Sunday, April 1, 2012

Day Two in Washington D.C!!!!!!




Me speaking at the press conference with Congressman Jim Moran
On Tuesday, when I woke up in the morning, I was really anxious to go testify during the press conference at noon.  I couldn't wait to go and practiced my speech a few times in our hotel room.  My mom also told me that I had an email from Senator Mary Landrieu's (GA) office, asking to meet me.  I couldn't believe that a Senator asked to meet me!  I went swimming in the hotel pool for a little while and it was all I could think about.

In front of Congressman Jim Moran's office

When my mom and I got to Congressman Jim Moran's office, we talked with the Congressman along with a representative from the EWA (Equine Welfare Alliance), Vicki Tobin as well as R.T. Fitch and his wife Terry, who were all there to support the Million Horse March Campaign and me.  Meeting R.T. Fitch was really cool because I was really excited to meet him since he's been helping me so much and is another man who is fighting to save the horses.  R.T. gave me a cowboy hat that I REALLY like!  I wore it every chance I got even to the airport and on the plane home.  He also gave me a signed copy of his book, "Straight from the Horses Heart", with a message that says, "Declan, May the Force of the Horse be With You." 
Ma and Congressman Jim Moran 

After we talked, we all went outside to the House Triangle, with some of the Congressman's Aides to get ready for the press conference.  When I went up to testify, I felt like I could make a difference and tell people about horse slaughter and why it is wrong.  People kept walking up to hear me from all over and most of them came up when I said "horse slaughter" and had confused expressions on their faces.  That showed me that a lot of people don't even know it happens to America's horses.  After the press conference I talked to R.T. Fitch and we did an interview where he asked me questions and I answered them and he recorded it and automatically posted it on his blog!  Then I talked to other people at the press conference who congratulated me, including representatives from the ASPCA.  Kayla and Emma from Congressman Guinta's office where there to support me too!  It was really awesome!
At Congressman Jack Kingston's office

Signing in at Congressman Kingston's office














After some lunch, my mom and I went to Congressman Jack Kingston's office with some of the children's letters.  He wasn't available, so I left them with one of women in his office who tad me she would be sure to get them the letters to him and tell him about the Million Horse March Letter Writing Campaign.
Painting of George Washington inside the Capitol Dome
Next, we went back to Congressman Guinta's office where I met all the legislative assistants, collected their business cards, and one of them, even gave me his cell phone number for me to keep in touch!  Then one of the interns, took my mom and I on a special tour of the Capitol.  Since we were with staff, we got to go a few places other people weren't allowed.  The Capitol building was awesome and just amazing!  We saw artwork everywhere with horses in it and I took tons of pictures of everything.  

John Stark
Daniel Webster
There were statues everywhere - at least one from every state.  Kayla from Congressman Guinta's office had challenged me to find the two statues of people from New Hampshire and when I found them, I was really excited and took pictures of them.   They are John Stark, who was a Major General in the American Revolution and Daniel Webster, who was a lawyer and a New Hampshire Congressman. 

King Kamehameha I
A lot of the statues were really cool and I took a lot of pictures of them.  I even found one from Hawaii of King Kamehameha I, which I had my mom take a picture of me by because I am working on a big report about Hawaii for school.

Looking straight up inside the Capitol Dome
Kayla also challenged me to walk into the Capitol Dome and look straight up and tell her who I saw.  When I did, I saw George Washington.

Me with Wayne Pacelle, President/CEO of HSUS
After my Capitol tour, we were invited to go to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) Washington DC headquarters to meet with Wayne Pacelle, who is the President and CEO of the HSUS and Jessica Fiengold-Liberson, federal lobbyist on horse slaughter.  We talked about ways the HSUS is helping to save the horses from slaughter and Mr. Pacelle asked me to keep working to raise awareness about horse slaughter.  He told me that he thinks what I have been doing is really great and to keep being such a great advocate for the horses.  We also talked about how there is a Faith Outreach  Program, which really interested me because we are Christians and I believe that God gave us the Earth and the animals to protect them and take good care of them.   He also told me that the "Genesis Awards" are named after the first great animal rescue - Noah's Ark.  I really like that Mr. Pacelle gave me two books, one on horse care and a signed copy of his book, "The Bond, Our Kinship with Animals, Our call to Defend Them" with a message that says, "Declan, I'm so glad you love animals and you're fighting to protect them!  Keep it up.  We're with you!"   He also gave me some other information to read about the HSUS's work to save and protect all animals and a cool horse poster.  It was really cool!  

This was a great day and I felt like I made a big difference and now more people know about what is happening to our horses.  I went to bed really tired after a long and awesome day.  ~Declan
My new hat!!

5 comments:

  1. wow that is a really cool cowboy hat keep it up and hope they band it keep up the good work and keep fight for the horse

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  2. Hi Declan:

    We have installed this particular installment of your trip over to "SFTH" and pointed folks this way. Terry and I sure enjoyed meeting you and look forward to working together in the future.

    http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/04/08/guest-blog-children-4-horses/

    R.T.

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  3. Did you get to meet with Senator Landrieu (LA)?? She is one of the few in Congress that is pro-horse. A lot of advocates are wondering why HSUS doesn't spend more money (they have a lot!) on commercials to raise awareness of the plight of American horses both wild and domestic. Since you can contact Wayne Pacelle personally why don't you put this question to him????
    Thank you Declan for all your hard work for the horses, God bless you and our equine friends.

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  4. Hi Declan. Thank you for sharing your awesome experience of getting to speak out for our horses in Washington D.C. You mom posted your speech for us to read as we are all really excited about seeing the video clip but I understand that is not available yet. You did a GREAT job as we all knew you would!

    I know what you mean about it being so cook to be able to meet R.T and Terry Fitch. I had the pleasure of meeting them at the Summit of the Live Horse Press Conference in Oklahoma City last week. They are very special people aren't they, and they both said your speech was excellent! Horse advocates world wide are so PROUD of you Declan, you just keep doing what you are so good at: speaking out against horse slaughter and we will be successful!

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  5. Declan, you are a fine young man and we could not ask for better representation for America’s Horses. Here is a video that I think you will enjoy and you can share. This is why we all love these wonderful creatures:

    Wild horse rescues another horse from drowning in Arizona
    Stallion named ‘Champ’ grabbed filly by neck and dragged her to safety.

    http://www.azcentral.com/video/1549461481001
    Wild horse rescues another horse from drowning in Arizona

    ReplyDelete