Welcome to SWIVL

SWIVL 2015 GOALS

1. Rescue and rehabilitate dogs abandoned in the desert.
2. Expand land and build facilities for abused goats, hogs, and other farmed animals.
3. Increase cat and dog spade and neuter work and education programs.
4. Work with animal rescue organizations on the Arizona – Mexican border.
5. Organize school – community educational programs to reduce animal cruelty.
6. Advocate for an animal abuse registry to inform and educate the public about animal abuse.
7. Promote legislation with severe penalties for animal abusers.
8. Educate youth and community groups and organizations about the cycle of violence.
9. Register as a safe haven shelter for animals that come from abused homes.
10. Work with community and elected officials to protect animal victims of family violence.

Please click here if you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution to help SWIVL achieve its 2011 Goals.

SWIVL in the Community

SWIVL has been actively out in the community describing the relationships among animal cruelty, child abuse, and domestic violence.  While there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of organizations that inform and educate the public regarding violence, SWIVL promotes the view that violence is indivisible; violence towards any feeling, being should be not be tolerated under any circumstance.  According to Dr. Kathleen Wishnick, Co-Founder of SWIVL, we must stop violence at all levels: animal cruelty, child abuse, and domestic violence.  Child abuse and domestic violence is on the increase because we have ignored the powerful relationship between animal cruelty and all other forms of violence.  When it comes to violence, it doesn’t matter if nonhuman animals speak or walk on two legs, all that matters is that they feel pain.  Your tax-deductible support will help SWIVL end violence through community action and legislative support.

Your Contributions Provide Shelter from the Arizona Sun

Lila and Katie have a new shelter thanks to the generous contributions of SWIVL supporters.   Constructed by local builders, SWIVL works with teachers, parents, and community members to develop strong relationships driven by a mutual respect for all sentient beings.  All tax deductible contributions go directly to SWIVL services and programs.  According to SWIVL Co- Founder, Dr. Kathleen Wishnick, It did not take long for these two sisters to find their new shelter – free from the Arizona desert sun.  Wishnick, who rescued Lila and Katie in California and drove them back to Arizona, is grateful to the people that made this shelter possible.  

Lila and Katie are two of the lucky ones.  They are loved and most of all respected.  It is estimated that 90% of all pigs, like Lila and Katie, spend their lives in factory farms. Lila and Katie, like their brothers and sisters everywhere, are highly social, affectionate and intelligent creatures, and suffer both physically and emotionally when they are confined in narrow cages where they cannot even turn around.

Many pigs become crazy with boredom and develop vices like mouthing, and nervous ticks; others are driven to fighting and cannibalism because of their frustration.   Factory farm pigs never see daylight until they are shipped for slaughter. Dust, dirt and toxic gases from the pigs' waste create an unsanitary environment that encourages the onset of a number of diseases and illnesses, including pneumonia, cholera, dysentery and trichinosis. 

Please make a tax deductible contribution to help us save and protect more companion and farmed animals.  SWIVL desperately needs to build shelters, including water and sanitary facilities, in order to rescue and protect other animals from the harsh Arizona summer.

United Nations Urges Worldwide Shift Away From Animal Products
A new United Nations report entitled Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production is the first of its stature to actually stress the necessity of moving away from meat and dairy. Specifically, the paper says that “impacts from agriculture are expected to increase substantially due to population growth [and] increasing consumption of animal products [...] A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products.”

View the Executive Summary and the Findings and Conclusions (PDFs).

The report goes into detail about the consequences we can expect if business continues as usual. Increases in population and wealth have historically resulted in increased consumption of meat, dairy, and eggs, which they blame for the bulk of agriculture’s environmental impact. Agriculture is said to be responsible 70% of global freshwater consumption, 38% of the total land use and 19% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

It is now undeniable that we need to substantially reduce our use of animal products in order to prevent global catastrophe. The simplest way to do this is to adopt a vegan diet, which, in addition to avoiding all of animal agriculture’s ecological impacts, also spares the lives of dozens of animals each year- amounting to thousands over one’s lifetime. The American Dietetic Association calls a well planned vegan diet “healthful and nutritionally adequate […] for individuals during all stages of the lifecycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes” and adds that it “may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.”

Volunteer with SWIVL

Become a Southwest Institute for ViolenceFree Learning (SWIVL) Volunteer. Become part of a growing movement for ending the cycle of violence.  Unlike other programs and strategies that focus only on animal abuse, child abuse, or domestic violence, SWIVL takes the approach that violence is indivisible and that animal, child, and domestic violence are cut from the same cloth.   Formed in 2003 as a 501(c)3, SWIVL is a nonprofit organization established to respond to the growing state of violence and discord in our families, communities, nation, and world.  SWIVL believes the first place to start is with the torture, abuse, and animal abandonment. 

