PASADO'S STORY:
The History of Pasado's Safe Haven By Susan Michaels, Founder

April 15th, 2002 marked the 10th anniversary of Pasado's death. Pasado the donkey, the 21-year-old beloved fixture at a Seattle area park died after three teen boys had snuck into Pasado's pasture that April night. They attempted to ride him and when he resisted, they began beating him with tree branches the size of clubs. When he fell and could no longer walk, they tied a noose around his neck and pulled him up a tree, strangling him to death. Workers at the park discovered him hanging from the tree the next morning. That day, Pasado's Safe Haven, was founded.

No one could believe such a thing could happen in Bellevue, Washington. The sprawling, high-tech campus of Microsoft was just five minutes from Kelsey Creek Farm, where Pasado died. Bill Gates, its founder, lived only minutes away. Things like this just didn't happen here.

Compounding the horror was the reality of the penalty the three boys would face: breaking and entering - the choice of the prosecutor because it carried a far greater sentence than beating an animal to death. What the community didn't know was that Washington State's anti-cruelty laws hadn't been updated in over 100 years.

The public was outraged. The news was front page headlines for days. To answer the outcry, The Washington State Senate held hearings to gauge public sentiment and examine how the anti-cruelty laws could be updated. A hearing was set for a Tuesday night. I left work early to attend.

Held at a new library in the well-to-do area where Pasado had met his fate, it was a standing room only crowd. No mistake about it, the Senators who were present, had to appear interested. I took a seat in the back and began to listen in horror.

The hearing lasted four hours. Every few minutes a different person would take the microphone and tell about how their dog had been skinned alive, burned alive, hung from a tree. How their cat had been tortured, run over by a car intentionally, set afire. Many of the cases involved retribution: one victim of domestic violence had her dog's throat cut by her husband. A local policeman's dog was shot and laid over his mailbox. It went on and on and on, these stories of horror. What we all learned that night was frightening: heinous acts of abuse happened - all the time - and no one knew it. And it happened everywhere - people had come from far and wide to testify - from in-city neighborhoods, outlying farm? areas, middle class neighborhoods, and high-class ones.

The wheels were now in motion to change the law. And everyone thought it would be a breeze. After the notoriety of Pasado's case, it was in the forefront of everyone's minds, including the legislators. And who could possibly be against upgrading the anti-cruelty laws? I headed to Olympia, Washington State's capitol. It was my first trip to a state capitol since a school trip I took as an elementary school student.

I was so proud to be working on something I believed in. The new law was coined "The Pasado Law" and it was basic, but good: any intentional act of animal cruelty, would become a Class C felony, the lowest of felonies in Washington State, yet light-years away from the lowest misdemeanor status where the penalty for torturing an animal stood at the time.

The lawmakers made sure to not offend anyone when they wrote the law and took every chance to protect scientific labs, universities, breeders, rodeos, circuses - you name it. If an animal suffered in a research lab, so be it. They weren't covered. Neither were? horses and bulls used for rodeos, elephants or any other animals used in circuses. It was a bare bones law, but at least it addressed most intentional animal cruelty: hanging, dragging, burning, skinning.

So the general feeling was this was a law that could pass, with all the momentum of the Pasado case behind it, easily and quickly. Until that first hearing.

The Cattleman's Association, the Beef Producers, Dairymen, Grown in Washington Egg and Chicken Farmers, the Farm Bureau and a litany of farmers packed the hearing room and demanded the law never be passed. We were shocked. Why were they against this? HOW could they be against this? After all, this was an intentional act of animal cruelty law. It didn't cover accidents, like running over an animal with your tractor or car by accident. It even made provisions for the "poor farmer" who couldn't afford to feed his flock or herd and starved them to death. How could they possibly be against this?

What became apparent was clear:? the farmers of today weren't the farmers of yesterday. Farms of yesteryear are gone - replaced by huge, factory farms?- "agri-business" where high production, at the lowest possible cost, is what's important. Not the well-being of the animal.

It quickly became apparent why, after nearly 100 years, the laws had never changed. The agriculture lobby, a well-funded, powerful group, was against it.

The legislative session ended and The Pasado Law was dead. It was a very sad day for anyone with a heart.

It took another year to pass The Pasado Law and it took exempting ALL farm animals from the law, meaning, if a farmer called the practice of throwing a live pig in a vat of boiling water (typically how they kill them for cook-outs so as not to show a bullet hole or a throat cut by a knife) that would be considered "accepted animal husbandry", and not against the law. If a dairy cow, who could no longer walk after giving birth repeatedly to give milk, had to be dragged to slaughter by chain, that would be O.K., too. It was my first hard lessen in how slow and difficult the road to defend animals would be.

WE were uninformed dog and cat lovers before Pasado was killed. That was about the extent of our knowledge of "animal rights". But after the fight against the law from farmers, I had to learn what was going on on these farms that made them defend "intentional cruelty". It changed my life. And it set the mission of Pasado's Safe Haven, in stone.

We learned that cows must be kept pregnant constantly to give the vast quantities of milk required of the consuming public and the dairy industry. I had always thought these cows simply "gave milk". Or were given hormones to give milk. How ignorant of me. Just like any other mammal, they need to be pregnant to develop milk. Every nine months a cow makes a calf, a human's gestation period, and that calf is considered garbage, unless it is sent to veal slaughter. We have personally videotaped the dead piles behind the slaughter-auction houses where these precious lives are thrown away to die. Yet this is considered "acceptable animal husbandry".

I took these photos myself at a public slaughter auction. This calf, who was never even allowed to drink his mother's milk to get the antibodies he needed, died in my arms on the way to the vet. The cow , (above), a "spent milker" who could no longer bear young and was being shipped to slaughter, died at the auction yard. I watched as they took a forklift and crudely scooped her up to take her to slaughter. These are all "accepted animal husbandry" practices.

We are proud that in the past ten years we have used The Pasado Law to force prosecutions and convictions of animal abusers: a woman who dragged a dog, three boys who shot and killed, as well as maimed, cows sleeping in a pasture, a woman who allowed her two donkeys to go without veterinary care for years, until they were unable to walk - these people were all convicted of animal cruelty, made possible by the passage of The Pasado Law. And yes, Pasado even helped convict an egg farmer after we worked to prove starving thousands of his hens to death should not be considered "accepted animal husbandry".

But there is much work yet to be done. At Pasado's Safe Haven, we feel no animal should suffer. It is as simple as that. Whether it's a cow, a dog, cat, chicken, pig, turkey, or donkey - it feels. Happiness. Comfort. Warmth. Which also means they can feel fear, cold, hunger, and pain. We continue to work to relieve the suffering of those animals who cry out - and are not heard.

Above, Rita Morgan, Pasado's National Cruelty and Legislation Director, Governor Christine Gregoire, (and me), sign our fourth animal cruelty bill in as many years, a national record. This bill assured animal abandonment penalties were on par with child abandonment. Offensive to some, sensible to us.

Help us help them. When we return to Olympia and fight to upgrade anti-cruelty laws, please help. Your letters, calls, and e-mails make all the difference in the world - they really, really do.

Pasado did not die in vain. Help make his life, and death, mean even more. E-mail us today if you'd like to be a part of our legislative action team. And read more about our rescues, here.

For the animals,
Susan Michaels, Founder
Pasado's Safe Haven