This week's personality: Jackson Pollock and the psychoanalytic meaning of dogs in his life and work.

Jackson Pollock at the age of ten with his dog Gyp, 1922

PAUL JACKSON POLLOCK was born in Cody, Wyoming in 1912, the fifth and youngest son of a family of Irish-Scotch extraction. Pollock was only ten months old when the family moved to San Diego. His father's work as a surveyor would force them to move repeatedly around the Southwest in subsequent years, until, when Pollock was aged nine, his father abandoned the family, only to return when Jackson himself had left home. The West of Pollock's childhood provided a tough upbringing, but he grew to love nature - animals and the expanse of the land - and while living in Phoenix in 1923 he discovered Native American art.

Pollock considered all his images to have psychological content, their precise definition or identification - given how little we know of the artist's intimate life and thought - is a chancy if not impossible (and most likely wrong-headed) task, even if we do not misread the forms. Symbols of this order are difficult to interpret even for the psychoanalyst who, in extended direct contact with the analysand, has infinitely more to go on than we. He develops a matrix of personal associations far more dense than any context we can reconstitute from the combination of Pollock's painted images and limited "logos". Pollock spoke very little about his pictures. So far, he interpreted the psychological symbolism of an early image only once, when pressed by his wife to identify the animal at the bottom of "Guardians of the Secret", 1943. Pollock described it as a dog, and added that it was "obviously a father figure".

The Guardians of the Secret, 1943

Now the dog of Guardians has a long history in the literature. O'Hara - probably quite independently of Jung - had already associated it to Anubis, the jackal-headed Egyptian god, who protects the treasure of the underworld. Overlooking a possible model in Picasso, Wolfe speculates that the dog is rightly placed at the bottom of the composition because it belongs to "the instinctual animal world". Reading the picture upwards, she identifies different levels of consciousness in the psyche as outlined by Jung. Thus, the dog guards the mysterious central panel - "casket, bed or altar" - which Wolfe, quite rightly, takes for a cryptogram of the unconscious, i.e., "the secret". Wolfe, however, overlooked a number of interesting clues about such guard-dogs in "Symbols of Transformation"; Freke mentions some of these - the association to Anubis, for example - but omits others. In "Symbols of Transformation", however, Jung not only notes that "snakes and dogs are guardians of the treasure" if the netherworld, he assimilates the "hound of hell" to Hecate, "Goddess of the underworld", who is "dog-headed, like Anubis" and serves as "guardian of the gate of Hades". Given that "her attributes are dogs", Jung sees this canine Goddess "as deadly mother" - an embodiment of the archetype he calls the Terrible Mother. We therefore find, ironically, that on the lone occasion when Pollock identified the psychological significance of one of his early images, he attributed to it precisely the opposite symbolism (i.e., "father figure") than we would be led to expect from Jung's references. 

Jackson Pollock with his dog Ahab

One wonders, moreover, that the elucidation of the symbolic dog of "Guardians of the Secret" should be restricted solely to archetypal, "mythic" references. Would not a man who likes dogs, owns one, indeed, dream about them, have associations to that animal which, though perhaps prosaic and certainly individual, might be equally revealing? The detail of a page from a notebook of 1950-56 records a dream Pollock had about hid dog; it's imagery serves well - despite its later date - to illustrate the principle involved.

"Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is." Jackson Pollock. 

This week's personality: Virginia Woolf and her fascination for dogs

Virginia Woolf was known by those who loved her as Goat. Her sister, Vanessa Bell, was Called Dolphin. Woolf gave animal aliases to all her friends and grew up with a menagerie of creatures, including a squirrel; a marmoset, Mitz; lots of dogs: Charles (fox terrier), Gurth (sheepdog), Hans, Grizzle (mixed), Pinka (spaniel), Sally (spaniel), Merle (sheepdog), Nigg, Queenie; three cats: Peat, Troy and Bang and a mouse called Jacobi. Her first published essay was an obituary to the family's dog. 

Little wonder, then, that she chose to pen a dog biography. While reading the love letters of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, Woolf found that "the figure of their dog made me laugh so I couldn't resist making him a Life". Flush, the dog in question, offered companionship to Barrett while she was confined to her sickbed in London, and was given a starring role in her correspondence. Flush was even eulogised in a slushy poem, "To Flush, My Dog", Barrett, a self-confessed "philo-dogist", believed the spaniel to possess a remarkable intelligence and even the capacity for literacy. Flush could recognise the letters A and B, and it was only a matter of patience before he mastered the rest of the alphabet. 

Reading skills aside, Flush was a close observer of Barrett's clandestine romance with Browning and their elopement to Italy. But he also had dramas of his own: he was kidnapped three times, a common fate at the time for London dogs of the genteel classes, and Barrett had to pay a heavy ransom. 

