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Armaiti
May is
a house-call veterinarian for dogs and
cats in the Los Angeles and a
practicing Zoroastrian. Dr. May
graduated from the University of
California, Davis School of Veterinary
Medicine in 2005 and is now certified
in veterinary acupuncture.
Armaiti became a vegan and animal
advocate while a student at UC
Berkeley. She plans to eventually have
her own vegan-friendly integrative
veterinary center. She is an avid
supporter of educational vegan outreach
and humane education programs.
Dr. May serves on the Board of
Directors for United Animal Nations, an
animal welfare organization dedicated
to bringing animals out of crisis
situations and into care. She has
spoken about veganism at several
Zoroastrian and animal rights
conferences.
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Brianne
Donaldson
is
a 2nd year doctoral student in the
Philosophy of Religion at Claremont
Graduate University, with an emphasis
on Process Studies, Animal Ethics and
the Neurobiology of Empathy. She is
interested in how a new paradigm for
the human-animal relationship can
transform power structures in Western
society. Brianne is an Associate
Fellow with the Oxford Centre for
Animal Ethics and is the Southern
California Outreach Coordinator for
Vegan
Outreach,
an international non-profit farm animal
welfare organization that distributes
booklets about factory farming and
compassionate eating at campuses and
public events around the
world.
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Joseph
J.
Lynch
is an Associate Professor of Philosophy
at California Polytechnic State
University, San Luis Obispo. He
has published several articles
examining the relationship between
humans and animals and is currently the
editor of Between
the
Species,
an online journal for the study of
philosophy and animals.
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Lorri
Houston
is considered the “pioneer”
of the farmed animal sanctuary
movement. In 1986, she opened the
country’s first shelter for farmed
animals as co-founder of Farm
Sanctuary, at a time when rescuing and
protecting farmed animals was unheard
of. For three years, she sold soy dogs
at Grateful Dead concerts to pay for
the organization’s rescue and
shelter work, and even lived in a
school bus to make ends meet. As
President and Executive Director of
Farm Sanctuary for 18 years, she helped
Farm Sanctuary grow from an
organization of three – one sheep
and two humans – to an
organization of over 50 employees,
thousands of members, and of course,
hundreds of rescued farmed animals.
Over the years, Lorri has directly
saved thousands of animals from the
cruelties of factory farming, and
brought national attention to the
plight of animals used for “food
production.” Her work has been
featured in hundreds of national and
state news reports, and she has been
featured in several documentaries. In
2005, Lorri formed the nonprofit
organization, Animal Acres opening the
Los Angeles Farmed Animal Sanctuary and
Compassionate Living Center. In just
four short years, Animal Acres has
grown into one of Southern
California’s premier animal
protection organizations.
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Marti
Kheel is
a prominent writer and activist in the
areas of ecofeminism, animal advocacy
and environmental ethics. Her articles
have been widely published in journals
and anthologies both within the United
States and abroad. Her
book, Nature Ethics: An
Ecofeminist Perspective has been hailed
as a “groundbreaking contribution
to the literature and a must read for
anyone concerned with the links among
environment ethics, animal liberation,
and feminist critique of male cultural
bias.” She holds a doctorate from
the Graduate Theological Union in
Berkeley and is a visiting scholar at
the Department of Environmental
Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM),
University of California,
Berkeley.
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Erin
Payne is
drawn to merging the human with the
natural and animal worlds. With a
background in both art and science,
Erin focuses her work on the human
capacity for both consumption and
compassion and examines the ways in
which these dualities relate to our
relationship with the flora and fauna
of our planet. In these paintings she
imagines a dreamlike place where the
illusion of separateness is removed and
the realms of human and animal overlap,
communicate and collide.
Erin
holds a BA from The Evergreen State
College, in Environmental Education and
a BFA from The School of the Art
Institute of Chicago in Painting and
Drawing. She is currently an MFA
candidate in the Studio Art department
at Claremont Graduate University. Her
paintings have been included in
numerous exhibitions locally,
nationally, and are part of many
private collections.
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Keynote
Speaker: Paul Berry
The
manner in which Paul
Berry describes himself is key to
his personality, “I’m a
father, husband, puppy hugger, and
'peas' activist. I’m also a closet
cat lady.” Last summer, the
free-spirited Berry embarked on what
evolved into a three-month motorcycle
tour, circling the country, in an
effort to catch the pulse of the animal
movement, from coast to coast ---- to
coast --- to coast. In the process, he
came to realize that animal groups had
a deep need for a customized
organizational development model which
would allow them to optimize the work
they do for animals and maximize the
results they could realize. His years
as CEO of Best Friends Animal Society
served him well as he embarked on a new
career as the President and CEO of
Humane Associates, a consulting
collective dedicated to optimizing the
efficacy of organizations dedicated to
the needs of animals.
With
his early roots in the movement deeply
imbedded in addressing animal cruelty
and pet overpopulation in pre-Katrina
New Orleans, he was a first-responder
on that fateful day years later. While
the eyes of the world were on the
people of New Orleans, Paul and his
team were busy erecting the first
temporary animal shelter in the
flood-ravaged city. By the time he and
his team returned to Best Friends, he
had helped rescue over 6,000 displaced
animals.
Paul
was instrumental in brokering National
Geographic’s DogTown TV series,
busted several high-profile hoarders
and puppy mills along the way --- and
played a pivotal role in saving the
Michael Vick dogs from destruction ---
forcing the story about their plight
and their rehabilitation; many now
reveling in loving adoptive homes.
Paul
believes that whenever there’s
lasting renewal or evolution of
progress in our society, it always
begins with innovation from the grass
roots. Such was the case when his
vision resulted in the gathering of
over thirty leaders of faith from more
than twenty faith traditions who
created an unprecedented interfaith
document, “A Religious
Proclamation for Animal
Compassion,” unveiled in
Washington, D.C., in November of 2007.
Further
along those grass roots lines, Berry
has been drafted to develop the
platform and campaign strategies for
the fledgling Humane Party --- the
first ever political party dedicated to
running local and national candidates
who espouse humane values.
Paul
and his wife Tamara continue to reside
in Utah’s golden triangle with two
daughters and a houseful of beloved
animals. Not bad for a closet cat lady!
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