Ringling Bros. Protest Pt. 2

So, our angry screaming low grade assaulting friend in the video below happened, but he was not indicative of the experience on the whole. We handed out hundreds of flyers (I made 400 of mine and there couldn't have been more than 50 or 75 left, and there were lots of IDA flyers as well.) It seemed like there were a good dozen or so of us protesters.

I handed a flyer about the trial Ringling is facing to a dad who was with his very sweet daughter who took it politely and kept walking (this was how almost every interaction went) but then he turned around after about 30 yards and came back. He had been reading it and wanted to know where he could find out more. He said he had no idea about this and though he was here with his daughter and would go in, he said probably wouldn't come back. I told him I know how it can be with a kid who is ready to rock n roll and I told him next year he could look into all the other fun family activities that don't have this ugly side to them. He thanked me for being there.

Another guy saw the screaming and paper throwing in face episode and came over to Matt and I after and asked what that dudes problem was. We talked to him for a good 10 minutes about what we were doing there and how the elephants are treated. He said he had no idea and took our flyer and wished us well. He told us he was from India and spoke with Matt for a while about the elephants there and it didn't seem like he was too happy to have already bought his tickets.

I would say half my attempts to give flyers out were met with "No thank you" or "Ok, thank you." If I got a "no" I said thanks anyway and moved on. No big deal and it felt nice to be supporting the other activists there who do a lot more than I do in this capacity.

The sad part about Mr. ScreamyAngry was that he didn't like the info we had because his kid "can read!" (no really, he yelled that at us) and I assume he means he doesn't want his kid reading about abused elephants and so forth. So he wanted to protect his kids from this violent information and he wanted to protect his kids from this violent information BY BEING A VIOLENT PERSON IN FRONT OF THEM.

Regardless, I don't think that dude's wife will let him go back to the circus again, so with that guy, and the other two, Matt and I appear to have made next year's attendance at least 3 fewer, which I know doesn't sound like a lot, but with other types of outreach doing their thing, I think a dent was made and hundreds of people watched the show who had our flyers in their hands an must have wondered about those bullhooks in the trainers hands. If all that happened was that we planted a lot of little seeds in people's heads, that is still something.

"This is my foot about to go up your ass"

This angry fellow was none too pleased that we were handing out flyers about how Ringling Bros. Circus abuses elephants. I kept telling him it was a federal trial I was talking about, not my opinion. He still thought it was fine to throw crumpled up flyers in Matt and mine's face and tell us he would happily go to jail after beating the shit out of us. He did this in front of my kid who was about 3 feet away ( and who had no idea what he was saying or doing thanks, I think, to Matt and I remaining completely calm while this guy screamed in our faces and threw things at us, which I did not get on film) and in front of his own kids, wife, and friend, none of whom seemed impressed with his macho bullshit.

I turned the camera on because, after the throwing stuff and threatening, I thought it might deter him from assaulting us (which is how it looked like it was going to go) or at the very least we'd have video of him beating me and Matt up. I felt really bad for his wife and kids and their friend.

I can't say this didn't shake me up a bit but I did remain very calm and collected and kept trying to tell the guy we were trying to help the elephants. I knew he wasn't going to hear me, but at least I didn't head down the road he did and I kept our goal in mind instead of escalating the situation like he did.

If you need info on why we were protesting the circus, look here.

If you're wondering who this asshole is, he probably has an entry here.

Ringling Beats Baby Elephants. Trial starts Oct. 7.

First things first: Info on the trial from CBS news.

Second things second: Portland folks, come help educate folks about this trial. I'm not a very savvy or confident protester either, but I'll be there. And I made some flyers that state facts about the federal court case Ringling is facing. Most people don't know about the trial and informing folks that the federal government will hear a case against the circus should be pretty effective and easy outreach. We also have a ten foot banner that says "Ringling Is Facing Federal Charges For Abusing Baby Elephants" which is a fact, and also needs some people to help hold. : )

Here is the where and when for people who want to help:
Where: Rose Garden Arena, One Center Court, Portland, (meet on the South end of the arena, nearest the MAX stop)
When: Thursday, August 28th - 6:30 pm
Friday, August 29th - 6:30 pm
Saturday, August 30th - 2:30 pm & 6:30 pm
Sunday, August 31st - noon

The info sheet handouts I made have this text:
On October 7, 2008 Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Baily Circus will go on trial in federal court for abusing the elephants in their show. This violates the federal Endangered Species Act.

