This day is emblazoned on my heart.
My grandfather cared for all the injured or orphaned wildlife in the Moss Bank neighborhood of Lancashire, England. His gentle Irish-accented voice murmured to them… he helped crows to fly again, and seemed to instinctively know what each animal needed. This is where I came face-to-face with a white female duck 60 years ago. I felt an immediate kinship, and was fortunate that the duck was interested in me too, and directed her friendly gaze up at me.
This week I heard a story about a small dog who was thrown from a vehicle while it was moving – an older dog, who has now joined our family. Thank you to Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control for adopting our now family member (who is named Pinkie) to me.
In our society, we are conditioned to care for some species of animals, to recognize some animals as being worthy of our kindness and regard, and other animals to be used, eaten, worn....
What if the duck I met when I was four and Pinkie and we humans are not so dissimilar? We are mammals, after all, and capable of joy, happiness, and pain – in other words we are all sentient beings. These are unalterable facts. It is precisely this realization which keeps me continuing to educate about what is really happening to other animals, and how we can be heroes to them with the Be an Animal Hero project.
Why not widen your circle of compassion to consider all species: two-legged, fourlegged, finned, furred and feathered? Both Pinkie and the duck I met 60 years ago would concur if they could.