Gil Michaels.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Michaels put $40 million into animal causes, but was convicted of toner cartridge scam that netted more than $126 million, according to the federal Department of Justice.
VAN NUYS, California––Gilbert N. Michaels, 80, founder of the Compassion for Animals Foundation and Animal Guardians, died on August 19, 2022, while on compassionate release from a four-year federal penitentiary term.
Michaels suffered from multiple medical conditions, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The irony of Michaels’ life and death was that among dozens of people involved in animal advocacy who might richly deserve to be convicted of mail fraud after bilking millions of donors and pocketing multi-millions of dollars raised under false pretenses, Michaels was convicted of mail fraud after donating nearly $40 million to animal advocacy projects, never paying himself a cent raised to help animals.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Founded financial services firm in 1974
Michaels, growing up, fantasized about emulating Hall of Fame second baseman Red Schoendienst, then starring for the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Braves, but eventually realized he was small for a ballplayer and refocused on business. In September 1974, at age 28, he formed Gilbert N. Michaels Financial Services, the umbrella for many other business ventures undertaken during the next 48 years.
Prospering, Michaels for about a dozen years raised a family with first wife Nola Fox Michaels, and was known mostly for conspicuous consumption.
That began changing in August 1986, Natalie Nichols recalled for Cityside three years later, after Gil Michaels’ son “brought home a videotape called Faces of Death.”
Explained Gil Michaels, “The atrocities that were committed to animals on that tape were both enraging and heartbreaking. I couldn’t believe that mankind was doing these sorts of things to animals.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
Gave up meat, fur, & leather in 1986
Resumed Nichols, “At first, Michael’s new consciousness manifested itself only in his personal life.”
Remembered Gil Michaels, “September 16, 1986 was the last time I ate red meat. It was my son’s birthday, and it was a tradition for me to take him and his buddies to dinner. We’d all have hobo steak. By that time, my appetite for hobo steak wasn’t what it used to be. I decided that night to stop eating red meat. Later I stopped eating chicken and other fowl as well.”
“Michaels also stopped wearing his fur coats and leather goods, and even had his car’s leather upholstery replaced,” Nichols narrated. “But the lifestyle changes weren’t enough for him.
“In December 1986, Michaels created the Compassion for Animals Foundation, through which he funded various animal rights projects. Toward the middle of 1987, however, he decided that he wanted to start local projects of his own.”
Laura Moretti and friend.
Backed The Animals Voice
“I came across Laura Moretti, who had a tiny magazine in Chico, California, called The Animals’ Voice,” Gil Michaels said.
Gil Michaels became publisher, Nola Michaels became publicist, and over the next six years they poured more than a million dollars into trying to make The Animals’ Voice into a popular slick magazine.
Gil Michaels told Nichols that their ambition was to “reach outside the movement” to the general public. The Animals’ Voice did develop a dedicated following within the animal rights movement, but glossy images of animals suffering never appealed to a mass audience.
Michaels, going through a divorce, in 1992 pulled the plug on his support of The Animals’ Voice. Unable to raise funds enough to continue publishing in a slick printed format, Moretti eventually continued The Animals’ Voice online.
Holly LaRue and Gil Michaels at their wedding. Holly LaRue photo)
Holly LaRue
Michaels by then had met his second wife, Holly LaRue, a southern California horse trainer.
“Gil and Holly….1992-2022,” LaRue mused online upon receiving word of his death. “Those of you who knew him would agree that he was not an easy man, but he had a generous heart and we laughed a lot! Our whole relationship was 30 years, including marriage for a handful of years in the middle of it all. Gil retired his last two horses with me, aged 29 and 30!,” LaRue told her followers, posting photos and video of Gil Michaels with the horses.
“Although he was my former husband, we remained close for 30 years,” LaRue said.
Joyce Poole. (Facebook photo)
Financier of animal advocacy abroad
Turning from publishing to grantmaking, Gil Michaels by 2007 was among the major financiers of animal advocacy abroad, especially noted for donating huge sums at fundraising events on condition that they be matched by some of his affluent celebrity friends.
Reporting for the Los Angeles Times, former People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals staff writer Carla Hall on December 19, 2007 described how Gil Michaels donated $25,000 to help raise $50,000 for elephant researcher Joyce Poole, and “spent more than $50,000 in September 2007 at a gala for Farm Sanctuary.