The lawsuit charges Ringling with abusively training and disciplining elephants by using sharp implements called bullhooks. The suit also charges Ringling with “intensively confining and chaining the multi-ton animals for prolonged periods, and by forcibly separating baby elephants from their mothers.”

SOME OF THE EVIDENCE AGAINST RINGLING INCLUDES:

> Witnesses and former circus employees have given sworn testimony to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as recently as October 2006, that behind the scenes at circuses, elephants are kept tightly chained by one front and hind leg and unable to move freely.

In the wild, elephants travel many miles each day.

> There are reports of circus elephants being confined this way up to 20 hours or more each day. Research shows that this leads to psychological and physical problems such as arthritis, crippling foot problems, and behavior that is indicative of high levels of stress.

> As recently as July 2006, undercover investigators have videotaped trainers beating elephants, contrary to statements that the animals are trained exclusively through positive reinforcement. The lawsuit alleges that trainers use a stick with a sharpened metal hook on the end (called a "bullhook" or "ankus") to repeatedly beat, pull, push, torment and threaten elephants.

> In a January 2005 email, Ringling's own "Animal Behaviorist" recounted to Ringling's General Manager that she saw an elephant named Lutzi "dripping blood all over the arena floor during the show from being hooked," after a handler "hook[ed] Lutzi under the trunk three times and behind the leg once in an attempt to line her up for the T-mount." A "T-mount" is a stunt where two elephants and at least one person stand on the back of a kneeling elephant.

Please visit CIRCUSES.COM for more information. And please do not support Ringling’s cruelty.

If anybody is planning on protesting when Ringling gets to their town and would like the PDF files for our banner or handout, let me know and I'll send it to you. 

A 11 foot by 3 foot black and white banner at Kinkos is going to cost us $25.

Paul Watson and the middle finger response.

I got to see Paul Watson speak not long ago, I believe it was the 3rd time I've seen him give a talk and the 2nd time I've served as his opening act. I thank the baby jeebus noone has ever asked me to speak AFTER Watson as his talks are always fiery and curse filled pep rallies for animal rights. My talks tend to be solid information, funny costumes, and cheap jokes. Best I remain the warm up, don't you think?

Watson said something the last time that has been stuck in my head. And while I might get the exact wording wrong, I think the point will be pretty on target:

Watson said: "I don't give a shit what anybody out there thinks of me. I answer to the whales."

The "I don't give a shit what anybody thinks of me" phrase has been confirmed by a longtime Sea Shepherd crew member thusly: "No, really! He doesn't give a shit what anybody thinks of him!"

So. You know.

I've been stuck on this part of his talk. I'm starting to wonder how much appeasing and soft selling and tip toeing I've done when representing animals when I should have been more outspoken, or straight up, or just plain old aggressive. And I wonder how much of that appeasing was being done to make myself more comfortable in a situation as opposed to whether I thought it was going to be the most helpful approach for the animals I was advocating for.

Which brings me to this conclusion: Sometimes the middle finger is the correct response. 

Some people need to see that we are not going to bend. Some people, inside the movement and outside, need to see that we are serious about this and will fight for those animals.

The flipside to that is that some people will never respond to calm debate or a well worded pamphlet. Some people need a kick in the pants to be persuaded.

I know there has long been the fear that voices too strident or militant will turn people off to this movement and while I think that may be the case sometimes, look around and ask yourself what the masses respond to: Images of strength and courage. 

I'm not asking you to fashion your animal outreach after Charles Bronson, but I am looking at society at large and what we find persuasive, vs. what we find quaint. And I'm thinking we could all perhaps stand to be a little more like Paul Watson in regards to who we answer to.

Since it's BIG ISSUE week here on the blog...

I thought I'd talk a bit about race, privilege, responsibility, and laziness (mine.)

A few weeks back I got an email from an African American male in New Jersey telling me he liked our stuff, was a customer, and wanted to tell his friends about our site. Except, he said, if he sent the link to his African American male friends they would look at it and understandably assume the site was for white women.  The customer told me it would be good for me to include people of color as models on our site.

