An interview with Rita Anderson – animal rights activist

Rita Anderson is a person you meet once in a lifetime. She’s compassionate, brave, passionate, and has a clear set of values. Fortunately, she’s also a good friend of mine. Following her values, she has worked tirelessly and selflessly to help defenseless animals.

When I met Rita, I thought I loved animals and was sensitive to the suffering of others. Looking back, I realize I wasn’t. Even though I didn’t eat meat, I ate dairy and eggs, not looking into the inherent animal cruelty in those products. Rita shed light for me on those dark places and made me acutely aware of their horrific standard practices. Her insight and immense compassion helped in shaping my understanding of our relationships with non-human animals and led me to eventually adopt a humane vegan lifestyle. She has been my role model ever since.

I initially met Rita through my work at In Defense of Animals (IDA), an animal rights group, where we worked together on anti-vivisection (research on animals in laboratories) campaigns. However, her inspiring work for the animals began long before our paths crossed.

Rita Anderson and Daisy

A few of her many milestones include: initiating a successful Guardian campaign in Boulder to change the legal status of people with respect to companion animals from “owner” to “guardian”, rescuing 15 horses from abuse, stopping the experimenting and killing of animals in 2 laboratories at the University of Colorado’s (CU) Health Sciences Center, working with others to stop the Colorado Division of Wildlife from killing healthy deer, saving pit bulls from Denver authorities, and working on several anti-vivisection campaigns at IDA.

Rita’s work on behalf of animals was published in many articles, and her activism was mentioned in books, including “The Ten Trusts” by Jane Goodall and Marc Bekoff, “The Animal Manifesto: Six Reasons for Expanding Our Compassion Footprint” by Marc Bekoff, and “Citizen Canine: Our Evolving Relationship with Cats and Dogs” by David Grimm.

Here are the questions I asked Rita and her responses.

What led to your empathy towards all animals and strong feelings about animal rights and veganism?

I always thought of myself as an “animal lover”, growing up feeding stray dogs in our neighborhood. I didn’t realize that the description of “animal lover” encompasses all animals, not just certain species. I grew up in an animal farming area eating chickens, cows, pigs, fish, dairy and eggs every day and thought nothing about it. I had no idea of the abuse and horrors these innocent beings experienced.

In a conversation one day, my niece told me about the use of animals as test subjects in research experiments. I naively said, “I don’t believe humans would ever do that.” When I read brochures which showed and described what researchers were subjecting these animals to, I was shocked and horrified. I didn’t want to believe the human species was capable of such things. This was a defining moment in my life. My mind continued to process this information and what this meant in the big picture. In my naivety, I didn’t realize that I, one person, could ever make a difference.

How did you begin working on behalf of the animals?

In addition to my niece’s revelations about vivisection, several occasions impacted my life forever.

I once saw a video about what animals experience on farms. It showed a cow being forced into a chute on her way to being killed. Her terror-stricken eyes looked directly at the camera and I felt as though she was begging me to save her. Since then, that heart-wrenching picture remains etched in my mind and compelled me to become vegan and want to do more for non-human animals.

For several years I witnessed Mikey, a Dalmatian in my neighborhood who lived alone 24/7, in extreme Colorado temperatures, in a pen. When I would go up to talk to him, he didn’t react to my being there. His eyes appeared vacant, like he had given up all hope. I decided to ask if I could re-home him. The family seemed quite shocked and said “But we love him”. When I asked why they didn’t let him in the house, they said he “wasn’t housebroken”. The local Animal Control and Humane Society said they couldn’t help because the dog had everything the law required – food, water and a dog house.

When I learned about IDA’s Guardian campaign (to change peoples’ legal status from “owner” to “guardian”), I wondered if Mikey’s “family” had thought of themselves as guardians instead of “owners” of property, would they have seen him and themselves in a different light.

I gathered support for the idea of changing the language in Boulder’s local ordinances to reflect that we are indeed guardians of our companion animals, because we truly cannot “own” another being. Thankfully the City Council officially added the word guardian to our city codes. We were the first city in the country, but since then, many other cities, counties, states and even countries have added the word guardian to their local laws or ordinances.

What are your goals and what do you aim to achieve through your work for animals?

My objective is to help bring about respect and dignity for all species, and to free non-human animals from bondage, cruelty, suffering, unnatural pain, torture or abuse at the hands of humans. I believe that the true meaning of “animal rights” is the right for all species to be treated as independent individuals, with their own desires and needs, rather than as unfeeling objects.

How do your ideas and feelings about animal rights manifest in your daily life?

Speaking out or doing everything I can to make a difference when I learn of an animal being abused or harmed; being a vegan and not eating or drinking any animal flesh, secretions, dairy or eggs; or using animal products such as their skins (leather) or fur; or causing any animals to suffer and die for my benefit.

I know you have had numerous successful campaigns, please tell us about a couple of them.

One of my campaigns was freeing monkeys from research, Free the CU34, with the help of a whistleblower. I worked long and hard, with others, to convince CU to end a “research” project using bonnet macaque monkeys who lived in cages in a windowless basement on the campus in Denver. Most of them were born there and had never been outside in the sunlight or grass, and didn’t even know there was another world outside that basement. The researcher set up this project to determine if poor mothering in monkeys contributed to alcohol abuse in adolescent monkeys.

During this time, CU officials attempted to convince the media and the public that I was a terrorist, when indeed I am quite simply a mother and grandmother who truly loves all animals and cares deeply for their wellbeing.

After 2-1/2 years and many speeches in front of the CU regents, newspaper articles, TV interviews, and candlelight vigils on the campus where the monkeys were held, I was successful in stopping that project. I was able to get 11 of the monkeys sent to a sanctuary, but sadly the remainder were sent to Wake Forest University for more research.

I later learned from the CU whistleblower that, at a meeting of researchers, they discussed how to get rid of me and said, “I would love to run over Rita Anderson with my car.” And they called me a terrorist…

Another campaign was stopping the killing of dogs and pigs for commercial training. I learned that CU had contracted with Valley Lab, an electrosurgery systems manufacturer, to train its sales staff in the use of Valley Lab’s medical equipment while utilizing CU’s staff and facilities. Over 100 of these staff training sessions had been conducted on 200 dogs and pigs purchased by the university. When I contacted the CU regents and the issue was announced by the media, CU immediately agreed to stop this practice.

Have you received any surprising responses, impressions or thoughts about your work?

After I worked for some time with the CU regents, one of them, as well as their attorney, thanked me for my professionalism and respect during the process. At a later protest at Wake Forest University, one of the campus police, who obviously knew my name, came to meet me and to tell me he had heard positive things about my activism from the police at CU.

A reporter once told me “You’re doing God’s work”. Another time, when I spoke with a local reporter, he jokingly called me a “human wrecking ball” for my successes. I wear that as a badge of honor.

Looking at the future, what are some of the most effective ways to educate and encourage the next generation to be active and involved in effective change?

The most important thing is to educate others on the reality of the heinous, tortured lives of the animals in the food (meat, dairy and eggs), research, clothing, and entertainment industries. It is about justice and compassion for other beings on this planet, regardless of their species.

Is there anything you would like to say that we haven’t covered?

When people say I am a “radical”, I remind them that it is not radical to love and care for others, but it is radical and extreme to cause or allow harm, trauma and brutal death to others.

Every time I’m told by friends that they’re unable to look at pictures of some of the animals’ experiences in their daily lives on animal farms, I tell them, “If you think this is difficult for you, how do you think the animals feel”?

Today Rita lives in Colorado with her rescue dog Poppy. She volunteers for a Colorado dog and cat rescue group and works with another Colorado group on laws concerning animals.