Category Archives: animal cruelty

Be Open to Other Views

At times, I find myself reevaluating my approach/beliefs about animals/advocacy after conversations where people are questioning or challenging me. My first reaction when I feel I am being challenged or criticized regarding my love for animals and advocacy for them is to get mad and defensive and tell them that they are wrong. I’m sure that’s a common reaction to anyone who feels challenged about something they feel strongly about. It does get your goat🐐 and it’s hard to forget the conversation. But then I remind myself that sharing thoughts and beliefs (and facts) is how we learn from one another. The other person may even teach you something. 😁

 

I haven’t changed my mind about advocating but I did stop and think about a few things I could do differently.

So, my friends please remember to always be open to listen another’s point of view, to be respectful, and be kind. Noone wants to listen to a

 

“LET’S DISCUSS” SERIES #1: PART 2

Thank you to all who took the time to fill out the questionnaire on my first post in this series. I want to take a few minutes to explain a little more why I am doing this. I am not doing this for me. I am not doing this to get more likes or followers. I am not doing this to add more content to my blog. I am doing this for animals. How do I mean? Well here is an example. I made a comment on a social media post about the treatment of farm animals and that I do not believe God would approve. Someone respectfully (which is very appreciated) asked me in reply “what about the sacrifices of animals in the bible?” I was thrilled to have someone ask me this (again…respectfully asked). Dialogue is what I want. Dialogue is how we all learn from each other. THAT is why I am doing this series! 😊

So let’s get on to Part 2 of “Feelings & Emotions.”

Here is the link to the second questionnaire: Let’s Discuss Series: “Feelings & Emotions” Part 2. It will take less than a minute to fill out but will make a huge impact! Thank you in advance!

HAPPINESS MONTH

I just found out that August is “Happiness” month and I love that! The truth is those of us who fight for animals can struggle with being “happy” when there is so much cruelty going on.

Anyone who works to help the less fortunate does incredibly hard work. But when the less fortunate are so unfortunate they aren’t even considered by many to be part of society, the toil can feel unbearable.

Taken from the Dodo in a Farm Sanctuary interview

But since August is about “HAPPY” I wanted to focus on that. I made the following video. I hope you enjoy! (Volume up)

Most of us who work in animal advocacy do because we care so much, but you must care for yourself to care for animals.

Taken from Animal Charity Evaluators Roundtable Blog Series

Some suggestions to keep a balanced life is to watch cartoons for a laugh, be with friends & family, and have some enjoyable hobbies.

I will be posting soon the start of a “Let’s Discuss” series. I also am still working on products for sale to raise money for animals in need. Please stay tuned and I hope you’ll participate because this blog isn’t about me, it’s about us all (animals, people, and our society). Thanks!

What Did I Do?

WHAT DID I DO?

I had a mom and siblings
but a human took me away,
I want to make you happy
I’m really trying to obey

I had to go potty
but didn’t know where,
then your voice got so loud
it gave me such a scare

I tried to understand
your human word “sit.”
What did I do
to deserve to be hit?

I want to play with that dog
I don’t want to fight.
What did I do
to deserve that bite?

What did I do
to deserve that kick?
When all I wanted to do
was give you a lick

I was lost and trying
to find my way.
I thought you would help
instead here I now lay

I’m seeing others like me
at the golden gate.
They gave me a big welcome
and said now you’re free from the hate.

copyright LeeAnn Johnston/animalsarefeelingbeingstoo

I came to write this poem as a way for me to get out some of the frustration I am having lately. There are way too many abuse cases out there to these innocent beings. I kept the poem on the lighter side to convey some of the pain animals are in because of US humans. But the truth is it is so much worse than this poem. I am going to spare you the awful things I have heard about lately that people are doing or have done to animals. But I really want you to not have your head in the sand and be well aware that these things go on and they will not change without us. If you don’t know what to do I can give you one thing. Teach any child in your life to be kind to all animals. It starts there. They are our and the animal’s future.

The Way the World Views Them is Why They’re Treated as They Are

I‘ve been wrestling with the best way to apply my advocacy for animals the last few years. I still don’t have it figured out but the same thoughts keep coming to mind. How can I change the way the world views animals? The way the world views them is why they are treated as they are.

