A little Serenity for the Soul

     You always hear of people giving up all their time and money for a good cause, but never do you think you'll come in contact with one of them. I volunteered at serenity springs this week and was thoroughly impressed. Terry DeGaw, owner and director for Serenity Springs Sanctuary, gave me a tour of the complex and the expressed her feelings towards why she does what she does. She said that she has always had a love for animals but felt compelled to save the lives of those that had been tortured or left to die. Her favorite are the pot bellied pigs and farm pigs. They treat her as if she was their mom. She said something that reminded me of Carol Adams view on animal names. Terry said "I give all the pigs names, not that they know their names,..." Adams states that "In the Hebrew Geneses, the animals do not speak their own name to Adam; rather, they are given their names by this first man. Language, for the Hebrews, was becoming a purely human gift, a human power" She does not exploit her animals but tries to give them a serene atmosphere where to spend their life. Every now and then when the chickens would lay eggs and leave the unwanted ones there, she will use them. Immediately after she mentioned this, she asked me if I were a vegetarian. I quickly giggled and said "No." This is an image of Self most animal conscious people share. Pollen wrote in his article An Animal's Place that its a mutualism that some animals have with humans. Her main source of income to sustain the sanctuary is from donations. She works pretty much alone or with volunteers, with no paid staff.
     After the tour, she put me to work. The pig pens were just cleaned so there was just a lot of yard work. I raked part of the grass and garden. Next, I tilled the garden so it would be softer and easier to plant flowers. I also got rid of a couple weeds. I am planning on going back in the summer to be able to do some feeding plus more interaction with the animals. 
     I learned a lot of things from this experience. I've always believed in the safe treatment of animals but never have I done anything about it on a large scale. This class has taught me to question humanities moral and ethical institutions. We create this in an anthropocentristic view, manufactured to give all power to humans. We use the dualism of "human/animal" to benefit ourselves while hurting the sustainability of animal culture. I do believe that the idea of "predator/prey" is important to the sustainability of our ecosystem. "objects to the suggestion that all human and nonhuman predation violate animal rights—, which even animal rights philosophers agree with" (Warren, 2000). I do not agree with the mass over production of animals to supply food that people still throw away. It is wasteful which pollutes the environment and leads to a double-loss.
Terry says this is something she will be doing until she cannot walk anymore. It is her passion and goal to create a more caring and aware environment that can better animal rights.