Melissa Zepeda–an attorney and accomplished animal rights advocate, with a notable breadth of interests and topics that have animated her activism—recalls growing up in family that revered animals, then being stopped in her tracks when a fellow high school debate-club member asked her how Zepeda could love her dog yet eat a hamburger. 
Zepeda not only didn’t recoil at that challenge, but instantly agreed–she stopped eating meat–recounting that her friend’s question struck her as perfectly sound in the ways of debate-club logic. In that same part of the conversation, she mentioned participating in a circus protest while in college, pointing out that her Mom attended exactly one circus show before realizing that it imperiled the performing animals, refusing to ever again enter the big top. Concern for animal welfare clearly runs in the family. Zepeda confirms my suspicion that her chief motivation for going to law school was to become a more effective animal advocate, while clarifying that her activism is wholly separate from her day job as a corporate lawyer. (She opted not to identify the company she works for.) This, and other exchanges, served as a prelude to an extended discussion of Amendment 2, a Florida ballot measure that would provide a state constitutional right to hunt and fish, and that
those activities are the preferred means for—in a pivotal phrase—“responsibly managing and controlling fish and wildlife….” Zepeda has closely studied and analyzed Amendment 2, becoming steeped in the measure, and she’s slated to share her expertise, and her opposition to 2, in a talk at the Tampa Bay Veg Fest, happening Nov. 2 at Perry Harvey Sr. Park. While noting Floridians currently can already hunt and fish with impunity—raising the question: Why is there a need for a state constitutional right?–Zepeda articulates the pitfalls of the measure, capping it off with what she calls its “booby trap.” This part of the “Talking Animals” conversation functioned as a sneak preview of her Veg Fest lecture, scheduled to get underway at 11:30am. (https://www.tampabayvegfest.com/, https://noto2.org/)
ALSO: I spoke briefly with Jason Cowen, executive director of Friends of Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, one of the organizations participating in this unusual–yet highly significant–upcoming fundraiser, “Brews for Birds.” It’s a beer crawl scheduled to take place on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2pm to 6pm-ish, Cowen explained, involving four St. Pete beer dispensaries, raising money—shared amongst four bird-oriented organizations (Seaside Seabird Sanctuary, St. Pete Audubon, Suncoast Sierra Club, Boyd Hill)—in an effort to help protect raptors from rodenticides. The monies generated will fund lab tests to analyze some of these cases. Cowen mentioned that “Brews for Birds”—tickets are a $25 donation–will additionally serve as a separate benefit of sorts for Seaside Seabird Sanctuary, which sustained considerable damage in the wake of Hurricane Helene’s ferocious onslaught. (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/brews-for-birds-tickets-1002079616107, https://seasideseabirdsanctuary.org/, https://www.stpeteaudubon.org/, https://www.sierraclub.org/, https://www.stpeteparksrec.org/boydhillpreserve/)
COMEDY CORNER: Matt Braunger’s “Panda Butler” (https://www.mattbraunger.com/)
MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” instrumentals
NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE: We didn’t play “Name That Animal Tune” today.
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