The photo at the left is of trash barrels at the back door of a shelter, ready to be picked up for disposal. Yes...... what you are seeing in the photo are the corpses of cats and dogs killed at a southern California shelter that day. Photo from the book, One at a Time. Used with permission.

"The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) believes that food choices should be significantly influenced by an ethical concern for animals. In the United States alone, there are 10 billion domesticated animals reared and slaughtered for food each year -- most of them raised in harsh, sunless confinement. With the rise of industrialized farming and the many miseries it inflicts, the decisions we make two or three times a day -- when we sit down to eat -- have vast implications for animals. We are deciding, in effect, whether or not we will add our own weight to the immense burdens placed upon animals in factory farms. Becoming vegetarian, or reducing our intake of animal products, does not subtract from the total amount of enjoyment we derive from eating. It can add to the pleasure of a good meal -- by opening up a new world of foods. More important, though, it marks an acceptance of personal responsibility. We human beings, after all, are not just consumers, answering to our appetites or to supply and demand. We are creatures of conscience, and each one of us has the power to turn away from the cruelties of the modern factory farm. We can carry a message of compassion into the world, and our own lives are richer for it."

See the HSUS Guide to Vegetarian Eating to reduce your consumption of animal products or replace them entirely.

Chef Puck said, "If consumers could see how abused these animals are, they would demand change." Thank you, Chef Puck!

"The time will come when men will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men."

Here's an excerpt from that piece:

Andy Rooney, commentator on
"CBS 60 Minutes"

"I don't know why anyone who eats beef finds the idea of eating a horse so repulsive but I'm one of them. Horses seem so friendly and I don't like to be reminded of the animal I'm eating. I often pass a farm with cows grazing in the field and I think to myself how terrible it is that human beings grow other animals just to kill them and eat them.

"Most of us think of vegetarians as nuts and I'm not a vegetarian but I wouldn't be surprised if we came to a time in 50 or 100 years when civilized people everywhere refused to eat animals. I could be one of them."

One female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 puppies in six years. One female cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 kittens in seven years. Between 8 to 12 million animals enter U.S. shelters annually; 35-60% are euthanized, almost all because there are no homes for them. Please don't breed or buy while shelter animals die; adopt a spayed or neutered companion animal from a shelter or rescue organization. Find one here.

So many good dogs who are over the age of five are euthanized simply because of their age and the bias most people have toward adopting puppies. Our flyer explains why adopting an older dog is such a good idea. We can e-mail a copy of the flyer to you (request Word or PDF format, and you can print it out from your computer). Just send an e-mail to: info @ srdogs.com (remove spaces in the address before sending) with the word "Flyer Word" or "Flyer PDF" in the subject line. We've heard from supporters that they've posted the flyer in supermarkets, shelters, churches, veterinary offices, doggie daycare centers, dog trainers' offices, parks where people walk their dogs, and community bulletin boards. So, if you have time and opportunity, we'd appreciate your printing out a copy and posting it. Thank you!

You can also print out directly from the site our list of the "Top Ten Reasons to Adopt a Senior Dog." Just click here.

The Humane Society of the United States has produced a new video featuring Internationally renowned and Grammy-nominated musician Moby, who delivers a strong message for humane treatment of animals, providing an inside look at the horror of factory farms....

#88 Just as smokestack emissions result in acid rain, toxic fumes from decomposing livestock waste on factory farms become poisonous to fish when they are returned to the Earth via rainfall. The errant ammonia also ravages terrestrial ecosystems because plants that thrive on nitrogen are favored over species that don't. Fallout can degrade environments as far away as 300 miles.

#99 Every day 600 people in the U.S. die so suddenly from cardiac arrest that they don't even make it to the hospital. Of the victims, 90 percent have two or more arteries narrowed by atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), a disease inexorably liked to a meat-based diet.

And something to keep in mind if you need a reason not to bake a ham for a holiday dinner:

#81 Food animals are transported in all weather. When it is cold, animals may freeze right to the sides of trucks or become frozen in the urine and feces that build up on truck floors. In hot weather, heat stress kills many. Losses, however, are figured into the cost of doing business. According to swine specialist Kenneth B. Kephart, "Even with a zero death rate that might be associated with providing more space on a truck, the hogs that we save would not be enough to pay for the increased transportation costs of hauling fewer hogs on a load."