“Michaels estimates that he has donated more than $30 million to animal-related causes over the years,” wrote Hall. Gil Michaels would donate another $10 million during the rest of his life.
Business interests took Gil Michaels to Sichuan province, China. After a major earthquake devastated the region on May 12, 2008, Michaels was among the first to fund the Animals Asia Foundation rescue effort.
Still active in the U.S., Gil Michaels donated $31,000 to animal-friendly candidates during the 2008 national election cycle.
United Poultry Concerns founder Karen Davis. (United Poultry Concerns photo)
Disillusioned with big groups
But Gil Michaels as far back as 2004 had become intensely critical of the major national and international animal advocacy organizations. A turning point in Gil Michaels’ perceptions was the weak response of the “movement” to the crude and clumsy mass killing of chickens in response to outbreaks of the H5N1 avian influenza, chiefly in southern California.
Asked Gil Michaels in March 2004, “Where are the Humane Society of the U.S., Farm Sanctuary, Compassion in World Farming, the Humane Farming Association, United Poultry Concerns, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the ASPCA, In Defense of Animals, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the World Society for the Protection of Animals, etc, etc. Why aren’t they ‘squawking’ about this instead of negotiating with the United Egg Producers?”
United Poultry Concerns and the Humane Farming Association, neither of which ever negotiated with United Egg Producers, eventually got out of Gil Michaels’ doghouse, or henhouse, as did Farm Sanctuary, after demonstrating signs of life in response to the mass poultry killing, but Gil Michaels apparently never forgave the rest.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Key source for ANIMALS 24-7
Only two weeks after ANIMALS 24-7 debuted, in mid-April 2014, Michaels––almost always insisting on anonymity––had become one of our most valued inside sources on animal advocacy politics.
“Is Maddie’s Fund full of shit or what?” Gil Michaels fumed in response to our first exposé of the $300 million foundation’s grant-making ineptitude. “They have more money now than they did when Dave and Cheryl Duffield put up the $250 million in 1998 to take the U.S. to no-kill animal control How long ago was that? They should spend the money, not sit on it,” Gil Michaels opined.
Another of the first ANIMALS 24-7 exposés pointed out in depth and detail how an international campaign against the Gadhi Mai sacrificial slaughter held every four years in rural Nepal was based on bogus statistical claims and falsified history, and was chiefly a fundraising ploy enlisting major animal advocacy organizations in an unholy partnership with the local priesthood where the slaughter took place.
Agreed Gil Michaels on October 3, 2014, “This is the biggest scam purported by the animal protection community ever. It makes us look like fools. Keep pushing against scams like this.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
Gil Michaels on pit bulls
Gil Michaels on October 16, 2014, commenting on a Branwyn Finch guest column entitled “Parallels between the messages sent by advocates for aggressive dogs, and the messages internalized by victims of domestic violence,” first expressed resolute support for our many exposés of pit bull advocacy, and the consequences thereof for both animals and humans.
“Hell yes!!!!!!!” Gil Michaels began. “I couldn’t agree more.”
Over the next several years Gil Michaels composed a lengthy screed against pit bull advocacy, one line at a time.
“I just love those sweet, cuddly, harmless pit bulls,” Michaels offered next, with deep sarcasm. “Everyone with infant children should have at least one. That way we can help solve the overpopulation problem. Pit bulls for all!!! A pit bull in every pot.
Pit bull assembly line. (Beth Clifton collage)
“Ban breeding pit bulls”
“I agree with you on this issue,” Gil Michaels continued. “Why not pass strict laws governing the ‘currently alive’ pit bulls and ban the breeding of ‘not yet alive’ pit bulls? That should satisfy everyone, assuming they have any sense. Pit bulls, Rottweilers and other obviously dangerous dogs have no more place in society than lions and tigers.
“Pit bulls should be phased out ASAP,” Michaels emphasized. “Most are weapons, not companion animals.
“Keep pushing this issue. The other side are irresponsible morons. How could it make any sense to anyone, other than a total moron, that to own or breed pit bulls should be allowed in a sane society??????
“Just stop breeding them and let the existing ones die off and be done with them and the carnage they cause. Why doesn’t that make sense??
(Beth Clifton collage)
“Don’t pay any attention to your detractors”
“You are absolutely right on this issue,” Gil Michaels repeated. “Don’t pay any attention to your detractors. In fact, you can use Animal Guardians ,” one of Gil Michaels’ two animal advocacy organizations, “as a supporter of your position. These promoters of pit bulls are mentally disturbed extremists of the ISIS mentality.