Woolf had just completed "The Waves" when she was reading Barrett's letters, and she wrote "Flush" as light relief. (The book was also intended as a gentle leg-pulling of Lytton Strachey and his ground-breaking biography, Eminent Victorians.) Flush is the less talented sibling of Orlando, Woolf's magical parody of the 19th-century biography. In "Orlando", Woolf plays with gender, space and time. In "Flush", she inhabits a different species. "Flush, in other words, is a Woolf in dog's clothing," comments Alison Light in her introduction to the Penguin Classics edition.

Woolf was embarrassed by Flush, however, and worried that she would be dismissed as a "ladylike prattler". She said, "I shall very much dislike the popular success of Flush." The novel became her bestselling book to date, selling nearly 19.000 copies on the first six months, but even so Woolf must be content in the poets' corner of paradise, for it is now ignored by academics, is rarely mentioned on undergraduate courses and has been spared the indignity of a cinematic makeover.

Despite this polite neglect of "Flush", it's not all fluff and slobbering. Not only a cutesy, cuddly dog biography, it also manages sharp, incisive social comment. We are told at length about the spaniel's ancestry, for example, which embraces Carthaginian legend, Basque lore an the palaces of the Tudors and Stuarts, while the birthright of the aristocracy becomes as arbitrary and ridiculous as the Kennel Club's breed standards. Flush is well aware of the Spaniel Club's ruling that "to be born with a light nose or a topknot is nothing less than fatal", and is as proud of his respectable lineage as any eminent Victorian.

In the confinement of Wimpole Street, Flush is a pampered pooch ever attentive at his mistress' sickbed. In Italy, both Flush and Elizabeth are transformed by their freedom from the tyranny of English social constraints. Flush is shocked to discover that all the dogs in Italy are mongrels: "Had the Kennel Cluj then no jurisdiction in Italy?" he wonders. But Flush "was becoming daily more democratic" - mongrels, it seems, have more fun. In Regent's Park, dogs must be on leads, but in Italy Flush runs free, enjoying the tastes and smells of Florence, and even having a love affair. Both dog and woman enjoying the release from the stultifying conventions of England. The sensual abandonment of the dog - "Goat and macaroni were raucous smells, crimson smells" - is echoed in Elizabeth's return to vigour and joy of life. "Elizabeth tossed off her Chianti and broke another orange from the branch" - and finally experiences the exuberance and relish that come so naturally to a dog.

Forget the experts - "Flush" is an afternoon's delight for dog-loving readers. It's wit and whimsy and sniffing, snuffling playfulness will amuse anyone who's ever known a spaniel. Woolf's literary underdog is a canine classic. 

Source: The Guardian

This weeks personality: Teddy Roosevelt and his unusual pets

The 26th President of USA, Theodore Roosevelt, began his Presidency in 1901, along with six children and more animals than the White House had ever seen. The Roosevelt children's family of pets included a small bear named Jonathan Edwards; a lizard named Bill; guinea pigs named Admiral Dewey, Dr. Johnson, Bishop Doane, Fighting Bob Evans, and Father O'Grady; Maude the pig; Josiah the badger; Eli Yale the blue macaw; Baron Spreckle the hen; a one-legged rooster; a hyena; a barn owl; Peter the rabbit; and Algonquin the pony. President Roosevelt loved the pets as much as his children did. Algonquin was so beloved that when the President's son Archie was sick in bed, his brothers Kermit and Quentin brought the pony up to his room in the elevator. But Algonquin was so captivated by his own reflection in the elevator mirror that it was hard to get him out!

Quentin once stopped in a pet store and bought four snakes. He then went to show them to his father in the Oval Office, where the President was holding an important meeting. Senators and party officials smiled tolerantly when the boy barged in and hugged his father. But when Quentin dropped the snakes on the table, the officials scrambled for safety. The snakes were eventually captured and promptly sent back to the pet shop. Alice, Quentin's sister, also had a pet garter snake that she named Emily Spinach ("becaue it was as green as spinach and as thin as my Aunt Emily").

The Roosevelts were dog lovers as well. Among their many canines were Sailor Boy the Chesapeake retriever, Jack the terrier, Skip the mongrel, and Pete, a bull terrier who sank his teeth into so many legs that he had to be exiled to the Roosevelt home in Long Island. Alice had a small back Pekingese named Manchu, which she received from the last empress of China during a trip to the Far East. Alice once claimed to have seen Manchu dancing on its hind legs in the moonlight on the White House lawn.

