Julie Lewin



“As a lobbyist for more than a decade, I learned important lessons that we must heed. First, most legislators’ votes about animals are unknown by the vast majority of their constituents who care, leaving opponents of humane laws and ordinances in control. Second, state, county, city and town laws, ordinances and policies allow institutional and legal forms of animal abuse, because our lawmakers have not been held accountable for their actions by an informed humane constituency. Third, inhumane laws and policies do not reflect the views of the majority, but rather the interests of politically strong anti-animal minorities and commercial animal-exploiting interests. Fourth, this will not change until lawmakers know that members of political organizations for animals will hold them accountable at the polls on Election Day.”

Julie Lewin founded NIFAA to fill two critical voids in animal rescue and rights advocacy: the lack of a political culture and the absence of political training for animal rescue and rights individuals and organizations. Julie began her activism for animals as a volunteer. She convinced Cleveland Amory, president and founder of The Fund for Animals, to make a full-time job for her in Connecticut, where she became the animal rights lobbyist in the Connecticut statehouse. Julie also has been a contract lobbyist for the ASPCA, Animal Welfare Advocacy and the Connecticut Humane Society.

Julie also has been a daily feral cat rescuer in Hartford’s inner-city, a newspaper reporter, a nationally published magazine feature and opinion piece writer, a publicist, a public speaker, and a community organizer. Julie has been involved in state and local politics. She has been a political trainer and has given media workshops. She has been executive assistant to the commissioner of a state agency in Hartford, Connecticut, a legislative researcher in the state Capitol building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and staff of a national environmental organization.

Julie is a sought-after speaker at animal advocacy events. In 2005 she was a presenter at the Lewis and Clark Law School’s National Center on Animal Law in Portland, Oregon, The Humane Society of the U.S.’s national conference “Taking Action for Animals,” the GARC Grassroots Animal Rights Coalition in New York City, the Las Vegas Valley Humane Society, and other venues. Early in 2006 the Animal Legal Defense Fund invited her to appear as its guest speaker at the Yale Law School’s Student Animal Legal Defense Fund chapter. In August 2006 she was a featured speaker at Farm Sanctuary’s annual Hoe-Down.

Julie’s animal rights archive The University of Massachusetts, Amherst has just received Julie’s collected papers to establish a Julie E. Lewin collection on animal rights.

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