“All of these bully promoters should be incarcerated as terrorists for life,” Gil Michaels continued. “What idiots.
“At some point people will wake up,” Gil Michaels hoped. “I would be interested in providing some funds for a campaign to outlaw the breeding of pit bulls and all the other dangerous bully weapons out there. Pit bulls are weapons and, unlike M16s, could go off without warning or reason. Ban them and all other forms of assault weapons.”
Marta Esteban. (Facebook photo)
Fought rabbit-eating & bullfights
Gil Michaels had many other ideas for campaigns that he hoped to fund, most of which failed to develop from lack of other dedicated activists to launch them.
For example, based on data showing that about seven times more Americans keep pet rabbits than eat rabbits, Gil Michaels believed rabbit-eating could be banned.
One of Michaels’ campaigns that did enjoy some success, until Spanish politics took a sharp turn to the right under adverse economic conditions, sought to ban bullfighting in Spain.
“Without any doubt,” Spanish anti-bullfighting campaigner Marta Esteban wrote to ANIMALS 24-7 in May 2016, “Gil Michaels’ financial support has been key in order to speed up the results not only in Spain but also in all bullfighting countries. Thanks to him,” Esteban said, “a strong team of activists from nine different countries work together now in real time in pursuit of our common goals and no one can stop us. Without Gil Michaels’ help, everything would have taken more time.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
Burned by PETA
But Gil Michaels was further disillusioned about working with major national and international organizations when a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals fundraising appeal on May 31, 2018 bannered “40,000 Take Part in PETA-sponsored March Against Bullfighting in Madrid,
“Here they go again,” Gil Michaels emailed to ANIMALS 24-7, “misrepresenting themselves as always, making this seem like PETA was the be-all and do-all at this event when, in reality, they were just a chicken shit, cheap, and phony bit player, as usual.
“Animal Guardians provided $8,500 in U.S. dollars for this event, the rest of the world provided $6,500, and the PETA portion of that was $700 USD.
“For the last three and a half years,” Gil Michaels said, “Animal Guardians has invested vastly more funding to end bullfighting than the entire rest of the world.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
Toner scam
Gil Michaels’ world, career, and reputation in both business and animal advocacy unfortunately came crashing down with a June 28, 2016 media release from the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, headlined “23 People Indicted in Decades-Long, $126 Million Telemarketing Scheme involving Sale of Toner for Copiers and Printers.
“The indictment unsealed after this morning’s arrests,” the Department of Justice media release explained, “alleges that participants in the scheme fraudulently induced over 50,000 victims to send more than $126 million to telemarketers who posed as the victims’ regular supplier of toner products at prices as much as ten times the normal retail price.
“The 30-count indictment, which charges 23 defendants, alleges a conspiracy that started in 1988 and was orchestrated by Gilbert N. Michaels, a West Los Angeles man who had previously been ordered by federal and state court judges to cease fraudulent and deceptive business practices related to toner sales.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
How it worked
Detailed the media release, “Michaels owned and operated IDC Servco, a Culver City-based business that sold toner to small businesses, charities such as Easter Seals Disability Services and the United Way, schools, churches, city governments and other entities in the United States and Canada.
“The indictment outlines a scheme,” the Department of Justice said, “in which telemarketers at a series of companies called victim organizations and claimed to be their regular supplier of toner or affiliated with those suppliers. The telemarketers typically told employees at the victim companies that the price of toner had increased and they had not been notified. However, the victims now had a chance to purchase toner at the previous lower price. Believing that they were dealing with their regular supplier of toner supplies, employees at the victim companies signed order confirmation forms, which prompted Michael’s company to ship toner to victims and send invoices that demanded payment at inflated prices.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
Prior conviction
“In a series of court orders dating back to November 1988,” the Department of Justice noted, “Michaels and his companies were prohibited from making false statements – such as that they were a usual supplier of photocopier supplies or that there had been a price change.”
None of the other 22 defendants appear to have been involved in animal advocacy.
“All 23 defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud,” the Department of Justice said “Each of the 23 is charged in at least one of the two dozen mail fraud counts alleged in the indictment. Michaels is additionally charged with five counts of money laundering.”
