I read something recently that truly flabbergasted me. It had to do with scientists and the fact that many used to, and some may still, believe that animals were incapable of any thought. They were simply machines, robots programmed to react to stimuli but lacking the ability to think or feel.

Although disgusted that people often put animals on a far inferior platform than humans, I almost laughed out loud. “You’ve got to be kidding, right?” Anyone who’s ever had a pet or been around animals for any length of time will tell you that they not only have emotions, thoughts and feelings, but that they express them as much as people do…without the convenience of language. In my book, that makes them far superior than many humans I know.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that the cries a mother cow makes when her calf is taken away are no different than a mother who cries for her missing child, or to watch a cat run to his yowling sibling, stretching out his paw to touch her to realize he feels her distress, or to read about the mother cat who repeatedly runs into the burning building to save her kittens to know that sacrificing one’s life for one’s children is anything but robotic.

It is so incredibly obvious that animals feel joy, pain, sorrow and love that I am dumbfounded that it was ever a question…and one that the scientific community has done much research on and continues to debate. Our tax dollars hard at work? Some things never cease to amaze me.

On a much more sensible note, I have been a huge fan of Oprah Winfrey for some years now. I think she’s an icon for strength, integrity and the human spirit and what she’s done for woman, children and people around the world is unprecedented. And now, more recently, we can add homeless animals to the list. Her April 4^th show featuring the horrors of puppy mills reached out to more people than any animal organization could ever hope for and together maybe now the public will make a more informed choice and stop buying puppies from stores and choose adoption as their option. When Oprah speaks, people listen! Oprah, you rock!

Thank you for your support, for us and for the animals,

Lorie Zerweck