Visit Tony's OneKind Birthday Page

Tony says:

“It is my birthday wish for the next generation to be the pioneers of a world without cruelty to animals. Instead of gifts, donations to OneKind will help children change the world for animals.

"I hope many people will consider pledging their own birthday as well, to help OneKind’s cause.”

Tony retired from the House of Commons in 2001, after 50 years in frontline politics; making him the longest serving Labour MP in the history of the party. He continues to be admired and respected across the political spectrum.

To donate in celebration of Tony's 87th birthday on 3 April please visit his OneKind Birthday Page.

One day, for OneKind

You too, like Tony, can pledge your birthday and ask friends and family to donate, to help OneKind inspire children to save animals' lives.

Simply click here to find out how you can make the birthday pledge, or email communities@onekind.org to register. Your OneKind Birthday Page can then be shared with friends and family.

By giving up one day of your life you can be part of the movement to create a better life for animals of all kinds across the UK.

In toasting the Immortal Memory, Policy Director Libby Anderson spoke of Robert Burns’s understanding of animals as individuals.

Ladies and gentlemen, lads and lasses - 

A great many individuals and organisations want to claim Robert Burns for their cause. At OneKind, a charity campaigning for better treatment of animals, we feel that we also have a rightful claim. 

It’s not only those famous lines from To a Mouse - regretting the fact that Man’s dominion has broken Nature’s social union. It’s not only the poet’s description of himself as the mouse’s poor earth-born companion, and fellow mortal. 

No, there’s more to our connection than those few lines. There are many Burns poems about animals, and even today they remain relevant. 

Attitudes to animals and to animal welfare campaigning have changed since Burns’s time, but not entirely. Those 18^th-century reformers who started the campaigns for kindness to animals were often mocked as bleeding hearts, dangerous radicals or cranks.  Welcome to our world – we still get that too, even though we burned our balaclavas long ago.  Nowadays, agitation about animals can be seen as a middle class preoccupation and a weapon in social strife.  And so it was in Burns’s day.

Nonetheless, there was plenty of reason to campaign for animals in the 18^th century.  Plenty of real cruelty – animals were worked hard, and slaughter was often inhumane; there was cockfighting and dogfighting, bull and badger baiting.  Fields sports were almost as hard on the dogs and horses as they were on the hunted animals. 

But it was also a time of change.  More people were keeping pets and their passions – or as we would say nowadays, their emotions – were increasingly recognised.  The science of sentience was beginning.

Burns would not be described as a campaigner: he simply knew animals – farm animals, pets and wildlife.  Many of his poems were composed out of doors, while he was working in the fields, and only written down when he went home at night.  He wrote about animals in terms that were radical for their time, and he spoke to them as individuals.  And his great gift, as he did so, was to meld together tenderness, sentimentality, and a dose of irony which has kept the lines fresh to this day.

Let’s take Poor Mailie, the sheep.  Burns mocked himself for giving his pet yowe a name but in his two poems about her he made it clear that Mailie was not mere property – she was her owner’s most faithful friend.   

Possibly you don’t know the story of Mailie, but in those days sheep tended to be tethered rather than grazing free on the hillside, and this poor yowe became tangled in her rope:

Upon her cloot she coost a hitch
An' owre she warsl'd in the ditch

As you know, when you warsle ower in a ditch, the outlook is bleak. That was the end of poor Mailie, but not before she delivered a lengthy message for her careless master which included a recommendation for wholesale change of agricultural practice:

Tell him, if e’er again he keep
As muckle gear as buy a sheep
O, bid him never tie them mair,
Wi' wicked strings o' hemp or hair!
But ca' them out to park or hill,
An' let them wander at their will.
So may his flock increase, an' grow
To scores of lambs, an’ packs o’ wool!

So there you are, a cost-benefit analysis, from a sheep or as we would say nowadays, a stakeholder.  Better welfare for the animals, improved economic return for the farmer. And they say the animal welfare movement is impractical....

Last year the First Minister chose a Burns song for the opening of the Scottish Parliament.  The surprise was that he did not pick A Man’s a Man or even The Rights of Woman.  No, it was Now Westlin Winds, a celebration of nature, of love and of every happy creature.   And better still, a song with a strong anti-bloodsports theme:

Avaunt! Away! The cruel sway,
Tyrannic man’s dominion
The sportsman’s joy, the murdering cry
The fluttering, gory pinion

Burns was no lover of any kind of hunting for sport. He said: “there is something in that business of destroying, for our sport, individuals in the animal creation that do not injure us materially, which I could never reconcile to my ideas of virtue”.

Yes, he blithely sent his heart to the Highlands a-chasing the deer. Yes, he wrote a cheery elegy -“a rhyming blether”- for his old friend Tam Samson, who was a dedicated harrier of wildlife. But he had his tongue firmly in cheek – he let the salmon, the partridge and the moorcock all rejoice: “your mortal fae is noo awa, Tam Samson’s deid”. And he gave the grouse a last small revenge:

There, low he lies, in lasting rest;
Perhaps upon his mould'ring breast
Some spitefu' muirfowl bigs her nest
To hatch an' breed:
Alas! nae mair he'll them molest!
Tam Samson's dead!