(Reprinted from the National Archives and Records Administration)

"The wild life of today is not ours to do with as we please. The original stock was given to us in trust for the benefit both of the present and the future. We must render an accounting of this trust to those who come after us." Theodore Roosevelt

This week's peronality: Salvador Dali and his exotic animals

In the company of, 

Salvador Dali was a phenomenon. Drawing upon the realm of dreams and the unconscious mind to depict - with scrupulous realism - an unsettling vision of unreality, his great canvases are truly archetypal images of the 20th century. Melting clocks, flowers sprouting from cracking eggs, disembodied faces floating in a barren landscape - any art lover can call to mind Dali's Surreal iconography at the mere mention of his name. His work probed the unconscious world of thoughts, dreams and perception in fanciful and nightmarish images influenced by Freud, Cubism, Futurism and metaphysical art. Extraordinarily imaginative, he also sculpted, and contributed to fashion, photography and theater. Dali's art has been called the epitome of Surrealism.

Dali the man was also a fantastic creation - as he observed, "At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since." With his flamboyant moustache, assertive character and irrepressible capacity for self-promotion, the figure of Dali the artist became instantly as recognizable as one of his great artworks. But what kind of man lay behind the public image? What was he like in his domestic environment, relaxing with his wife and close friends, or at work in his studio?

Salvador Dali will forever be remembered as a very eccentric man, and so it shouldn't be surprising that he also had some unusual pets. When he was a kid, he had a pet bat, and later in life he developed some sort of obsession with anteaters, presumably because he hated ants since he found them devouring his pet bat's dead body one day. But although Dali was seen and photographed walking an anteater on a leash in Paris, it seems that the animal was not actually his pet. 

Dali's actual exotic pet was an ocelot named Babou, who even joined his master in fancy restaurants. 

This wild cat goes by the name of Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), but other names are: 'McNenney's Wildcat' and 'Painted Leopard'. They occur in South/Central America, Mexica, Caribbean and Texas. It weighs on average about 10 to 15 kilograms. It is in fact the biggest of the genus Leopardus, and is bigger than the Oncilla which stays in the same habitat. 

Ocelots are nocturnal and territorial. A typical Ocelot would fight to the death when threatened, and can be very aggressive if needed. Still, it is a loner by nature, joining another only for mating purposes.

There is a funny anecdote:

Salvador Dali once visited a New York restaurant with his pet ocelot, which he tethered to a leg of the table while he ordered coffee. A middle-aged woman later walked by - and was horror-stricken by the animal. 

"What is that?" she cried. "It's only a cat", Dali explained disdainfully. "I've painted it over with an op-art" design". Looking again, the woman sighed with relief. "I can see now that's what it is", she said. "At first I thought it was a real ocelot".

["I knew Dali only slightly", the art critic Robert Hughes one recalled. "He held court at the St. Regis in New York, where he favored new acquaintances with foul gusts of the worst human breath I have ever smelt".]

The elephant is a recurring image in Dali's works. It first appeared in his 1944 work "Dream caused by the flight of a bee around a pomegranate a second before awakening". The elephants, inspired by Gian Lorenzo Bernini's sculpture base in Rome of an elephant carrying an ancient obelisk, are portrayed "with long multi-jointed, almost invisible legs of desire" along with obelisks on their backs. Coupled with the image of their brittle legs, these encumbrances, noted for their phallic overtones, create a sense of phantom reality. "The elephant is a distortion in space", one analysis explains, "its spindly legs contrasting the idea or weightlessness with structure". "I am painting pictures which make me die for joy, I am creating with an absolute naturalness, without the slightest aesthetic concern, I am making things that inspire me with a profound emotion and I am trying to paint them honestly." - Salvador Dali, in Dawn Ades, "Dali and Surrealism".

Various other animals appear throughout his work as well: ants point to death, decay, and immense sexual desire; the snail is connected to the human head (he saw a snail on a bicycle outside Freud's house when he first met Sigmund Freud); and locusts are a symbol of waste and fear. 

Maintain your animal spirit!

Situatia Adaposturilor si Asociatiilor pentru Protectia Animalelor pe raza judetului Cluj

Asociatia pentru Protectia Necuvantatoarelor "Arca lui Noe" Cluj Napoca a fost infiintata in anul 2003 din initiativa d-nei Bora Finuca. Pana in anul 2006 activitatea asociatiei a fost sustinuta exclusiv prin eforturile financiare si implicarea directa a acesteia. Incepand cu anul 2006 activitatea asociatiei s-a intensificat datorita creterii posibilitatilor economice. In timp activitatea a luat amploare datorita oportunitatilor oferite de comunitate (cererea de 2%, donatii, sponsorizari, voluntariat).

Contact:

cont in lei: RO98BTRL01301205920949XX

cont in euro: RO47BTRL01304205920949XX

cont in dolari: RO81BTRL01302205920949XX

Bora Finuca 0746021044

Terrisse Gianina 0746022198

Crisan Maria 07458384700

Asociatia NUCA - Animal Welfare Cluj Napoca este o organizatie non-profit, finantata doar din donatii voluntare (donatii in bani sau/si virarea a 2% din impozitul pe care il platiti oricum anual pe venitul global, si taxele de cotizatie lunara ale membrilor).

