Kiara and her son, Scark
A Journey from Cruelty to Compassion
by Dr. Lo Sprague
How We Got Here
As children we look to adults to intervene in the cruelty we see towards our pets or other creatures, often only to be told: “It’s okay. They’re animals - they are not like us.” They’re… less smart? less feeling? less alive?..
“They are ANIMALS” so? …their emotions, their instincts, their thoughts and feelings are less than human. Animals get squeezed in their own category of “things . They’re sweet – BUT …”.
And so without really noticing it, we begin to carry a belief, often kindly,.. that enables us to see and treat these fellow living beings as objects, often beloved objects but object none-the-less, objects for our own comfort, use,.. pride, pleasure or profit.
As children we know better but by the time we grow up, we too, have become numbed to the pervasive callousness of such a worldview. That is until something happens... Something crosses a line, something so egregious that we can no longer stand it, and suddenly the Child in us - now an adult, breaks out, is strong enough to rise up and say: ‘No!” “No more!”
That line was crossed for Jan Creamer and Tim Phillips by the unconscionable cruelty done to animals in the name of “research”. Each of them walked out of a successful career to do something, something to stop senseless barbarism being committed in the name of “science”. Eventually, through their remarkable global organization, Animal Defenders International, that confrontation with “science” grew from “research” to include the ego and entertainment industries rooted in the suffering of these living, feeling beings.
ADI not only rescues individual animals, it changes minds and laws and has grown to include being able to disrupt significant segments of cruelty industries like fur-farming and animal trafficking and triggered the rethinking and, in many instances halted, the use of animals for many kinds of “research”, and as objects of “entertainment” in circuses and sports.
ADI caught my attention when I recognized that their work aimed at not only rescuing individual animals but at actually shutting down the highly profitable use of animals for ego, ignorance and entertainment. ADI’s work led The Guibord Center to recognize that faith leaders have an obligation to speak out in support of animals. Our faith leaders agreed. Quickly and unanimously. They all pulled together quickly to participate in our award winning short film, “ANIMA. Animals. Faith. Compassion” made in collaboration with and dedicated to Animal Defenders International.
While the Animal Defenders International Wildlife Sanctuary was being born in 2018-2019, Gwynne and I began looking for other ways that we and The Guibord Center could offer support and partner with them to lift up and include their work in TGC’s Initiative on Animals, Faith and Compassion. (Now The Spirituality of Nature.)
That’s how I found myself with dear friend and Guibord Center colleague, Mary Kirchen, on a plane headed to Guatemala in early 2020, as part of the ADI rescue of 17 lions and tigers freed from circuses there. It’s how we found ourselves at the emerging ADI Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa, a place where cruelty is replaced by compassion.
From Cruelty to Compassion
Every animal on the Animal Defenders International Wildlife Sanctuary has a name. Its own name. Its own story. That’s how it begins.
It’s not a cow. She is Matilda.
It’s not a lion. He is Tarzan and his beloved protector is little Tanya.
This is Simba and his brother, Rey.
Mahla, she is the best of soccer players with the exercise ball.
Beloved Ruben, abandoned in Armenia, whose love and courage will be remembered by everyone on the Sanctuary forever.
Rey Cusco – a huge fellow, has been and still is the fierce patriarch looking over of his entire family.
Siblings - Rolex and Africa and Keira.
Shujaa and Saham are brothers abandoned in the pet trade in Kuwait.
Kesari, big and beautiful, well-fed and raised alone. He didn’t know how to roar when he arrived. He practiced at night in the dark when the other lions were sleeping.
Max and Stripes are the two young tiger brothers. They are always together. I confess that I still cannot tell them apart.
Harold is the Egyptian Goose who literally drops in from the Wild from time to time to hang out with Rollo, the large sanctuary dog who sticks close to Jan and Tim and the Sanctuary’s Director, Karen. Rollo like many of the creatures who calls this place home was once terrified of people. No more. Now he moves with confidence and sleeps in the sunshine. He is joined by Milo and Freya, the newest dog to arrive. And he still hangs out with Harold whenever Harold comes visiting. Harold loves to stand on Rollo’s back whenever to two go “walking’.
The two hogs are Roosevelt and Churchill.
The horses are Amani, Sammy, Apollo and Crockett .
The sheep and goats donkeys all each have names…
The human team members and day workers have names too. Most have African names that are a challenge for someone with a hearing disorder like me. It takes extra work to catch names and get them right. I often fail but keep working on it.
Kindness begins with seeing and hearing one another. It’s about caring enough to stop whatever else we’re doing to make space to take in the experience of being with one another.
ADI asks their team to consider how their interactions will impact the Other. They urge their team to pay attention to what is happening in every exchange.
Their teams monitor how they’re doing with more than charts and notes. They all talk with one another. Share observations. Celebrate and grieve together. Respect and listen to one another.
Value and nourish community together.
The rules are clear. Like the armed security patrols and electrified fences that keep the animals and humans that care for them safe from the ever-present danger of poachers, strict rules and guidelines set the boundaries of what works and is safe and what is not.
Our Relationship with Animal Defenders’ International
The Guibord Center’s relationship with Animal Defenders International opens a pathway to extraordinary tenderness, kindness, wisdom and courage tucked right in the middle of a world filled with danger. To be there is to be keenly aware that we are not objects cut off from one another but each an integral part of a weave of Life where every part impacts every other. It is a place where we get to experience the extraordinary unfolding power of compassion to heal the trauma of brokenness into a deep, quiet and joyful peace.
We need such models today more than ever and so we will continue to lift up and return to the examples and experiences of Animal Defenders International in the days and weeks ahead.
In the meantime, there is much we can take from their example. We can speak up for compassion. Help out however we can - whenever we can. It all matters.
And sometimes, sometimes we can wake up to the animals all around us, and wonder about their names…