Responded Gil Michaels, when asked by ANIMALS 24-7 for his side of the matter, “This is very old news. I’m NOT guilty of these outrageous allegations. End of story.
(Beth Clifton collage)
“This is no one’s business”
“This is no one’s business,” Michaels insisted. “People who know me don’t give a fuck about this. My work for animals all over the world has continued with no fanfare and will continue. Any so-called animal protection person that would bring any attention to this matter would be doing an unconscionable disservice to animals.
“This is an active case and I have been advised by my attorneys not to comment on the details. It’s bullshit and has nothing whatsoever to do with my 35 years and multi millions of dollars that I have devoted to the protection of animals worldwide,” except that the long-running toner scam was apparently the source of the money that Gil Michaels put into animal advocacy.
Gil Michaels from mid-2015 to the indictment was a major funder of ANIMALS 24-7, but made no further donations after ANIMALS 24-7 questioned him about the federal charges.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Convicted of multiple counts in 2021
Gil Michaels did, however, continue to send frequent supportive emails, especially when ANIMALS 24-7 received hostile responses to our coverage pertaining to pit bulls.
In view that Gil Michaels steadfastly denied guilt, ANIMALS 24-7 did not report about the charges against him while the federal charges remained before the courts and in the appeals process.
Beth & Merritt Clifton
In September 2021, however, after a six-week trial, a federal jury found Gil Michaels guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, 10 counts of mail fraud, and five counts of money laundering.
Gil Michaels, reporting net worth of $6.7 million, was sentenced to pay a $200,000 fine and to report to federal prison by November 1, 2021 to serve a four-year sentence.
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What a fascinating story. Sounds like a helluva character.
Thank you for this excellent eulogy of the accomplishments and generosity and clarity of Gil Michael’s! It also reveals to me why I have been rejected and lied about forever by all the humane societies that you mentioned who are deviously hoarding contributions instead of saving animals, and who come to California and try to turn over life-saving legislation that I have successfully lobbied. Like Gil, I am purely motivated and take nothing for myself.
I just viewed a video of Gil with his horses. Merritt has known Gil for many years. Merritt and I just celebrated our 8th anniversary. I’m a former Miami Beach cop, a civil servant, so I had to be a quick study on the animal protection front and the players (the good, the bad and the ugly). It’s very easy to become disillusioned by the frauds, posers, animal angels who go as far back and even farther than Gil. His last few years we very busy publishing articles. We work a lot! There is so such to expose. I didn’t realize until he was gone how much I cared and respected this man. Even with his flaws, he was head and shoulders above most of these people we’ve come across in animal protection.
Don’t get me wrong. Merritt and I know some very awesome folks working tirelessly for animals. Gil was definitely one of them! And @
Sherry DeBoer, ♡ You know we love you! 🙂
I am honored by your love.
I worked for him 33 years and he was very nice to his employees.
No human being has ever been, or ever will be, perfect; we all have feet of clay. RIP Gil Michaels, and may he be remembered for his compassion and wisdom more than for his crimes.
Sharing with gratitude.
Such a bittersweet tale. Without knowing all the minutia, Gil seemed to have the integrity that many (larger) animal rights orgs lack to varying degrees. On the other hand, if he committed fraud, which takes careful planning, he was being ethically and legally wrong, even if $$ was used for animal causes. Do you know if he passed away while in prison? Very sad all around.
As the first sentence of our obituary explains, Gil Michaels died while on compassionate release from his four-year prison sentence.
We covered the 2002-2004 Exotic Newcastle disease outbreak in Southern California extensively, including generating press coverages and issuing Action Alerts. I flew from Maryland to LA for the meeting that we, together with the Association of Veterinarians (AVAR) arranged with local people whose birds of all varieties were being brutally killed by thugs hired by the CA Dept of Agriculture/USDA. Gil Michaels never donated a dime to United Poultry Concerns that I can recall. I can’t recall his ever expressing the slightest interest in UPC.
I do recall that he became petulant when The Animals Voice failed to become a money-making popular mainstream magazine, and because it didn’t, he withdrew his millions and abandoned it. For all his wealth and well-meaning. there were things Gil Michaels did not know or understand about animal rights efforts and obstacles.
We devoted more time and energy to the END outbreak in Southern CA than any other nonprofit that I know of. We worked closely with the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights on the issue and on the effort to get United Egg Producers and, finally, the American Veterinary Medical Association to revise their respective policy statements supporting this starvation practice to statements opposing the practice. That effort took 12 years, from 1992-2004.