My initial reaction was embarrassment because this guy was on the money and I try to be better than that in terms of inclusive behavior and how we represent this movement. I was also embarrassed because I know our actual customer base is very diverse, racially, size wise, age wise, etc., and I am proud of that but am not representing it on our site. Indeed, if you looked at our old site you would have seen represented only skinny white women and one chubby white dude trying to look thinner than he is. Ahem.

I am embarrassed that the reason for this was complete laziness and convenience. The skinny white woman is my partner Michelle (though she can poker her belly out a disturbing distance if you ask her), the other skinny white woman was our volunteer Karla, and the white dude in denial about his belly was me. Last Fall HB started working with us and got pulled into model duty as well and she is another thin whitey.

The basic process went like this: A new shirt design would get printed, we'd be broke paying for it and would hustle to get the design on the site as fast as possible to start turning those shirts back into money so we could pay the bills. This meant whoever was closest got to be the model. Once the shirts were up on the site, we were usually off working on the next thing and never revisited the photos. Which made for a site of mostly white women, and skinny ones at that. Which, while a portion of our customer base, is certainly not representative.

It turns out we were rebuilding our website when that email came and a more representative...representation.....of our supporters was a big thing we were hoping to address on the new site. Which I think we have to a point, but it is still not all that racially diverse.

The problem then came up: Our city is not terribly racially diverse. Our company has only ever used vegan or vegetarian models, artists, writers, etc. for the things we do. The goal being to show how healthy and happy and creative vegan/vegetarian people are. Finding models of color looked to be an issue now because the veg community here is not terribly racially diverse nor is the city on a whole. And if I walked up to a veg person of color who came in the store or I saw at an event and said "put this shirt on and let me take photographs of you and put it on my site to show how diverse my company is" that would be a comical level of tokenism I just can't do.

What I am going to do to solve this problem is post a call for photos on the company site so our customers can send in photos of themselves for us to use. We stand a much better chance of getting a good representation of our supporters that way than we do just locally and that would be the case with our without this race issue I'm discussing.

But is has been a bit of a sticky situation. My current situation and location does not bring me into contact with many veg*ns of color. And the ones it does, I am not comfortable trying to throw clothes on and photograph to further my own goals. But what SHOULD I do to represent the diversity I know is there?

I will have another post about this later which explains how convenience and laziness to not give us a pass on not representing diversity, but I think I'll go ahead and post what I've written to keep this from becoming a novella.

Hahahaahah!

I'll stop posting about bikes and call more people bigots. My traffic is through the roof. 

How is "I hate kids" different than "I hate the disabled" or "I hate people of color."

I am open to the idea that I am wrong. But I have been thinking about this for years and have not been able to figure out how these things are different. I realize a lot of people are uncomfortable with me equating these things. So help me understand why I am wrong, if I am wrong. If you "hate" kids and don't like me calling you a bigot, consider that some of your behavior MIGHT be bigotted even if you don't want to hear it. And I will consider how it isn't based on what you have to say. Fair?

A couple of things: "Kids" is a group that are as nature made them. Just like people of color and the disabled and the elderly. So to "hate" them, is to hate them because of who they are as a group in nature, not because of choices they have been able to make or because of things they can control.

And while individual kids do not remain in that group for long, the group: kids, will always exist, and that is what I'm talking about.

Trolls, I have not been approving your comments. If you want to participate, make a valid point. If you can't or don't want to, I'll keep rejecting your attempts to post. It's a beautiful day out. Go do something constructive instead.

Those who choose to be childfree: You have my full support and love. Those who are simply uncomfortable around kids or have had bad experiences, you also have my full support and understanding. They can be very trying, parents more than anybody I know will own up to that. I am not trying to make you feel bad for not having a natural inclination towards kids and I don't want you to feel like you have to love kids or play with kids. My original post was only asking for common decency towards other members of the vegan community. 

Democrats and Republicans united.

On the radio today (the ever animal unfriendly NPR) there was a story about the Democratic National Convention coming up in Denver. The reporter was talking about this great restaurant that the delegates should go to. They served "great" steaks, but also ostrich, elk, buffalo, and the very popular appetizer, fried testicles served under the stupid euphemism "Rocky Mountain Oysters."

You can't even grant the animal the dignity to call their body parts by their name? You have to make a joke out of it?

They talked about how at the last DNC in Denver they had a rodeo as part of the celebration.

