Working for Prop 2 Shows Volunteer That Change Is Coming |
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November 3, 2008
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©Diana H. Rousseau |
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Rousseau's friends Paco and Luigi approve of Prop 2. |
Diana Hennessy Rousseau gave more than a year of her time and energy working for California's YES! on Prop 2 campaign to gain more humane treatment for the Golden State's nearly 20 million farm animals.
Rousseau, a real estate agent from Forestville, Calif., took a break from campaigning to share her story, below.
I wanted to take a moment to thank Wayne Pacelle and everyone at The HSUS and Californians for Humane Farms for the opportunity to volunteer for the Prop 2 campaign this past year. I have been profoundly affected by the experience.
Although I've been a vegetarian for 23 years and turned vegan a year ago, I had always refused to watch undercover factory farm videos and didn't even want to see a photo of a farm animal in misery—I figured I was doing my part by not eating meat.
I was wrong.
When I started to volunteer, I forced myself to watch some videos and I really looked at the photos of laying hens crammed into tiny cages and calves tethered at the neck in small crates and pigs—the poor pigs in metal cages, biting at the bars.
It made me cry. It gave me horrific nightmares. It made me feel a sense of powerlessness that in a way felt worse than grief: it seemed impossible to overcome.
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©Diana H. Rousseau |
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| Diana Rousseau was "profoundly affected" by her work for Prop 2 in California. |
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I started to say a prayer every night for the animals. I told them that change was coming and I hoped with all my heart that what I was saying was true.
I have to say now that I believe change is coming. I am proud to have been part of the campaign and as I write this, before Election Day, we still don't know the outcome, although the polls look promising.
And while the prospect of Prop 2 winning fills me with elation, I know that it is not enough—it is not the end.
I want to know what is next. What is the next small step we can take to help these innocent farm animals? To help all animals?
Sign me up. I want to be a part of that, too.
What You Can Do
Whether active animal advocate or armchair supporter, we can all help farm animals every day.
Related Links
Support for California Anti-Cruelty Initiative Snowballs
Legal Petition Filed to Stop San Diego Area Egg Farm from Releasing Tainted Water
The HSUS's Campaign to Ban Battery Cages
Think Outside the Crate Campaign
Mutts Ado About Farm Animals
