|
Speakers Listed below are the individuals who will be speaking at this year's conference. |
|
 |
Brian Barnard Brian Barnard has been an invaluable legal resource for animal advocates in Utah for a over a decade. He has brought multiple successful lawsuits on behalf of animal advocates and animal protection organizations against Davis County, Park City, South Jordan, the state of Utah, and others. He continues to advise animal activists on their legal rights and offer pro bono litigation services whenever possible. |
 |
Jeremy Beckham Jeremy Beckham has been an advocating for animal rights since he was 15 years old. He attracted national attention to the plight of the live bears used as mascots at Baylor University when he attended debate camp there in high school. In 2004, he spent three months traveling to each of the eight National Primate Research Centers around the country to hold week-long vigils outside the laboratory entrances. Now at the University of Utah, he is involved with the Primate Freedom Project, which has successfully fought legal battles to gain access to documents relating to their expanding primate research program. |
 |
Owen Carroll For most of the past 21 turns of the seasons, Owen Carroll has been living and hiking in the Wasatch Front and other areas of the Great Basin, Rocky Mountains, and Colorado Plateau. This experience has not only cemented his love for wild places but has also shaped his perception and resolve to ensure the preservation and resurrection of healthy ecoregions. He is currently an undergraduate Environmental Studies major at the University of Utah working to build a foundation of knowledge which he can apply towards generating momentum towards the creation of sustainable and autonomous communities. |
 |
Gregory Castle Gregory is one of the founders of Best Friends Animal Society, and is president of No More Homeless Pets in Utah. He initiated Utah's Week for the Animals. The week, now in its fourteenth year, includes educational and public awareness programs, special discount spay/neuter services, pet adoption fairs, and public service awards. Gregory grew up in England and is a graduate of Cambridge University with a master's degree in philosophy and psychology. His background includes extensive administrative and accounting work for non-profit human services and church organizations. |
 |
Faith Ching Faith Ching is the founder and executive director of Ching Farm Rescue and Sanctuary, Utah’s only farm animal rescue. She founded the sanctuary to advocate for farm animals through rescue, education, and adoption and placement services, realizing that the plight of farmed species doesn’t receive the same attention as does the plight of traditional companion animals like cats and dogs. Her advocate work has been helping to change perceptions of farm animals in the Wasatch Front, creating a deeper respect for the rich emotional lives of these animals. |
 |
Nick Cooney Nick Cooney is the director of Hugs for Puppies, a Philadelphia-based animal rights organization that campaigns for farm, lab, and companion animals. HFP combines hard-hitting corporate campaigns (with a current focus on foie gras) with extensive vegan outreach, as well as humane education and animal rescue, and has received extensive coverage in local and national media for their work and victories for animals. |
 |
Daniel Dew Bio Coming Soon. |
 |
Christine Garcia Christine Garcia is the vegan founder and lead counsel of The Animal Law Office. Aside from litigating for animal rights as well as defending and suing on behalf of animal rights activists, she also produces and directs the television show Ethics and Animals which airs every other Tuesday in San Francisco. Currently, Christine is legislating for new laws for animals as a Commissioner on the San Francisco Animal Control and Welfare Commission. |
 |
Luke Glowacki Luke Glowacki is a doctoral student whose research focuses on evolutionary explanations of human behavior. His recent work has been concerned with how foraging and subsistence populations may increase our understanding of how early humans solved adaptive problems. He has also done research in human rights theory, environmental ethics, and cognitive science and believes all his research interests have some bearing on understanding the relationship and obligations humans may have to nonhumans. When he's not reading, he can usually be found in the desert of southern Utah. |
 |
Kelly Green Kelly has been involved in animal rights for over 18 years and helped form the group Salt Lake Animal Activism Movement (SLAAM). She has played in and toured with several internationally-recognized vegan bands, having the opportunity to introduce many to the vegan lifestyle. She currently helps manage a vegan-friendly boutique for companion animals and is the co-owner of Salt Lake's first all-vegan bakery--which will soon be opening its first retail location. Kelly recently gave birth to her first child and is raising him as a vegan. |
 |
