Adam Moran
Chained in San Antonio, Texas, 24 Hours,
June 5-6
Man Chains Himself to Tree
Reported by: Jacqueline Ortiz
Last Update: 7/06 7:52 am
A San Antonio man chains himself to a tree. It's called a "Chain Off."
Adam Moran chained himself to a tree because he says "dogs deserve better." He's part of the Dogs Deserve Better non-profit group. He's doing it in protest and two raise awareness of the inhumanity of keeping dogs chained up.
Moran chained himself to a tree on the southwest side at 8 on Saturday morning. He'll plans to stay there till 8 a.m. on Sunday morning.
"Dogs are very social animals, they like to be part of a pack, like to be with a family or other dogs," said Moran. "If they're stuck outside on their own, they're just out there by themselves, nothing to be a part of and it's a really boring sad life."
Moran also said many dogs become aggressive if they're chained up for long periods of time and will attack children or smaller dogs.
Moran said he hopes the event will prompt local or state laws against chaining dogs up.
California recently passed a statewide law limiting how long dogs can be chained up.
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Man Chained to Tree in Protest-07-06-08
Kara Lee
Man Chained to Tree in Protest
07-06-08
CBS 7 News
http://www.cbs7kosa.com
San Antonio, TX.-It is definitely something park visitors don't see often.
An animal rights advocate in San Antonio, Texas chained himself to a tree in a local dog park this weekend.
Adam Moran reportedly planned to stay there for 24 hours as part of a demonstration sponsored by the non-profit group, Dogs Deserve Better.
The organization hopes to raise awareness about the harm of chaining dogs to trees and doghouses.
For more information log onto dogsdeservebetter.com
CBS 7 News
This is definitely something park visitors don't see often.
An animal rights advocate in San Antonio, Texas chained himself to a tree in a
local dog park this weekend.
Adam Moran reportedly planned to stay there for 24 hours as part of a
demonstration sponsored by
the non-profit group, Dogs Deserve Better.
The organization hopes to raise awareness about the harm of chaining dogs to
trees and doghouses.
Animals Matter
July 01, 2008
Animal advocate to chain himself to a tree
An animal advocate plans to chain himself to a tree this weekend, July 5 -6, here in San Antonio to raise awareness about the problems with keeping dogs chained all the time.
Adam Moran, a "Dogs Deserve Better" representative, plans to sit chained at San Antonio's Old Pearsall Rd. dog park for 24 hours, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday to show people what it's like for millions of dogs who live out their entire lives chained to one spot.
"Living chained for 24 hours will be grueling," said Moran. "But my 24 hours of discomfort is nothing compared to the daily suffering of so many dogs who spend their entire lives at the end of a chain, living in a small path of mud, their chains wrapped around a tree, baking in the summer sun or freezing in the cold, desperate for affection or even just a walk. Most of us can barely begin to imagine the agony and loneliness of such a life for a social, intelligent animal like a dog."
His protest is part of the "Dogs Deserver Better" annual "chain off," now in its sixth year. The Pennsylvania-based non-profit is focused exclusively on ending the antiquated practice of keeping dogs tied up for life or for extended periods of time and says about 6 million dogs live most of their lives on chains.
Realizing the inherent cruelty of keeping an animal chained all the time, some communities across the nation, like Dallas, have banned tethering/chaining, unless it's to complete a short task. Texas recently passed a statewide law that puts specific time limits on chaining, but it's uncertain how often this law is actually enforced.
San Antonio's weekend weather: 96 and 97 degrees with a chance for rain on Saturday. That certainly will only reinforce Moran's point.
At 8am on July 5th, I began my version of the chain-off. Myself with a
10-foot chain with a master lock around my neck, my wife setting up a
table with information on DDB and SNAP, and an empty dog park in front
of us. At 8:15, the "media whirlwind" began, with Jim Forsythe from
1200 WOAI Radioshowing up to do a quick interview, for which he wrote
an article. About an hour later, a truck from Univision 41 showed up,
and I did an interview with them; their film was also going to be used
by WOAI-TV (NBC). As Univision began to shoot their "B roll" (I
learned a lot of media lingo this weekend), a KENS-5 (CBS) truck
pulled into the lot. I did another interview with him, and then
retreated back under my tree, as the tree's shadow was finally within
reach of my chain.