One more poem:  Burns and his family spent three hard years at Ellisland Farm on the River Nith near Dumfries and it was there, in May 1789, that he wrote The Wounded Hare. In one of his letters, he told a friend how it came to him:  “One morning lately, as I was out pretty early in the fields, sowing some grass seeds, I heard the burst of a shot from a neighbouring plantation, and presently a poor little wounded hare came crippling by me. You will guess my indignation at the inhuman fellow who could shoot a hare at this season, when all of them have young ones.” 

That is one of the themes we return to again and again at OneKind, in our campaigns.  From seals to squirrels, we have pressed for close seasons so that young animals can be given a chance at life.  In 2011 Scotland did introduce close seasons for hares, and they are now protected during their breeding seasons.  But Burns spoke of this over 200 years ago – it was a long time to wait. 

The Wounded Hare opens with anger – he rages at the hunter and his poor aim –“Inhuman man! Curse on thy barb’rous art!”

But it ends with words of personal loss, with grief that this one little animal will no longer lead her blameless life around his farm: 
Oft as by winding Nith I, musing, wait
The sober eve, or hail the cheerful dawn,
I'll miss thee sporting o'er the dewy lawn,
And curse the ruffian's aim, and mourn thy hapless fate.

“I’ll miss thee.” This is not about conservation or biodiversity. It’s simpler than that. It’s about how the loss of one animal’s life reduces the life of a human. It’s about one mortal to another.  

Fellow mortals, at the beginning of this toast I spoke of the number of people and groups we have to share our national poet with. We don’t mind that. Sharing is the OneKind way, and it is good to think that the animals have a share of him too.

So with that happy thought, let us all take great pleasure in toasting the Immortal Memory - Robert Burns.

Today – St Andrew’s Day – is one of those times.  For many years, our sister charity the St Andrew Animal Fund provided support for animal welfare projects and research around the world, and has now merged into the wider OneKind community.

On this Scottish celebration day we’re also looking forward to another special date. OneKind would like to invite you to join us at the launch of our centenary with a Burns Night in January 2012, celebrating the Scot we consider as our patron poet.

2012 is OneKind’s centenary. We might have gone through many changes since the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Vivisection was founded by the Ivory Sisters and Nina, Duchess of Hamilton, but over the last hundred years we have campaigned tirelessly to save animals’ lives across the UK and Europe.

And Robert Burns, Scotland’s patron poet and Bard, has inspired our work from the very beginning. Many of our early annual reports feature the portrait above of Robert Burns, and the notable line from To a Mouse:  “I’m truly sorry man’s dominion, Has broken nature’s social union.” 

As a lover of nature and an observer of people, Robert Burns wrote beautiful poetry and songs that capture the OneKind vision of a world in which people live harmoniously with animals and treat them with compassion, because they value and respect them.

It seems fitting then, as we celebrate 100 years of history, to host a OneKind Centenary Burns Night and look forward to the next 100 years of challenges for animal protection inspired by a poet who told the startled mouse in his field that he was “... thy poor earth-born companion, An’ fellow mortal!”

So please come along, “tak’ a cup o kindness”, and celebrate Scotland’s national poet to launch our centenary at the Apex International Hotel on Edinburgh’s Grassmarket on Thursday 26 January 2012.  Tickets are £50 for a three course vegetarian/vegan meal with wine, music and entertainment.

We’ll keep you up to date with the programme as soon as it’s announced, but places are limited and going fast. You can purchase tickets by Paypal, email communities@onekind.org or phone 0131 225 6039 to book your place.

OneKind encourages people who eat meat to choose higher welfare systems and to consider eating less meat products. By harnessing the tremendous power they wield via their shopping baskets, consumers can not only benefit their own health, but help improve the welfare of farmed animals as well. The majority of animals in this country are reared in accordance with the standards of a range of farm assurance schemes, all of which claim to ensure high standards of animal welfare, but which vary a great deal in their requirements of how animals are kept and cared for.

The reality is that many people will be shopping for salmon and turkey as part of their traditional Christmas dinners. As part of a forthcoming report into the quality of animal welfare systems employed by meat producers OneKind and Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) have jointly developed a grading system to help shoppers find which labels set the highest welfare standards in regards to the treatment of animals.

The full analysis will cover the welfare standards of farm assured products across a wide range of meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products and will be published in the New Year.

The guide ranks the various food assurance schemes from Bronze (acceptable) to Gold (highest standard of welfare) based on a number of animal welfare criteria ranging from husbandry to genetics and breeding.

For turkeys, the systems performing best in the research are the ORGANIC standards of the SOIL ASSOCIATION and the SCOTTISH ORGANIC PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION, and the RSPCA FREEDOM FOOD INDOOR and FREE RANGE labels. These systems offer significant welfare benefits compared to standard industry practice including use of slower growing breeds, prohibition of beak trimming and access to free-range in the case of organic and RSPCA FREEDOM FOOD free-range turkeys.

The label that scored most poorly was the RED TRACTOR QUALITY BRITISH TURKEY. The low score means that the standard offers little more than compliance with minimum legislative requirements, and means that turkeys are likely to be reared in barren , overcrowded environments with no access to the outdoors. RED TRACTOR QUALITY BRITISH TURKEY does offer a free-range option, yet while environmental enrichment - perches and strawbales for example - in indoor systems is recommended it is not stipulated.

