New Animal Rights Group Hatching: RAAR

What's the sound of activists in Rochester fighting for the welfare of animals? RAAR!

Rochester Activists for Animal Rights describe themselves as a newly formed group dedicated to change the prevailing attitudes about animals. The group aims to cultivate compassion for all animals, including people, while employing a diversity of tactics.

Recently, the group launched it's first public event: a fundraisers/dinner/movie screening at the Flying Squirrel Community Space. Around 50 people came to share a vegan dinner followed by a screening of the movie Earthlings, a graphic documentary surveying the abuse of animals across the globe.

I talked with Kristine Deuvall, Kathy Caldwell, and Amy Holland, three members of the group. We discussed the fundraiser, the movie, and what they hope to do with the group. RAAR meets the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month from 5:00-6:30 at the Flying Squirrel Community Space, 285 Clarissa St.

How do you feel fundraiser went?  Who came?  What reactions did you get for the film?

Kristine: Overall, the fundraiser was a success. I was happy to see a few unfamiliar faces and thrilled that Eco Bella made a very generous donation. Holding an event like this can be daunting because there is no way to predict how many people are going to show up. We advertised all over: fliers in the community, City paper, Internet, local radio stations, ARUNY, RAVS, Indy Media calendar, etc.

Amy: My favorite part was the sense of community I felt with the other group members and the people who came to the event.  It seemed like a lot of people in attendance were folks who are already in the Flying Squirrel circle, but I definitely saw some new faces.

Kathy: The first fundraiser was a success: 50 people were there. The dinner was great and the movie was informative but very shocking, even for an old pro like me.  My reaction from the film was dramatic, I had to leave the room.

Kristine: It is one thing to be aware of  and read about these extremely callous and unethical conditions for defenseless animals but to see it unfold before my very eyes was, to say the least, heart wrenching. I simultaneously feel a sense of urgency and powerlessness.

It was hard to see how wide spread animal exploitation and brutality is, how hidden from the general public (are people aware and they ignore it? do people honestly believe animals die in peace? do people not want to hear about it? do some people just lack compassion?), and to see how many layers of abuse there was. The part that stayed with me the most was looking into the animals eyes and hearing the sound of their painful cry. I cringe to think that this abuse is accruing every second of everyday. Right now thousands of animals are suffering.

Amy: It was a fairly small group that stayed for the film, which made it an intimate experience!  I was sitting in the front, so I didn't see how other people were reacting during the film.  During the discussion, though, it seemed like everyone was pretty moved.  I, myself, was really emotional during the film and haven't been able to stop thinking about it.

Why did you get involved in RAAR?

Amy: I got involved with RAAR because I've had companion animals for most of my life, and know from that experience that all animals deserve our respect and compassion.  ALL sentient beings deserve respect and compassion - it's disgusting that some people don't understand that these beings can suffer, and turn a blind eye to the pain and agony that is the daily experience for many, many animals.

Kathy: I have been involved with animal advocacy for many years and I have not found a local group that fulfills my desire to become really involved with activism until I got involved with RAAR. Most of the group are vegan, like me. They are young people who really want to shake up the establishment and, even though I am an old lady at 59, I  have always been shaking up the establishment by doing things that other groups won't do.

What would you say to someone who refuses to watch films like Earthlings because it's too difficult to see?

Kristine: I would support them in that decision. It is a very difficult film to watch. I spoke with one gentleman who shared his diagnosis of PTSD. He explained watching the film would trigger many of his symptoms. I do not have PTSD and still suffered many flashbacks and bad dreams since watching the film. However, to answer the question, I would also say (as I did to one person) the animals had to sustain the brutality, the very least we could do for them is expose ourselves to it.

Amy: I know it's hard to watch, but we can't just ignore what's going on thousands of times, every single day, in all kinds of facilities all across the world.   

What do you hope to accomplish with RAAR?

Kristine: I would like to try and hold fundraisers quarterly. I think it is a great way to meet people, feed people delicious Vegan food (for the next one I would love to do a taco theme, yum), and fundraisers are a perfect venue to educate and raise awareness, not to mention get our group name out there in hopes to acquire new members, which would not only diversify RAAR tactics but make our actions bigger and louder!

Amy: My goal is to educate as many people as possible about animal cruelty.  If we can change peoples' minds about the choices that they make every day - in terms of clothing, food, beauty products, etc. - we will be one step closer to eradicating cruelty to animals.  And I think that education can take a variety of forms - protests, one-on-one interactions, film screenings, etc. Different people will respond to different methods, so I think we really need to diversify how we go about spreading information.

I am so glad that RAAR exists - fighting for innocent creatures that don't have a voice is so important.  We are a feisty little group, and I hope we get lots more people to join our ranks!

Kathy:  We already did our second action by protesting at Held Projansky's last Sat. and that will also be a once a month protest from now on. We will also be at Ringling when it comes the end of Oct.

This group is definately going to have an effect on the animal advocacy front in Rochester and we are going to keep ruffling feathers and stirring things up.

Kristine: Ultimately, i'd like Held Projansky fur shop to be shut down. I'd like to plan some actions around the slaughterhouse in oswego. [I'd also like to] bring other groups together and collaborate with other groups, since there's more than one issue. It's not just about animal abuse exploitation or suffering. It's linked with human exploitation and takes a toll on our environment. The gulf oil spill for example, takes a toll on the environment as well as wildlife.

I would like to stress that the problem of animal abuse/exploitation/brutally stems much much much further than our food and diet choices. While I personally believe that diet choices on some level make a difference (even if that means adapting a vegetarian or vegan diet once a week)… there are also numerous other problem areas that need immediate attention. Some questions I am left with is: Where does this all stem from? When did it begin? At what point, did we as people decide it was ok to treat animals with such disgrace?

Please join RAAR we are looking for progressive people and want to be an action based group. We strive to employ of diversity of tactics for an ultimate goal of creating fundamental change. RAAR meets the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month from 5:00-6:30. If your interested please feel free to contact me at kdeuvall@gmail.com.