'Never give up' - What Jane Goodall Told Us on her 85th Birthday
From All-Creatures.org Animal Rights/Vegan Activist Strategies Articles Archive

FROM Kevin Schneider, The NonhumanRights Project.org
May 2019

Dr. Jane Goodall's scientific discoveries have changed the way we view and treat nonhuman animals.

Jane Goodall and Steven Wise

Hello from everyone at the Nonhuman Rights Project! As you may know, last month was the 85th birthday of NhRP founding board member Dr. Jane Goodall, whose scientific discoveries have changed the way we view and treat nonhuman animals. To celebrate her life’s work, the Los Angeles City Council, upon the recommendation of the NhRP and Los Angeles City Councilmembers Paul Koretz and Mitch O’Farrell, declared April 3rd “Jane Goodall Day.” During the presentation, Dr. Goodall delivered one of her famous pant-hoots, “[bringing] the voice of the chimpanzee into [Los Angeles City Hall] … for the very first time.”

That is a welcome greeting any day of the week, but especially so for the NhRP in LA—the official home base of our West Coast operations—as we prepare to bring the fight for nonhuman animal rights to California later this year. Stay tuned for news about our first-ever legislative campaign; we’ll definitely need your help!

If there’s one thing I know as Executive Director of the NhRP, it’s that we’ll never give up. It’s simply not in our DNA, and when you’re fighting for rights, especially the right to liberty, you settle for nothing less. That’s why Steve stood before a panel of judges in Hartford, Connecticut on Earth Day to argue for freedom and sanctuary for our elephant clients Beulah, Karen, and Minnie (click here for a video of the hearing), and why Steve recently told The New Statesman, “We’re not trying to win on technicalities here. This is a full-on assault that is political, legal, historic, moral, economic, religious.”

That’s also why, on June 1st in the Bronx, we will hold our first rally for our elephant client Happy’s freedom, calling on the Bronx Zoo to release her to an elephant sanctuary where she can live freely and with peace and dignity for the first time in decades. After a legal battle in Orleans County—the world’s first-ever habeas corpus hearing on behalf of an elephant—Happy’s case is now headed to Bronx County (stay tuned for updates). I’ll be at the rally along with other NhRP staff and speakers from supporting organizations. Learn more and share here, and if you plan to be in NYC at that time, please join us if you can!

Return to: Animal Rights/Vegan Activist Strategies