——————-
Our campaign Re: END:
Special Report on Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) and the Mass …
http://www.upc-online.org › spring03 › end
Report on Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) and the Mass Killing of Birds … In January, California Gov. … In February, UPC President Karen Davis joined a meeting …
Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) and the Mass Killing of Birds Petition
http://www.upc-online.org › poultry diseases
Apr 4, 2003 … Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) and the Mass Killing of Birds Petition. WILLIAM H. DAILEY, SB#125141. Attorney at Law 8749 Holloway Drive
United Poultry Concerns Report & Action Alert Exotic Newcastle …
http://www.upc-online.org › alerts › 40303END
Apr 4, 2003 … “In an unscientific effort to prevent the spreading of END (exotic Newcastle disease), the task force kills all birds in an area where END …
News Release – United Poultry Concerns (UPC) and the AVAR …
http://www.upc-online.org › 020503newcastle
Under an order to eradicate Exotic Newcastle Disease (END), an epidemic virus originating in birds bred for cockfighting in Mira Loma, where it could have …
California and Nevada Use Questionable Tactics to Battle …
http://www.upc-online.org › poultry diseases › 013102newcastle
Jan 31, 2002 … The battle against Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) in U.S. poultry has taken a turn for the worse as the disease, previously found only in …
Action Alert -Tell the USDA to Stop Reimbursing Cockfighters with …
http://www.upc-online.org › alerts
Mar 19, 2003 … … to indemnify cockfighters who kill “game” birds suspected of exotic Newcastle disease (END), an infectious avian virus being fought with …
Action Alert: COCKFIGHTING HURTS MORE THAN JUST FIGHTING …
http://www.upc-online.org › alerts
Feb 27, 2003 … … federal and state authorities in response to an outbreak of Exotic Newcastle Disease (END), a highly contagious avian disease thought to …
Action Alert – Please Write a Letter Against Cockfighting
http://www.upc-online.org › alerts
Mar 10, 2003 … It promotes disease among birds and is currently costing taxpayers millions of dollars in the form of Exotic Newcastle Disease (END), …
UPC Spring 2003 Poultry Press – Volume 13, Number 1
http://www.upc-online.org › spring03
Special Report on Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) and the Mass Killing of Birds · Egg Company Threw 30,000 Hens Into Wood-Chipping Machines · Killer Pneumonia …
Poultry Diseases – United Poultry Concerns
http://www.upc-online.org › poultry_diseases
May 6, 2022 … … 4/04/03: United Poultry Concerns Report & Action Alert Exotic Newca
—————————-
Finally, it was United Poultry Concerns who exposed the AVMA Animal Welfare Committee member Gregg Cutler’s telling Ward Egg Farm in San Diego to throw their adult hens into woodchippers (calling it “quick” and “humane,” which the battery-caged hen farm did.
Karen Davis, PhD, President, United Poultry Concerns. http://www.upc-online.org
I’m revising this paragraph for clarity and hope you will post it in this comment section so that anyone who might read my comment will understand what I had meant to say. What I meant to say was:
We devoted more time and energy to the END outbreak in Southern CA than any other nonprofit that I know of. We worked closely with the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights on the issue and on the effort to get United Egg Producers and, finally, the recalcitrant American Veterinary Medical Association, to revise their respective policy statements, supporting the starvation practice known as force molting hens to manipulate the economics of egg production, to statements opposing the brutal starvation practice. That effort took 12 years, from 1992-2004.
To this edit, I would like to add that reading your account of Gil Michaels’ career does not endear him to me. His “chicken-shit” language and manipulative attempt to justify his fraudulent money-making scheme by deflecting the issue to how much he helped animal advocacy groups is in keeping with his peevish withdrawal of his money from The Animals Voice magazine. He appears to have genuinely wanted to help animals and to have empathized with their plight, but he also appears to have had an even stronger drive to be a bully and a poor sport when he sought or failed to get his way.
People with money often swagger into areas they know little about and try to assert their power, dictate terms, and flaunt their arrogance. A few times in the past 32 years, we have had to deal with such people who thought we would meekly surrender to their control in order to get their money. However, we did not want their money on their terms. We knew our business, and they did not.
Karen Davis, PhD, President, United Poultry Concerns. http://www.upc-online.org
Regardless of the convictions, he did make a significant impact on the animal protection world. This was indeed a bittersweet story.