For farmed salmon, the systems performing best are the ORGANIC SOIL ASSOCIATION standards and the RSPCA FREEDOM FOOD labels. These schemes offer significant welfare benefits compared to standard industry practice, including lower stocking densities, prohibition of mutilations and more humane slaughter methods.

Consumers are advised to avoid farmed salmon that carries no farm assurance scheme label as these salmon are unlikely to have been reared to higher welfare standards.

If you want to find out more about how these different standards compare then please click here.

Like most things in my life, the RADIOENJOYMENT cruise started off as a joke which I then decided to pursue.

I first heard about the Weezer cruise on a friend’s Facebbok post. “Never mind the Weezer cruise”, I commented, “What about the RADIOENJOYMENT cruise?”  And so the seed was sown.

For those of you not familiar with RADIOENJOYMENT (pretty much everybody then!) it’s a radio show broadcast on Fresh Air radio from Edinburgh University showcasing the best in up and coming Scottish music.

From my time at the station I had been fortunate enough to meet some extremely talented musicians and it was only a matter of time until I organised some kind of event in the name of the show featuring some of those artists. It made sense that any such event should be a fundraiser for OneKind as this is a charity which truly strikes a chord with me. 

Rather than trying to help animals already in trouble, OneKind focus on educating people and influencing legislation and practice to improve the world for everyone. I do believe that most people are genuinely decent and if they knew what they could do to help reduce suffering they would do it. A lot of the time all that’s required is a small change in behaviour or two minutes to sign a petition to make a significant difference.  The words of the mighty Frabbit spring to mind, “And while I'm alive, I'll make tiny changes to earth”

And so the idea was established and a musical cruise in aid of OneKind had to be organised. A very quick google search revealed that a canal boat could be hired on the Union Canal for a reasonable price, complete with crew. 

How to fund this hire?  In my day job as a Solicitor at Wright & Co, we operate a charity scheme whereby people can have simple wills drawn up, or documents notarised, for a fixed fee which is paid directly to our charity fund. After some persuasion on my part, my boss kindly agreed that the boat hire and other costs would be met out of this account.

Organising the musicians was the easy part. RADIOENJOYMENT regulars Luke Gareth Joyce of I Build Collapsible Mountains and Chris Lee-Marr of Esperi were first on board (no pun intended). The fabulously talented Mr Finn Le Marinel of Trapped in Kansas also signed up without hesitation. Special thanks are due to him for travelling to Edinburgh especially for the gig and refusing to even accept reimbursement of travel costs. A late addition of Edinburgh’s own Raff and Chris of the OK Social Club completed the line-up.

With the stellar line-up in place some major pimping out was necessary, which required a last minute website being muddled together (to facilitate the sale of tickets) and a healthy dose of social networking. 

Much sewing of bunting and baking of cakes later, the day of the cruise was finally upon us!  To say it was a success is an understatement. The point of the cruise was to raise funds for OneKind, and the fact that everyone had a fabulous time to boot was simply a bonus!

View more photos on our Facebook page

At the heart of your books is the relationship between Quenelda and the dragons. How important do you think it is that people appreciate the human/animal bond?

The animal/ human bond has been at the core of our existence on Earth since mankind stood upright; we have been living together for thousands of years. We are intricately linked both spiritually and physically to animals, although the dynamics of the relationship have radically changed in the last century. In the not too distant past, our survival was literally and visibly linked to the rhythms of nature and the animal world. There was no divide. We knew and understood animals and our environment, and depended upon that detailed knowledge for clothing, food, agriculture and transportation. That interdependence defined our perceptions and relationships with animals. We never took more than we needed, and gave back when we could.

Since the advent of modern transport and the industrial revolution which heralded the onset of urban living, that link has been weakened or severed entirely with the exception of companion animals. This relationship is far deeper and more profound in its consequences than the name ‘companion’ implies. Our bond with them is subtle and complex, but there is no doubt that they improve our quality of life. Companion animals provide unconditional love over their lifetime. They combat isolation and loneliness. They are sensitive to mood and distress, giving us comfort and improving our health.  They welcome us home, and protect us when we sleep. Dogs give us eyes when we cannot see, ears when we cannot hear, and smell what we cannot, from drugs to IEDs. Animals are true and unstinting companions who enrich our lives and bring us joy.  Without this human/animal bond, our lives would be greatly diminished.

Do you believe there are serious consequences for all of us if more is not done to restore that bond?

The Earth’s ecosystems and resources are coming under threat by excessive human exploitation, and sadly animals are no exception. More and more of us exist in cities, many of them unimaginably huge, and many have lost our link with the natural world. In our consumer-based society, the millions of products and processes that come together to provide us with what we want whenever we want, are invisible. A tiny percent of us are engaged in raising cattle, sheep, hens and pigs. Few see the cycle of life and death of the millions of domesticated animals that feed us, so many of us no longer know where our meat, dairy and vegetables and clothes come from. Thus the cost to animals is unseen and unknown, and to be brutal, many no longer care, even if that price is appalling cruelty (for example the fur industry) or extinction. The majority of us will never see inside an abattoir, an animal transport or a living animal being skinned in China for its fur, and are more than comfortable to maintain the status quo.