Colleen Hatfield Colleen Hatfield is the regional director of SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) and has spearheaded successful rodeo and foie gras campaigns here in Utah. She is often known as Salt Lake's resident vegan realtor, and has performed countless acts of activism on behalf of animals. In 2002, she followed the Olympic Torch around the country with a video truck showing footage from rodeos in protest of the Salt Lake City sponsorship of rodeos. Currently, she works on public outreach campaigns regarding foie gras and speaks at local high schools on the benefits of a vegan diet. |
 |
Steve Hindi As a "sportsman," Steve has hunted many species of animals both on land and in the sea. He killed for thirty years until the life-shattering day in 1989 when, en route to a shark hunting trip in the Atlantic Ocean, he attended the infamous Hegins Labor Day pigeon shoot in Pennsylvania. In the 19 years that have followed, Steve's accomplishments for animals have been tremendous and inspiring. He has formed the animal protection organization SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) in 1993 which has truly shaken up the rodeo industry with its hidden camera investigations. SHARK is probably also most famous for the "Tiger Truck" - an enormous truck fitted with 100 inch TV screens. Rolling through towns and cities across the country, it shows people the realities of animal abuse in slaughterhouses, rodeos, circuses, foie gras farms, and laboratories. |
 |
Rob Hutton Rob Hutton has been involved with many organizations and worked in a variety of capacities in the name of animal rights. He campaigned against Huntington Life Sciences and their associates with local activists in Washington, DC. With organizations such as Compassion Over Killing and PETA, he focused a great deal of his efforts on outreach and promoting animal rights. In 2005, Rob had the opportunity to directly help suffering animals in post-Katrina New Orleans. In 2006, Rob cared for monkeys after their neglect at Texas-based Primarily Primates. Most notably he has also documented and exposed the cruelty and neglect of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey circus as an investigator following the circus across the country. |
 |
Rhonda Kamper Rhonda Kamper began lobbying for animals after her husband tortured their dog Henry in May 2006. At the time of the torture, such acts were punishable only at a misdemeanor level. She quickly became a co-founder of Help Us Help Them. With Henry at the helm, Help Us Help Them began the fight over "Henry's Law" - a bill to stiffen the animal cruelty statutes in the State of Utah and the battle over what would become known as "Henry's Law". Recently Utah became the 44th State to have a first offense felony provision on the books. Unfortunately, it is a compromise bill that does nothing more than just that. Rhonda Kamper and Help Us Help Them now begin to garner and identify the constituency support to toughen this ridiculously weak law. |
 |
Amy Meyer In cowboy country Cody, Wyoming, Amy Meyer first became a vegan in March of 2006 and has committed her life to animal activism since. In less than two years, she has protested for animal rights in no fewer than 13 states. In the summer of 2007, while touring the East coast protesting affiliates of the notorious vivisection lab Huntingdon Life Sciences, she was harassed and arrested by Naussau County Police and charged with "Loitering" at a protest. The day after being released from jail, she was protesting HLS again. Now at the University of Utah majoring in Gender and Environment Studies, Amy is the president of Student Organization for Animal Rights (SOAR). She works heavily on researching and writing information on primate researchers around the country and consistently attends animal rights events and demonstrations. |
 |
Jerry Vlasak Jerry Vlasak, MD is a board-certified surgeon specializing in trauma and critical care. He is a former vivisector who has seen the agony of animals in laboratories. He debates the scientific invalidity of animal experimentation around the world, speaks out about the benefits of a vegan diet and offers lectures on the right of all sentient beings to live free of pain and suffering. His essays and interviews have been published in numerous journals and magazines and he has been interviewed on radio, TV and in print by journalists worldwide regarding animal rights. He resides in Los Angeles. |
 |
Peter Young Peter Young is a former political prisoner sentenced to a two year prison term in 2005 for releasing and conspiracy to release thousands of mink from fur farms across the Midwest in 1997. Recently released after 7 years on the FBI's wanted list and a 24 month federal prison sentence, this veteran activist is an emerging voice of strength through sacrifice in the struggle for animal liberation. Now returned to the world on this side of the fence, Peter Young brings with him an arresting story; speaking on the subjects of political repression, animal liberation, politicized prosecutions, the prison experience, and more. |
 |
| Donations to SLAAM are not tax-deductible for federal income tax purposes. |
Friday April 25th, 5:00 PM Animal Rights March to the University of Utah Campus, then to the Labs There will be a pre-protest briefing in the Auditorium of the SLC main library at 4:45 PM to discuss this activity. Sunday April 27th, 1:00 AM - 3:00 AM Candlelight vigil on the campus of the University of Utah More information will be available at the conference. Click Here for More Information |