SWIVL has no paid staff.  All contributions go directly to SWIVL programs and services.  Please contact SWIVL if you are interested in volunteering for any of the activities below:

• Volunteer and learn how to be a humane educator in the classroom.
• Volunteer to develop and maintain farmed animal habitats.
• Volunteer as a community organizer to help build a sanctuary for dogs that are abandoned in the desert.
• Volunteer as a veterinarian to provide free spade and neutering clinics in the Arivaca, AZ community.
• Volunteer as an intern to assist in the general health and welfare of farmed and companion animals.
• Volunteer as part of the SWIVL speaker’s bureau for community events and meetings.
• Volunteer as a guide for individuals and groups that visit SWIVL.

Please contact SWIVL if you are interested in volunteering for any of the above activities.

Factory Farms: It's Time to Shut Them Down

Factory Farms cause disease and provide no value to society.  Factory farm food is not healthy and has been found to cause cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.  Factory farms cause pollution and are dangerous to our environment.  Factory farms are large-scale industrial operations that houses thousands of animals raised for food and treat them with hormones and antibiotics to maximize their growth and food output.  Here are a few specific reasons why factory farms should be illegal and should not subsidize by tax dollars:

 

- Factory Farms harm the human immune system - Feeding animals antibiotics on a consistent basis may cause the humans that consume them to lose some of their ability to fight certain strains of bacteria.

 

- Factory Farms mutilate animals - The beaks of chickens, turkeys and ducks are often removed in factory farms to reduce the excessive feather pecking and cannibalism seen among stressed, overcrowded birds.

 

- Factory Farms impose unnatural practices on animals - Animals are often force bred to produce young at unnaturally accelerated rates, causing them exhaustion and stress.

 

- Factory Farms torture animals on a regular basis - Animals headed for slaughter who become too sick or injured to walk unassisted are forced onto slaughter trucks, often with a bulldozer.

 

- Factory Farms pollute the local community and environment - Confining so many animals in one place produces much more waste than the surrounding land can handle. As a result, factory farms are associated with various environmental hazards, such as water, land and air pollution.

 

- Factory Farms are dangerous to people - People who live in close proximity to factory farms often complain of high incidents of illness.

 

- Factory Farms chain animals their entire life - From birth to slaughter at five months, calves used to produce "formula-fed" or "white" veal are confined to two-foot-wide crates and chained to inhibit movement. The lack of exercise retards muscle development, resulting in pale, tender meat.

 

- Factory Farms starve animals - Egg-laying hens are sometimes starved for up to 14 days, exposed to changing light patterns and given no water in order to shock their bodies into molting, a usually natural process by which worn feathers are replaced. It’s common for 5-10% of hens to die during the forced molting process.

 

- Factory Farms slaughter animals for no reason - After one or two years of producing eggs at an unnaturally high rate, female fowl are classified as "spent hens.” No longer financially profitable for factory farmers, they are slaughtered.

 

With the government’s emphasis on universal health care, it only makes sense that the food we eat should be healthy.   Factory farm food has been shown to be both unhealthy and dangerous.  Factory farms torture animals and pollute our environment. It’s time for our elected leaders to recognize that a healthy population begins with our food.  It’s time to shutdown factory farms.

Source: ASPCA

THE WITNESS – One Person’s Journey to Say No to Violence, Cruelty, and Fur

For the month of May, SWIVL is proud to recommend a film that portrays both the best and worst of the human spirit while offering hope, renewal and the miracle of transformation.  THE WITNESS, one person’s journey that can change the world, shows how each person has the power to do good things and change the living conditions for those among us that are abused, tortured and left to die alone and afraid.

In the award-winning documentary, THE WITNESS, Eddie Lama explains how he feared and avoided animals for most of his life, until the love of a kitten opened his heart, inspiring him to rescue abandoned animals and bring his message of compassion to the streets of New York. With humor and sincerity, Eddie tells the story of his remarkable change in consciousness.

THE WITNESS has been an official selection in 32 film festivals where it has received eight awards for Best Documentary and two for Best of Festival.  The film has been translated into 11 languages, including Russian and Chinese. 

Best of all, you do not need to go to your local video store to view THE WITNESS.  Click here to begin viewing.

Supremes Turn Their Back on Man’s Best Friend

Supreme Court rules animal torture videos as free speech.  Simply put our dogs and cats have little value according to the US Supreme Court and while it may be illegal to torture and murder them, individuals and businesses that electrocute, crush, drown, strangle, rape, and otherwise torture companion animals are protected by the US Constitution to produce, market, publicize, and distribute the video and material representation of these monstrous acts.   

