(VFAR) Is a New York Based 501C(4) Grassroots Multi-Issue Animal Advocacy Organization That Is Building Political Power for Animals
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2020 New York State Senate & Assembly Election Questionnaire About Us Launched in 2017, Voters For Animal Rights (VFAR) is a New York based 501c(4) grassroots multi-issue animal advocacy organization that is building political power for animals. In 2019, VFAR led the successful campaign to ban foie gras in NYC, and to stop wild bird poaching. We also led the campaign to ban the use of wild animals in circuses in NYC. We look forward to working with you to win more victories for animals and make the state of New York a leader in compassionate public policy. Our mission is to elect candidates who support animal protection, lobby for stronger laws to stop animal cruelty, and hold elected officials accountable to humane voters. VFAR mobilizes public concern for animals through the political process. We know that animal protection is not only a moral issue but a bi-partisan political issue as well. Over 90% of Americans believe that animals need protection from abuse and exploitation. To that end, we organize humane voters to support candidates that care about animals. If you support animals, then we want to support you! There are over 60,000 humane voters throughout New York state, hundreds of which are volunteers for VFAR who are ready to knock on doors, make phone calls and get out the vote to elect people who will stand up for animals. We deliver the vote – for the animals and for you. As an example, here is our animal-friendly voter guide from the 2019 NYC Special Election for Public Advocate. Endorsement Process Candidates seeking our endorsement for the New York State Assembly and Senate are required to fill out this questionnaire and submit to [email protected] by June 1, 2020. Please let us know if you need more time. Questions If you have any questions about the topics in our questionnaire, please don’t hesitate to reach out to [email protected] and [email protected] We are happy to help you better understand animal protection policy, and we’re happy to advise your campaign. With gratitude, Allie Feldman Taylor, David Karopkin, Esq., Julie Cappiello, Joyce Friedman, Heather Greenhouse, Kathy Nizzari, Michelle Aptman, Stewart Mitchell Board of Directors, Voters For Animal Rights Candidate Contact Information & Campaign Information Candidate Name: Barbara Kidney Pronouns she, etc., or they, etc. Cell Phone Email: Campaign Manager: Self Pronouns Cell Phone Email District: NYS Assembly District 101 Party: Green Office Sought: State Assembly District Representative Name of Campaign Committee: Barbara for AD 101 Campaign Field Office Address: PO Box 34, Walker Valley NY 12589 Campaign Website: Barbaraforad101.com Personal Initiatives 1. Do you feel that promoting the humane treatment of animals should be a priority for the New York State Legislature? Yes. 2. Do you have any achievements to date on humane issues, e.g. supporting humane legislation, adopting a shelter pet, volunteering with an animal rescue organization, supporting any national or local animal protection orgs, living a plant-based (vegan or vegetarian) lifestyle, etc.? Yes. For some main examples: My spouse and I are vegetarian. We eat organic, local, as much as possible, grow some of our own organic veggies. Eggs are from free-range and healthily-fed happy local chickens. We have zero lawn, and use zero so-called “pesticides” (real term is “biocides.”) We have a beautiful meadow fringed with mainly red oaks, white pines, and hemlocks. This means, among other things, we are not killing or causing cancer, neurological, or endocrine damage to mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, and insects and spiders. All of which (except fish) live and hopefully thrive on the land that we “own.” (The people indigenous to this region realize that any human who thinks they “own” part of the Earth is insane). I brought milkweed seeds that I gathered to this land, which was covered just in moss and poverty grass, when my spouse and I moved here at the turn of the millennium. Today I saw a monarch butterfly lay eggs on one of them. I’ve also grown Echinacea (purple coneflowers) from seed that also thrive here. We also have Oswego teas (Monarda dydima) & hence lots of hummingbirds, and New England asters that bloom into October, so that on warm October days the bumblebees can gather food for their queen. Likewise, hellebores and snowdrops and early crocus, along with native trilliums and rue anemones for the early spring, offer food for hungry, emerging insects. In summer our land is full of flowers and many kinds of