The first March for the Animals took place in Washington, D.C. on June 10, 1990.
Although the ASPCA had been around for over a century and the NWF and other American and foreign groups and individuals had been standing up for the animals for quite a while, this was the first global event that brought together people from every State. and thousands of representatives from other countries, together for the animals.
I believe that it was the turning point in what is now a world wide crusade to protect, cherish and save living creatures.
I remember walking through the streets of Washington with the other folks from Arizona, behind the folks from Arkansas, and in front of the folks from Alaska, along with thousands of other folks, our banner, being held up with a pole at each end, reading “Arizona for the Animals”, with everyone saying, over and over again:
What do we want?
Animal rights!
When do we want them?
Now!
When we arrived at the Capitol there were many speakers. Some were animal activists. Some were politicians. Some were celebrities. The person who I was most impressed by was Christopher Reeve. Famous at that point in time for playing Superman, he spoke of his love for animals, for his horses.
It was a truly inspiring, exhilarating, fulfilling experience.
I still have the tee shirt I bought that day. On the front is Lincoln’s face and the quote:
“I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That; is the way of the whole human being.”
On the back it reads: We marched for the animals. June 10, 1990.
I had dinner that night with Pollo and Tom and Peter.
I marched again in the second March for the Animals in 1996.
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
Gandhi
“…it would also be mistaken to view other living beings as mere objects subjected to arbitrary human domination.”
Pope Francis
“For if one link in nature’s chain might be lost, another might be lost, until the whole of things will vanish piecemeal.”
Thomas Jefferson
“Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine-trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it.”
Henry David Thoreau
