I came from a family of animal lovers. My dad jumped into a stream once and rescued a mouse, giving it CPR – mouth-to-mouse resuscitation, as it were. My mom cried for hours after she hit a squirrel with the Buick.
I’ve always loved animals. Like, a lot. It started with “pets.” Dogs, any kind. Dignified, rolled over, big, small, dirty, and especially the raggedy ones. How could you not?
So, it started with “pets.” They brought joy. Except I knew not all cats and dogs were lucky to have homes. I knew there was suffering, animals homeless in the streets, and shivering and hungry. Even as I write this, I am about to cry.
I’ll stop there. Because this site, Humane Beings, is all about being positive. About how we can live compassionately, how we can make a difference, how every day and every choice we make can change the world, and make it better for every living creature.
I was 9 when I began helping animals. I had a facility for writing and used it to help my cause. I created a magazine, Kookie (ok, I was 9) that I sold to all my relatives and their friends to raise money for animals, sending the proceeds to North Shore Animal League, It had stories about animals, as well as my “fashion” sketches, greeting cards with rhymes about saving animals, animal puzzles, and other 9-year-old efforts to raise awareness. I sold them to my relatives and friends, with the proceeds going to North Shore Animal League, where I later volunteered.
I protested dissecting pigs in my high school biology class. I volunteered with Cleveland Amory’s Fund for Animals. One day he sent me and another volunteer to the circus, backstage. We took photos of the animals’ treatments. My heart was in my throat.
I stayed on the path of the animals.
I got a degree in animal science and then a master’s degree in journalism, worked as publications director at the ASPCA, where I met a lot of animal welfare people, and researched a lot of issues – extinction, vegetarianism, shelters and overpopulation, animal behavior, vivisection. It gave me a grounding in knowledge that I am grateful for to this day.
I spent 32 years in journalism, mostly as a travel writer – weaving my sensibility for animals and animal issues into as many stories as I could. A copywriter once said I had become the conscience of the newsroom.
Cleveland Amory was the one who told me, way back in 1970-something, that society thought of animal people as “those grannies in sneakers.”
That’s not the way it is,” he said. It’s changing. Since then, I’ve met a great many of the founders of some of the veteran animal welfare/rights organizations. We’ve all grown up together. I’ve seen what works, what doesn’t. I’ve seen incredible evolution in the ways people who care about animals have gone about ending suffering, spreading awareness and creating a world full of change for the better.
I realize I’ve come full circle since my Kookie venture at 9. Humane Beings combines my love of animals with my knowledge of animal issues and the deep desire to spread compassion and eliminate cruelty in this world.
I hope to spread awareness and grow a community of like-minded people to affect real change. We’ll focus on good news, fun facts, real strides, things you can do in your own life and information for you to use to make good choices to live more compassionately. That is my hope, my dream, my reason for being here. I’m glad you’re here too!