In our consumer-driven society, it is today and not tomorrow that counts. We have become dangerously rash and complacent; taking the view that ecosystems, their resources and the creatures that inhabit them exist solely to provide for our many needs, with no thought to the cost. They are ‘just’ animals. ‘Just’ is a dangerous word, used to justify appalling cruelty. Animals suffer daily both directly and indirectly because of this exploitation; whether it be intensive farming for food, sport, entertainment, deforestation and habitat destruction, pollution, the fur industry or vivisection; their suffering ignored and unheard by the ignorant majority. Legislation where it is passed, is often implemented on a short term basis is for short term gain, constrained by powerful lobby groups and industries with barely a nod to the future. We need to rethink our role, to do away with the idea of ‘ownership’ particularly where it applies to companion animals, and replace it with stewardship. But this will only be achieved by an increased awareness of our environment and the realisation that we, our fellow creatures, and our one Earth, are a single living entity linked in a myriad of subtle and symbiotic relationships, each impacting upon the other. If we do not restore the symmetry and balance of nature and the human/animal bond by recognising that nothing is infinite and that we have a great deal to learn from animals, our legacy will be bleak indeed.

What led you to choose dragons, were you deliberately choosing animals that were ‘larger than life’ or fantastical?

Choosing dragons was an easy choice because these magical creatures live in the imagination of every child on the planet. All over the world legends and myths of dragons exist.  Dragons are dinosaurs with wings, and we know dinosaurs existed, so why not dragons? So, no matter where a reader lives, and no matter the animals they have as pets or have as working animals, or even if they have no pets at all, they can conjure an image of a dragon in their mind. This way no-one is left out of the story.

Where do you draw your inspiration from for the dragon characters - are the personalities of the animals you live with and have rescued reflected in any of the dragons?

All the dragons are based upon our furry four legged family. Two Gulps and You’re Gone is based upon our huge ginger cat Rufus. He is temperamental and difficult. Hugely intelligent, he came to us seriously overweight, having been in care for four and a half years. And he loves his food too, so he has a lot in common with Two Gulps Too Many, the overweight fledgling Sabretooth below who Quenelda meets in Flight to Dragon Isle. 

Gentle little Chinook inspired Root’s dragon Chasing the Stars, and the rather bad tempered battlegriff I’ve Already Eaten was inspired by our elderly cat Peppercorn, otherwise known as Grumpy Granny.  Stormcracker Thundercloud III, the Earl’s fierce loyal battledragon, echoes many characteristics of Puzzle, a wonderful black cat who shared our home for many years.

Pictured: Quenelda and Two Gulps and (below) Lucinda's cat Rufus. Spot the similarity?

Having grown up in a rural environment how would you say your own attitude towards animals has changed over the years?

My passion for animals hasn’t changed; if there is a single childhood memory that defines me it is my love for all living creatures, and the realisation I could never be a vet because I cannot distance myself from the injured and ill. (I wept buckets over rabbits afflicted with myxomatosis and the fact we had deliberately engineered such a disgusting disease to remedy our own mistakes.) But my understanding of animals, my awareness of how we treat them, that has undergone a sea change. So my heart hasn’t changed, but my head has.

Your first two books form part of the Dragonsdome Chronicles, and this book seems darker than the first book in the series. Do you think it’s important for children to understand that life is also about darkness and complexity?

Flight to Dragon Isle is intended to show young readers the darker side of our relationship with animals, as well as to convey that few things are wholly black or white; rather that human and human/animal relationships are complex and subtle, and that even out of tragedy something new and good can be born.

Do you have future stories worked out fairly solidly in advance or do you prefer to react to things happening around you and feed those into your books?

Writing for me is a dynamic process. I have a rough idea of the ending I want for each book, but how my characters are going to get there I don’t know until I am actually writing.  Ideas suggest themselves in many ways as the story progresses, and I plug them in where I can. I have no idea yet how the Dragonsdome Chronicles will ultimately end, which is fun for me too and leaves me open to fresh ideas!

I understand you were influenced by the Lord of the Rings trilogy growing up. What are your thoughts on whether the line between what is termed adult or children’s fiction is now effectively blurred?

I was about ten or eleven when I read Lord of the Rings. By then I was reading Conan Doyle and Dorothy Dunnett. Our house was full of books which made it easy. Books were marketed at a specific age group with little cross-over, which even then didn’t make sense to me; I remember rediscovering Winnie-the-Pooh at university! There are fabulous children’s/YA books that more rightfully belong to ‘any age group,’ but we still live with a Victorian legacy that clearly demarks the end of childhood. But why should we leave our childlike wonder for life, our joy and enthusiasm behind just because we are adults? I’ve found reading children/young adult books provide a simpler sense of fulfilment and comfort that adult books, no matter how wonderful, can.

You reference OneKind in the new book, Flight to Dragon Isle.  Do you think that young people need to better understand the idea that humankind and animalkind are really onekind, from an early age, or do you think this understanding is already inherent in children and to be encouraged?