It got me thinking (and I was in no mood for that). The Democrats and Republicans will battle it out in this election, tooth and nail, debating all the big issues Washington never seems to be able to actually make any ground on, the rhetoric will be heated, maybe it will get kinda ugly, maybe there will be some negative campaigning and attacks by political action committees, so forth and so on. With our country in two wars and a recession and maybe a third war with Iran and things don't looks so good with Russia right now either, and gas prices, and the foreclosure crisis there is a lot at stake right now.

A lot at stake for us. Absolutely nothing at stake for the animals. Ask a chicken, pig, cow, fish, ostrich, elk, or buffalo if  they want Obama or McCain to win and the answer would be "I do not give a fuck." (That would be the answer if those animals were angry and a touch cynical like I am.) To the animals, Obama and McCain do not represent hope, or change or integrity, they represent one more possible graveyard for their body parts: one more example of a human who claims to care and represent the voiceless and whatever they say they are all about, but who does not care about the other animals on this planet enough to, at the absolute minimum, boycott their suffering and death.

Indeed, I guarantee you, right now the carcasses of animals are rotting away in the bodies of both candidates. Hope? Hope for what? asks the sow in a gestation crate or in Obama's stomach or in the hotel kitchen in Denver being chopped apart to be served to a bunch of people who want change. Change what? asks the cow who has it's babies ripped away at birth for horrible fates of their own. Hope and change. It's got to be a bit of a sick joke to the animals.

In McCain, the animals at least see honesty. Stay the course. He will, in regards to not caring about them, as will his rival. If they end up doing the cattle drive through downtown Denver during the DNC, enjoy the show Barrack. Enjoy the parade of doomed animals on their way to getting their throats slit so you can eat their muscles or organs. Whatever you order off the menu, keep telling us all about hope with blood in your mouth.

John, keep coming with the straight talk. But don't feel compelled to include the animals who are bound, beaten, menaced, burned, and tortured, hey, like you were while bravely serving our country. Let it keep happening to other creatures, they do not deserve consideration. 

"I do not give a fuck" goes up the chorus on election day from the billions of animals slaughtered every year whose suffering seems to be forever invisible to our brave leaders who do not see fellow earthlings exhausted, dismembered bodies on their plates, only meals brought to them by the hands of brutes.

There is no "U" in "Community." Well...there is but...

I understand that children are a contentious topic in our movement. I understand the argument that we should not be breeding because the planet cannot support more humans. I understand a lot of people are afraid of children. I understand there are a lot of bad parents out there whose children do not ever see limits imposed on their behavior and they run wild in the streets, drenched in the blood of the infidels and burning the villages in their wake, waving sticky hands in the air and drooling from their sticky mouths, spilling every cup in sight.

I didn't really understand or feel completely comfortable around kids until I became a father. I still get nervous around other people's kids sometimes, actually. And I get hyper sensitive sometimes if Ruby is having a hard time in public or things aren't going her way and I want to make sure we aren't bothering people around us. This rarely happens as Rubes is a pretty mellow kid.

I have heard, more times than I care to count, otherwise sensitive and intelligent people say "I hate kids."

I've had people in this movement say to me "Why do I have to try and like your kid?" I've seen people in this movement get up and move when a vegan mom sat down next to them with a vegan baby and say something rude. I've had people say to me "I usually hate kids, but yours is cool!" (Uh...thanks?) I've seen people in this movement list "Kids" in their list of "disklikes" right next to meat eaters and smokers. (Oddly, in their "likes" list they will have "vegans." My kid is a vegan. Do you hate her or like her?)

Here is what you need to understand. Children are as nature made them. You dislike them, not for choices they have made (like religion or politics), but for things beyond their control. You "hate" them because they do not act like you and are outside your group. This makes you a bigot.

Bigot: One who is strongly partial to one's own group...and is intolerant of those who differ.

If you'd like to change your sentence from "I hate kids" to something more accurate, like "I am uncomfortable around children because I do not know any" or "I have had bad experiences with children in the past" please do so now and you are off the hook, sort of.

If you want to stick with the "I hate kids" line, what is the difference between "hating" kids (I keep putting this in quotes because I don't believe people actually hate kids, I just think they are irresponsible with their language.) and "hating" any other group of people for who they are instead of for choices they have made? Like the elderly? Or people of color? Or the differently abled? What exactly is the difference?

The times I confronted people in the animal rights movement with this question who professed to hate kids I got no response. Does anybody know how "hating" kids would be different than "hating" the differently abled or "hating" the elderly? I am willing to be corrected on this because I just called a whole bunch of people bigots and hope I'm wrong.

