Jennifer works in the Advocacy and Outreach Department as the PAWS Campaign and Legislative Coordinator. She has worked at PAWS for almost 4 years. Jennifer has both a college and a graduate degree and had prior experience working to make people aware of environmental issues working for Greenpeace.

One of Jennifer’s priorities at PAWS is thinking of creative ways to educate people about the lives of animals in the circus, on factory farms, in shelters etc. She answers a lot of calls from the Public wanting to help animals that are neglected or abused and works with police officers, prosecutors and Animal Control officers to make the right decisions about animal abusers. Jennifer also works to design, change and get passed laws that help protect animals from being exploited and abused and talks to legislators in Olympia and in different cities to help get these laws passed. She attends a lot of meetings and spends a lot of time on the computer too!

Jennifer likes the interaction with legislators, city officials, the public and leaders of other animal organizations. She likes being able to change laws and to see the effect that the PAWS message of helping animals has on people, whether it involves less people going to the circus every year or more people going vegetarian every year.

Jennifer tells us about her most rewarding experience at PAWS. “The most rewarding experience I have every year is standing outside the entrances to where circuses are about to perform and actually having people read our information about the sad lives of circus elephants, tigers, bears and lions and then tell us that they are not going to go inside - that they have changed their minds about wanting to support a circus that uses wild animals!”