It never ceases to amaze me how many barbaric practices are committed on factory farms. We have male baby chickens that are being ground up alive. Baby pigs have their heads smashed against pavement to kill them. Calves are kept in solitary confinement and taken away from their mother’s shortly after birth. Mother pigs live in tiny prisons called gestation crates. Pigs are boiled alive before being slaughtered. Poultry are also boiled alive and have their throats slit while fully conscious.

If these realities horrify you = they should! I encourage everyone to take a deep look at what is on their plate and to do some research into what goes on before you eat it. When I was a child I never wanted to eat meat. Now I know why.

We need to out law all these factory farming practices. What kind of species are we if we can sit back and let this go on?

What are your thoughts on these common factory farming practices? How can we stop this? I became vegetarian in the early 1980’s after learning about these things.

Starting in the 1990’s – intense anger and calls for killing deer echoed throughout the Washington, DC suburbs. I never understood all the anger and harshness towards the deer – for all they suffer at our hands – we should be apologizing to them. As forests and meadows were replaced with housing developments and strip malls, deer and other wildlife had their habitats destroyed and replaced with pavement and houses.

People no longer saw the sacredness in the deer – now all they could do is rage at them for eating in their gardens. Well their gardens are planted where there was once free roaming land and wildlife corridors. Deer and other animals were forced to live among suburban houses and busy roads.

I hear spirit telling me that we hold no accountability for how we drive and leave animals to suffer and die on our roads. How did we come up with this idea that we can just speed along, hit animals and leave them to die…as though they are a piece of trash? This is one of the most over looked tragedies of our modern world. The way we are so apathetic to the remains of animals hit on the roads is way to de-sensitized.

I say this all the time – but simply SLOWING down and making a point to avoid hitting wildlife is the key to this. Killing massive amounts of deer in order to control their populations is not the key to stopping deer – auto collisions. Quite the opposite is true. We need to drive with responsibility and accountability – by slowing down and making it a priority to avoid hitting wildlife. We live in the era of technology and distractions.

Whenever I hear people complaining about deer in their neighborhood – I am quick to remind them that the deer have something to teach them.

I believe that one of the most important things that we can do to create a greener more humane world is to develop land and build in far more harmony with the earth and wildlife. Over the last several decades the emphasis has been on high density development and developers and city planners rarely leave any green space and forest for deer and many other species of wildlife.

In the area I grew up in, Montgomery County Maryland, I have seen forests, meadows and green spaces be systematically paved over for houses, shopping centers and highways. The deer and other creatures were driven to try and live in fragmented habitat that leaves them among the suburban houses. Then the intolerant people who now live in fancy houses on the animals habitat complain and often have no compassion or insight into the fact that they are living where the animals once roamed and fed.

The amount of ignorance about nature and wildlife is growing as people live with nothing but electronics, apps, I-Phones and Plasma TV’s. What do they know about the creatures and what the creatures are trying to show them? I have seen the violence and anger at the deer escalate to intense degrees. And mass killing of deer is used as a failed attempt at restoring our forests and green spaces.

At all levels of government we need to have some type of governing laws that say “let’s keep half this area in a natural state – and leave forest and green areas for the wildlife”. But that rarely happens and the imbalance that grow as the result of this type of “let’s shove as much development as we can into this space” leaves little to the imagination and leaves the animals with severely fragmented habitat – if any habitat.

In the next post – we will look at more ways we can save green space for people and wildlife.

Deer Peaks in the Kitchen Window at Ancient Oak

After decades of driving, I have found that my ability to avoid hitting deer and other animals on the road has been tremendously enhanced by the simple act of slowing down. Our speed limits are set for our convenience, but the speeds we drive at make it impossible to avoid hitting animals, and other people for that matter.

My first suggestion is to make a “Conscious Intention” to slow down (obviously stay in the right lane to do this) and make it a “Priority” to avoid hitting wildlife.

Then you have to turn off typical distractions, such as cell phones, I Phones etc. The obsession we have with electronic gizmos while driving is severely dangerous and should NOT be a habitual part of anyone’s driving. How many times have I seen people looking down texting, drifting off in a cell phone conversation and speeding obliviously along the road. I see this all too often.

If you see any animal by the side of the road, assume they might run out. Don’t wait for the last minute when they run…anticipate it…and slow down…and be prepared to stop.

At night, you can see the reflections of an animals eyes as they glow in the dark. Those shining bright objects hovering in the dark woods, could be an animal and not just a beer can reflecting in your headlights.

Any where there are woods, there are bound to be wild animals. Assume that at some point an animal might run out. Always look for places where animals are likely to cross the road. If you drive past an area where you often see animals that have been hit and killed – slow down in that area. You are driving where they need to cross! Often I see where racoon families have all been killed together.

In the autumn, deer our mating and are likely to run onto the roads. During the autumn months many deer are killed by automobiles. To save your own life, and that of the deer, make certain to slow down and maintain awareness during the fall.

If we shift our attitudes away from viewing the deaths of wildlife as just “road kill’, and if we view their lives as important, and worth honoring, then we have taken the first step in avoiding them on the roads. One of my passions is teaching people that all those creatures we share the planet with don’t enjoy being hit and left to die on our roads. They would deeply appreciate it if we would view their lives, daily journeys and crossings as sacred.

I started this blog three years ago when I lived in Rockbridge county Virginia. From my hilltop home, over looking the inspiring Blue Ridge Mountains, I reflected on my many years of living in the crowded, chaotic Washington, DC suburbs. My heart opened up to the plight of all the wild animals whose habitat and trail ways were being decimated in order to put more humans, their houses and cars on the planet.

As people became increasingly fascinated by electronic gadgets like I-Phones, Texting, Apps etc. – their appreciation for the difficult trials that our wild animals face began to disappear. Seeing animals hit and killed on our roads became more and more of a daily sick acceptance. And the human attention span ignored the needs of wildlife who are forced to cross our impossibly chaotic roads.

With my first book, Mystical Animals of Ancient Oak about to be published on Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook Press- I am determined to raise human consciousness to a new level about what we have long forgotten. Our priorities need to shift back into compassionate awareness.

In my first book, I chronicle the stories of many animals, through insight, honor, humor, mystical occurrences and compassion. I learned to stop everyday and find time to enjoy nature – even if just for a few minutes. It is profoundly important to  slow down, honor life and enjoy nature. This is part of our heart and soul.

I want readers to take time every day to notice the animals and wildlife around them and honor their daily passages. Our world will transform when we all learn to be more respectful and life affirming to one another as well as animals.

If you have stories about your own healing experiences with animals, please share them on my blog.