Day: November 23, 2014

Wilton, Conn., it turns out, was about five hours away from the farm, a longer drive than we anticipated with a quirky GPS and lots of traffic. Southeastern Connecticut is a boom town, for better or worse. We showed up a half hour late, the latest I have ever been to a book signing, the crowd was understanding, gracious, focused and very intelligent. They were the nicest people.

Some people had to leave, I felt badly.

I gave a talk, we had a real conversation about animals, donkeys, compassion, communicating, gender,  and the meaning of animal rights. Red was a rock star, as always, he was quiet in the car all the way, greeted at least half of the people in the audience and happily posed for photos. He is a wonderful companion. There was a long line to buy books organized by the New Canaan book  store, Elm Street books. They invited me to Wilton, generously offered to support the Orphans Book Tour. Thanks for that.

Maria and I drove back home after the reading – Random House isn’t participating in this book tour, it is my last book with them, but I have something better than a supportive publisher, I have a supportive wife. Maria drove both ways, and I had to pry her fingers off of the wheel and take over when she started nodding off on dark and slick country roads after dark. She had already done nine hours of driving, it was enough, I drove the rest of the way. We thought of staying in a hotel but couldn’t find one close by.

Maria and I have great fun no matter what we do. This was another adventure.  It was too much driving for one day, especially since I can’t do too much of it yet. Yet we both agreed that it was worth it, it was a special time.

Maria and became friends in part because she was hired to drive me around the Northeast on several of my book tours in the days when publishers supported them, and it is wonderful to be doing this new kind of book tour with her. I told her on the way back that she is loving and loyal and true, and she said she didn’t know what I meant.

Strangely, this book tour is one of the most affirming, perhaps because I am fighting for my book in a personal way. Simon’s story ought to be told. Every event I’ve had so far has been great, including this one.

All these people – readers and book lovers, every one –  coming out to see me with little or no publicity. Neat. The crowds have been considerable, attentive, and the questions thoughtful and stimulating. People said the nicest things about my photos and writing, and about “Saving Simon.” It reminded me that I love being a writer, affirmed and connected to the people who read books. Lots of people came to Wilton from the blog, I am forever amazed at it’s power and reach. It is my living memoir, my great work.

It is a special experience to talk to people who know the Bedlam Farm story so well. People are very interested in donkeys, in the Simon story and I am learning how to talk about communications and visualization, key parts of my next book “Talking To Animals.”

I have been frank about being upset that my publisher of 30 years abandoned this book and refused to spend one dollar on it’s promotion, but that is my problem now, not theirs. Life happens, to me, to you, the challenge is to respond graciously and well. I am reminded again and again that less is more, I think the book tour I am creating myself and with Maria may turn out to be the best one yet. The Wilton Library is a special place, writers and books are alive and well there.

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If you buy “Saving Simon” at Battenkill Books, my local and quite wonderfull bookstore, I will sign and personalize it for you and you will receive a free tote bag that says “Peace, Love Books.” You will also receive a free signed photo notecard of Simon and be eligible to win notecards, photos and potholders. You can order the book online – the store takes Paypal and ships anywhere in the world – or you can call 518 677-2515,

The photographer knows well that there is beauty in the world, because he or she is always rushing around trying to find it. In my case, it is often staring me in the face, in the country, where I live, the weather comes rushing up the valleys and over the mountains, it plays magical tricks with the light and the landscape. There is beauty everywhere if you look for it. Off to Wilton, Conn. to sign books and speak at the Wilton Public Library, 3 p.m. Red and Maria have graciously agreed to join me.

What happens when the moral universe of the animal world is turned upside down, and the rescuers become the abusers, and the very idea of animals and their rights is broken into pieces? You can ask Wilbur Cerate, an immigrant living in Virginia, and can ask his daughter, whose dog was taken from the family porch and killed for no reason.

I am a lifelong supporter of animal rights, a member of several animal rights organizations, it is awkward, even uncomfortable for me to be writing so much about the sad evolution of the animal rights movement from one that was created to care about the well being of animals into a rogue, arrogant social movement  that is  driving animals from the world and abusing the people who own them, especially if those people are members of minorities,  are poor or working-class.

I learn of story after story – every day – detailing a new kind of abuse and injustice in the animal world, the war against people and the animals they care for – The New York Carriage Drivers, A homeless man in Manhattan whose dog was taken from him and killed, Tawni Angel of Santa Monica, falsely accused of abuse for giving pony rides to children, farmers, circus owners, Hollywood producers, students, whose lives have been cruelly invaded and disrupted without cause, and of the many animals vanishing from our world because it is too controversial or difficult to keep them.

And now Maya, a healthy and blameless Chihuahua taken from her home by so-called animal rights activists and euthanized.

I almost choke on the idea sometimes, but it is becoming increasingly evident. The animal rights movement is becoming one of the greatest threats to animals in our world, and to the rights of the people who own and love them. It seems we need to save our animals from the people who kill them while professing to be fighting for their rights. Is there any more elemental right for any animal than to live safely in our world?

In October, Wilbur Cerate, a Hispanic immigrant to Virginia came home to find that Maya, a Chihuahua he had bought as a gift for his daughter, was gone. Cerate, who lives in a mobile home trailer,  had a surveillance camera trained on the porch to protect against theft, and when he replayed the video, he saw that two workers from PETA (People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals) had come to his home, opened the door, come onto his porch and taken Maya.

Cerate tried repeatedly to call PETA and the local animal shelter but nobody could or would speak to him.

Three days later, two PETA representatives came to his home and told him that Maya had been euthanized, presumably because she had no current tags or identification. The local prosecutor refused to prosecute the PETA workers, saying there was no “criminal intent.” It is okay, he said, to come into someone’s  home, steal their dog and kill it if they meant well. Hundreds of local residents are organizing in support of Cerate, who has hired an attorney and now has a Facebook Page, you follow the story there and support the family’s fight for justice.

Like the New York carriage drivers with their horses, the Cerate family loved Maya and cared for her well. She was not in poor health, and there was no issue of abuse. Cerate admits he did not have up to date tags, he was not asked to get some. It is difficult for me to imagine PETA coming onto the porch of a wealthy suburban family, stealing their dog, and killing it without consulting them or initiating any kind of due legal process.

Again, this strain of elitism, even racism in the animal rights movement. It is equally difficult for me to imagine the mayor of New York supporting fringe social movements who have decided it is abusive for people to work in museums where art is often looted and removed from other countries, and seek to ban museums from the city. One common thread in this wave of people abuse stories is that the people in them are poor, speak English poorly or are working class people without access to a lot of money or media. For years, the carriage drivers have been ignored or dehumanized as “random people,” or people without morals or worth. The mayor, who seeks to put them out of business, refuses to even meet with them or speak to them.

Cerate is getting lots of media, thanks to his Facebook page. A new social movement is arising out of this kind of cruelty and injustice, and the question for animals lovers is this:

How can we reclaim the movement for the rights of animals and return to the value that people and animals deserve dignity and respect?  Can we permit the people who wantonly defame and harass innocent people, and  the people who steal animals and kill them at will to speak for the future of animals in our world? The local prosecutor in Virginia may not see this theft and killing of a dog as a crime, but hundreds of his constituents do.

Maya has sadly joined the ranks of human victims and animal martyrs who are killed, banished and sacrificed by people who claim to speak for their rights but exploit them in the name of hating and harming helpless people.

I am thinking today of Wilbur Cerate, another unlikely hero in the struggle over the future of animals, another animal lover who is fighting for his right to have animals in his life and the life of his daughter.