Guest guest Posted August 1, 2003 Report Share Posted August 1, 2003 Howdy folks, The recent thread about worthy organizations has prompted this email.... Over the years, the list of animal/environmental organizations that I belong to has grown quite long (see below). I'm soon to bid good riddance to the corporate world and return to school. My new Starving Student status will mean that I've got to pare down this list quite a lot, which I just hate to do. I'd appreciate any guidance on which are the most and least " deserving " . I admit that I've joined many of them without doing much research, just because they sounded good. There are a few that are near and dear to my heart, which I will never cut out, such as Farm Sanctuary, Animal Place, Best Friends, and Lindsay Wildlife Museum. And after the recent emails, I'm thinking I should actually add Freedom for Animals and Tribe of Heart to the list! Thanks for any advice/opinions, karin ******* Here's my list: Farm Sanctuary Animal Place Best Friends Lindsay Wildlife Museum Animal Legal Defense Fund In Defense of Animals Delta Society Performing Animal Welfare Society Sea Turtle Restoration Project Bat Conservation International World Wildlife Fund National Wildlife Federation Marine Mammal Center Alley Cat Allies Berkeley Humane Society Oakland SPCA SF SPCA ASPCA HSUS Environmental Defense Fund Greenpeace Nature Conservancy Earth Island Institute Sierra Club _______________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 1, 2003 Report Share Posted August 1, 2003 Hi Karin, Since you asked, I'll throw out my own opinion on some of the orgs you mentioned and would also be happy to share with you my pretty small list of groups I regularly support. First, please note that Nature Conservancy is one of the reasons the 200 feral sheep you see at Farm Sanctuary wound up there. They were part of the effort to rid Santa Cruz Island of its " non-native inhabitants " and particpated in and funded aerial shoots, which were leaving sheep dead, maimed, and orphaned. It was horrific. Finally, they conceded and let animal groups rescue the remaining sheep and provide sanctuary for them (duh!). Nature Conservancy has also participated in mass killings of feral pigs (I can't remember the location right now -- anyone else), and they are proponents of hunting. So is Sierra Club, unfortunately. And this is not the ravings of a mad animal activist. These positions can be found on the websites and in the literature of the Sierra Club, Audobon, Nature Conservancy, and even the World Wildlife Fund. Sad. I'm also a proponent of supporting local organizations, but the Oakland SPCA has refused to engage in any kind of dialogue regarding their policy to serve animals at their fundraisers. I must have sent them at least 10 (over the course of 2 years) letters or so -- just to talk about the disparity of serving hot dogs, sausages, and other animals at their annual fundraisers. Smaller local animal rescue groups that do amazing hands-on work, such as Hopalong and Home at Last Rescue -- are indeed worthy recipients. (And please come on Sunday to the fundraiser for the Oakland Animal Shelter! But I know of Alley Cat Allies, and they're also really hard workers! I do not support HSUS, which doesn't promote/advocate vegetarianism. Their legislative arm is powerful, and I support that in other ways, but I wouldn't give money to an organization where the CEO makes more than $200,000/year!! That's the HSUS. For me, the ASPCA just doesn't do enough in terms of real animal protection/rights. Again, that's just for me -- it (and the HSUS) get millions of dollars from the general public because of their name recognition. I feel like I'd rather support groups that do not have that kind of support. Again, this is just an opinion - I don't feel as strongly about it as I feel about a group like the Nature Conservancy - but when I visited the sanctuary at the Performing Animals Welfare Society, I was disappointed in their lack of outreach/education. I felt they could have done so much more (they didn't do any) educating the visitors/children about the horrific nature of zoos, circuses, traveling shows, etc. And it seems they've been building their " larger sanctuary " for years now. Until that's done, the animals are in pretty small cages. But, I think their intention is good. Anyway, the groups I regularly support are Farm Sanctuary, Animal Place, Vegan Outreach, Compassion Over Killing, and PCRM. Because of my work at JustGive.org, I'm also able to direct funds to In Defense of Animals, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, and a few others. For me, I feel that because quantitatively, farmed animals