Who We Are

St. Louis Animal Rights Team

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Who We Are

Accomplishments | Current Efforts | START Officers

Welcome to the St. Louis Animal Rights Team (START). Join us on a journey of compassion. In a world filled with unspeakable cruelties, we are privileged to have discovered a humane connection to each other and to all living creatures.

You have chosen to open your eyes to a cow's agony before he becomes a cellophane-covered meat. An abandoned dog's last warm breaths, before he is injected with death. A rabbit's tears as chemicals burn through her skin. A doe's panicked heart as she flees the hunter's bullets. A mink's last gasp before the electrical currents surge through his body. You have come to understand that in the dance of life between beings, it is not mankind's place to torture and abuse in the name of food, sport, fashion, or medical experimentation. Just because we can violently overpower animals doesn't mean we have to. Welcome to the alternative: Compassionate living.

As thinking beings it is our responsibility to defend the rights of our roommates here on earth, the animals. It is our obligation to allow them to live out their days with their families, in their natural dwellings. If all at once, you were able to feel the collective pain of their cuts, chemical wounds, bullet wounds and diseases--to experience their unified scream at the hands of humans--you would fall to your knees in anguish. This would be too much for anyone. Step by significant step, START and other animal rights groups around the world are instigating the changes needed to end the cruelty.

The St. Louis Animal Rights Team (START) is a not-for-profit educational/activist organization that seeks to:

Educate society regarding the rights of non-human animals to live freely and die naturally
Expose the harm and suffering caused by the denial of animals’ natural rights
Promote the adoption of lifestyles compatible with the animal rights philosophy
Promote the reform of social institutions to be compatible with animal rights

START has had a St. Louis presence since August 1985, and was incorporated in 1988. Since then, START volunteers have spearheaded efforts to protect the rights, privileges and interests of area animals.

START’s key accomplishments include:

Organizing the Gateway to Compassion Symposium in October 2001 to educate and motivate animal activists throughout the Midwest
Instrumental in acquiring enough signatures to place Proposition A, banning cockfighting, on the ballot for Missouri voters (it passed by an overwhelming 63%)
Sponsored advertisements educating the public about fur, circuses, hunting, trapping, factory farming, and vivisection (experimentation on live animals)
Purchased billboards denouncing fur and vivisection and promoting spay/neuter
Collaboratively lobbied Congress to successfully enact federal laws:
Banning the import and sale of dog and cat fur
Establishing safer air travel for animals
Initiating the conservation of great apes
Protecting retired military dogs from automatic euthanasia
Banning shark finning in U.S. waters
Establishing a committee to develop alternatives to animal-based tests for consumer products (like cosmetics & cleaning supplies)
Creating a sanctuary system for 1,000 chimps once used in AIDS experiments
Supported and helped implement a groundbreaking relocation plan to address deer complaints in Town & Country in 1999
Meat Kills demonstration at Union Station to protest the Meatpackers Convention in July 1999
Organized the "I’d Rather Go Naked" Campaign at the Arch in November 1997
Prominent role in shutting down Continental Furs in December 1996
Essential role in gathering signatures and filing lawsuits opposing the trapping of Missouri river otters during 1996-1997
Offered two-day AAVS workshops to the public on communication, empowerment, and compassion in October 1996
Over a ten-year period, co-sponsored 6-8 anti-fur busboards annually
Formally addressed the Institute of Lab Animal Resources in February 1994 seeking revision of their policies on the care and use of lab animals
Dumped milk at Monsanto to protest the introduction of Bovine Growth Hormone
Organized a march and leafleted against diving mules in 1987
Organized an anti-fur motorcade in December 1986
Opposed greyhound racing legislation in Missouri 1987-88
Supported legislative efforts in Congress attempting to ban trapping and the use of shelter animals in lab experimentation
In 1986, opposed Amendment 8 to allow pari-mutuel wagering at horse racetracks
Collaborated with other groups to defeat a proposed pound seizure ordinance in Maryland Heights in March 1986
Advanced the animal rights philosophy to US Fish & Wildlife Service as part of the Environmental Impact Statement for wildlife refuges
Sponsored a Run for the Animals in Clayton in October 1985
Presented "Unnecessary Fuss" to the public in 1985 to expose the University of Pennsylvania laboratory’s abuse of baboons (This research lab was closed as a result of nationwide public pressure.)
Launched countless protests and demonstrations to draw attention to the cruelty of circuses, veal, fur, factory farming (McDonald’s, Wendy’s, U.S. Egg & Poultry Breeders, U.S. Pork Producers Assn.), vivisection (local research labs), consumer product testing on animals (Gillette, Proctor & Gamble), and pet theft

START’s current efforts include:

Purchasing billboards and other advertisements denouncing circuses and fur
Staffing tables at various community venues to distribute literature and educate people about animal-related issues
Coordinating events for Great American Meat Out, World Animals in Laboratories Day and World Farm Animals Day
Writing countless letters to city officials, county officials, Congress members, and newspaper editors
Leafleting annually against the March of Dimes’ support of cruel animal research
Protesting circuses, fur, vivisection, and factory farm procedures
Offering educational events and speeches to the public
Speaking to local clubs, schools, city councils and other civic organizations
Supporting victims of animal abusers, including attending various court cases to show support for animal victims

START Officers

President
Mare Florentino

Vice President

Sue Costello

Treasurer
Mare Florentino

Secretary
Colleen Tilford

Directors

Bonnie Boime

Mary Chipman

Maggie Costello

Legal Adviser
Christopher Cox

Fundraising Chair

Bonnie Boime

E-Mail Manager

Mary Chipman

New Member Coordinator

Shirley Allen

Newsletter Coordinator

Mare Florentino

Literature Coordinator

Mary Chipman

Special Events Coordinators

Bonnie Boime

Sue Costello

Colleen Tilford

Website Administrator

Mary Chipman

Man's inhumanity to man is surpassed only by his cruelty to animals. If you have been exposed to even a shred of the suffering animals endure daily, you know it is not right. Now you have found others who see as you do. Welcome to START!