I believe that children have an inherent and intuitive empathy with animals, but I also believe it that needs to be cherished and nurtured through example and education. Until recently we didn’t openly recognise or explore this human/animal bond, although it is embedded in mythology, legend and history worldwide irrespective of culture. Perhaps it is because childlike emotion is in many ways kindred to animal emotion. It is a natural kinship that captures and captivates us as children, and as adults can draw out the deepest and best in us. Sadly, that empathy can swiftly be discarded, that forever bond broken by human ignorance and cruelty. We are fighting both the loadstone of tradition passed from generation to generation, and the fact that millions of us will never come into contact with animals during our lifetime; which is why we need animal charities like OneKind to encourage us to cherish and explore this innate bond that can give us so much.

Where next for the Dragonsdome Chronicles and do you think we may see a movie or TV adaptation one day?

When I’m writing I visualise the story in my head.  Since I was a child I have had an overactive imagination, which as an author/illustrator I am not only free to explore, but earn my living from. How lucky is that? I can imagine an Imperial Black dropping out of the dark sky, purple flame lighting up the battlefield, so it would be wonderful to have that made a reality in a movie!

Many thanks to Lucinda for answering our questions.

You can order a copy of Flight to Dragon Isle, the second book in the Dragonsdome Series from here.

You can find out more about The Dragon Whisperer series by visiting here

Written for readers of 9-years plus, this epic fantasy novel will capture the hearts and imaginations of ‘children’ of all ages, just as the Harry Potter books did.

Launching straight into action from page one, you are immediately transported into the sapphire sky and the military flight of twenty Imperial Black battledragons taking off from Dragonsdome.  Written with all the sensory description and excitement expected from Hare’s writing, it captures your imagination and the story flows quickly and smoothly, carrying you along on a heartfelt and sometimes heart stopping, action packed adventure.

Without giving too much away, what unfolds is a rollercoaster of a story, which sees the thirteen hobgoblin tribes, led by the first hobgoblin Warlord, unite, posing the greatest threat to the Seven Sea Kingdoms.  The hero Dragon Lord leads the Stealth Dragon Service (the SDS) into war, but as maelstrom magic and betrayal emerge, treacherous plots unfurl and the battle is lost. Quenelda, the central character, must harness her new powers to help find her Dragon Lord father lost in battle and save her beloved Dragon Isle. But although Quenelda finds her father’s battledragon, has the Dragon Lord himself survived and will it all be too late?

What really makes this book so special are the rich and varied multi-dimensional characters, brought to life by the colourful descriptions and narrative.  Weaving in the range of individual and unique dragon characters, the different tribes of hobgoblins, the dwarfs and central people, it is through these characters and in particular Quenelda and her interaction with the dragons that the writer really draws you into this magical world.

Quenelda is able to understand and communicate with the dragons and help them to heal, and it’s clear to see the author’s inherent love and respect for all creatures coming to life through her central character and her moving writing of the relationship between Quenelda and the dragons.  Often referred to as a real life animal whisperer alongside being a successful author, Lucinda Hare has made her home a haven to a range of animals that were once sadly abandoned or harmed; now thanks to her dedicated care and compassion over time, they have all become trusting, healthy and happy companions.

I was particularly excited to read Quenelda being described in the book by a dragon not as humankind, nor dragonkind but OneKind. This is the first reference to the term OneKind in the wider context outside of our charity work and is something we hope over time to see more and more of, so that onekind can become increasingly adopted and understood as part of everyday language, closing the divide between people and animals that allows the maltreatment of animals to continue without recourse.

The story includes lots of metaphors throughout which draw lessons about our relationship with animals and how to respect and care for them and does much to teach and inspire the readers about the bonds we share with our animal kin.

A classic tale of the dark forces against the light, with adventure, magic and incredible plots, characters to make you laugh and cry and a subtle inspiring message about our care and kinship for others including those of the four-legged and flying kind, what’s not to love!

Flight to Dragon Isle is available now from here

It can also be found at Waterstone's, Amazon, Red House, Puffin, Tesco's and all good book retailers.

You can find out more about The Dragondome Chronicles by visiting here

Bob Ingersoll is one of the key characters in the new documentary film Project Nim which follows on the ups and downs of the extraordinary life of a chimp called Nim in a crazy human world.

Bob met and befriended Nim when he was a psychology graduate working at the Institute for Primate Studies in the US. These days Bob is a passionate campaigner for the welfare of animals in captivity.

Not many of us are lucky enough to get to know a chimpanzee like you did with Nim. Has your experience with Nim changed your view of animals generally?

Yes it has. Nim was the first chimp I met. Before I met Nim, like most people I had only ever interacted with a dog or cat at home. I didn’t really have any idea of the kinds of issues affecting animals. For instance I wasn’t vegetarian.  In a sense Nim opened up that world to me.

Do you think all chimpanzees have their own personalities?

All chimpanzees most definitely have their own personalities. Just like humans. But before I worked with chimps it never occurred to me that chimpanzees or any other animals had personalities.

They are all individuals. I’ve now interacted with literally thousands of animals - horses, dogs, cats, turtles, birds and over 13 or 14 different species of monkeys. It’s always been my experience that every single one of them is different. Each one of them actually has their own issues, personality, upbringing, their own baggage, to bring to the relationship. Each one of them is different.

