily available on the Internet and from not-for-profit organizations to anyone who wants to become educated in this area.
Hope lies in individuals that learn about the medical and compassionate rewards of vegetarianism. Embarking on a course to reduce and eventually eliminate the consumption of food animals that are high in harmful animal fat. Cattle, pigs and chickens are sentient creatures that, like humans, have feelings, emotions, and the need for space to move around in. We also know that they can experience stress as measured by cortisol levels in their blood and can certainly feel pain.
Hope lies in the incredible power, enthusiasm and dedication of many young people from around the globe who fight to right the wrongs, for it will be their world tomorrow. They will be he business leaders, the politicians and the parents.
Hope lies in the resolute nature of the human spirit. We need only look at self-made, successful people on the planet, the ones that had a dream and never gave up no matter how hard times got. They were the ones that achieved their goals beyond all odds while blazing a path along which others could follow.

We must first re-think our attitudes, our opinions and perhaps our lives. We must develop a respect for ALL living things. Next, we need to develop a faith in ourselves, in our intellect and insurmountable gallantry. Finally, each of us must strive to replace violence and intolerance in our lives with understanding and compassion. Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Ask yourself, what is my role? What will be my legacy when I am gone? How will mankind remember me? In my final moment on earth, if someone were to ask me what I have accomplished to make this a better world, what will I have to say? What peace will I come to have as I draw my final breath? It’s not to late, you know, to get involved. To make changes for the better. In fact, it’s the beginning of a new millennium.

Bob DeFranco is an animal behavior therapist, director of the Animal Behavior Center of New York and president of the American Foundation for Animal Rescue, Inc. in Queens. Watch him on the Companion Animal Network, QPTV Channel 34, Wednesdays at 8:30 PM and listen to him on NewsTalk WEVD 1050 AM, Saturdays at 5:00 P.M. beginning February 15, 2000. Questions or comments? Write P.O. Box 7623, Rego Park, NY 11374 or e-mail him at: bob@canines.com

Back to Past Columns

Home
Contact Us

American Foundation for Animal Rescue
89-10 Eliot Avenue
Rego Park, New York 11374 USA
Voice: 1.718.205.0200
Fax: 1.718-205-3962
E-mail: Info & Comments

[an error occurred while processing this directive]