butterflies, dragonflies, bees, fireflies, & other insects, all kinds of songbirds, and there’s barred owls in our woods and a nearby red-tail hawk. We feed the wild birds non-GMO bird food including organic peanuts. When my spouse or I see animals of any kind in trouble, we help out. At our former place, we fed and offered warm water, on a daily basis during a cold and snowy winter, to ducks and domestic geese that some person had left stranded on the neighborhood lake. A female mallard had mated with a domestic white duck and they were freezing and starving, along with some domestic and abandoned geese. (The female mallard had refused to migrate apparently, so she could stay with her mate). All these birds were happy once we did this; they took baths in the warm water, and in spring the mixed race (LOL) duck couple came to visit— with their 12 beautiful multicolored ducklings. We augmented their own feeding that season. And we got to see the grey domestic geese emulate the wild Canada geese that fall, and practice flying in V formations— they never migrated, but they got so good at flying that one could hardly see them in the sky, they went so high! My husband and I have rescued, over the years, many insects and spiders stuck in our sink and drowning. We have carpenter bees in our fascia, and they do no harm, but they do choose to pollinate our Painted Lady runner beans, cukes, & tomatillos. I accidentally hit one last summer and then I checked on it, and put it in a safe place, and gave it honey (from hives of a beekeeper friend who cares for his bees & does not exploit them), which it gladly consumed, and after a day and half recuperation time, the bee (whom my spouse had named Buzzfeed) flew away. Two summers ago we rescued a hatchling robin that I noticed while driving on a local road, late at night, and who was hopping on the ground. I couldn’t find any nest or parent birds around, so we took the bird with us. It immediately fell asleep in my hands. I named the bird Hoppity-Hop, and we cared for HH overnight, getting advice from the internet, and found a licensed bird rehabber that we drove it to the next day. HH was so happy when it heard and saw robins singing in the trees at the rehab place! (HH also seemed to really like the 45 minute car ride, and looked out the windshield as we drove. I think HH felt like s/he was flying!) We use earth friendly cleaners and products, no soaps with antibiotics or hormone disruptors like triclosan, which means we are not poisoning animal habitat and aquifers. We minimize use of plastics, in order to minimize our harm to waterways and ocean life. We opposed fracking and nuclear energy which means we are protecting animal habitat and animal livelihood. We are peace-promoters, and when I speak/write about peace and non-peace and damage from military endeavors, like drone strikes (which I oppose), I mindfully often speak of the devastation done by these human sociopathic behaviors to animals, both domestic and wild, and to plant life (which as you know, provides homes and livelihood to animals). I have done a local fund-raiser for a cat rescue society years ago in Woodstock, NY. I give small donations regularly to the donor jars of animal sanctuaries and equine rescues that are at local stores where I shop. I live across the street from a lake. About 5 years ago, the ownership changed hands, and the lake was dredged and the dam rebuilt. As part of that project, the owner brought in an animal trapper to take out the beavers. Horrible things happened— a nesting Canada goose lost her mate to the trap, on Earth Day, no less, and was screaming; a snapping turtle died from injuries; a beaver was trapped and drowned. Found these things out secondhand from neighbors. We screamed bloody murder— I contacted town supervisor, DEC, we wrote to local papers, I contacted a friend who works with ALF (Animal Liberation Front) and got some advice, and helped get the word out, protesting NYS laws that allow this kind of trapping. I patrolled the lake shore regularly, ready to let loose any trapped animals, ready to do civil disobedience, but fortunately no more traps were deployed. I have written in protest to a restaurant that we occasionally frequent that has served foie gras. (We eat the vegan and vegetarian options when we go). And as you probably can infer, we do NOT use any products that torture/harm animals via “animal testing.” I buy vegan products for handbags and shoes. For about 10 years, my spouse and I served on our Town’s Environmental Management Council, which gives the Planning Board advice on conservation easements and where best to place them, to protect vernal pools for amphibians, for instance, and hickory trees for bats.