Grandma - we can no longer afford to keep you!

Website: www.helphomelessanimals.com

Tel: 1.888.689.3698

Write: Positive Options - c/o ASRI
PO Box 1815
Westfield, MA 01085-1815


It is thought of as a sign of the times: the dire state of the economy is taking a toll on families across the nation and across the world. Jobs are being lost, incomes are sharply reduced and homes are being foreclosed upon. Almost everyone, to some degree or another, is feeling the effects.

And the animals are feeling it too.

In my own town, a new initiative - Positive Options - has sprung up with the mission of helping families keep their pets through times of financial hardship. A small flyer arrived for me yesterday (courtesy of a utility bill) through which contributions are being solicited. The aim of the initiative is as follows:

"[to] supplement the pet food donations that are collected regularly throughout the City of Westfield and other local communities. The donations are used to help keep a pets [sic] with its' [sic] family by supplying food and necessities that a family may not be able to afford at this time. Our goal is to help people keep their pets."

This is a completely laudable objective and I intend to make a donation but one point struck me when reading through the flyer - the underlying acceptance of the disposability paradigm. It goes like this.....

1) Times are hard and we need to make cutbacks.
2) Certain things are not negotiable - rent, mortgage payments, food - therefore we have to cut back on non-essentials.
3) Our pets - those beloved 'members of the family' in good times - are non-essential.
4) Cutbacks can be made on the expenses associated with them.

In short, the animals go.

I know there's a lot of hand-wringing, tearful discussions and heart-wrenching decisions made along the way to this conclusion. And equally, I imagine that it's not the first option most reasonable, normal people accept as a way through these tough times. However, my point really is that it IS an option on the table, in a way that would never be applicable to human members of the same family. Try as I might, I cannot imagine the scenario wherein a couple decides that their income simply cannot sustain the family and therefore the youngest child must go. Nor yet the case where Grandma is just such a drain on resources that it might really be time to have her put to sleep.....

But it is an acceptable scenario in any case where the family member is a non-human. A cat, dog, bird, rabbit, whatever.....And this acceptance is rooted purely and simply in our perception of animals as property to do with as we wish. They are considered disposable and replaceable; their status that of object, the same as a table or chair. More lovable, perhaps, certainly cuter, but an object - no more, no less.

Recently, I have become increasingly interested in the framing of the abolitionist perspective within the animal rights debate and it seems to me that this current situation is a perfect example of how the welfarist position might indeed be inadequate. Inherent within the framing of this Positive Options initiative is the supposition that it is fundamentally understandable and acceptable to abandon a non-human family member in times of crisis. For the sake of the animal, this organization seeks out a foster home in the hope that the abandoned pet does not end their days prematurely - confused, terrified and alone - in a kill-shelter. However, I think that the abolitionist argument that such short-termism does not truly benefit the animals is valid. What we really need is education, a sea change of social thought wherein the idea of surrendering a pet in times of economic distress is as far from our minds as that of abandoning of our children. Until people no longer perceive companion animals as disposible and replacable, until we all take our life-long responsibilities to them as seriously as we do the human members of our families, the future for the animals will not change.

And, just we judge a society by how it treats its poorest members, it is a measure of our values - of us as individuals - how we treat our non-human dependents in challenging times. And I believe, I can only suspect that we are in grave danger of failing ourselves, of not stepping up and rising to the challenge, in this regard. I hope I am wrong.

And, in case I am, I will be mailing a check to the address above. Perhaps you might too?

Stay together and stay vegan, friends.

Happy New Year!

Yes, it's an unimaginative title for the year's first post, but I guess that I - not unlike a few others around the blogosphere - am feeling perhaps slightly below par. Under the weather. A little fried.

No, send no sympathy my way. I know it's mostly my own fault for ringing in the new year with - arguably - one glass of champagne too many. But actually, to be fair, my pounding head does owe something to the fact that My Beloved and I just returned from taking the boys for a run in the forest and they screamed all the way there and most of the way back. The walk itself was tremendous - the sky today is a piercingly bright blue, the white of the snow blinding. And the simple contrast of the evergreens was exquisitely refreshing and invigorating.

But the barking....and the high pitched screaming from Humphrey...was just horrendous.

And so, while My Beloved labors to bring up a stack of firewood and build a fire to doze in front of, I thought I'd quickly share some pix of last night's revelries with you. We were fortunate enough to get a reservation at a local restaurant here in Westfield, the School Street Bistro. They were offering a 6-course meal beginning at 9pm which was just perfect. My Beloved, while making the reservation, had 'used the v-word' and, although the evening's fixed menu was a veritable Noah's Ark of animals, they assured him that I would not go hungry. So, in we went!

The appetizer was a choice of cold cucumber soup (which given that there's 2 feet of snow outside did not seem overly appealing last night!) or a fresh salad of arugula, grilled lemons and toasted cashews. We both chose the latter and it was delicious! I have never toasted cashews before but if you like pinenuts, you will love the cashews done in this way. They're slightly salty and utterly more-ish! So much so that this is all the evidence I have of it:



Eek, sorry, that's kinda gross, I admit!

Next came a special dish for me in place of the non-vegan options. It consisted of portabello mushrooms in a balsamic reduction with roasted red peppers and grilled fennel. It was just delightful. Again, grilling fennel is new to me and I really enjoyed it this way. It has a much more mellow flavour and it's one that I will be trying to reproduce from here on in. I think it would be a super topping for a pizza....but that's a thought for a whole other post!

Anyways, since their presentation was very nice, I managed to contain my enthusiasm long enough to get a pic this time:



Then, the intercourse, or whatever the real, fancy name is: eggplant rollatini. Thin slices of grilled eggplant were generously stuffed with a mix of fresh and sun-dried tomato, red peppers and mushrooms, rolled up and scattered with pinenuts. A sprig of fresh dill finished off the mis en place nicely. The eggplant rolls almost looked like stuffed crepes at first and - although I adore crepes - I was glad to see the whole vegetables instead.




After a palate-cleansing dish of home-made lemon sorbet (which was delightfully more like a granita than a sorbet - refreshingly icy and not at all sugary) we moved onto the entree which, for me, was off-menu again. A massive plate of succulently marinated and fire roasted squash, eggplant, onions and peppers lay atop a ring of light and fluffy rice. As you see, a little sweetness was offered by the balsamic reduction playing across the plate:



Towards the end, I could manage no more and was actually relieved when our waitperson returned from surveying the dessert options to pronouce - uncomfortably - that there were no vegan choices. I was extremely happy to accept a coffee in lieu! My Beloved did partake of a chocolate-hazlenut moussecake and pronounced it admirable:



At the stroke of midnight (about 15 minutes before we finally finished eating!) we had a champagne toast to our absent friends. Our families are spread as far afield as the UK and New Zealand, whilst our friends are as close as Westfield and as far away as California. But we thought about you all and quietly wished you everything you wish for yourselves in 2009 and beyond.

Happy New Year, Friends....and...stay vegan!