Indeed, one could describe Gil as a man of convictions.
I did not know Gil Michaels well, but I thought him to be a good and compassionate person. He helped SHARK some, and helped many other groups as well. He cared. The world is poorer with him gone.
It is with great sorrow that I learn about Gil’s death in whose honesty and innocence I believe.
Since Gil contacted me, more than a decade ago, his contribution to the movement against bullfighting has been indefatigable. I have been a witness that his nearly 40-year support for animal rights continued until just days before he left this world.
Thanks to Gil, national summits of anti-bullfighting activists were held in Spain, Portugal, France, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, for greater union and coordination of the movement and, consequently, a better effectiveness of the courageous and valuable work of local groups. Gil also supported for some years several anti-bullfighting international summits in America and Europe.
In addition to contributing to these meetings of mutual learning and empowerment, Gil sponsored hundreds of projects of anti-bullfighting groups in all these countries, including two large demonstrations organized by the collective Tauromaquia es Violencia (Bullfighting is Violence) gathering more than 40,000 people in Madrid. Gil also co-produced the awarded film “Santa Fiesta” which portrays the cruelty of bullfighting festivities across Spain. He sponsored an international Symposium for the Protection of Children, at the Asemblée Nationale (French Parliament) in Paris with the participation of personalities from all around the world who, among other issues, stressed the need for banning children from participating in the violence of bullfighting. He also sponsored similar symposiums in the Parliaments of Peru, Ecuador and several Mexican states with tangible results. He sponsored a Congress of Spanish and French veterinarians on the suffering of the bull in bullfighting as well as the project Children for Animals, among many others.
Gil’s contribution to the work of activists and the subsequent near end of bullfighting is undeniable. Only in Spain, bullfighting activity has decreased 63% since 2007 (Spanish Ministry of Culture, 2019) and 81% of Spaniards are against it (Ipsos Mori, 2015). The end of bullfighting has never been closer in Mexico or Colombia and similar advances can be applied to the other countries.
But his help to animals goes back much further when in 1986 his life changed, awakening in him a new consciousness that he used to sum up in the phrase he included in all his communications: “We must not turn our eyes and hearts away from that which they cannot turn their bodies.” and vowed to devote himself body and soul to helping animals on all continents.
I couldn’t feel more fortunate and grateful to have come to know Gil and for the trust he placed in me in this fight against one of the worst forms of animal abuse in the world.
Gil, thank you on behalf of the thousands of the bulls, cows, steers, calves and heifers tortured and killed in bullfighting every year and for who you fought alongside with us. My heart will always be with you wherever you go. To you I shall dedicate every effort I make to continue helping the most forgotten beings on the planet, the animals. But we cannot help feeling like orphans, alone, without your help and company. Hopefully we will meet again one day, in another life, in another place, with the same purpose. My greatest affection and respect for you, my dear Gil.
I thank my sister and brothers in arms, the Animal Guardians antibullfighting team, Elideth Fernández from Mexico, Carlos Crespo from Colombia and Carlos and Alexandra Campaña from Ecuador for having shared with me the great responsibility of coordinating Gil’s help all these years; Laura Moretti and Judy Fisher for their support and patience; the members of the Plataforma La Tortura no Es Cultura (Torture Is Not Culture Collective) and the many other brothers and sisters from so many countries who make up the brave and tireless anti-bullfighting family. For the animals, for Gil, we shall continue to fight. For the animals, for Gil, we shall win.
For a world in which cruelty to animals never goes unpunished,
Marta Esteban Miñano
President, La Tortura No Es Cultura
Former Animal Guardians International Managing Director
Dear Gil, my heart is broken and that ones of the animals too. We will always remember you and in your memory we will continue fighting for your ideals and for our ideals. See you forever soon.
