“Room 8” ( 1947–1968 )

Room 8 was a neighborhood cat who wandered into a classroom in 1952 at Elysian Heights Elementary School in Echo Park, California. He lived in the school during the school year and then disappeared for the summer, returning when classes started again. This pattern continued without interruption until the mid-1960s.

News cameras would arrive at the school at the beginning of the year waiting for the cat's return; he became famous and would receive up to 100 letters a day addressed to him at the school. Eventually, he was featured in a documentary called Big Cat, Little Cat and a children's book, A Cat Called Room 8. Look magazine ran a three-page Room 8 feature by photographer Richard Hewett in November 1962, titled "Room 8: The School Cat". Leo Kottke wrote an instrumental called "Room 8" that was included in his 1971 album, Mudlark.

As he got older, Room 8 was injured in a cat fight and suffered from feline pneumonia, so a family near the school volunteered to take him in. The school's janitor would find him at the end of the school day and carry him across the street.

His obituary in the Los Angeles Times rivaled that of major political figures, running three columns with a photograph. The cat was so famous that his obituary ran in papers as far away as Hartford, Connecticut. The students raised the funds for his gravestone. He is buried at the Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park in Calabasas, California.

Thank you for visiting our animal defence section. Before leaving, please join us in a moment of compassion and reflection.

The wheels of business and human food compulsions are implacable and totally lacking in compassion. This is a downed cow, badly hurt, but still being dragged to slaughter. Click on this image to fully appreciate this horror repeated millions of times every day around the world. With plentiful non-animal meat substitutes that fool the palate, there is no longer reason for this senseless suffering. Meat consumption is a serious ecoanimal crime. The tyranny of the palate must be broken. Please consider changing your habits in this regard.

[Kacey, Spring 2015, Rowan Wolf]

Today I got the bad news that my sister Rowan—who has been battling terrible health problems for well over a decade— had lost one of her most beloved furry companions, Kacey.  This is her farewell note.  We are feeling pretty depressed about the whole thing, but we hope that, when our own time is up, we'll see her again, along with other special beings like her who have illuminated our lives. —PG

—The Editor

Farewell to a Dear Friend, Kacey
By Rowan Wolf

This is a tribute to my dear friend, Kacey, a member of my pack for 12 years. She was an amazing friend, and I called her my “Nurse Dog” because whenever someone was sick or sad, she was right there and watched over them (and me) until they were back on their feet. She was a rescue from a bad situation and it took a while for her to acclimate to living in a safe environment. She was special, but then every creature is in their own way. She was also visually striking. She was a Border Collie – German Shepherd mix and had the softest hair of any creature it has been my honor to touch.

I am a sociologist, writer and activist with lifelong engagement in social justice, peace, environmental, and animal rights movements. My research and writing include issues of imperialism, oppression, global capitalism, peak resources, global warming, and environmental degradation. I taught sociology for twenty-two years, was a member of the City of Portland’s Peak Oil Task Force, and maintain my own site Uncommon Thought Journal. I may be reached by email at rowan@uncommonthought.com. On a personal note, I am also a survivor of pulmonary hypertension by the gift of a donor’s lungs in 2011. I do my best to honor that gift by trying to be my best self and give to the world what small gifts I have. Among those is a deep passion for life, and the lives of all those with whom I share the planet. 

Thank you for visiting our animal defence section. Before leaving, please join us in a moment of compassion and reflection.

The wheels of business and human food compulsions are implacable and totally lacking in compassion. This is a downed cow, badly hurt, but still being dragged to slaughter. Click on this image to fully appreciate this horror repeated millions of times every day around the world. With plentiful non-animal meat substitutes that fool the palate, there is no longer reason for this senseless suffering. Meat consumption is a serious ecoanimal crime. The tyranny of the palate must be broken. Please consider changing your habits in this regard.

Thank you for visiting our animal defence section. Before leaving, please join us in a moment of compassion and reflection.