Do you think all animals have their own thoughts and their own feelings?

Yes I think they do. A dog thinks like a dog. A cat thinks like a cat. There’s some really amazing literature now, such as an article about what it’s like to be a bat. Bats don’t think like humans they think like bats. They think.

And there’s no question that animals feel. They must feel. Presumably they feel something similar to us. In my experience this is very easy to see when you allow yourself to do so.

The original intention of Project Nim was to learn about chimpanzees, however during the film some very strong human characters emerged. What do you think the film tells us about human behaviour?

I think it tells us that humans are extraordinarily arrogant. To be able to take a baby chimp away from its mother and put it in a strange situation and not even think about the consequences. We were so thoughtless in the sense that the chimp didn’t matter - it was a pawn.  A pawn for scientific gain, academic gain and the personal gain of certain individuals.

The reality is that animals deserve respect and should be treated with dignity. There’s going to be a world without animals if we don’t get it together pretty soon. To me that would be a real shame.

The United States is one of the few countries in the world which still use chimpanzees for experiments in laboratories. Do you think we’ve moved on and what have we learnt from Nim’s experience?

No, we obviously haven’t moved on very far in the US. Thankfully the European Union is a little bit ahead of the curve. We’re working really hard now to try to change the tide and press the Congress for a Protection Act.

I think this film will add a major component to the public’s understanding of exactly what’s going on behind those closed doors using federal money. I certainly hope that enough people see this film, and they are incensed about what their money is being spent on in the name of science in the United States. I hope the film will bring some attention and then some action. And I think it already has. A number of people, groups and politicians are interested and are making a difference.

The film makes it clear that chimps deserve to get out of those little birdcages you see them in. We’re hoping to help the 2,500 chimpanzees in captivity in the United States in labs, in human homes and any number of inappropriate contexts. We’re hoping that there’s some legislation and public understanding that there needs to be a dramatic shift. We must fund proper sanctuaries, with the amount of money that it takes to do this the right way.

You clearly don’t like the idea of keeping chimpanzees as pets. How do you feel about keeping chimpanzees captive in zoos?

Well I don’t really like zoos. It’s a personal thing. Zoos are not about the animals, they’re about human needs - the visitors, the employees, the budget or tourism or any number of things. They are not about the animals. So I don’t have a good feeling about zoos. But I don’t want to slam all zoos because I think there are some zoos out there that are doing as much as they can to help animals.

Jim Mahoney said that the abuse of animals starts when they are put in a cage and it all goes downhill from there. I think that’s a very accurate statement, and a zoo is a cage.

Here at OneKind, we are an animal welfare charity and we work to inspire people about animals and to re-connect people with the other animals with who we share the planet. Do you think the human-animal bond is broken and if so what do you think we can do to try to mend it?

Yes I do think it is totally broken. I think that films like this help. And talking about it really helps a lot. Engaging in dialogue is a lot more important that yelling at one another.

I do think there is a way to access animals in a way that we can all be proud of. I’m not exactly sure how we do that. It’s very difficult because the world is driven by money so unfortunately everything is about how much you make or you don’t make. It’s never to the animals’ advantage. We don’t think about the animals first.

Let’s hope that you at OneKind are able to show people that we get a lot more out of things when we aren’t taking all the time. We need to give a little bit more. We’ve taken so much, now it’s time to give back.

Do you think we can learn things from other animals, and if so what can we learn?

We can learn a lot from other animals. We can learn that they think, that they feel, that they have families, and desires, and needs, and they are everything that we are. Sometimes humans forget that we’re animals too. So the reality is that we are born animals, we have a life that’s full of richness and culture, just like all the other animals. When we try to separate ourselves from other animals, it’s really a kind of delusion. We’re animals just like they are. Maybe we should get off our pedestal and hang out more with some animals.

Finally, what effect do you hope the film will have on people, and what would you like to see change as a result of the film?

Well I hope that people in America will pick up their phone and call the National Institute of Health and call for an end to experiments on chimps. I hope it will affect the pet trade in the United States and all over the world. I hope that people realise that chimpanzees and monkeys and all sorts of other animals are exploited in films and television and entertainment. I hope that all stops. That’s the kind of thing that I’m hoping for.

I know that the film has already made a difference because people respond to the film in a way that’s emotional. I think that’s positive.

Let’s hope we can all make a difference by getting to know Nim.  After all, we’re all in this together.

(The above excerpts are taken from an audio interview with Bob Ingersole in June 2011.)

Read OneKind’s review of Project Nim, which goes on general release in cinemas on the 12th August.

OneKind is currently campaigning to maintain the UK’s welfare standards for animals used in experiments which are under threat. If you’ve not already done so please add your name in support of our campaign.

From the Oscar and BAFTA winning filmmakers behind Man on Wire, James Marsh and Simon Chinn, comes the true story of Nim the chimpanzee.

In the 1970s Nim was used in a landmark experiment which aimed to find out whether a chimpanzee could learn to communicate with humans using sign language if he was raised and nurtured like a human child.

Project Nim follows and chronicles his extraordinary but tragic 27-year life from start to end. Along the way you meet the fascinating array of human characters who had the biggest influences, both positive and negative, on him. Throughout the film extensive archive footage and revealing interviews are used to great effect.

