Liberty Mulkani
My first experience with humane education was in fifth grade. Ms. Ayres, who taught the enrichment program in my local school district, introduced our class to the shocking realities of product testing on animals and factory farming. I had always loved animals and couldn’t justify participating in these cruel industries after learning the truth; from that point on I decided to go vegetarian and avoid products that were tested on animals. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, my experience in Ms. Ayres’ class was the impetus for my path towards humane education.
After graduating from university with a theatre degree, fate brought me to California where I finally came back to my animal protection roots and landed a job with the Animal Legal Defense Fund. I assumed that this path would eventually lead me to law school to work on behalf of animals, but something kept holding me back from pursuing that goal. While searching for further educational opportunities I stumbled across the Institute for Humane Education (IHE) website. I remember reading through the description for the M.Ed. in Humane Education program and feeling like it had been written for me! I knew immediately that this was the program I had been looking for.
After my first semester of the M.Ed. program, I moved back to Vancouver, B.C., and became involved with a fledgling humane education program at the Vancouver Humane Society (VHS). As part of the Humane Education Committee at VHS, I was able to help develop and deliver the new program to dozens of high school classes in the Vancouver area, as well as students attending a Jane Goodall Roots and Shoots conference in Victoria, B.C. Although the VHS humane education program unfortunately came to an unexpected end a few years ago, I have continued to be involved with the great work of VHS as the President of their Board of Directors.
I have also expanded my humane education work into a new area: planning animal law events for the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) and the Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) at Lewis & Clark Law School. I currently help plan an annual Animal Law Conference at Lewis & Clark, which takes place every fall in Portland, Oregon. The conference, in its 20th year, welcomes hundreds of law students, professors, attorneys, and interested citizens from across the U.S., Canada, and other international locations to learn about the various hot topics in the field. I also help plan the annual National Animal Law Competitions, which brings law students from across the country to participate in an appellate moot court, closing argument, and/or legislative drafting and lobbying competitions – all focused on animal law topics! Last but certainly not least, I help plan ALDF’s tri-annual Future of Animal Law Conference, which welcomes over 300 attendees to learn about the current landscape as well as the future of this exciting field.
Although my humane education path has not led me to the traditional teaching field, I am very thankful to have the opportunity to bring important information and experience about animal law to the future lawyers, judges, professors, and citizens I’m in contact with.
Watch and share IHE President, Zoe Weil's TEDx talk -- an inspiring vision of how to create a just, compassionate, healthy world for all through solutionary education.
July 14, 2012 - 8:30 am to July 14, 2012 - 5:00 pm | Location: Institute for Humane Education
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