The wheels of business and human food compulsions are implacable and totally lacking in compassion. This is a downed cow, badly hurt, but still being dragged to slaughter. Click on this image to fully appreciate this horror repeated millions of times every day around the world. With plentiful non-animal meat substitutes that fool the palate, there is no longer reason for this senseless suffering. Meat consumption is a serious ecoanimal crime. The tyranny of the palate must be broken. Please consider changing your habits in this regard.

Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
ECOWATCH

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A rendering of the Wallis Annenberg wildlife crossing. Living Habitats and National Wildlife Federation

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The roads and highways humans have built bisect the natural environment and divide the ranges and migratory routes of many species, presenting a danger to the animals who need to cross them.

This month, the world’s largest wildlife overpass — the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing — will begin construction across a multi-lane highway at Liberty Canyon in the Santa Monica mountains. The 210-foot long, 165-foot wide green bridge will allow animals like mountain lions, coyotes, snakes and toads to safely cross U.S. Highway 101 near Los Angeles, reported The Guardian. It will be surrounded by an acre of native plants, and sound walls covered with vegetation will be put in place to help shield nocturnal animals from noise and light.

Living Habitats and National Wildlife Federation

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According to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the division of the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains from the Santa Monica Mountains by Highway 101 resulted in fragmented habitats and restricted movement for native species, which interfered with breeding and hunting, especially for larger mammals like bobcats and mountain lions.

“The freeway is a formidable and virtually impenetrable barrier for many wildlife species including mountain lions, bobcats, gray foxes, coyotes, and mule deer that inhabit and travel between these two mountain ranges,” the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy said in a press release. “For mountain lions in particular, the consequences of this restriction results in increased inbreeding and territorial fighting, and very low genetic diversity, within the Santa Monica Mountains.”

Mountain lions are a “specially protected species,” according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Since 2002, at least 25 mountain lions have been killed on freeways in Los Angeles, The Guardian reported. And on March 23, a young mountain lion was killed on the Pacific Coast Highway. 

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing will coincide with Earth Day on April 22, and the bridge is expected to be completed in early 2025. About 60 percent of the funding for the approximately $90 million wildlife crossing came from private donations.

Every day about 300,000 cars move through the area of the forthcoming wildlife bridge.

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Living Habitats and National Wildlife Federation

“Someone could be in rush-hour traffic, and there could be a mountain lion right above them,” said project planner and urban ecologist with the National Wildlife Federation Beth Pratt, according to The Guardian. “I think that’s such a hopeful image, and one that inspires me that we can right some of these great wrongs.”

A well-known mountain lion called P-22 who lives in Griffith Park in the Loz Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles and criss-crosses freeways to roam his habitat has come to represent the plight of the many wild animals who have had their homes destroyed and divided by human development.

“People really took his plight to heart, and this is not just a California story: the world has come together around his cause,” Pratt said, as The Guardian reported.

Unfortunately, P-22 isn’t likely to be one of the mountain lions in the area who uses the bridge, since his range lies farther east.

It could take as long as five years for some animals to grow accustomed to using the crossing.

Canada’s Banff National Park is an example of the success of wildlife crossings. With more than three dozen overpasses and underpasses for animals, the park has seen a 90 percent decrease in accidents between vehicles and wildlife. 

Hopefully there will be many more in the future, as communities come together to try and help humans and wildlife live together more safely and peacefully. The Biden administration’s infrastructure bill has $350 million set aside for things like underpasses, overpasses and fences to help wildlife.

“As both a tool for and a symbol of connection, [the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing] will stand as an alluring challenge to future generations to pick up the mantle of design to bridge the gaps elsewhere in our world,” said design leader and landscape architect with Chicago’s Living Habitats Robert Rock, as reported by The Guardian.

Thank you for visiting our animal defence section. Before leaving, please join us in a moment of compassion and reflection.

The wheels of business and human food compulsions are implacable and totally lacking in compassion. This is a downed cow, badly hurt, but still being dragged to slaughter. Click on this image to fully appreciate this horror repeated millions of times every day around the world. With plentiful non-animal meat substitutes that fool the palate, there is no longer reason for this senseless suffering. Meat consumption is a serious ecoanimal crime. The tyranny of the palate must be broken. Please consider changing your habits in this regard.