Power in activist numbers helps pass life-saving law

Numbers of animal activist-heroes played a major role in NJ’s “trunk-fighting” bill recently signed into law by Gov. Murphy.  Effective immediately, this animal cruelty offense is now a felony of the third degree.   https://tinyurl.com/kee5f5e7

“The underground barbaric practice of forcing dogs into the trunk of a car to fight to the death is cruel and inhumane,” said Laurie Perla, of the Animal Protection League of NJ (www.APLNJ.org).

Once the animals are locked in the trunk, the vehicle is driven around to evade police and gamblers bet on which animal will survive once the fighting sounds stop.

Perla led the drive for passage from the bill’s inception months ago, monitoring its move through legislative committees, then the Assembly and the Senate.  She worked directly with Senator Tom Kean (R-21), who championed the legislation by pushing it through committees and working the political end, along with Assemblyman Ronald Dancer (R-12), whose leadership brought in the Assembly.

The legislation earned widespread bipartisan support (“26 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle!” Perla exclaimed), moving unanimously through the entire process.  

Perla serves as APLNJ’s legislative liaison and as a regional legislative district director with League of Humane Voters-NJ.  Thanks to her spirited efforts – and those of the myriad animal activists she motivated to speak up against “trunking” and for dogs -- those who gambled on this heinous practice will now face justice.    

“The Animal Protection League of NJ was at the forefront of this legislative effort, and with tenacity, persistence and your help, it crossed the finish line,” said Executive Director Angi Metler. 

She also cited APL’s efforts on other fronts, including black bear protection, subsidizing spay/neuter for community cats, filing lawsuits on animals’ behalf and helping pay vet bills for those in need.  All such efforts are supported by organization members.  

Cats’ dream home

Not just cats, but “cat people” too would love this house, filled with felines!  While the homeowner also has an altruistic reason for this home, the place itself is a dream for “cat ladies” and gentlemen, as well.

Just look at those wall shelves and steps, then look at the walls around you as you read this post: see many vertical benefits for the cats in your life?  Right, I thought not.

It’s the same here: although I can see where wall steps could be placed, it hasn’t happened, and it’s probably just a very lucky thing that Harry and Billy Summers haven’t had play dates in homes like the one featured.  They’d never forgive us.

Twenty-two rescue cats enjoy this stimulating indoor habitat, and you can bet they don’t sleep their days away.  Just think: they can explore their whole house, not just the floor.

It’s all the work of Peter Cohen, of Santa Barbera, CA, who admits to having a never-ending hobby: building more and more walks, cubbies, bridges, tunnels and hideaways. . . for cats.

He also has a “cat cause”: finding a cure for Feline Infectious Peritonitis, or FIP — a rare mutation of a common feline virus that affects only about one in 5,000 cats, is almost always fatal and tends to be more prevalent in environments with multiple cats. 

Now take a house tour . . . and consider how to add to your own – and your cats’ – home!  

https://tinyurl.com/36hv4yee

Poem repeat

After my last post, I learned that the type size for the poem was uncomfortably small for some readers.  For that reason, I’m reprinting “Vanishing” below -- larger, I hope, because it’s too good to miss.

Back next month to continue posting here.  Meanwhile, if you have comments or suggestions, please go to 1moreonce.blogspot.com and let me know!

 

Vanishing

by Brittney Corrigan

 

^{Nearly one-third of the wild birds in the United States 
and Canada have vanished since 1970, a staggering 
loss that suggests the very fabric of North America’s 
ecosystem is unraveling.  
              –The New York Times (September 19, 2019)}

As the world’s cities teem
with children—flooding 
our concrete terrains with shouts 
and signs—as the younglings balance 
scribbled Earths above their heads, 
stand in unseasonal rain 
or blistering sun,

the birds quietly lessen 
themselves among the grasslands. 
No longer a chorus but a lonely,
indicating trill: Eastern meadowlark,
wood thrush, indigo bunting—
their voices ghosts in the 
chemical landscape of crops.

Red-winged blackbirds veer
beyond the veil. Orioles 
and swallows, the horned lark
and the jay. Color drains from
our common home so gradually,
we convince ourselves 
it has always been gray.

Little hollow-boned dinosaurs,
you who survived the last extinction, 
whose variety has obsessed 
scientific minds, whose bodies 
in the air compel our own bodies
to spread and yearn—
how we have failed you.

The grackles are right to scold us, 
as they feast on our garbage 
and genetically-modified corn. 
Our children flock into the streets 
with voices raised, their anger 
a grim substitute
for song.

 

(Copyright © 2021 by Brittney Corrigan.  Originally published in Poem-a-Day on May 8, 2021, by the Academy of American Poets.)