A little while later, a guy from KABB Fox San Antonio showed up and
did a pretty nice, long interview. He told us they were going to do a
long "anchor piece" or something like that, although we weren't able
to catch the KABB broadcast last night and I haven't been able to find
video online. After he left, the final San Antonio news station,
KSAT-12 (ABC), showed up and did a little interview as well.
Throughout the day, I had to rely on my wife and my friends who came
and went to refill my water, take care of our information and
donations, and bring me food. When my wife left at 3:30, I was left
alone for the rest of the afternoon... easily the longest 4 hours of
my life, at least until Sunday. By the time my wife returned around 7,
our table was covered with twigs and pebbles... a result of my
mind-numbing game of "throw it over the tree and see if you can get it
to stay on the table." I went approximately 50 for 2000. At 8pm, I
unchained myself, and headed home for the day.
Sunday morning, 8am, back to the tree. My wife wasn't feeling well, so
I went on my own, and set everything up. Only a few people came and
went in the morning, and I fell asleep under my tree, waking up around
10:30 when a friend showed up to see how it was going. My wife showed
up around noon with my 5th straight meal of McDonald's chicken (my
attempt to simulate cheap dog food). A few friends came and went
throughout the day, but not nearly as many as showed up yesterday... a
very unintentional imitation of how quickly the novelty wears off for
many people with new dogs. At 6pm, Univision called me again, asking
if I was still out there. They showed up around 7:15, and did a very
long interview (unfortunately, since I don't speak Spanish, only 1 of
my answers made the air in regards to legislation, which was voiced
over by the anchor). They stayed around until 8, and filmed the
unchaining. During their broadcast on the 10 o'clock news, they
included a statement (which stayed on the screen for about 20 seconds)
mentioning that I was in need of volunteer help, and included my
contact information... before the segment was over, my phone rang twice!
The media coverage for the two days was outstanding. I've only been
able to find 2 videos online, but I have the rest saved on my DVR, and
my poor wife has been forced to watch them all repeatedly. Every
station showed at least something of it once, and a few showed it 2,
3, or more times. All of the coverage was very positive, and I had
many people come out on the 2nd day telling me they had seen me on the
news. I've included links below to all of the news coverage - 2
videos, a few stories, and links to various other outlets that picked
up on the stories.
I spoke with many people throughout the days, quite a few of which had
stories about their neighbors, co-workers, or family members. The most
interesting of all these stories was the woman that said she has 4
dogs at home, 2 pit bulls and 2 rottweilers, that are chained up
because they don't get along. Two are chained in the back yard, one in
the front, and one in the garage. She was a very nice woman, and
clearly not happy with the arrangement, but she didn't know what else
to do. We spoke for a little while, I offered her some advice, and she
left. On Sunday, she came out again... this time, she brought a bag
full of gatorade which she forced me to take, and she also brought the
2 Rottweilers, including the one that is the biggest problem for her.
Venus clearly had some fear-aggression issues as a result of being
poorly socialized because her mother fears what she could do to
someone else, and she's also very protective of family members. She's
an absolutely gorgeous long-haired rottie, and her situation broke my
heart, so I took a chance and offered to help. The woman's face lit
up, and she gladly accepted my offer... she's going to be calling me
soon so we can set up a plan to get all 4 dogs living inside the house
together.
This was an incredible learning opportunity for me, and I gained a lot
of faith in the people of San Antonio. So many want to help, but so
few know how, and our laws and enforcement are so weak that everyone
feels they can't do a thing anyways. Hopefully, I can now take
advantage of the contacts I made and what I've learned to get some
things done for the dogs of San Antonio.
Thanks to DDB for having such an amazing event I could take part in!
(media links below)
Adam
http://www.woai. com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=807bb2f1-35c0-4cfc-87e6-3bec32ad4682
http://radio. woai.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=&article=3915929
http://www.cbs7kosa .com/news/details.asp?ID=6917
http://www.care2. com/news/member/313523013/802649
http://blogs. mysanantonio.com/weblogs/animals/archives/2008/07/animal_advocate_1.html#comments
http://www.american chronicle.com/articles/67446
http://www.liveleak .com/view?i=12e_1215307810&c=1
http://www.kabb. com/kabbfrontpage.shtml (only on the front page, not
sure how much longer it'll last)
Videos:
http://link. brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid900621187/bclid900668413/bctid1644026762
http://www.woai. com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=807bb2f1-35c0-4cfc-87e6-3bec32ad4682&articleID=564465
--
Adam Moran
Dogs Deserve Better, San Antonio TX area rep
http://www.dogsdese rvebetter.com
