This is an UP article -- Donations to animal rights groups are up even as the economy is plummeting and Comeback King Mickey Rourke has gotten himself up again, winning a Golden Globe for Best Actor, thanking his dogs in his acceptance speech.
Rourke's 16-year-old Chihuahua-terrier mix, Loki, is pictured with him above. But Mickey thanked all of his dogs.
"The ones that are here, the ones that aren't here anymore because sometimes when a man's alone, that's all you got is your dog," he said "And they've meant the world to me."
At first the live audience laughed when Rourke said "I'd like to thank all my dogs," thinking he was being sarcastic, suggestive of how everyone at awards' ceremonies always thanks everyone under the sun -- including their manicurist. But the audience quickly recognized the sincerity of his emotional outpouring. Everyone knew bad-boy Mickey Rourke had been through hell and back with his drug problems and countless run-ins with police.
When a reporter at the Golden Globes mentioned that he had been out of the business for ten years, Rourke responded, "More like 14 years ago, if you want to be honest. Ten (years) sounds easy."
HEARTFELT EXPRESSION OF LOVE TO HIS DOGS
His thank you to his dogs was a heartfelt and expression of his love and gratitude to his pets...coming from a macho man to a live TV audience of millions around the world! Whether he was hitting bottom or on the top, his dogs were his best friends and companions.
Numerous studies, in the hundreds, have proven that having a loving, non-judgmental dog or cat as a companion is healthy for us humans. Just petting an animal has been shown to lower our blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate, plus decrease stress and anxiety.
When a reporter also asked Rourke about the dogs he paid tribute to when he won, he went through their names which he'd had etched into one of his rings: Loki (pictured left in bow tie and racing goggles), Jack The Great, his "wife" Angel, Chocolate, Mow Zone, Knee Knee and Rome, reported Entertainment Weekly.
His chihuahua Beau Jack passed away in 2002, about which Rourke is quoted as saying: "I gave him mouth-to-mouth for 45 minutes before they peeled me off. Depressed? He died at my home, and I didn't go back for two weeks," reports Pet News Examiner.
DONATIONS UP TO ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUPS
It's surprising that in this crashing world economy donations to animal rights groups are on the rise.
In 2007, the latest reporting period available for review, charitable donations to animal rights groups rose 11 percent, providing activist groups funds to develop activities including California's Proposition 2 ( Read the article "Controversial Caged Chicken Ban Passed by Landslide in California" here.)
Donations also provided animal rights groups funds for undercover video operations, legislative initiatives and legal actions. Donations to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and its subsidiaries increased 11 percent.
The Animal Agriculture Alliance research used sources including IRS Forms 990 for non-profits, the 2008 Animal People Watchdog Report on 150 Animal Charities -- the newspaper Animal People's annual review of animal charity budgets, according to AgWeb, which released the following donations:
year.
- Internationally, the World Society for Protection of Animals (WSPA) increased its donations by 80 percent.
- Compassion in World Farming in the United Kingdom raised revenues 60 percent.
- Animal Acres based in California received a significant increase in charitable donations equally 443 percent.
- Total donations to the most significant domestic and international animal rights groups reached almost $330 million in 2007.
TO READ "GIDGET THE CHIHUAHUA DIES: 'YO QUIERO TACO BELLL' STEREOTYPE" CLICK HERE.
By Sharon McEachern
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