The feature-length documentary is an honest and unsentimental biography, a similar format to other life-stories of people who have had unusual or interesting lives. What makes this different is that the star of this film isn’t human, he’s a chimpanzee.

From the very start in 1973 when Nim’s terrified mother Carolyn is violently shot with a tranquilising gun and yet another screaming baby is ripped from her arms in a primate research centre in Oklahoma, it is clear that you are in for an emotional rollercoaster.

Baby Nim is given straight to a hippy family in New York. The seemingly well-intentioned mother, who even breast feeds him, soon develops an extremely strong, though slightly bizarre, attachment to the unusual new addition.

From the outset, there is no structure in place for the supposedly scientific experiment. Nim’s new ‘mother’ has never dealt with chimps before, knows no sign language and does not record any data in his first years of development. Dr. Herb Terrace (’Herb’), the controlling Columbia University psychology professor behind the project even admits that “It was not good science”. Even more concerningly, no thought was given to Nim’s long-term future, and from the start Herb was aware that “nobody keeps a chimp for more than five years.”

As the years pass by Nim is passed from pillar to post through a succession of teachers and ‘carers’ who all have their own motivations for getting involved, and often inter-relationships with each other.

Slowly but surely Nim becomes more and more of a chimpanzee and less like a human child as he grows bigger and stronger and his natural instincts kick in.

Not surprisingly, the constant change and lack of stability and security take its toll on him. He of course doesn’t understand what is happening and becomes confused, distressed and sexually frustrated.

Although when taught sign language Nim soon picks it up at an amazing rate, the outcome of the highly irresponsible and ultimately doomed experiment remains inconclusive.

When Nim has served his purpose and become too much of a chimpanzee to control, and funds for the experiment run dry, he is abandoned by all who ‘cared’ for him. He is taken back to the primate research centre and everything he had become used to is suddenly taken away from him.

However Nim makes some new friends with some of the human staff. Because the centre is running out of funds, after a few years Nim is quietly sold on to a medical research company. His latest home becomes a small isolated cage in a laboratory.

It is when Nim’s life is at its lowest that some humans finally take responsibility and efforts are made to get him out of the laboratory. With the help of media interest and a maverick lawyer, Nim is bought by a high profile animal rights activist who takes him to his animal sanctuary in Texas. However, with no chimps or signing humans for company Nim finds himself more lonely and distressed than ever. As one of his few true friends, Bob, says, “you can’t put a chimp in a box and expect everything to be cool.”

Nim’s human friends must come to his rescue again... What will be Nim’s ultimate fate at our hands?

When I watched the film I felt a mixture of emotions. I felt at times entertained and amused. I felt mostly frustrated and angry and sad. And I think one of the strongest feelings I had was the shame of being a human being, because of the way that Nim was treated throughout his life.

Throughout his life a lot of humans ended up turning their backs on him. But not all. Bob Ingersoll was a true friend to Nim. Read OneKind’s interview with Bob and find out how he was affected by his relationship with Nim, what he thinks about chimpanzees and other animals and what positive changes he hopes the Project Nim film will have for animals.

I would highly recommend Project Nim, which goes on general release in cinemas on the 12th August. You don‘t have to be an animal lover to enjoy this gripping, unpredictable and heart-wrenching film. In fact it’s as much, if not more, about humans as it is chimpanzees. You can’t help but develop strong feelings for Nim, his plight and of course the human beings who shaped his extraordinary and fascinating life.

Let’s hope that by documenting the life of this one chimpanzee, the film can open peoples’ minds and consciences to all other animals. The film raises many important issues regarding our relationships with other animals, including the use of animals in experiments. OneKind is currently campaigning to maintain the welfare standards for animals used in experiments in the UK which are under threat. If you’ve not already done so please add your name in support of our campaign.

My first book The Dragon Whisperer opens with a dedication from Chief Dan George:

If you talk to animals

They will talk with you

And you will know each other.

If you do not talk to them

You will not know them

And what you do not know

You will fear.

What one fears

One destroys.

There was a time when mankind’s very survival was tied to the rhythms of nature and the animal world.  We both knew and understood animals, domesticated and wild, and we respected them and their place in the world.  Our very existence depended upon animals for food, clothing, transportation, agriculture and the yearly changing of the seasons that the cycle of life brings.  Without that knowledge we would have died.  Without appreciating and respecting the balance of nature we would have died.  Today, in this modern day and age of high rise cities, the internet, cars and planes, it is all too easy to lose touch with nature, and to forget that we are intrinsically connected to the Earth and it to us.  We have lost that precious link, and so for many the changing of the seasons and the howl of the wolf are no more than a fading memory, brought to life only by documentaries and history books.

Due to population growth, countless animals have been driven from their natural habitats, and many species hunted to the brink of extinction for their pelts or body parts or because we will not tolerate any other apex predator than ourselves. Unique and fragile environments have been exploited, polluted or destroyed.  Wild animals struggling to survive amongst us are often feared and killed, many for ‘sport.’  Science has become a barrier, rather than providing a link to the wonders of the spiritual world of nature, with its interconnected community of animals, plants and people.  We are growing ever more remote from the Earth which gave us birth. Native American culture has retained that physical and spiritual link that so many have lost, believing you can understand and speak to the animals in your life.  Their culture shows us how to reconnect with the animal world and nature by learning the language of their behaviour: animal speak. Native Americans argue that we have a great deal to learn from animals by studying their characteristics and working in partnership with them. We are slowly recognising this; for example, dogs are used to locate earthquake victims or warn its carer of an oncoming epileptic fit – this kind of thing is forcing us to rethink how we treat animals.

