Sullivan said the low value placed on the life of animals was demonstrated during Hurricane Katrina when ??we saw images of animals that were abandoned, drowned, starved and left for dead and left behind by rescuers, perhaps 50,000 in all. People being rescued were commanded to abandon their pets and forcibly separated from them. ?
Legislation was considered mandating pets be included in evacuations, Sullivan said. U.S. Rep. Barney Frank(D-Mass.) sponsored the bill that requires provisions for pets and service animals in disaster plans in order for those plans to qualify a state or municipality for federal emergency funding.
Besides teaching her animal rights courses, Sullivan in 2006 took up a collection to buy a new roof for the Beaks and Noses animal shelter of Billerica, Mass., a non-profit rescue home and also created the Shadow Fund to provide funds to help with medical surgery for beloved pets. The fund is named for its first recipient, a yellow Lab whose ex-Marine owner could not afford to pay $4,000.
With another professor, Holly Vietzke, Sullivan edited a book of 49 animal rescue stories contributed by MSL students titled ??Please, Can We Keep The Donkey? ? (Lantern Books). Sullivan said she was surprised by the number and quality of essays about animals that her students turned in and decided they had a heart-warming book. The 175-page work has just received a Clarion Award for the best non-fiction book of the year. Proceeds from the book's sales go to the Shadow Fund.
The book can be purchased by sending $23 to The Shadow Fund at the Massachusetts School of Law, 500 Federal St., Andover, Mass. 01810; or through the MSL Internet Web site at www.mslaw.edu; or by calling the law school directly at (978)-681-0800.
Summing up, Sullivan says, ??Our unfortunate history shows that slaves, women and children were previously treated as property. The law was changed to stop this deplorable treatment. It is time to reclassify the legal status of companion animals. ?
Sherwood Ross is a media consultant to MSL. Reach him at sherwoodr1@yahoo.com.
#
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
3
2
2
