Once a tour guide in her hometown of Caracas, Venezuela, where she discouraged European visitors from attending bullfights, Lily Halasz has been helping animals in her country and continent for decades. Lately, she's been a magnanimous contributor to The HSUS. Lily helps us ensure that animals are treated more humanely by supporting special initiatives that go beyond U.S. borders through Humane Society International (HSI), the international arm of The HSUS.

"It's awful what people are able to invent to harm animals," Lily, who speaks four languages, told us recently. "So I just try to do what I can to help."

Born in Austria, Lily left Vienna with her family to escape Adolf Hitler's takeover of her native country. Now in her 80s, Lily reflects on a lifetime in Caracas, where she and her late husband Fritz volunteered for many years as members of one of the city's leading humane organizations. She's also been a vegetarian for more than 30 years.

Lily and Fritz always had dogs and cats. She recalls one special pet in particular—Tommy, her last dog, who lived for 17 years. Fritz found the sick puppy living on the streets. Eventually, the onetime stray grew to understand both Spanish and German. Tommy enjoyed car rides as much as he liked eating. When Lily's husband went to the car while Tommy was eating, the dog couldn't decide whether to finish his meal or run outside for a ride. He placed equal importance on the two activities, she explained.

Venezuela is a nation that hosts bullfights, and many times she tried to persuade people to avoid attending these cruel spectacles. While employed as a tour guide, she always attempted to dissuade potential spectators. "Inevitably," she said, "otherwise intelligent people would say something like, 'These animals are born to be killed.' But they don't understand what really happens at bullfights." She remembered one "comic bullfight" where she and others distributed information against bullfighting. "The clowns were jumping on the bull while he was dying. It was terrible," she recalled.

These days, Lily is proud to help sponsor HSI's South American programs.

"My hope is that people will change their relationship with animals. The bad things that happen to animals are almost always because of people. In Caracas, certain birds are now coming to the city because their jungle habitat is disappearing. We need to leave them in peace," she said. "We also need to teach children to care about animals. That's where it all starts. Educating young ones is the most important thing."

Posted June 16, 2006