Deep Roots: Animal Rights Blog

I’ve long been a fan of Professor Gary Francione. Francione has been very consistent in his work towards abolition and in his opposition to welfarism. I was ecstatic when i found out last month that Professor Francione has a blog, Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach. So far, i’ve loved everything i’ve read. I’ve been particularly intrigued by his recent series on veganism as the core of abolitionism. That is definitely an idea i can get behind.

Francione’s recent post, Abolition and Incremental Reform, is an important piece for those who are dedicated to animal rights and liberation. Francione continues with the point that veganism must be at the root of our movement (“Veganism is the application of the abolitionist principle to the life of the individual.”), and continues by highlighting examples of other actions that can and should be taken on the path towards animal rights.

Michael Greger, M.D. has released the full text of his most recent book, Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching, on the internet. You can go to birdflubook.com and read all 21 chapters for free. Dr. Greger also has an extensive online reference section for the book. If you can afford it, we encourage you to buy the book. All the sales proceeds from Dr. Greger's books are donated to charity.

This book has received a great amount of buzz and praise. It serves to educate us all about the impending public health crisis that is festering within our food system. More importantly, though, this book outlines the necessary steps that must be taken to prepare ourselves and minimize the catastrophic effects of the bird flu. Dr. Greger is never one to pull punches and he refuses to do so in this book. Without invoking what could be an understandable pessimism, Greger portrays the seriousness of the virus without giving up all hope. It is truly a must read. And with a free online version, you have no excuse not to check it out.

Be sure to head over to the Lantern Books website and read Zoe Weil’s book Claude and Medea Book 1: The Hellburn Dogs, which is being posted chapter-by-chapter for free. Its a children’s book about 12 year-old activists who rescue dogs from a laboratory. Zoe Weil is a co-founder of the International Institute for Humane Education.

Welcome to the Deep Roots Animal Sanctuary blog. As you may have figured out, we are still in the process of becoming a grown-up sanctuary. We first started as the Western North Carolina Animal Sanctuary about a year ago, but seeing as to how almost all DRAS collective members are from the midwest, we decided to pick up and head back to where are roots are. That’s how we found ourselves here in Indiana.

Officially, we are a completely new non-profit organization. This time, we decided to share the process of becoming an animal sanctuary with you. We figured our trials and errors could probably help others in the process.

I’ll be posting more about this process in the near future, but for now I suggest reading the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary’s Starting A Nonprofit to Help Animals. I only wish I knew of the Best Friends manuals two years ago! But I know of them now and I have found them to be very accessible and helpful.