Jessica Kelly—who, along with Sue Rountree, runs Cat Trap Fever, a nonprofit focused on improving the lives of feral cats, chiefly in Pinellas County—recounts the “hodgepodge” of jobs she held before devoting herself to long days of TNVR: Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate,...
Jason Schramm--a web developer and founder of Veg Groups, where he creates websites intended to help people go vegan, stay vegan, or become informed on vegan-oriented events, or films, on his VegMovies site—notes that he got deeply into computers as a seventh...
Carey Theil, executive director of GREY2K USA Worldwide, the largest greyhound protection organization in the world, and Rory Goree, who for many years ran the largest industry-funded greyhound adoption group, Greyhound Pets of America, explain how--as former...
Dr. Faraz Harsini--biomedical scientist and speaker at the 2023 Tampa Bay Veg Fest—remembers growing up in Iran, including a possible foreshadowing of his future activism, when participating in a student protest of the country’s leadership resulted in his being...
Pete Walsh--who lives in Tasmania, where he found himself becoming deeply concerned about the plight of local platypuses in the capital city of Hobart, part of narrative that unfolds in “The Platypus Guardian,” a documentary kicking off the new season of the PBS...
Ann Paul--an organizer of the Florida Birding and Nature Festival, a multifaceted, multi-day extravaganza, scheduled to take place Oct. 12-15, in and around Apollo Beach, Florida—revisits, at my request, the story of her first real foray into birding, and how...
Mark Meyers--founder and executive director of Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, the largest donkey rescue operation in the U.S.—recalls how it all began, when he and his wife brought home a donkey named Izzy as a companion for their horse. That was nearly a quarter...
Dr. Catherine Macdonald--a marine conservation biologist and assistant professor at the University of Miami, who conducts, and oversees, research on sharks—recalls a childhood less enamored of the sea, at first, than of mud. This, Macdonald says, was part of being...
Susan Hanus--executive director of Cat Depot, a unique feline-only shelter in Sarasota—recalls when she first became a cat person. Hanus has remained staunchly feline-friendly ever since, though, she explains, she stopped living with them when it turned out one of...
Kathy Finelli--the director of Gainesville Rabbit Rescue (GRR), a nonprofit organization founded in 1998 by two University of Florida students—recalls how her involvement with GRR began 20-plus years ago, when she sought their help after finding a domestic rabbit...
