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"The Power of the Pen” was a Texas City Sun front-page article about Kayla Schramm. Kayla, 10, has written tons of letters protesting animal abuse. Some of her letters helped stop a cruel ostrich race. When Kayla found out that zoo monkeys were going to be sent to a laboratory, Kayla sent a picture of herself with a letter that said:

“I am someone who loves these monkeys, and I will always care what happens to them. If another rhesus monkey’s heart stops beating at Tulane University, you can look at my picture and know my heart is breaking.”




Lisa Dickal started helping animals when she was in the seventh grade–and she’s still going strong. She convinced a local cafe to offer a vegetarian menu, helped with a fundraiser for the local animal shelter, keeps her school and public libraries supplied with animal rights literature, hands out “No Fur” cards (available from PETA) to winter shoppers, writes letters on animal issues, and goes to protests in her spare time. Whew!

High school seniors Melissa Petty and Marti Palermo saw red when their school’s “brilliant” fundraising idea consisted of asking for donations in exchange for a vote on whether a lobster should live or die. The girls raised a ruckus by staging a protest and alerting the media. The story was huge–it appeared in newspapers all over the country.

Said Melissa, “It’s wrong...You wouldn’ t do that with a furry cat or a bunny rabbit or a dog.”

Because Melissa and Marti had the courage to stick up for crustaceans, the fundraiser was called off!

At age 4, Melissa Thibodeau stopped eating animals. Her mom was cool with it and even learned to cook veggie meals. Melissa made a huge sign saying, “DO NOT EAT ANIMALS,” and taped it to her bedroom window. Now 8, Melissa always “liberates” bugs outdoors, stops other kids from hurting animals, and recycles everything. She never passes a piece of plastic trash without picking it up because she knows how it can hurt wildlife.

Says Melissa’s proud mom,“She came up with all of this based on the love and compassion she felt in her heart. How could a parent argue with that?”

Almost single-handedly, Justin Barker, 17, managed to raise $200,000 to move black bears Brutus and Ursula from their dismal cage at Roseville’s Royer Park to a spacious habitat at the Folsom Zoo in California.

After seeing the furry duo at the roadside prison, Justin couldn’t stand to leave them there. He raised the money over three years by starting a grassroots campaign, which lead to national media coverage and garnered many donations.

“Animals know that being in captivity is unnatural,” says Justin. “People don’t realize that animals have souls and feelings, too.”

A lucky bull owes his life to Jordy Brown. After finding out that many baby bulls are killed in “practice” bullfights, 11-year-old Jordy asked his mom for a baby bull for Christmas. Here’s the amazing part: She actually bought him one! (The catch is that the calf, named Rocky, lives at a sanctuary, not in Jordy’s backyard.)

Now Jordy is trying to stop bullfighting in Mexico. He has written to Mexican government officials and sent them a petition filled with hundreds of signatures. Lordy, Jordy!

You can help, too. Check out Jordy’s Web site at www.animalnews.com/jordy.