Witch Hunt

Animal rescuer Sandy Coupal’s sanctuary was invaded and all her animals seized without cause. I know Sandy, and I’ve seen her property. Not only is she breaking no laws, she is providing shelter and care to discarded animals that others – including animal control – have rejected.

Sandy has been called a “hoarder,” a word I have come to understand to be used against people – usually women – like “borderline” or “slut,” and which is very hard to retract once it has been employed. At many times in our history women were accused of consorting with the devil if they lived with or healed animals. Now, such women are labeled with pathology, yet another way to denaturalize a person in order to justify persecuting her. This is an authoritarian backlash, but it is also the dawning of a new age. Sandy has the support of many people, and we will not be silenced through fear or intimidation. We can recognize a witch-hunt when we see one, and we will rise up to defend justice against those whose sense of power over others is threatened by the solitary competence of Sandy Coupal.