How To AR Study Group

What is the organization you started and how large is it?
Hey Prad, I formed the Animal Rights Action Network (ARAN) roughly sixteen years ago when I was a young, teenager oblivious to the world let alone animals - but of course all that changed when I started seeing horrific images of Canada's seal slaughter on the front page of a national newspaper we now work with. The images changed my life along with an information pack that I received shortly after requesting it from PETA. ARAN would be without doubt Ireland's most prominent national animal rights group today with just over 4,000 members and supporters, but we're still very much a grassroots group even though it feels more than that at times!

What specific areas of animal exploitation and abuse do you handle?
We work and support almost every issue you can think of. But with regards to our active campaigns, we work on blood sports, animal-act circuses, animals in laboratories, greyhound racing, fur farm campaigns and one of our priority campaigns is also Canada's seal hunt, you'll be glad to know. We concentrate heavily on those particular campaigns and touch lightly on others issues, but we always try to remain focussed and strategic so that we'll give the campaigns our best shot.

What motivated you into starting up your organization?
I suppose I could just imagine me being the baby seal like I explained on the first question, but then again I was always an activist in some shape or form. I know that prior to starting ARAN I was a serious GREENPEACE supporter and was always against rainforest destruction, river pollution, whaling etc.

What did you do to get things going?
I used to work by myself, write letters and then I got involved with PETA in Ireland and later became their Irish organiser and media contact for quite a while before forming ARAN and me working specifically then on our campaigns.

How did you attract supporters to the cause?
Good question! I started taking part in other animal rights campaigns in my early days and from there on it just started growing and growing - today we get supporters and members signing up weekly and often daily, yes that's right, daily which is great - but of course its still a drop in the ocean.

How did you get these supporters to keep participating?
Strangely enough we've managed to hold almost 99% of our activist base, but of course I could explain this particular question for the night but in short I like to give a personal touch to all my communications with our supporters and activists and whilst it can be hard going at times in terms of energy etc I know it's worth it. But it's important to remember too that everyone who comes to an ARAN event always feels welcome and appreciated, I remember in my early days going to demos and being left aside when I knew no one and most attending would very rarely go out of their way to even say hi, but I was young back then and promised ARAN would always be welcoming. We also keep a professional, non-aggressive and non "hardcore" approach.

Were there any specific internal problems (ideology, politics etc) that had to be dealt over the years?
Hmm good question! Within ARAN we honestly have no problems with our activists and coordinators, mainly because we all work from various locations and only ever get to meet at certain events and demonstrations so we don't have those types of problems.

I could speak for hours about this particular question,but let's just say I choose very carefully who we'll work with here in Ireland and have various reasons for doing so.

It's like when you were a child, mam and dad would always say, "Don't be friendly with that person, because such and such". Today I keep the same thoughts because even though it makes sense that we all work together, being realistic that's impossible considering people have different personalities, ideology's and more.

Although when I was younger I did get involved with other groups but quickly learned from those experiences and to be honest it's shaped what ARAN is today in many respects.

Can you give some examples of how you counter oppostion from animal abusers?
It would depend on the campaign, the issue, the problem ect. But I think the golden rule in our efforts to expose cruelty to animals is to be polite, professional in our approach, understanding, but firm.

The list is endless really but those would be a big help - we must NEVER think we're more morally superior than anyone else, because it will kill far more animals in the end.

What the future goals do you foresee your organization developing?
My list is endless, I think my goal is to take my last breath fighting animal abuse and I hope that by then we'll have shut down irish fur farms, animal-act circuses, the greyhound industry, the fur trade, banned blood sports, put dog breeders and pounds out of business and made our beautiful green Island of Ireland a more kinder place to live.

Already because of ARAN's work we're seeing such amazing change for such an agricultural based country.