Here is what I also want people to understand, people who want this movement to grow and for less animals to suffer and die and end up as food, entertainment, clothing, etc:

Vegan children need vegan role models or they will not stay in this movement.

Kids know when they are unwelcomed in a place or situation. If I take Ruby to a vegan event and she gets nasty looks or hears rude comments about children, why would she ever want to hang around that group of people or believe those people's beliefs are kind and something she should try and adopt? If I sit down next to someone at a vegan event and the person next to me gets up and moves to the other side of the table, why would my daughter want to stick around or get involved? If I keep dragging her to events and she keeps feeling shunned and unaccepted, as soon as she is able to go elsewhere, she will. She needs adults, other than her parents, to help her understand these values.

It is our responsibility to create a movement that is inclusive and welcoming and supportive of people already involved and those looking to join us. This includes children. It includes EVERY group of people.

I am not telling you that you have to take my kid to the bathroom. I'm not telling you you have to be all smiles if Ruby loses her cool and throws a fit. I'm not asking you to hold her or teach her to read. I don't need you to babysit some time. If she spills something, don't worry, you don't have to clean it up.

What I'm asking is that you think about your behavior and how it affects this community, the members of it who you might not be the most comfortable with, and by extension, the animals you care so much about.

I'm asking you to understand that some people in this community might require you to take one step outside your comfort zone every once in a while. I want you to know that if you try a little harder and focus on the movement as a whole, instead of yourself, we will all be a little stronger. If Ruby sees smiles and hears the occasional "Hi there" from you, it will go a long way in making her feel accepted in the community she is involved in. And if she feels accepted and supported, she will stick around and become a powerful activist herself one day.

Picture: Ruby at one of her handful of circus protests, living it up despite the cold and rain.

AR2008 roundup and shoutouts.

I'm relaxing for a bit in my hotel room. I almost said "doing nothing" but then I realized I'm watching women's soccer on TV, listening to Frightened Rabbit on my computer, blogging, drinking coffee, and chatting with Kittee. So....relaxing....but not doing nothing.

And I am almost positive the US lady who just got called for some infraction on the field just mouthed "motherfucker" on national TV as she argued with the referee.

I'll be heading out in a bit on the quest for presents to bring home, but it will be nice to have a little quiet time on the plane to process all the info my brain has absorbed in the past 4 days. Chad, Tim, Eban and I had a really good talk at dinner last night about some activism ideas. We talked about how primed Portland is for some huge AR victories, but we just need to mobilize the troops and get creative with what we are doing. I'm excited to get home and work on some ideas that came up. I don't usually get to attend any of the talks at these conferences, but the magic happens for me in having talks like the one at dinner last night, the ones I have at my table with folks, and the ones late night in the hotel bar. I'm always really inspired getting to speak with so many folks in a more informal, friendly way, than I am from seeing lots of lectures.

Wow! Helluva goal from Angela Hucles! 4 to 1, US over Japan right now.

A quick thanks to all the nice folks who I got to speak with at my table. Far too many to try and list, but thanks for all the kind words and support.

I was also lucky enough to get in chats with Kim McCoy from Sea Shepherd, Jenny Brown from Woodstock, Liz Pachaud from Farm Sanctuary, Erica Meier from Compassion Over Killing, J from Chicago ADL and Chicago Soy Dairy,  Ken and Leigh from Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe, Gary from Animal Writings, Ryan from VegBlog, longtime Herbivore supporter Dana, Andreas (yeah vegan parents!), Andrea from FARM, Susan (yeah vegan parents!) and so many others I'll feel bad I'm forgetting right now.

Below are a few photos I took. I always plan on taking a lot of pictures but we are in a big hotel with terrible lighting and no personality whatsoever, so I tend to forget to take the camera out.

Celebrity Shopper! Celebrity Shopper!

I didn't work today but HB did and HB is the biggest Smiths fan on planet Earth (I know that is debatable, I know you think YOU are, but my experience is that HB is.)

So, as Michelle tells it, HB could not breathe when  Johnny Marr waltzed in with his family. (Waltzing is debatable as well, he may have simply sauntered in. He may have strolled, reports are unclear.)

