AREA ACTIVISTS — Priscilla Feral: A friend to animals for 33 years
By A.J. O’CONNELL of The Stamford Times
STAMFORD — 1974 represented a turning point in the life of Priscilla Feral. The Westport native had just reported her former employer to the Department of Commerce for illegally stockpiling whale spermaceti for use in cosmetics and was looking for another job.
“I always was a social justice person,” said Feral, now in her 50s. She protested the Vietnam War and founded the first chapter of the National Organization for Women [NOW] in Westport. Increasingly disgusted with the way women were treated in the workplace at the time, Feral wanted to do something meaningful with her career. One of the women in her NOW career counseling group suggested she call Friends of Animals, a non-profit animal advocacy group run out of New York City by a woman named Alice Herrington. Feral was hired after a single interview. She stopped eating meat, and going through a divorce at the time, changed her name to Feral; a declaration of her newfound personal and professional freedom. She never looked back.
Now, 33 years later, she is Friends of Animals’ executive director, running a group with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Canada and headquarters in Darien.
Her organization works on several fronts. Friends of Animal promotes vegetarianism, runs ad campaign discouraging the use of fur in clothing, runs a 50-year-old spay and neuter program for cats and dogs, opposes hunting, rescues animals from oppressive conditions, supports environmental and peace efforts and attempts to carve out rights for animals wherever possible.
“There aren’t animal rights that can be extended to a captive animal,” said Feral. For that matter, she added, there aren’t true rights for any animals, although there are statutes which protect some of them. She feels that wild animals should have the right to be left alone.
“We are one species,” she said. “We are a highly populated one. That’s a problem - we get into these situations where we feel intruded upon, we are fearful of nature, out of sync with it and mistrustful of it.”
That fear, she said, can lead humans to kill wild predators —one of the battles her group has been involved with since 1992 is the fight to keep Alaskan hunters from aerially shooting wolves. According to Feral, some Alaskan hunters use aircraft to run packs of wolves to exhaustion and then shoot the entire group. To combat this, Friends of Animals has taken the state of Alaska to court, sponsored boycotts of Alaska among tourists and spread information about the hunts.
Friends of Animals was founded in 1957. The group is celebrating its 50th anniversary by merging with two other animal rights groups this year — Texas-based Primarily Primates, an embattled wildlife sanctuary for elderly lab animals and California-based Marine Animal Rescue.
Stephen Rene Tello is the executive director of Primarily Primates. He met Feral in 1986 when both organizations worked together to rescue several monkeys from a small defunct zoo in New Orleans, La. He is pleased that his preserve is being taken over by Friends of Animals.
“Our expertise has always been taking care of animals,” he said. “They’re basically going to free us of all administrative duties.”
It’s hardly been an easy transition; last year People for the ethical Treatment of Animals [PeTA] filed suit against Primarily Primates, alleging abuse, neglect and squalid conditions. The Texas Attorney General ordered PeTA out of the sanctuary this spring, approving the merger of Primarily Primates with Friends of Animals and vowing to use his office to retrieve several animals that were sent to other facilities by PeTA.
Tello says he is pleased that Friends of Animals is the organization that will be taking over.
“They practice what they preach,” he said.
Editor’s note: Activism is defined by Webster’s New World Dictionary as “a doctrine or practice that emphasizes direct vigorous action… in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue.” This is the fourth in a series of articles exploring the stories of Lower Fairfield County’s activists. They are the representatives of their respective issues — often their voices and faces are they only reason the public is aware of an issue; be it child advocacy, environmentalism, immigration or animal rights. This series will explore our activists, our issues and the connections between the two.
Post your comment
Comment Guidelines: We welcome your expressions of opinion on this subject. Please avoid false commentary about individuals or groups. Facts must be verified by the person posting. Off-topic comments, and comments inappropriate for a readership of all ages, may be deleted. E-mail addresses will never be published. Only comments with valid e-mail address will be published.
6 Comments
On August 24, 2007, Patricia Traub wrote:
Congratulations, Priscilla on this article and your sincere commitment to Friends of Animals. You serve as a role model for all of us.
On August 24, 2007, Ellie wrote:
Great article, Priscilla, and very much deserved!
On September 12, 2007, Randy Cote wrote:
Dear Priscilla,
I read your comments in the Journal Inquirer for the Manchester Ct. area, about the boy that shot the bear. I disagree with you about the comment you made that says “Young people introduced to the sport, are likely to become insensitive adults”. I had weapons for hunting since I was 5 years old, and I am now 48. I always went hunting to become part of a family tradition, but have never once shot a living animal and never will, unless for the protection of myself and my family. I enjoy walking and going into the mountains. I carry a weapon for protection only, and in my mind for the human freaks out there not the animals. I just wanted to put my two cents in that not all young kids that are taught about guns and hunting become insensitive adults. I am not violent and never was from going what I want to say hunting.
Thank you for your time and I hope you understand hunting and guns do not make kids violent. It is the way your brought up in life and the friends you choose to hang with that may change your views on life.
On September 26, 2007, melba wrote:
hello dear ms. priscilla
thank you for saving animals that need you to defend them against mistreatment. thank you for having pity on defenceless animals that need you to help them to a better life without torture. I put myself in their place and I think that you must of been sent by heaven. Thank you for being a guardian angel.
On October 4, 2007, julie landmichael wrote:
i am like you dear — i am going on 31 years only i am 70 and take care of 130 animals. i just saved 2 goats. i just learned to used the computer 2 months ago. i found 8 kittens at walmart. i wish walmart had cameras and it stopped people from letting animals go free there. it’s a big thing going on here with theft to use them for pit bull training and also selling them to labs.
On November 7, 2007, Meghan wrote:
Hi Priscilla.
My name is Meghan.
I am 17 years young, and I am head over heels for animals. I want to help save animals from abandonment and abuse. I am not sure of where in my town I can help to do this. Do you know of any way I can get myself involved?
Thanks so much.
Meghan.