NU DISPUNEM DE ADAPOST, deci nu putem sa preluam animalele abandonate sau de pe strada.NUCA are drept scop reducerea numarului de animale fara stapan prin prevenirea inmultirii necontrolate, intermedierea de adoptii, consultanta pentru iubitorii de animale, si reabilitarea respectului fata de animale. Din cauza numarului extrem de mare de solicitari, a fondurilor reduse si a personalului limitat nu putem sa intervenim in toate cazurile care ne sunt semnalate. Cu cat sunt mai multe persoane care se implica, cu atat mai multe animale pot fi salvate. 

Daca ingrijiti caini sau pisici pe langa blocul in care locuiti si doriti sa le castram va rugam sa ne contactati pentru programare. Desigur, va vom servi pe masura ce vom obtine donatii pentru castrari.

CUM NE PUTETI AJUTA?

• adoptati un animal, fie de pe site de la rubrica de adoptii, fie de la ecarisaj.
• prin donatii de bani, hrana pentru animale, medicamente, accesorii medicale, custi etc.
• servicii - publicitate sau orice puteti face pentru a promova adoptiile sau sterilizarile.
• devenind membru cotizand al asociatiei.
• devenind voluntar in cadrul asociatiei.
• sterilizand animalul propriu, astfel ca sa nu mai ajunga pui nedoriti pe strada.

Contact:

cont in lei: RO77WBAN2511000062500273, San Paolo Intessa Bank

cont in euro: RO57WBAN2511022062500273, San Paolo Intessa Bank

E-mail: contact@nuca.org.ro, asociatia_nuca@yahoo.com Telefon: 0752407521 (zilnic intre orele 10-18) Pentru membrii asociatiei aceasta este o activitate auxiliara. Daca nu vi se raspunde prompt la telefon, va rugam reveniti.

Hotarare privind cresterea animalelor de companie pe raza municipiului Cluj Napoca Conventia europeana pentru protectia animalelor de companie Declaratia universala a drepturilor animalelor Legea 9 / 2008 privind protectia animalelor Ordonanta privind procesul de gestionare a cainilor fara stapan Ordonanta privind regimul de detinere a cainilor periculosi sau agresivi Asociatia pentru protectia animalelor "Tom si Jerry" Cluj Napoca este condusa de Presedintele Federatiei Romane pentru Protectia si Controlul Animalelor (FRPCA) Radu Tarmure. Acesta a detinut un adapost unde convietuiau peste 100 de animalute, caini si pisici. La sfarsitul anului trecut un incendiu s-a iscat intr-o noapte in urma caruia au murit 20 de caini, 100 de pisici si o femeie de 61 de ani. El nu exclude mana criminala, chiar daca pompierii de la Inspectoratul pentru Situatii de Urgenta (ISU) arata in procesul verbal ca la baza incendiului a stat o lumanare lasata nesupravegheata de ingrijitoare, in conditiile in care timp de mai multi ani a primit amenintari si reclamatii pentru activitatea pe care o desfasoara in cele sase depozite ale fostei Intreprinderi Agricole de Stat. RADU TARMURE 0764484759 / radufirma@yahoo.com Viata in Romania - Radu Tarmure Centrul de Ecarisaj Cluj Napoca de pe strada Bobalnei, se afla in subordinea Regiei Autonome a Domeniului Public din oras, iar amenajarea acestuia a costat 1,5 milioane de lei. Centrul are o capacitate maxima de 150 de locuri, dotat cu tarcuri exterioare si interioare, boxe separate pentru fiecare animal, incaperi speciale pentru cainii aflati in tratament si in carantina. Patrupedele sunt deparazitate si sterilizate in momentul cand sunt aduse la adapost.  Asociatia pentru protectia animalelor "Trei Frati Patati" Turda a luat nastere la inceputul anului 2008, materializandu-se din visul unui grup restrans de iubitori de animale care, ani de-a randul, se ocupau individual de animalele strazii, fara nici un suport legal. Nu a fost o intamplare ca acele persoane, provenind din medii total diferite, cu ocupatii din cele mai diverse, au ajuns sa se cunoasca si sa-si contopeasca visele. In prezent detine adapostul cu cel mai mare numar de caini din judet, apropiindu-se de cifra de 300, stabilit momentan pe spatiul  fostei fabrici de bere, teren pus la dispozitie de catre Fundatia Ratiu. Avand in vedere numarul surprinzator de mare de caini, consumul de hrana este pe masura, 90kg hrana uscata pe zi, si costurile veterinare de asemenea. In aceste conditii asociatia are foarte mare nevoie de ajutor prin donatii materiale sau financiare.  "Pe lista noastra de necesar, pe care o "trimitem" zilnic in univers, se aflra, in primul rand, o MASINA cu care sa putem transporta animalele, apoi donatii si sponsorizari care sa ne inlesneasca actiunile pentru salvarea sufletelor necuvantatoarelor. Aici intra hrana zilnica, materiale de constructii, materiale sanitar-veterinare. Avem convingerea ca sentimentele ce ne guverneaza existenta vor avea puterea sa molipseasca si alte fiinte pentru a se implica alaturi de noi. Cu iubire, intelegere si respect fata de animale, de natura, fata de Maria-sa Viata!" Asociatia pentru protectia animalelor "Trei Frati Patati" Turda, jud. Cluj, Romania Tel.: 0757069343; 0744534184; 0745215800 E-mail: asociatia3fratipatati@yahoo.com www.treifratipatati.com Cod unic de identificare: 24374835 Bank RAIFFEISEN, Turda CONT LEI: IBAN CODE: RO53RZBR0000060010843748 CONT EURO: IBAN CODE: RO42RZBR0000060010843752 CONT USD: IBAN CODE: RO74RZBR0000060010843758 Asociatia pentru protectia animalelor "Anima pro Terra" Dej localizata pe Strada Crisan, nr. 14, telefon: 0745946737, 0726106003. Din pacate mai multe informatii nu reusesc sa gasesc online despre activitatea acestei asociatii, dar voi reveni cu povestea lor dupa ce voi incerca sa fac o vizita chiar acolo. Dejul orasul cainilor? Reactia Primariei Dej la acuzatiile aduse de Asociatia Anima pro Terra Asociatia "HOPE FOR ANIMALS" GHERLA a fost infiintata la 1 septembrie 2010. In colaborare cu Fundatia Vier Pfoten si Primaria Gherla au desfasurat o campanie de sterilizare in care au fost deparazitati, vaccinati, sterilizati si crotaliati un nr de 400 de caini fara stapan. Se ocupa intens de adoptii interne si internationale, reusind, in mai putin de 1 an, sa gaseasca stapani pentru un numar de 100 de catei in Austria si Germania, catei pe care ii verifica si pastreaza legatura cu familiile care le-au adoptat. Asociatia pentru Protectia Animalelor "Hope for Animals" Gherla, Jud. Cluj CIF 27337629 ALPHA BANK ROMANIA SA Agentia Gherla CONT RO91BUCU2562230784009RON COD SWIFT BUCUROBU Eleonora Prigoana Telefon: 0740671261 norica_p@yahoo.com http://hopeforanimals.jimdo.com/