All my life I have loved animals and the natural world.   I grew up in the countryside and beaches of East Lothian in Scotland watching the wildlife: there were deer and foxes, pheasants and hares, tawny owls and sparrow hawks.  I knew there used to be wolves, bears and beaver, and if they no longer existed then I imagined them.   The croon of eider ducks on the Firth of Forth on a hot day was the first sound I imitated; my first instinctive attempt at animal speak.  When I lived with seven cats I used to call them all in by imitating this unique sound: it is far less intrusive than shouting names, and they all answered a single call.  I still use that call along with a range of vocal noises that reflect those of our current animals.

Now with my husband Paul we are able to give sanctuary to a large family of rescued dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs and ex-battery hens.  We take in the old and the ill and the behavioural problem animals that no one else wants. Taking in frightened and neglected animals and helping them to readjust to a stable loving environment involves ‘talking’ to them. You have to learn from their language of their behaviour as much as you can about their illness, their fears, what makes them aggressive or frightened in order to gain their confidence.   In one case with Pixel, a feral cat brought over by Glasgow Cat Rescue, whom they said would never be domesticated, it took five years, but now she is the most loving cuddly cat you could find.

Animals have a rich verbal language: think of the countless sounds your cat or dog can make to express its different emotions. But this is enriched by their complex body language, just as ours is; the tilt of the ears, the muzzle, their overall stance, the lie of their fur all speak volumes.  I also use a very varied range of purely vocal noises to sooth and calm new animals and to allow them to identify me as I’m approaching.

Native Americans believe that everyone is born with an affinity for an animal or bird, which are spirit totems in the guise of animals. They have no word to classify animals, instead believing that animals are a people, just like we are.  The Lakota Sioux regarded animals as mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. There is no mankind and animal kind, we are all Onekind.  The word animal itself derives from the Latin word animus, meaning free spirit.  My totem, my animal spirit, is a wolf, the symbol of loyalty, guardianship and family and yet one of the most persecuted animals on earth:  I have walked with wolves at the UK Wolf Conservation Trust, and howled with wolves from the Lakota Wolf Sanctuary at the Deleware Water Gap in New Jersey, USA.  I have howl sessions with my pack: Charcoal Nugget and Bracken (rescued street dogs from Romania).   Animals are at the heart of my family, and at the heart of my writing, in the latter case dragons. 

Animal totems and animal speak are embedded at the core of The Dragonsdome Chronicles, given voice by Quenelda, a young girl who can talk the language of the dragons, a dragon whisperer.  Not only must Quenelda prove herself in the face of bullying derision – girls don’t fly dragons, let alone temperamental dangerous battledragons , she must also convince others of the need to respect dragons as individuals with unique characters just as we are.  And just as we feel joy or pain, hunger and thirst, as we need to live freely so do all other sentient creatures.  In flight to Dragon Isle Quenelda will have to confront some of the many examples of exploitation and cruelty towards them that exist in our own world, and readers can follow her struggles to give them a voice where others see and hear ‘only animals’.

Like all animals, my dragons have distinct personalities; they can be grumpy and dangerous, or gentle and teasing – just like us, in fact. But all that is needed to win the trust of these unpredictable dragons is respect, patience and compassion. All that we need to do to live and work and share this world with animals is to build a relationship with them, like we would with any human.  Anyone who's ever had a relationship with any kind of animal knows that they communicate, that they have a voice.  Maybe we're just not listening hard enough. 

As we once did, Native Americans recognise that balance and harmony must be maintained among all living things. They acknowledge the interconnectedness of all life forms.  For many societies such as ours, those days are long gone.

If mankind continues to exploit the Earth’s resources without giving back, if we fail to respect the environment and the myriad creatures who share this planet with us, we may end up being the ones who face extinction on a bleak and barren Earth.  Quenelda gives her dragons a voice, and we must do the same for everyone else.

Kinship
I am the voice of the voiceless;
Through me the dumb shall speak,
Till the deaf world’s ear be made to hear
The wrongs of the wordless weak.

From street, from cage and from kennel,
From stable and zoo, the wail
Of my tortured kin proclaims the sin
Of the mighty against the frail.

Oh, shame on the mothers of mortals,
Who have not stopped to teach
Of the sorrow that lies in dear, dumb eyes,
The sorrow that has no speech.

The same force formed the sparrow
That fashioned man the king;
The God of the whole gave a spark of soul
To furred and to feathered thing.

And I am my brother’s keeper,
And I will fight his fight,
And speak the word for beast and bird,
Till the world shall set things right.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1850 - 1919

Flight to Dragon Isle is available now from here

It can also be found at Waterstone's, Amazon, Red House, Puffin, Tesco's and all good book retailers.

You can find out more about The Dragon Whisperer series by visiting here