Dear Friends of Happy Trails,

    Think about a New Year's Resolution! This is a perfect time for making compassionate choices and for making a conscious effort to end animal cruelty and suffering.

    As most of you already know, I personally have been involved for a number of years now in animal cruelty investigations in every part of Ohio, and have participated in many undercover investigations regarding severe animal abuse situations. And no, I am not going to share them here, so it's safe to read on.

    Understandably, many folks that I talk to about the atrocities I have witnessed are uncomfortable hearing my stories or seeing the photos I took. Often people mistakenly think that the cases I am involved in are isolated cases, and that both horse and farm animal cruelty situations are few and far between. Sadly, food animal production is an industry where horrific conditions and extreme abuse are documented daily.

    I truly believe that everyone has some degree of compassion within themselves, and during this holiday season, people want more than ever to do something to show how much they care about the way animals are treated. As a society, we need to do more than just treat the end results and care for the ones who are lucky enough to show up at the sanctuary gates. The cruelty needs to be stopped where it is happening, and you can be a huge part of that.   

BE EDUCATED. BE INFORMED. BE AWARE.

    If people were to become more aware of the conditions and inhumane treatment of the animals used for food production, I don't believe they would any longer choose to support an industry that promotes incredible animal suffering and cruelty. It would be like animal-lovers knowing about the conditions of puppy mills, yet looking the other way and still allowing people from puppy mills to adopt dogs from rescue groups for breeding — it wouldn't make any sense.

    A dear friend of mine forwarded on to me the attached youtube video, entitled "Do They Know It's Christmas".  If you are someone who happily declares that you love animals and are against animal cruelty and abuse, I am very respectfully asking you to become aware of the industry you are supporting each and every time you purchase meat products. This short video (it's maybe a few minutes long), does share some disturbing footage and it may be difficult to watch. I can give you a first-hand testimonial, however, that it's more disturbing for the animals. These scenes are not isolated, nor are they unique in any way. This is typical of the handling, treatment and suffering that is inflicted upon animals in the food production industry. Here's the link I wish to share, and then here's ways you can make positive changes and create compassion for all animals in 2008!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCX7f_s1CA4

RESOLVE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

  Each person has the power to made a personal choice not to support animal abuse!

• Share this email with others. Ignorance is not always bliss. If the animal cruelty and abuse inflicted on farm animals were, instead, inflicted on the dogs and cats in your neighborhood, would you continue to remain silent or ignore this industry?

• Vote with your food dollars and make healthy-eating choices. Check out these website on how to successfully eat healthy and promote compassion for animals:

www.vegsource.com

www.goveg.com

www.pcrm.org — Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine

• If you choose to continue to include meat in your diet, I would then challenge you to help change, improve and enforce laws governing animal slaughter and mass transport. Get involved and speak up for the animals you choose to eat. For animal legislation issues, check out these websites:

Humane Society Of The United States — www.hsus.org, and  http://www.hsus.org/web-files/PDF/farm/28hr-petition-Mon-Oct-3.pdf

Humane Farming Association — www.hfa.org

Mercy For Animals — www.mercyforanimals.org  (click on "get informed")

Farm Sanctuary — www.farmsanctuary.org

Choose to make a difference — please spread kindness and compassion for all creatures!

Annette