Do you have any advice for others who plan to join or even start an animal rights organization?
Yes, for sure! For starting an animal rights group I could again give such valuable advice that would take hours but I suppose the most important thing to do is like I have said before to keep the organization peaceful, non-violent, non-intimidating, professional, understanding, mainstream and positive.

It will reap rewards because this hardcore attitude gets us no where in the end and I have multiple examples as to why it doesn't, what it does do alright is make our ego better but that doesn't help the poor animals.

I can understand the frustration alright, but its certainly not the way to go.

What is the organization you started and how large is it?
Campaigns Against the Cruelty to Animals (CATCA). It was created in the Netherlands in 1989 and has thousands of supporters worldwide. For more information about who we are and what we do, please check our website: www.catcahelpanimals.org

What specific areas of animal exploitation and abuse do you handle?
All. CATCA has been involved in all issues of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare. In the Animal Conservation area, we have been involved mostly with saving the African elephants, Polar bears, whales, Caucasus brown bears, illegal e-trade of wildlife, etc.

What motivated you into starting up your organization?
Actually CATCA started like an Animal Conservation organization, against the slaughter of African elephants in Africa (and for animal welfare against bullfighting), followed by the seal hunts that were happening in Namibia and in South Africa. Then I got involved against the Canadian commercial seal hunt.

The horrendous slaughter of African elephants in the 70's and 80's, wiped out more than half of the African elephant population for their ivory tusks, and that made me take action to somehow help the elephants and other animals.

What did you do to get things going?
I started by talking to my friends, neighbours and others about animal cruelty, in Holland, other European countries and Mexico, about animal rights, animal welfare and animal conservation issues. In 1989, I started to have a weekly column in the South East of Mexico largest newspaper, about environment and animals. I wrote by 1993 over 100 articles, including pages of animal R/W/C news worldwide.

I was very lucky, as I was one of the first non governmental individuals or from the only few existent handful of people in very few universities, that got to have internet access by 1992, so I started to gather information asking universities and governments questions, by a very primitive form of e-mail.

Then by snail mail, I started contacting amazing animal groups in the UK, getting their info and supporting their campaigns, especially against vivisection, the farm industry, and the fur industry.

Then once when I contacted one government urging them to ban ivory in their country, they replied to me asking me to send them a printed letter with the name of my organization, so that is how I created CATCA.

One friend donated to me a 1.5 meter long massive company photocopy b/w machine, so I started to print out my petitions, fliers, brochures, stickers and posters. That is how I started to print out stuff for everybody I knew, and I started to hold informative animal R/W/C informative events, carrying on my back a portable table several blocks away from my house in Holland.

I printed petitions and letters supporting international campaigns from big NGO's and my own against elephant poaching, I launched my own anti-bullfighting educational campaigns in Europe and Mexico, and made brochures about how to take care of cats and dogs for free distribution in Mexico, anti-vivisection, etc.

I also started to mail petitions, fliers and brochures to my friends abroad for them to collect signatures, hand out my informative fliers/brochures in social events, etc.

Then I started to be the first Latin American person that ever participate in an European or international anti-bullfighting conference, in anti-vivisection international meeting, in an animal rights conference. Then I got requests to talk to the radio, newspapers and even TV.

So, literally that is how CATCA started…

How did you attract supporters to the cause?
I started by supporting international campaigns against elephant poaching in Europe, launched my own anti-bullfighting educational campaigns in Europe and Mexico, and made brochures about how to take care of cats and dogs for free distriution in Mexico.

I am a persuasive person, so I literally pushed the issues with everybody I knew, urging them to help the animals, and I wasn't taking NO as an answer.

How did you get these supporters to keep participating? I started with friends and their kids. Everytime they saw me, they were to learn something new about the fur industry, farm industry, whaling, the dolphin massacre due to the industrial tuna catching, anti-bullfight info, against animal vivisection and dissection, etc.

Slowly I started to collect phone numbers, later on e-mails and I started to create my lists of activists and supporters.