Johnny Marr. From The Smiths. Who recorded the record "Meat is Murder." On the day I didn't go to work. Nice. You know what I did? I went to Target and bought new socks. And Johnny Marr went to my store. 

HB will not ever in her life be the same. 

A Hot Cop, Pirates, and a Goat named The Pope. PT.1

Farm Sanctuary Hoedown Recap. Part 1 of probably 3.

August 1-3, 2008, Watkins Glen, New York.

Day 1: I flew into Syracuse specifically because my pal Liz hipped me to the fact that there was a new vegan restaurant there. I was excited. As you can imagine. 

I had taken the overnight flight, which I do not like because it takes me all but a half hour of any long flight to fall asleep. I tuned in Twine, Aphex Twin, and Kode 9 on the iPod and still couldn't drift off into a nice sleepy spot.

But so what, I was going to the Farm Sanctuary mothership! I can sleep when I'm dead. Or at least when I get into my cabin on the farm.

In Syracuse I took photos of Karl from Earth Crisisisis childhood home and spent a good hour in the Syracuse Early/Mid 90's Hardcore Museum, which was a real treat. I wasn't a huge fan of that seen but the displays and self guided tour really took me back...

I kid.

I got to Strong Hearts Cafe and was so spaced out I didn't really think about what I was ordering and just kinda got excited and realized my breakfast was French toast, a cherry ice cream milkshake, and coffee. Uh huh. The milkshakes were awesome and made with Temptation Soy Ice Cream and the one I got was named after the SHAC 7. How could I not order it?!

I hit the road in my rental whip and headed for the farm. Upstate New York is really pretty and there are some nice seeming small town out there. There also seemed to be a lot of animal farms which bummed me out.

I got to the farm and was met by Liz who showed me around and introduced me to a bunch of the animals.

It is very easy, when you deal with human animals all day everyday, to let the non-humans we are all working to help slip from your mind. Sometimes I pause and realize I haven't thought about a non-human animal in a while. Even a lot of my more compassionate thoughts tend towards the humans involved in our movement. I think this is simply because I deal with the humans most and can discuss the struggle we all face with humans. Or I'm reading books or blogs or emails from humans and am thinking about the work they are doing. 

Walking around the farm and seeing a critter ever time you turn around is a very powerful experience. Having Liz tell me the stories of where everyone came from and how they all got to this wonderful place was such a great reminder of what we're all doing. You look at them living their lives as naturally as possible, sometimes noticing you, sometimes not caring one bit that you're there and you feel ready for the work ahead. It's nice when they come over and want to say hi and get pets or some attention, but for me it's just as amazing to watch them living an un-coerced life, doing whatever they want, free from torment, or intervention.

Hearing the stories about the conditions from which these animals were relieved also reinvigorates me to work on their behalf. It's impossible to not get angry and filled with rage towards the abusers of these animals. And while my first thought is always "let's go knock their blocks off," I calm down and quickly get back to what I think is a better, more far reaching tactic which is to work to turn people away from their "products" and change people's attitudes so abuse will one day be considered unacceptable and these abusers will be forced to change their ways.

Cutest thing ever. EVER.

Baby pigs at Farm Sanctuary in New York.

These babies were born to a sow who was rescued from the Iowa floods. Read about the rescue here.

The staff and volunteers at Farm Sanctuary had to be with these babies 24 hours a day to monitor their health and make sure their mother didn't squash em. The mother lived her life in a gestation crate which means she never had the luxury of rolling over or figuring out how to maneuver around her babies without crushing them. This also means she was never able to demonstrate her mothering instincts which all animals are born with and so she lost the basic ability to mother properly. The Farm Sanctuary folks were up day and night taking turns on pig duty.

The babies are marked with different colors so the caregivers can tell them apart. This is essential because the babies were born underweight and needed to be weighed three times a day so as to make sure they were gaining weight and getting healthier. It was funny to watch Jason look at his chart and try and figure out which piglet was "silver spot blue bottom."

Outside of these special, separate, pig barns were the general population of pigs as well as another sow rescued from the flood. Her babies were born on a levee during the flood. Somehow this mother got out of her gestation crate, found high ground, built a nest, and birthed these babies. They were much bigger and outside running around in a little pack after mom. The FA staff thought she was a young mother and that this was probably her first litter because she was a great mother right away. The older mothers, who had had multiple litters while in gestation crates had the mothering instinct taken out of them, but this one was on the ball right away.