Essay by Laura Moretti, Founder and Editor, The Animals Voice Magazine
I began my activism for animals on the dirt roads of La Paz, Bolivia, when I was 10 years old. I did that by liberating animals from slaughter, by pretending to have found them—from frogs to dogs—so I could keep them safe, and by burying all the dead ones I came across so their souls could go to Heaven (which is what I believed at the time, but don’t anymore). When our family returned from South America, my first jarring experience with the global plight of animals was learning about the Canadian baby seal massacre. I immediately embarked on a campaign to collect signatures on a petition to ban the slaughter, only to learn, at that young age, that 1,000 people wanting to end something as barbaric as clubbing seals to death meant nothing to the powers-that-be.
Live and learn—to reach more people.
In the early 1980s, after realizing I couldn’t get a college degree to teach animal rights at the state university level, I began teaching with words and pictures. For the past (more than) forty years, I’ve done just that: through fliers, advertisements, billboards, leaflets, brochures, books, etc., and this magazine. Soon, it will be through video, as well. I am a messenger—and the message has never been more powerful … or urgent.
I think what I have learned most from this decades-long activism is that I’m not alone—not in effort, not in values, and not in determination. One person in this issue has since passed away; he was a guiding light for me and inspired me to new heights. Another is a colleague and dear friend with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working beside for more than thirty years and still value both his contributions and his friendship. The third person in this issue is new to me: Karen Levenson, an instrumental campaigner against the baby seal hunt. And then there are so many people along the way who have made this journey possible: donors, readers, activists, teachers, Susan and Lisa—all partners in this production, all witnesses to the progress we’ve made in 50 years.
Sadly, though, there is still so much to do. One thing I do hope we can end in my lifetime is the slaughter of seals. If we can’t do that, what can we do?
