Photo credit: Jennifer Brown/The Star-Ledger

Out of all the heartbreaking stories of animal abuse which happen by their thousands every day … every now and then one stands out and becomes a symbol for them all.

This is one and it’s about Patrick, a one-year-old pit bull in Newark, NJ, who was starved and thrown down a trash chute of a high-rise apartment. He was found alive by a maintenance worker who saw the trash bag he’d been dumped in suddenly move.

Cory Booker, Newark’s mayor and a vegetarian, was moved by Patrick’s story. He announced in a video that his birthday wish was to honour Patrick with a new state of the art animal shelter in Newark. The campaign has raised more than $30,000. Of course, much more is needed. It’s clear from Cory’s video he understand a concern for animals is not only about our treatment of them but of our selves.