Creí siempre en su inocencia , fue sin duda un gran ser humano al servicio de los más vulnerables y desprotegidos de este mundo, los animales. Nos deja sin duda alguna un legado de amor y compromiso que en su nombre lo llevaremos en alto y con mucho orgullo. Querido Gil que encuentres la paz eterna y que en tu camino hacia la eternidad te acompañen todos los seres que pudiste salvar gracias a tu apoyo. Solo un hasta pronto, honraré por siempre tu memoria. El mundo ha perdido un gran hombre que fue doliente de los animales. QEPD
Translation:
I always believed in his innocence. He was undoubtedly a great human being at the service of the most vulnerable and unprotected in this world, the animals. Without a doubt, he leaves us a legacy of love and commitment that we will carry on high and with great pride in his name. Dear Gil, may you find eternal peace and may all the beings you were able to save thanks to your support accompany you on your way to eternity. Just a see you soon, I will forever honor your memory. The world has lost a great man who was a sufferer of animals. RIP
Gracias a Dios por la vida de Gil. Gracias por poner en su vida el valor del respeto por los animales de otras especies y por buscar ayudarlos, no esporádicamente, sino continuamente, en muchos países y con muchos recursos, dirigidos no solo a grandes multinacionales animalistas y sus campañas, sino a grupos de activistas de paises donde se trabaja con las uñas. Su aporte hizo robustecer procesos colectivos que siguen sus avances e irán logrando abolir formas específicas de explotación animal mas pronto que tarde. Gracias por haber podido ser parte del camino de Gil y Animal Guardians. Lamento mucho no haber podido conocer en persona a este gran humano, y no haber alcanzado a ofrecerle la satisfacción de la abolición en mi país, pero pronto lo conseguiremos y eres parte de esa historia por contar. Lamento además no haberle podido dar mensajes de aliento en medio de su enfermedad, sabiendolo, pero respetando su deseo y mayores acciones para mostrar su trayectoria en esos odiosos juicios, que solo mostraron que la inocencia puede ser condenada, o que como dice el nombre del artículo, Robin Hood siguió vigente para las causas justas. Su semilla rendirá frutos en el camino para abolir el especismo de nuestra sociedad. Gracias compañero. Una oración al cielo por Gil, que descanse en paz.
Translation:
Thank God for Gil’s life. Thank you for putting in your life the value of respect for animals of other species and for seeking to help them, not sporadically, but continuously, in many countries and with many resources, directed not only at large animalist multinationals and their campaigns, but at groups of activists from countries where you work with your nails. His contribution strengthened collective processes that follow his advances and will be able to abolish specific forms of animal exploitation sooner rather than later. Thank you for being able to be part of Gil and Animal Guardians’ journey. I am very sorry for not having been able to meet this great human in person, and not having been able to offer him the satisfaction of abolition in my country, but soon we will succeed and you are part of that story to tell. I also regret not having been able to give him messages of encouragement in the midst of his illness, knowing it, but respecting his wish and greater actions to show his trajectory in those hateful trials, which only showed that innocence can be condemned, or that as the name of the article, Robin Hood remained in force for just causes. Its seed will bear fruit on the way to abolish speciesism from our society. Thanks mate. A prayer to heaven for Gil, may he rest in peace.
I was fortunate enough to work for Gil for 11 years. He was one of the most caring and compassionate people I have ever known. He inspired me to become vegetarian and be more vocal about injustice. He epitomized gruff compassion 🙂 He may have been small in stature, but NOT small in action and heart!! He was fierce as shit!!! He was so eloquent and I could listen to him talk about anything because he would become so impassioned I couldn’t be anything but rapt. I miss you and love you, Gil. This world is a much darker place without you in it. Love, Samanda.
I was Gil’s Pilates trainer for several years, seeing him 3-4 hours per week during our heyday. He was very committed to anything he set his mind to: fitness, business and certainly animal advocacy. He practiced what he preached – he never ate or wore animal products. He would even convert his girlfriends to vegetarianism. I love this article because all the quotes are so true to Gil. He did not mince words. He did not suffer fools. We always had a great time during our sessions. He had a lot of energy, and loved to work out hard, but also to chat. He definitely had the gift of gab. I’m originally from Tennessee and he from Kentucky, so we would talk about the South, his time in the navy, dating, and politics. Although he was very opinionated, he was open to listening to the other side of an argument. I would joke that I should takes notes during our sessions to turn it all into a book one day, but I never imagined that day would come so quickly. I last saw Gil in April. We had a vegetarian dinner at his home. He still had so much energy even though his health was failing. I was thinking about him so much the week before he died. I regret not texting him, even just a little hello. Rest In Peace, Gilly. You will be missed by all of us at Natural Pilates.
I have been in the copier repair business since the early 1990s and I remember hearing about these people who would charge crazy high prices for toners and get away with it. This was pre-Internet times, so I can see how they got away with it, but now it would be almost impossible because people just check prices online.