This week's personality: Leonardo da Vinci, the animal rights activist

Read and Learn! (The Guardian)

Leonardo da Vinci unleashed: the animal rights acitivist within the artist.

Liberator of caged birds, vegetarian ... whatever the myths or realities about Leonardo, one thing is certain: he was ahead of his time in questioning the superiority of humans to animals

Animal strokes. Leonardo da Vinci's Studies of a dog's paw, about 1485.
Photograph: The National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

The greatness of an artist has never been more overwhelmingly demonstrated. The exhibition Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan at the National Gallery reveals, in an intimate, sensitive way, the stupendous quality of Leonardo as a painter and draughtsman. I got another chance to see it this week, and was more impressed still with the insightful and imaginative way it has been curated.

Yet Leonardo was not just a wondrous artist. He was also a wonderful man. Anyway this is what his first biographers claimed in the 16th century, and this week in our interactive series on Leonardo's drawings we present evidence that he was admirable, not just in the term of his own time, but according to out attitudes today. Long before such ideas were widespread, let alone fashionable, he defended the rights of animal.

As a child in the 1970s I had a Ladybird book about lives of great artists. The artist who fascinated me in it was Leonardo - I cannot even remember who the others were. What I most vividly remember is a picture in the Ladybird book of Leonardo releasing a bird he had just bought at the market from its cage, while amazed bystanders look on. This illustrates a claim in Giorgio Vasari's life of Leonardo, first published in 1550. Vasari says the genius so loved animals that he bought caged birds - sold in Italy at that time as food, as well as pets - simply to let them go.

It sounds like a wild bit of hagiography. It obviously associates Leonardo with the image of Saint Francis of Assisi, who preached a sermon to the birds and - as shown by the painter Sassetta in the National Gallery collection - negociated peace between the people of Gubbio and a wolf.

But - as the quotations from Leonardo's notebooks in our interactive guide to his drawings of a dog's paw show - Vasari was not making this one up. Whether or not Leonardo really set birds free, he definitely did question the superiority of humans to the rest of the animal kingdom. It is a repeated theme in his notebooks. He writes in them that humanity is not "king of the animals" but merely "king of the beasts", that is, a more powerful beast than the rest: and he goes on to rage that we use our power to raise animals for slaughter. Warming to his theme, he points out that none of the other animals do what humans do, and eat their own species - he was writing this at a time when the Florentine explorer Vespucci (or someone using his name) published sensational stories of cannibalism in the New World.

