Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 26, 1994 TAG: 9404260141
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
At times, they have been labeled activists, extremists, wackos, loonies.
"But we're not," said Waine Tomlinson, founder of the League for Animal Protection. "We're not out on the street blocking doorways. We're not breaking into animal labs. We don't spray paint fur coats. We're not out engaging in any civil disobedience."
They are, simply, advocates for animals.
The league was founded three years ago as a legislative action group with a goal of bringing about tougher laws against animal abuse. While the group still pursues that goal, it has broadened its agenda to include treatment and care of injured stray animals and a long-term hope of opening a no-kill animal shelter.
The impetus for the organization was the discovery of the remains of more than 40 dogs and cats in a Roanoke home in 1991.
No charges were filed against the two people who were suspected of abandoning the animals, largely because a one-year statute of limitations had expired for a misdemeanor cruelty-to-animals offense - the only charge available.
Outraged, Tomlinson called a public meeting, which drew enough interest to fill a room at the downtown Roanoke Public Library.
"We knew then that we had an agenda that we felt very strongly about," Tomlinson said. "We felt there were facts that needed to be addressed."
With a membership of 150-200 people, the league has pushed not only for stiffer laws against animal abuse but also for laws that would require cats and dogs to be neutered and spayed as a way of combatting pet overpopulation. And league members have been present at municipal government meetings where animal ordinances were up for discussion.
But it has been through public protests that the league has garnered the most attention - and a reputation for a radical posture.
League members dismiss the label. Raising public consciousness on animal rights issues, done peacefully, falls far short of radical, Tomlinson says.
Last May, the league protested the treatment of a cow at a Lynchburg slaughterhouse. A videotape - shot by a Tour Du Pont spectator - showed police cornering the 1,100-pound animal and shooting it in the nose. The cow then ran through a chain-link fence and into traffic, where it was hit by a truck.
In November, the league rallied adamantly against the Boar-Walla Hunting Lodge, an exotic-game shooting preserve near Covington. The preserve, they argued, would take advantage of meek animals that were not used to dealing with hunting pressure.
Earlier this year, league member Dawn Hale and several other members protested a circus at the Roanoke Civic Center. One member donned an elephant's head, a striped prison uniform and chains.
The member - a well-known businessman - protested in costume not only for effect but also to conceal his identity, Hale said.
"We have a lot of people like that; people who won't protest openly in Roanoke," she said. "They'll go hundreds of miles to protest but say right up front, 'I would suffer in my work, my job' if they protested here in Roanoke."
League members packed a Roanoke courtroom last year in a case involving a dog that had been accused of mauling a child. Authorities had declared it a dangerous animal.
"We were just there to express our disapproval of the owner not being responsible," Tomlinson said. "It's an automatic death sentence for the animal. We want stiffer penalties for the owners."
The impact of protests is not always clear. Sometimes it is simply rousing a sleeping public.
"We consider ourselves an educating group," Hale said. "We want to awaken people. If we can promote an intellectual environment, we feel the compassion will come through."
Sometimes, the results are tangible. With Boar-Walla, league members and other animal-rights advocates did get the public's attention and, eventually, the attention of legislators. Gov. George Allen signed legislation this month requiring licenses for all shooting preserves.
"They realized how serious we were about the need for laws to govern that situation," Hale said. "There was nothing to govern the killing of those kinds of animals."
A majority of league members hold membership in the Roanoke Valley Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. But many of them frown on what they view as the SPCA's hesitancy to take public stands on animal-rights issues. (The SPCA board of directors did publicly condemn Boar-Walla after legislation on shooting preserves had been introduced in the General Assembly.)
The league vehemently opposes needless euthanasia of animals.
While the SPCA euthanizes animals, euthanasia "is not considered an option for us," said Dr. James Carter, a Troutville veterinarian and league member. "Normally, if we accept an animal, then that animal is not going to be put to sleep."
Euthanasia is only an option if an animal is gravely ill, Carter said.
It is common for league members to bring injured animals to Carter for treatment, then find homes for them. Carter says he treats an average of three to four animals a month that have been brought in by league members.
With time and treatment invested in nursing the animals - some with traumatic injuries - back to health, league members do not want to risk the animals' being put down at shelters that practice euthanasia.
They instead want a safe place to put them, Tomlinson said.
The league has embarked on a push for a new, no-kill shelter, a sanctuary to care for animals until they are adopted. It is "first and foremost" on the league's agenda, Tomlinson said.
"It all depends on the money-raising capabilities of the league and if we think we can open a shelter and sustain its operation," Carter said. "It's going to be a pretty big task to be able to pay for a place and keep it running."
The shelter would be volunteer-staffed and limited to 30-40 animals at a time, Tomlinson said.
"When we're full we just will not take any more," he said. Finding homes for animals that league members have "rescued" has never been difficult.
"We've always got people who are willing to take them," he said.
The public can write to the League for Animal Protection at: LAP, P.O. Box 20206, Roanoke 24018.
by CNB