On Loving Animals...

Just something to cheer you up. I found these photos of a pit bull named Niko on the web. His transformation from a homeless, downtrodden dog to a happy and proud one is the stuff of miracles. All he needed, after all, was some love and attention to bring him back from depression. Like humans, animals are social beings.

Considering that the tides of animal welfare turn slowly, it is definitely great news to hear that the attention of several animal rights groups in the Philippines has now focused, along with the traditional forms of animal abuse, on the horse-drawn carriages ( Calesa ) that ferry people and supplies in both the city and the outlying provinces of the Philippines. Unlike the horse-drawn carriages seen in Europe and the United States, these calesas have always been a cheaper form of transportation, appealing largely to the proletarian people and rarely used for romantic and scenic rides around the neighborhood. The reform's primary thrust comes from the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), the Animal Kingdom Foundation (AKF), and Care and Responsibility for Animals (CARA). The typical scenario is one involving a gaunt, old horse pulling an overloaded wooden carriage in the extreme heat of the tropics, often amidst smoke-belching motor vehicles, salivating profusely from extreme ...

I must confess. I don't read all the mail I receive. Many of them end up, straight away, in the pile of papers meant for the municipal recycling pick-up truck. I am talking about mail regarding recent elections for Board of Directors at the credit union, or the latest news from the regional school system. Stuff like that, I am not truly interested in. I did pay attention to one piece of innocuous-looking mail from the water company. It turned out to have a bit of a sting. What is true here in Bergen County could be true at your area of the country as well. Perhaps, we should take a harder look at how we are affecting our water supply and what the local water company is doing about it. United Water New Jersey wanted to inform us that the level of sodium in our drinking water was higher than the upper limits set by the NJ Division of Environmental Protection (DEP). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is also involved in monitoring water quality but it has not set upper lim...

Next time you see meat on the menu, think of this photo with the blood splattered walls, the brawny butchers in their blood-drenched aprons, the blood-soaked floor, and of course the terrified and helpless animal being forcibly led to the slaughter area. How lucky you are! You need only to point at the menu item and wait for the dish to be served at your table. Perhaps, it's about time to consider ethical eating habits over just blindly satisfying your hunger pangs.