As for the suggestion that AAS be "first" to be pro-abolition, I am ashamed to admit that I am late-comer to the comprehension that true animal protection and welfare can only be achieved through the abolition of the right to enslave other sentient beings. Far more intelligent persons than I realized it hundreds, even thousands of years ago. I only "joined" the abolition movement about ten years ago, pre-internet, when I began telling friends that I realized that the cruelty I saw wasn't ever going to end as long as animals were legal property. Nor as long as there is a multi-million dollar slave rescue/welfare/protection industry. That industry is largely kept in business by donations from millions of animal-lovers who are told that their donations will end the cruelty that has wrung their hearts and wallets. The truth is that only abolition can end cruelty.