Were there any specific internal problems (ideology, politics etc) that had to be dealt over the years?
Oh God, too much. Religion, politics, discrimination but I always managed to keep it going.

I always got heavily critiziced and ridiculed because of my animal work, and have been stabbed in the back by false friends and collaborators, that just pretended to be my friends to take over my organization and even worse, to get personal notoriety instead of focusing on the animals' sake.

I paid a big price on a personal level because of that.

Can you give some examples of how you counter opposition from the animal abusers?
Always demand justice for the abused animal(s) and urge the proper authorities to reform and update legislation to protect the animals.

On a higher level, I just train myself to learn as much as I can on an issue, so when confronted by politicians or people from governments trying to critizice me, they get surprised by my knowledge on the issue.

What are the future goals that do you foresee your organization developing?
To witness the Canadian commercial seal hunt end. This is starting to happen now thanks to the ban on the import trade of seal products, that CATCA's enormous efforts helped to achieve.

We are collaborating with our Mexican colleagues to ban the bullfights in Mexico city.

We hope to succeed in helping to relocate Yupi the Polar bear in Mexico to a better place in Europe. If that succeeds, we can try a similar tactic for other Polar bears in the state of Jalisco, Mexico.

Through our worldwide e-trade research on elephant ivory, we hope to use our results to lobby for the elephant conservation in Africa, and against the threatening one time sale on ivory and downlisting of their populations in African countries.

We will continue exposing the e-trade of wildlife in Europe and using our results to lobby to urge the authorities to prosecute the illegal sellers.

Do you have any advice for others who plan to join or even start an animal rights organization?
Oh yes! Soon my book Surviving Animal Activism will be published. There I provide lots of valuable information in how to start a grassroots to an NGO organization from scratch. Look for our book in few months time!

The Canadian Horse Defence Coalition was founded in 2004 for the sole purpose of ending the horrific practice of horse slaughter in Canada and the export of live horses for the same purpose. As a committed vegan, I am opposed to the exploitation of any living being, so it was after a great deal of thought that I decided to develop a campaign to specifically help the horse. There were several reasons for my decision. One, I had been involved in the rescue of PMU (Pregnant Mare Urine) foals since 1997 and had horses of my own. These animals had touched my heart simply because I spent a lot of time observing their ways and trying to learn their language. They had impressed me as being intelligent, intuitive, and loyal. I could tell many stories about how wonderful they are, but one easily illustrates the depth and sensitivity of horses:

On a cold, slippery winter day, I slid down to the paddock to give my horses, Montana and Misty, their feeding of hay. Right after I had thrown the flakes of hay into the feeder, I slipped and fell on my back. Misty, who had grabbed a mouthful of hay as it was dropped, stopped in mid-chew and left the feeder to lean over the fence toward me. When I eased myself to my feet, she carefully inspected my back, up and down. It was clear that she was concerned about the accident and wanted to make sure that I was not badly injured. Of course, horses themselves, being "prey" or "flight" animals, are extremely concerned about falling, thereby making themselves vulnerable to predators. She had extended that concern to me. I then realized that I was part of the herd.

I also felt that stopping the slaughter of horses (possibly humankind's "third best friend" after the dog and the cat) seemed to be an easier battle than asking the country to stop eating meat altogether. Of course, there is nothing less cruel about the mass butchery of cows, pigs, sheep, and other sentient beings, I argued with myself. But horses are "flight" animals with long, mobile necks; they become agitated very easily, and are thus extemely difficult to kill humanely. For this reason, their suffering in the stun box, I reasoned, may be more prolonged than that of other species. But, in truth, they ALL suffer and are terrified, I countered. Slaughter is inherently wrong, no matter who the target. It is the ultimate act of betrayal toward another living being with whom we share the earth.

The horse won, at least for the time being, because I had to start somewhere.