Leonardo da Vinci's assertion that we are animals and do not have any God-given right to eat our fellow creatures, was totally at odds with the culture of his age. As the historian Keith Thomas has narrated, interpretations of Genesis in his time aggressively declared that animals are created for human use. Only in the 18th century did more sensitive attitudes become widespread. 

Leonardo is an exception - in this as in so many other fields. It would be wrong to reduce him just to a predecessor of modern ecology - in my book about him I show that his relationship with nature looks backward as well as forward, relating him to shamanism in the world of medieval peasants. Yet this incomparable imagination let him anticipate our ouwn debates today. A letter to his patron Giuliano de' Medici actually refers to "our Leonardo da Vinci" as someone who refused to eat meat. It is further evidence that Vasari's saintly image of Leonardo the liberator of animals rooted in reality. We are dazed by the paintings. If we explore his notes and the early storied of his life, we are equally amazed by the man.

Maintain your animal spirit!

Povestea campaniei O Cafea UN Catel si a Asociatiei Trei Frati Patati, Turda

Cum a inceput totul... 

Reportajul realizat de Ramona Costea, jurnalist la Transilvania Reporter, la adapostul de caini din Turda, condus de Asociatia Trei Frati Patati, a tras un semnal de alarma, aratand situatia disperata in care se afla acest loc. In prag de iarna, cei 250 de caini (astazi aproximativ 280 spre 300!!!) aveau mare nevoie de mancare, paturi si, o parte din ei, casute. Initial am format un mic grup de prieteni si cunostinte, am strans bani si alte bunuri intre noi si am reusit sa ducem un transport de mancare.

Apoi ne-am gandit ca putem face mai mult. Am format un mic colectiv si in timp record, in 3 zile am pus la punct o campanie. Doneaza O Cafea pentru UN Catel - Contravaloarea unei cafele asigura hrana pe o zi pentru un catel.

Campanie ce urmareste colectarea de donatii in sprijinul Asociatiei Trei Frati Patati, Turda, desfasurata pe perioada 15 noiembrie - 15 decembrie in Cluj Napoca, in 7 cafenele: Sisters, Flowers Tea House, Insomnia, Zorki, Atelier, Doamna T si Bistro Viena. Cutii de donatii au fost plasate in fiecare locatie, strangandu-se, la final, 535 lei, bani ce au acoperit o parte din datoriile asociatiei pentru mancare fata de providerul local.

MISIUNE:

Construirea unei comunitati in sprijinul Asociatiei TREI FRATI PATATI, Turda.

OBIECTIVELE CAMPANIEI:

1. Colectarea de fonduri financiare si materiale care sa asigure buna functionare a adapostului: hrana, materiale sanitar-veterinare, materiale de constructii, articole ce tin de cald (paturi, asternuturi, perne).

2. Acoperirea datoriilor actuale ale asociatiei.

3. Medierea unei platforme de comunicare si implicare a persoanelor din Cluj Napoca in sustinerea Asociatiei Trei Frati Patati, Turda.

VALORI:

"Cu iubire, intelegere si respect fata de animale, de natura, fata de Maria-sa Viata!" - Trei Frati Patati

COLECTIVUL CAMPANIEI:

Ramona Axinte - Campaign Developer

Ramona Costea - Fundraising & Press

Andreea Bitar - Media Specialist

Perioada de desfasurare a acestei campanii s-a incheiat dar nu si actiunile noastre, publice sau private, care continua in acest nou an cu programe noi de imbunatatire a conditiilor adapostului din Turda.

Asociatia pentru protectia animalelor "Trei Frati Patati" a luat nastere la inceputul anului 2008, materializandu-se din visul unui grup restrans de iubitori de animale care, ani de-a randul, se ocupau individual de animalele strazii, fara nici un suport legal. Nu a fost o intamplare ca acele persoane, provenind din medii total diferite, cu ocupatii din cele mai diverse, au ajuns sa se cunoasca si sa-si contopeasca visele. 