have it the worst, my focus tends to be on groups that focus on that issue. That's just my personal preference. Hope that helps. Like I said, groups tend to have their positions about such things as hunting and fishing on their website, so I'm not telling you anything you couldn't find out from them. But I think it's great we have this resource so we can share these things with each other. See you soon, Karin. Fellow mother of Morgan the gorgeous goat, Colleen - Karin Moore Friday, August 01, 2003 10:01 AM [sfBAVeg] animal/environmental organizations Howdy folks, The recent thread about worthy organizations has prompted this email.... Over the years, the list of animal/environmental organizations that I belong to has grown quite long (see below). I'm soon to bid good riddance to the corporate world and return to school. My new Starving Student status will mean that I've got to pare down this list quite a lot, which I just hate to do. I'd appreciate any guidance on which are the most and least " deserving " . I admit that I've joined many of them without doing much research, just because they sounded good. There are a few that are near and dear to my heart, which I will never cut out, such as Farm Sanctuary, Animal Place, Best Friends, and Lindsay Wildlife Museum. And after the recent emails, I'm thinking I should actually add Freedom for Animals and Tribe of Heart to the list! Thanks for any advice/opinions, karin ******* Here's my list: Farm Sanctuary Animal Place Best Friends Lindsay Wildlife Museum Animal Legal Defense Fund In Defense of Animals Delta Society Performing Animal Welfare Society Sea Turtle Restoration Project Bat Conservation International World Wildlife Fund National Wildlife Federation Marine Mammal Center Alley Cat Allies Berkeley Humane Society Oakland SPCA SF SPCA ASPCA HSUS Environmental Defense Fund Greenpeace Nature Conservancy Earth Island Institute Sierra Club _______________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus BAY AREA VEGETARIANS (BAV) is a community group for veggies to network & find support. Free membership and lots of free events :-) See below links for more veggie info.... Event Calendar, free Membership info, Charter, FAQ (/) and More! http://www.bayareaveg.org/ BAV Carpool Message board http://www.generationv.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=23 Local Animal Rights groups http://www.eastbayanimaladvocates.org http://www.freedom4animals.org/events.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 1, 2003 Report Share Posted August 1, 2003 Hi all, My gosh, Karin, that listing of 24 groups reminds me of my early support list! When I first became " aware " of all the abuse of animals, I divided my donations to support groups supporting veganism, anti-vivisection, environment, general groups (like PETA), anti-fur, anti-hunting, etc. I easily had 30 groups on my list, and because of that, more than 30 groups eventually had me on THEIR mailing lists. (As you've most likely found out, many groups will " rent " out their mailing lists so you'll then start receiving all these other solicitations from other groups.) Over the years, my philosophy towards support is a hybrid of what many folks have expressed. I like to support local groups, as I want to live in a community that is veg-friendly and local groups are the ones that make that happen. And, as animals killed for food are the majority of the animals suffering, and it's something that all meat-eaters do (as opposed to vivisection or hunting), most of my donations go to groups supporting a vegan lifestyle. Karin, as far as your question as to finding out which groups are worthy or not, have you seen the Watchdog report that " Animal People " puts out? http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/watchdog_report.html It's interesting to see who makes the big bucks. As I recall, Ingrid Newkirk makes about a pittance, it was under $25,000 but some of the folks at HSUS and even the Oakland SPCA make big bucks. With local animal welfare groups like the Oakland SPCA, perhaps there is a way to still support the animals but not supporting the overhead bureaucracy: volunteer to dog walk, or spend time playing with the animals, help them advertise their adoption days, etc. Karin, if you do decide to stop donating to any specific groups because of their position on hunting or supporting vegetarianism, perhaps take a few extra minutes to let them know that. Colleen, re: Nature Conservancy and the wild pigs, was that somewhere in Hawaii? But I do recall PETA had a big campaign against it.. Cheers, Tammy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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