First, I decided to gauge public opinion in Canada on the topic of horse slaughter. In May 2004, an Ipsos-Reid poll showed that 2/3 (64%) of Canadians are opposed to the slaughter of horses for human consumption. This was a healthy majority (even with very little public awareness work having been conducted in Canada up to that point), so I knew that a campaign could be launched with confidence. The next job at hand would to let the world know how Canadian citizens feel about horses being slaughtered for meat, so a media release was sent out and a website started, www.defendhorsescanada.org. The response was nothing short of amazing. E-mails and telephone calls began to pour in. Horse lovers from all over the country, even from the United States (where the battle to stop horse slaughter had already been raging for years) contacted CHDC to offer their help and support. The movement to stop horse slaughter seemed to develop a power of its own. It would be several years before the coalition would become a dissemination arm for undercover work conducted at Canadian equine slaughterhouses. In the meantime, we organized ourselves with a board of directors and several strong writers who cranked out articles and letters to government and to other organizations. Some excellent donors stepped forward with their support. We started to send out "alerts" in order to let supporters know how they could help. Through the assistance of an international society called WildAid, we were able to do a launch of our campaign to end horse slaughter in Canada: the spokesperson was actor Bo Derek, well-known for her advocacy work for horses and wildlife. By this time we had secured hundreds of supporters, and their numbers continue to grow.

I'm proud to be working with the amazing group of people who form the board of directors of CHDC. Although differences of opinion can occur, decisions are quickly made after democratic discussion, and no one is left feeling like they are "not heard". There appear to be no ego issues within the group. These are mature, sensitive - yet logical - individuals who share the same goal. Over the years, we have developed pat answers to deal with those from the other side of the fence who attempt to undermine our work. For example, pro-slaughter people are forever trying to pummel us with their propaganda, somehow thinking perhaps that we will cave to their arguments. A favourite question is, "What will happen to all the unwanted horses if you succeed in stopping horse slaughter?" We respond with a long list of where the so-called unwanted horses can go, but the most important point is the fact that an end to slaughter will automatically result in a reduction of careless breeding practices since the slaughter option will have been removed. We usually don't hear from those folks again, because they are often breeders who send their "culls" to slaughter.

When horse slaughter becomes a chapter in Canada's history books, we will still be working. CHDC runs a program called "Horse Protection Initiatives", which encourages the adoption of horses from qualified rescue centres (rather than from breeders), and assists with euthanasia costs for elderly, lame, sick and otherwise compromised horses who would benefit from a quiet, peaceful ending to life. We have talked about expanding this program to include assistance with gelding (castration) costs. There will be plenty to do when the gruesome, cruel practice of horse slaughter grinds to an end.

We have learned many things while running this campaign. These points seem to have worked for CHDC:

1. Pick your battle. There are many issues out there - pick one and

vow to give it all you've got.

1. Remain focused on your goal. There will be many diversions - stay

with it.

1. Create a website.
2. Gather your supporters by sending out alerts and involving media

when you can.

1. When you ask for donations, show your supporters how the money will

be spent and what has been done with it in the past. A good track record of hard-hitting campaign work is effective. The public will appreciate those efforts and will know that if they donate to you, they will get results. This works better than begging for money.

1. If your campaign involves lobbying the government, do it

relentlessly. Write letters to the editor (and ask your supporters to) in order to create a good, strong grassroots presence. Arrange meetings with elected officials. Start a petition, but make it official - stick to the government's rules if you want the petitions read in Parliament. Online petitions are great for public awareness.

1. Don't give up. Remember what Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi said:

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, and then you win."

What is the organization you started and how large is it?

What specific areas of animal exploitation and abuse do you handle?

What motivated you into starting up your organization?

What did you do to get things going?

How did you attract supporters to the cause?

How did you get these supporters to keep participating?

Were there any specific internal problems (ideology, politics etc) that had to be dealt over the years?

Can you give some examples of how you counter oppostion from animal abusers?

What the future goals do you foresee your organization developing?

Do you have any advice for others who plan to join or even start an animal rights organization?