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.
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?
