I always wondered what happened to Alex Pacheco who co-founded Peta
in the 80's with Ingrid Newkirk.He had been a seminarian for a time before
joining ranks with her after becomingdisillusioned with his fellow seminarians who
didn't repond to his concerns about changing their diets.Obviously,minimizing
animal suffering wasn't even on their agenda. I always admired himfor this.
It is so sad that most "religious" people just don't seem to "get it." The very least
they could do would be tojoin compassionate people who are working to make life
more bearable for the farm animals andtry to alleviate animal suffering wherever
it is found.I am praying for the day when a "sleeping, uncaring" church will awake
and begin to care. These areGod's creatures first after all.
I was disillusioned myself with the Third Order Franciscans who I belonged to
for awhile. I thought these people would feel the same way about animals as did St.
Francis. Sadly, my local chapter never responded to my concerns on this front
at all. I just couldn't understand it. If anything, I believe that they should have been
tryingto emulate himin some way re his wonderful concernfor all creatures.
This week I was surprised to receive a message fromAlex Pacheco requesting help
in what he called"aglobal project to end more animal suffering and death than any
project in history..."He wrote that every year globally ONE BILLION animals are
violently killed because of animal overpopulation.
With sadness I read that there are often mass killings scheduled in countries before
high-profile media events. Before the summer 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece
30- 40 thousand street dogs were poisoned. In 2006, Rio de Janeiro's 30,000 street
dogs were poisoned before the Environmental Earth Summit. And in 2007 prior to
a NATO meeting in Serbia 40,000 dogs were poisoned.
And how would any of us who have a beloved pet feel if we were forced as a Chinese
12-year old and his fatherwho had tomarch their two German shepherds to a public
square and hang them from a tree? This was reported in the International Herald
Tribune recently.
Pachecofeels that after two years of intense investigation into the problem with brilliant,
humane scientists that they have found a simple but big project. His IRS charitable
organization is called "600 Million Stray Dogs Need You."
They believe that they have found the solution to ending so much needless suffering.
He writes: We are in the process of developing specialized, long-term "super" birth
control pills (in the form of food pellets) for dogs...formulas that will provide years of
contraception, from just one dose. This will enable us to humanely cause the stray dog
populations to crash, without any killing, without surgery, and without any suffering."
I am impressed and I hope that anyone reading this is as well. In his 4- page flyer he
further explains why pill form is needed because it is superior to using injections which
requires catching and restraining the animal first.
I will certainly send from my modest means. I hope anyone who may consider that
this is a worthwhile endeavor to support but may not beconvinced by thisshort
explanation will go to "600 Million Stray Dogs Need You" on the internet andread
it for themselves.
If you need no further convincing and would like to help - the address is:
600 Million Stray Dogs Need You
PO Box 751810
Las Vegas, NV 89195-3408