Rescue Journal

Not playing favorites

Carol  ·  Aug. 2, 2019













We can love all animals but maybe dogs are at the top of our list. We can love rabbits or horses first but still get a stab of loving delight when watching our aviary of birds.

Making SAINTS multi-species was an intentional decision. A dog has no more value than a cat, a horse has no more value than a goat, a turkey has no more value that a turtle. Multi-species rescue means All Lives Have Value.

The beauty of working with animals is no single species is universally privileged. Dogs may be valued pets in North America but in Korea they are food. Esther the pig may be wearing a dress, but millions of others suffer in factory farms, horses may be a little girls dream but they are still slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands.

We can't save them all...shit, we are not even a drop in the bucket. But at least here their intrinsic value comes not from their species, not from their color, not from their fur or their feather..not from who I like best but from one simple place...their life.
There is a life force inside all living things. Call it soul, call it spirit, call it consciousness or energy. I don't care what you call it but it is what separates all of us from a rock. It is in the brains whose neurons fire millions of times in an hour, it is in the hearts that beat inside every chest. It is inside living things that have neither brains or chest, like a jelly fish which is most certainly ALIVE.

We may all have favorites but that is just a personal preference..just like i prefer plain chocolate to cookies and cream ice cream. I also prefer yoga pants to wearing blue jeans.
But personal preferences have a definite line..I may be a self avowed dog person here but I better deeply give a shit about the well being of a crippled dove. I better be looking at a turtle or a rabbit with the same level of concern for well being that i look with at a dog.

We can't fix all of the absolute horrors in this world..mankind is universally far too proficient at causing devastating pain. But within these gates, on these far too small 3 acres, we can care for our multi-species animals exactly the same. They are not to suffer here. They are not to live with irredeemable physical or emotional pain. They are not to be ignored, unseen, not thought about.
We made a conscious decision to provide safe haven to multi-species domestic animals because each species has value, each individual within each species has value, every animal inside or outside of our personal preferences has great value. And here at SAINTS we all have an equal opportunity to get to know them, to discover the magic that each of them carries inside.

All of them are welcome, each of them deserve a home and good care. We don't look at their species, we don't care if they are homely, or if they're sick, or anxious, or angry or scared. What we see is a being who needs help, who needs to be acknowledged, who needs to find some kind of comfort and peace, who needs someone to just freaking care.

I was once just a dog person then I fell in love with a cat. Next came an amazing rabbit, then a phenomenol horse, then came the goats, the ducks, the sheep, the pigs, the donkeys, the llamas, the chickens, the turtle, the contented cooing of doves. Last week I failed to save a dying crow who had been mortally wounded by a car.
All Lives Have Value Here because that is the way we built it. We built it for them..not for me or for any other human being. We built it for them and they are the multi-species, incredibly diverse and individually unique Saintly animals who live here.

Comments

Lenore Henry

This is a wonderful post Carol. I love the picture of sweet Allie - reminds me of the look she would make after getting caught counter surfing in the kitchen ❤ ...

Brenda

Yeah, love this post...from a "dog lover" who has had her conciousness elevated re the intrinsic value of all living things... from hanging out at Saints. Thank you Carol.❤❤

Tammy

Great post. So much meaning in it, especially considering the shitty week I had at work.