My take on California’s Prop 2 election vote

Linda Fortune Author of Regal: An Intimate View of One Magnificent FelineMy take on California’s Prop 2 election vote.

Welcome,

Before I continue with my blog on Regal’s gift….my inner shift, I just have to extend my joy and salute the people of California, The Humane Society of the United States , Oprah Winfrey, and all the people who worked on passing Proposition 2 in California. While this blog speaks to the profound impact that animals have on us, addresses the grief we can feel with their passage, and recognizes the gifts they bring, I am equally concerned about the mistreatment of any animal, their suffering, and the grief we feel with any abuse of animals.

Proposition 2, passed on November 4th by the citizens of California, will stop the worst abuses of factory farming. It will stop the confinement of farm animals to limited spaces for the duration of their lives. For that, I salute all those who worked diligently to pass this proposition. Let me quote directly from Wayne Pacelle’s blog on November 5, 2008:

“Giving farm animals a little extra room to stretch their limbs, to move like animals should, is a small matter for us humans. But it’s a very big thing for a hen who would otherwise be confined with a half-dozen other birds in a cage about as big as a filing cabinet for her whole life. It’s a really big thing for a sow who would otherwise be stuck in a crate so small she can’t turn around. It’s a way big thing for a calf who would spend life chained inside a miserably tiny crate.

Prop 2 will phase out those inexcusable confinement systems and usher in a new era. No state in the U.S. and no Agribusiness titan anywhere in the nation can overlook this mandate: people do not want their farm animals treated with wanton cruelty.”

I feel very deeply about how animals are treated in whatever setting they live with us. Having become acutely aware of animal feelings, intelligence, and spiritual natures as I was writing Regal: An Intimate View of One Magnificent Feline, I have come to an increased deep sense of responsibility, that we humans have, in the compassionate care of all our world’s animals. The passage of Prop 2 in California is a major step in the recognition of this responsibility. It signals a dawning in the raising of our human consciousness.

I totally concur with Wayne Pacelle again when he states “As a result, you’ve brought forth a new, more compassionate age.” I say, let us all continue this work of compassionate care of all animals and learn to see the magnificence of all animals as we learn to live more ‘in the present’ with them. This will not only enrich their lives but our own as well.

Next entry: Tip 12 and Regal’s gift…my inner shift.

With blessings, Linda

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