Some people say you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. I know that's not true because I make my omelets with tofu. But I might say that you can't break systems of oppression without stepping on a few toes, and you can't always eliminate cruelty in a way that the people who rely on cruelty will like.

Two weeks ago I hit a deer with my car. I drive an hour and ten minutes to work every day and this has been one of my worst fears. It was a rainy night so I was driving slow but I still wasn't able to react in time. The deer wasn't much bigger than a big dog and probably had just barely lost his or her spots.

One of the first things I did as a new Pagan was roam the hills and woods near my home looking for flower faeries. I felt, at the time, like I had seen a few, as well as the faery of the tree in my back yard. When I did my self initiation as a solitary eclectic Wiccan (I don't call myself Wiccan anymore) I used fronds from a local willow tree to form a circlet to wear. Weeping willow is still sacred to me to this day. I'm typing this with a willow frond in henna on my arm, and "willow" remains part of my magickal name.

I've been writing for Pagan Activist for almost two years, and in that time I've barely mentioned Paganism, other than to say that my awe at the cycles of life and death has informed the way I look at Gaia, Demeter, Persephone, and Artemis.

That's because I've always been suspicious of religious ethics. An obvious reason is that it's impossible to prove which, if any, gods are the right ones, so how can we be sure which religious ethics to follow? But Socrates explained the deeper reason better than I can.

By now, the story of Cecil the lion is old news. For about a week I couldn't go anywhere without seeing or hearing about his story. In case you're not familiar, Cecil was a lion living in Zimbabwe who was killed by a trio of hunters led by an American dentist. He apparently spent $50,000 to pay for the privilege. The killing was illegal, as Cecil was a protected lion living on protected land and was lured away from that land with food. After being shot, Cecil lived for another two days before he succumbed to his injury.

I’m writing to share a huge success story. A larger success than I ever imagined. Last year, 400 million fewer animals were killed in the U.S. than in 2007. That’s more lives saved in America than there are American citizens.

I think it's safe to say most people reading this will have heard that humans and chimps are more than 98% genetically identical. We're just as close to bonobos, another great ape, though they're not the same species. Like two distant cousins, we share the same amount of genes with each, while they remain distinct from one another. They are about 99% identical to one another, and together are the only two species in the genus Pan.

I almost said that I'm expanding my focus with this article, since I usually write about animal rights. But really I'm narrowing my focus to one particular animal: the human animal.

A friend's dad has been going through some serious health issues that have impacted his quality of life. Though it's hard to point to a cause in any particular case, his symptoms are all strongly associated with animal foods. She's been frustrated and scared because even though all the evidence is there, he won't make even minimal changes to the way he eats. Not even to save his own life.

You may have heard recently that Ringling Brothers is phasing out elephant performers.

I don’t usually write about “single issues” because I like to go after the fundamentals - compassion, moral exclusion, and so on. But the news that Ringling Bros. will free 13 Asiatic elephants is exactly why we take action: to save innocents from misery.