Sentimentele pe care le avem fata de animale si dorinta noastra de a incerca sa schimbam ceva in mentalitatea concetatenilor nostrii, ne impulsioneaza sa trecem peste toate hopurile si greutatile. Nu ne intimideaza etichetele care ne sunt puse de catre cei care, inca, nu inteleg de ce facem ceea ce facem, atata timp cat "nebunia" noastra de a iubi animalele este una constructiva. Cel mai greu insa trecem peste momentele in care nu putem salva un animal, iar durerea pe care o resimtim prin ochii unui animal in agonie, ne paralizeaza pentru o vreme. Dar cand ne revenim, pornim mai departe cu o doza sporita de ambitie. Vrem sa avem puterea sa aducem o schimbare in viata animalelor din orasul nostru, sa incercam o alta abordare a unei mentalitati uzate de vreme, prin campanii de constientizare a populatiei, prin proiecte educationale in scoli. Si pana sa reusim asta, inaintam cu pasi mici prin actiuni de sterilizare si vaccinare. Iar la ora asta ne putem mandi ca mare parte din cainii si pisicile din orasul nostru au fost sterilizate/castrate de/prin asociatia noastra.

La inceput nu ne-am permis construirea si intretinerea unui adapost, motiv pentru care membrii asociatiei noastre au adunat animalute, aflate in situatii de criza, in propriile lor camine, oferindu-le toata caldura si dragostea lor. Asa insa am ajuns la suprapopulare si la nenumarate necazuri cu vecinii. Din acest motiv am facut un apel la populatie pentru infiintarea unei retele de "foster parents" - parinti maternali, care sa fie de acord sa ia in ingrijire, pentru o perioada limitata, animalutele pe care noi le salvam. Am gasit doar doua persoane, care dupa cateva luni au renuntat din cauza noptilor nedormite si a reclamatiilor vecinilor.

Doar ca anul 2009 a fost unul foarte "bogat" in abandonuri. Doar in cateva luni de vara am ajuns sa gasim peste 50 de caini, ceea ce ne-a obligat sa cautam solutii pentru protejarea lor. O provocare extrem de grea, mai ales cand nu ai ajutor. Ne-am bucurat totusi ca prin familia Ratiu si Fundatia Ratiu din Turda, am primit acceptul de a adaposti cainii culesi de pe strazi pe proprietatea familiei, mai precis in incinta fostei Fabrici de Bere. La ora actuala suntem mandrii proprietari a peste 250 de patrupede. Toti cainii sunt vaccinati, deparazitati, sterilizati/castrati si... botezati! Nici unul nu a ramas necunoscut. Fiecare are povestea sa, din pacate multe povesti triste si fiecare ar fi mult mai fericit sa ajunga membrul iubit si rasfatat al unei familii. Din pacate, doar putini dintre ei se pot lauda cu un vis implinit. Majoritatea celor ajunsi la noi de pui, nu cunosc altceva decat viata in tarc. Pentru ei am avea nevoie de voluntari care sa-i mangaie, sa-i scoata la o plimbare, sa se joace cu ei.

Pe lista noastra de necesar, pe care o "trimitem" zilnic in univers, se aflra, in primul rand, o MASINA cu care sa putem transporta animalele, apoi donatii si sponsorizari care sa ne inlesneasca actiunile pentru salvarea sufletelor necuvantatoarelor. Aici intra hrana zilnica, materiale de constructii, materiale sanitar-veterinare. Avem convingerea ca sentimentele ce ne guverneaza existenta vor avea puterea sa molipseasca si alte fiinte pentru a se implica alaturi de noi. Cu iubire, intelegere si respect fata de animale, de natura, fata de Maria-sa Viata!

SCOPUL ASOCIATIEI

Scopul asociatiei noastre este protectia animalelor, in special caini si pisici, dar si alte specii de animale, cu si fara stapan, educarea cetatenilor cu privire la aspecte legate de detinerea, inregistrarea, cresterea, protectia si tratatea acestora, in conformitate cu legislatia actuala, precum si controlul respectarii prevederilor legale, nationale si internationale, in ceea ce priveste protectia animalelor.

Printre ceea ce ne-am propus sa realizam se mai numara:

• controlul prin sterilizare a reproductiei cainilor comunitari si pisicilor comunitare, a animalelor ai caror proprietari sunt persoane cu venituri mici, stoparea abandonului animalelor de companie si a celor de la ferma.
• semnalarea si urmarirea rezolvarii cazurilor de maltratare a animalor/obtinerea sprijinului organelor in drept pentru sanctionarea persoanelor care aplica rele tratamente animalelor.
• realizarea de materiale publicitare (ex. brosuri, pliante, reviste) pentru informarea/educarea cetatenilor.
• realizarea unor emisiuni/rubrici cu scop de informare/educare, cu sprijinul organelor media locale.
• realizarea unor campanii stradale de informare a cetatenilor, pentru prevenirea abandonului si incurajarea sterilizarii animalelor de companie.
• realizarea de proiecte educative in scoli cu scopul informarii/formarii tinerei generatii privind relatia om-animal, responsabilizarea in cresterea animalelor de companie.
• organizarea de concursuri intre elevi/scoli, ex. concursuri tematice de eseuri, de desen etc.
• derularea unor campanii/programe de adoptii pentru animalele abandonate.
• stimularea intrebuintarii animalelor in scopuri educative/terapeutice.
• colaborari cu organizatii similare din tara si straintate.
• promovarea colaborarii intre ONGurile de profil precum si intre acestea si institutiile guvernamentale.
• in colaborare si cu prijinul sponsorilor/autoritatilor, construirea unor spatii de cazare/adaposturi, centre medicale pentru cainii comunitari.

