Tribute by Twyla Francois

[Editor's introduction: Below is the tribute written by Twyla Francois, received June 20 2008, after the intensive media coverage that followed from the Canadian Horse Defense Coalition's 2008 Horse Slaughter Investigation. It is a reminder that there is still much to do ... and that there actually exist those who are willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause.]

I hope you'll all indulge me for a minute but I can't help seeing all this media success as a partial tribute to Beth, Sarah, Emily, Jonathan Livingston, Aaron and all the other nameless animals who've died without governmental recognition.

Thoughts from Toronto Airport - Thursday, June 19, 2008

I'm so happy I'm near tears. Anything will set me off - the Hare Krishna devotional hymn on the taxi drivers' stereo, a smiling service person.

My mind keep returning to the lovely female reporter from yesterday whose eyes brimmed over interviewing me to the CBC radio show Here and Now host opening with "It's hard to imagine anything but a warm nuzzle from a horse but ...".

This is for the pigs who were recorded dying so terribly in 2005 and 2006 that CFIA did nothing about. It's their day as much as it is the horses.

It's for Beth ... the downer sow who was chased with electric prods until she passed out in her own vomit It's for Sarah ... the downer sow who was beaten, dragged by her ears and trampled in a hot ring for over 2 hours (until I finally was able to convince the auction vet to euthanize her) It's for Emily ... the dairy cow with the twisted stomach whose udder was nearly on the ground as mastitis had become so painful and debilitating it caused the ligaments holding it in place to rupture It's for Aaron ... the calf who was left to hobble in pain with his broken leg It's for Jonathan Livingston ... the foie gras duck force-fed with a steel tube and choking on his own vomit

... and all the future animals that will needlessly suffer.

THEY WILL NOT BE IGNORED ANYMORE.

Now it's time to be strong and intensify the fight; to take advantage of this new-found kindness and expose the suffering of all farm animals ...