Key media outlets joined forces to promote their right to publicize the torture of animals, claiming free speech as their defense, with the New York Times leading this unholy alliance.  Arguing their position, the New York Time, twisted the ugly truth about animal torture into the protection of animals.   Here is the 1984ish position of the NY Times:

The goal of preventing crush videos and other animal cruelty is certainly a worthy one.  It is this very interest in protecting animals from abuse that makes speech about their treatment so valuable. Press coverage serves the community by exposing animal cruelty such as crush videos, animal fighting and the mistreatment of animals at some puppy mills and slaughterhouses.

In other words, we should not prohibit the publicizing and marketing of these horrific videos – otherwise the New York Time and other media outlets could not publicize them.  

Only one Justice had the courage to tell the truth:  Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented, saying the majority’s analysis was built on “fanciful hypotheticals” and would serve to protect “depraved entertainment.”

 

Chief Justice Roberts and other Supreme Court Justices should get out of their ivory tower to understand the connection between animal cruelty, child abuse and domestic violence.  Animal abusers are never satisfied with the torture of just animals.  More and more evidence shows that animal abuse leads to child abuse and domestic violence.

Does the majority of the Supreme Court really believe individuals who distribute videos that depict animal torture are not disposed to violent behaviors?  Do they believe that the Founding Fathers of our country would have given these horrific videos and merchandise the status of protected speech?  The Supreme Court’s decision to ignore the link between human and nonhuman animal abuse gives the animal torture industry a pass while endangering our children and families.  Like so many of our elected official, they are out of touch with everyday thinking Americans.

Federal Government is Wasting Tax Dollars on Cruel Animal Experiments

Los Angeles has no money for police, we have no money to secure the US border, we have no money to pay for teachers, we have no money to continue the space program, we have no money to keep community pools open, we have no money to pay for libraries, and on and on and on.  But, we do have federal tax dollars to support the torture and abuse of animals.   Every year, the federal government, led by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), spends billions of tax dollars to underwrite biomedical experiments on animals.

As Americans file their annual tax returns, our federal elected officials continue to approve wasteful spending on cruel animal experiments in the name of science.   Below is a tiny example of how your tax dollars and animals’ lives are frivolously wasted on research that adds nothing to medical progress, ignoring common sense and topics that really matter.  

It’s time for all tax payers to contact their elected officials and demand that this wasteful, cruel spending stops.  Stop the spending and end the cruelty.

Below is a sample of experiments conducted on live animals with your money:

• Research on the ejaculation of rats
• Research on castrating hamsters
• Research on fighting lizards
• Research on mice on wheels
• Research on the sexual behavior of rats

Click here to find out more about how the federal government is wasting tax dollars on cruel animal experiments.

Promote an Arizona Online Registry of Convicted Animal Abusers

Join with SWIVL to promote an Arizona online registry of convicted animal abusers.  The registry will list people convicted of animal torture, mutilation, intentional killings, sexual abuse and animal fighting.   If passed, this law will require any person convicted of a felony involving animal cruelty to register with the police and provide an array of personal information along with a current photograph, much like sexual predators.  The information, along with the registrants' specific offense, would then be posted on the Internet.

While some might view a Registry for Animal Abusers extreme, the violent link between animal and human abuse represents a strong connection that requires immediate action to protect society – especially children.  Animal abusers are cruel and dangerous and the public has a right to know who they are and where they live. 

If you believe there are certain behaviors that a civilized society should not tolerate, show your support and commitment to ending this horrific form of violence.  It’s time for honest, law abiding citizens to require those that commit horrible, torturous acts to be responsible and accountable for their actions.  Animal abusers are not victims to be understood and analyzed – they are individuals that need to be identified and monitored so the cycle of violence is once and for all stopped.

Click here to become part of a system-wide movement for ending the cycle of violence.  Unlike other programs and strategies that either focus on only animal abuse, child abuse, or domestic violence, SWIVL takes the approach that violence is indivisible and that animal, child, and domestic violence are cut from the same cloth.  The glue that binds animal cruelty, child abuse, and domestic violence is the abuser’s intention to control and dominate the victim.  These criminals are calculating individuals that enjoy the cruelty and terror they inflict on others.  Beginning with animal cruelty, violent acts become obsessive, where the individual is prone to become more and more abusive. Strong evidence shows that many serial killers began with the torture of small animals – behaviors which are often dismissed by judges and public officials as insignificant. 

Join with SWIVL in support of an Arizona Registry for Animal Abusers.  The link between animal abuse, child abuse, and domestic violence is clear and our government has the responsibility to protect all citizens from these predators.   SWIVL is reaching out to animal rights and welfare organizations, child advocacy and domestic violence groups, and individuals who believe we need to do much more to protect society and end the cycle of violence.