Asociatia pentru protectia animalelor "Trei Frati Patati"

Turda, jud. Cluj, Romania

Tel.: 0757069343; 0744534184; 0745215800

E-mail: asociatia3fratipatati@yahoo.com

www.treifratipatati.com

Cod unic de identificare: 24374835

Bank RAIFFEISEN, Turda

CONT LEI: IBAN CODE: RO53RZBR0000060010843748

CONT EURO: IBAN CODE: RO42RZBR0000060010843752

CONT USD: IBAN CODE: RO74RZBR0000060010843758

Pledoarie pentru UN Om UN Animal

Buna ziua tuturor!

UN Om (pentru) UN Animal este o platforma virtuala de COMUNICARE, INFORMARE si IMPLICARE a iubitorilor de animale in activitati de:

* SALVARE a animalelor fara stapan;

* EDUCATIE comunitara privind drepturile animalelor;

* RESPONSABILIZARE sociala fata de nevoile ONG-urilor si adaposturilor de animale.

INTREBARI la care incercam sa raspundem (poate impreuna) pe acest blog:

* Ce este un om? / Ce inseamna a fi om?

* Ce este un animal? / Ce inseamna a fi un animal?

* Ce este un animal pentru om?

* Ce este un om pentru un animal?

* Ce este un animal pentru un animal?

* Ce este un om pentru un om?

bazandu-ne pe articole de specialitate din domenii ca si Psihologie, Etologie, Evolutionism, Sociologie, Antropologie.

Francesco Sambo

Idea acestei platforme s-a nascut in urma campaniei Doneaza O Cafea pentru UN Catel, desfasurata in Cluj Napoca, 15 noiembrie - 15 decembrie 2012, in sprijinul Asociatiei Trei Frati Patati ce conduce un adapost de caini din Turda, hranind aproximativ 270 de caini. Implicandu-te intr-o astfel de activitate simti cu adevarat pulsul problemelor care nu bate indeajuns de tare pentru a se face simtit dincolo de ignoranta oamenilor. 

Va invit sa impartasim idei, actiuni, proiecte!

Transgresand dimensiunea virtuala, IMPREUNA CONSTRUIM O COMUNITATE!

"Umanitate" si "animalitate" - ca si conceptul de natura in sine - sunt constructe culturale si, in consecinta, definitiile acestora sunt in sens larg variabile si contingente istoric. Toate societatile umane, trecute sau prezente, au coexistat cu populatii de animale de una sau mai multe specii. In decursul istoriei, oamenii au omorat si mancat diferite animale sau, in rare ocazii, au fost omorati si mancati de ele; au introdus animalele in grupurile lor sociale, fie ca si animale domestice sau sclavi captivi. Ideile oamenilor despre animale si atitudinea fata de acestea corespund in variabilitate cu felurile lor de a relationa cu aceste animale, in ambele cazuri reflectand diversitatea traditiilor culturale. aceasta pecete a umanitatii.

Cum putem ajunge la o intelegere comparativa a atitudinilor cultural umane fata de animale daca inclusiv conceptul de "animal"/ce este un animal si, implicit, de "om"/ce inseamna sa fii om, este, in sine, relativ cultural?

Problema "ce este un animal" poate fi construita in diferite feluri, toate preocupate de problema definirii granitelor intre animalele umane si non-umane, animale si plante, viu si non-viu. Ultima din aceste granite este cea mai inclusiva, bazandu-se pe criteriul "animatiei", pe distinctia dintre obiecte animate si inanimate. Orice atribut care se presupune ca omul il detine in mod unic, animalului ii lipseste in consecinta. Astfel, conceptul generic de "animal" se constituie negativ prin insumarea acestor deficiente. Urmarind o a doua abordare, conceptul de animalitate a fost folosit pentru a caracteriza o stare de a fi, cunoscuta ca si "naturala", in care actiunile sunt provocate de catre instincte emotionale innascute, inerente, care nu pot fi disciplinate prin ratiune sau responsabilitate. O stare bruta, neatinsa de valori sau produse ale culturii sau civilizatiei.

Dincolo de problematizarile de ordin epistemologic, studii antropologice sustin faptul ca exista niste influente emotionale foarte puternice care par sa conditioneze atitudinile noastre (umane) fata de animale. Notiunea de "animal" este una in mod incurabil emotionala. (Midgley) 

De aici  incepe povestea...

Cu consideratie,

Ramona Axinte