The mouse in the glue trap. That’s when everything changed.

Hi,

When I was in college, I came across a mouse struggling to free himself from the sticky pad of a glue trap. I tried, but I couldn’t save him. But I felt his plight, deep inside. The desperation. The helplessness. The pain.

Nearly 30 years later, I still remember him, writhing, fighting to live. That was the moment I knew I couldn’t support animal suffering—ever again.

But my story starts much earlier, when I was just 13. In 1987, my sister came home from a concert with a pamphlet on factory farming. She stashed it away in a drawer. “Don’t look at that,” she said. “You won’t want to eat chicken again.”

I dug out the pamphlet when she wasn’t looking, and she was right—I was horrified. I wrote to the animal protection group that produced it, and they sent me more information about factory farming and other animal abuses. So I collected all the coins and loose dollar bills I had, stuffed them into an envelope, and sent it in. It really wasn’t much, but it was my start to helping animals.

Growing up in Maryland, I’d see Perdue trucks throttling along the highway, packed to the gills with chickens in crates. I saw the birds suffering, and thought about their terrifying final destination: the slaughterhouse. I started gradually eliminating animals from my diet. Several years later, I saw the mouse, and that was that.

Now, I’m a member of The Heart Beat, THL’s monthly giving community. I wanted to support the farmed animal movement: Only a tiny fraction of US charitable giving helps animals raised for food.

I also wanted to make the biggest bang for my buck. THL’s focus on eliminating battery cages—and improving the lives of chickens, who make up the vast majority of land animals raised for food—appealed to my practical sensibilities. Putting an end to battery cages would eliminate a great deal of suffering, and THL has already made great strides with this.

Will you join me in The Heart Beat by starting a monthly gift? Together, we can supply the pulse of this movement—fueling the fight to dismantle factory farming, starting with the battery cage. And right now, your new monthly gift will be matched for six months!

Are you with me?

For the animals,