I just watched a video of a man putting tape around a dog’s front and back legs and his mouth. Flopping him around like he was nothing. The whole time this dog was moving around his big dark brown eyes with such fear. This man proceeded to move the dog around like a piece of luggage without any concern for this living being. He proceeded to fling him on the back of his motor bike and sped off. While driving the dog falls of the motorbike onto the road. The guy picks him up like a piece of garbage and flops him back on the bike, this time without even fastening him down. He takes off with one hand on the dog trying to hold him on. You see he was on his way to a “client” to sell this dog for meat. The reality is much worse treatment happens to cows, chickens, pigs, and other animals every day. All for humans, for “normal” society, for food on the table. And while this is happening the animal, the living being, is experiencing extreme fear, panic, and pain.

I am sad (and truth be told angry) that I live in a world where other living beings are seen as less and as something we can do whatever we want with. As long as no one talks about it, as long as we keep hiding our heads in the sand, as long as we cover our eyes & ears and chant “la la la la la” we’ll just keep on trucking.

Not me, not us who can’t keep on trucking. Who in good conscious can’t turn their back on these animals. I don’t know what the answer is and I am unsure of my next chapter of animal advocacy. I’ll just keep praying for clarity on this.

Some people worry about how this affects my own well-being, but the truth is I would be worse off if I didn’t do anything. I couldn’t live with myself. Much of my therapy is in writing posts such as this. It’s a way to let some of the anger, frustration, and sadness out.

I would like to end by letting you know the dog I spoke of in this post was saved by a kind man who saw what the guy was doing to him. The kind man followed him, chased him, stopped him over & over trying to talk the guy into giving up the dog. He finally did! The kind man immediately took all the tape off of the dog and gave him lots of well-deserved pets, hugs, and kisses.

*TREAT OTHERS AS YOU WANT TO BE TREATED, EVEN IF THEY’RE A DIFFERENT SPECIES.*

Cover Photos…What a Pain

Oh my, oh my…is it just me or are cover photos a royal pain?!

I wanted to change the cover photo on my business Facebook Page because I felt the graphic was outdated. This task turned out to be a nightmare. First, you have to figure out what size to create the graphic as, then you have to know the best way to save the graphic so it doesn’t loose quality when uploaded, then you have to adjust it to fit in the space allotted. Viola! Not so much. You look at it on a desktop and it looks good, then you look at it on a mobile phone and the profile picture circle is covering part of the design on one side and showing more blank space on the right. Back to the drawing board! Blah, blah, blah. Please tell me it’s not just me.

So I finally got it to where it’s satisfactory but if any of you have any tips, please share. Also, if you want me to share some of the things I learned, let me know.

Since I was on a mission to get the new cover photo on Facebook I decided to create a similar graphic for the header/banner on my blog. The other banner had animals that were created by someone else and as cute as they are, it is important to me to have animals on there that were created my moi.

🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

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Coming Soon

Hello all. I hope you and your furry ones are doing well!

I am excited to share that this summer I will have some new graphics that will be available on a variety of products for sale. Any money earned will not be for me. I am doing this to raise money for animals in need. Please stay tuned, keep checking back, and please consider purchasing something for yourself or an animal lover in your life.

Cartoon Drawing Lessons Day 1

Hello all!

I‘ve been inspired by a few people to get back to animal advocacy through art. This journey of animal advocacy for me has been interesting and everchanging. It started when I started paying attention to some of the things that we as a society do to animals. In disbelief that this is accepted and allowed I knew I had to do something.

When I was learning Web Design one of my assignments was to start a blog. I knew right away that mine would be on animal advocacy. It is the same blog I am using today. From sharing the graphic details to making it a more appealing and positive experience to attempting to create cartoon-like graphics. I’m still figuring it all out.

I am now learning how to actually draw cartoons through tutorials and classes. If any of you have any tips or resources you can share with me, please let me know.

Today is Day 1 and here is my finished cartoon graphic.

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I Will Never See it as “Normal”

As I’ve mentioned before, I now only write posts when I actually have something to say. In the past I was forcing the posts just to be sure to have something out there on a regular basis because that’s what I thought I had to do. But when I was doing that blogging was no longer fun, it was work. Something I’ve been thinking a lot about and wrestling with for so long is what society sees as “normal” treatment of animals. This is also a part of why I stopped writing posts. Sometimes there are so many thoughts swirling around, so many questions, so much hurt that it becomes hard to put it in words. But I am once again attempting to put them in words.

I understand going along with what seems “normal” I also have done this. It is only when I took the time to read, research, look in an animals’ eyes, and empathize (put myself in their shoes) that I was able to allow myself to see the truth.

I made the following graphic with these thoughts I’ve been having in mind.

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