It was a hot summer’s day in the English Lakes and we were sitting on the grass, my daughter, my rescue dog Hols and me, soaking up the serenity and the sun. At my daughter’s instigation I took a pad from my bag, then a pen which I placed in my left hand (I’m right-handed) and simply wrote down whatever came into my head. This is a good technique, she told me, for bypassing the rational side of your brain, and tapping into your unconscious creative side.
Once I began I couldn’t stop. It just kept pouring out. And what was pouring out was my blazing rage at what happens to animals, every animal, everywhere, at the hands of the human race.
This was hardly a surprise to me or my daughter, since I was vegetarian for 30 years, and now vegan for the last 11. All for the animals. My childhood was full of animals. We had cats, a dog, rabbits and a goat. We stroked cows, we fed pigeons. My favourite picture of my mum was one hanging on my grandma’s wall. Mum must have been 10 or 11, sitting on the doorstep with her arm around her beloved dog Patch.
My own children the same. None of us is physically capable of walking by a dog, cat, horse or any kind of beastie without ‘going in for the kill’ – a massive cuddle. Bees, wasps, worms, earwigs, spiders and snails are all lovingly rescued and released to safety.
As I said, the topic of my writing was no surprise, but the explosive power of that feeling truly was. It was a revelation. The dormant volcano was about to erupt!
So Animalista Untamed went active, and the molten lava flowing out can be seen here in the blog. Animalista is who I am. And my passion for the animals and my desire to fight for them is still untamed, just as they should be – wild and free. And even in my latter years, I’m not to be silenced.
Animalista Untamed 