How to Start an Animal Advocacy Group and Get Results: Lessons from Pennsylvania Voters for Animals
Release Date: 11/05/2025
How Animal Protection Laws Really Get Passed: Lessons from Texas
The Animal Advocate
Passing animal protection laws is rarely as simple as drafting a good bill and building public support. In this episode, Penny Ellison speaks with Shelby Bobosky of the Texas Humane Legislation Network about what legislative advocacy really looks like in one of the toughest political environments in the country. They explore the unglamorous but essential work of stopping harmful bills, why unexpected allies—from sheriffs to hunters—often determine success, and how enforceability shapes whether laws help animals or quietly fail. Drawing on Texas examples, including the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act...
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Understanding Animal Shelters: Roles, Challenges, and Misconceptions
The Animal Advocate
Encore episode: This conversation onte different types of animal shelters and how they function has come up repeatedly in recent discussions about social media, advocacy, and public expectations — so we’re resurfacing it for new listeners as well as longtime listeners. In this episode of The Animal Advocate, we dive into animal sheltering. Learn about the different types of shelters - from municipal facilities to private SPCAs to foster-based rescues - and understand their unique roles, challenges, and contributions to animal welfare. We explain how these organizations work together...
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How to Help Animal Shelters on Social Media: Do’s and Don’ts from Shelter Staff
The Animal Advocate
If you follow your local animal shelter on social media, your engagement can help save lives—but some well-intended comments and shares make things harder for shelter staff and reduce the chance that animals find homes. In this episode, Penny Ellison shares what shelter staff say actually helps on social media—and what doesn’t—drawing on feedback from people who manage shelter accounts every day and years of experience inside animal welfare organizations. In this episode, we discuss: How comments can unintentionally stall adoptions Why “cross-posting” and tagging rescues often...
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Beyond Dog Walking: How to Help Animal Shelters in Ways They Actually Need
The Animal Advocate
You don't need to walk dogs, handle animals, or commit to weekly shifts to help shelters. But thinking you do? That's why shelters are buried in work volunteers could easily handle. Many people want to help but feel limited by time, emotional bandwidth, or training requirements. This episode looks at the behind-the-scenes support shelters consistently say they need—administrative work, laundry, food programs, creative help, community outreach—the kind of work that keeps shelters functioning day to day. In this episode: Why some well-intended volunteer help creates more work instead of...
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Why French Bulldogs Can't Breathe: The Truth About Breeding for Looks
The Animal Advocate
Everyone loves French Bulldogs. But behind those adorable bat ears and smushed faces lies a troubling reality: many of these dogs struggle to breathe every single day of their lives. Host Penny Ellison, animal law professor and advocate, examines how selective breeding for appearance has created dogs predisposed to suffering—and what we can do about it. In this episode, we explore: What selective breeding is and how the shift from breeding for function to breeding for looks has harmed dogs Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS)—why flat-faced dogs can't breathe properly and...
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What Animal Advocates Can Learn from The World of Wine
The Animal Advocate
What can animal advocates learn from the world of wine? At first glance, the connection isn’t obvious. One is associated with pleasure and tradition; the other with reducing suffering and changing law and policy. But the comparison turns out to be more revealing than it seems. This episode examines what the world of wine understands about persuasion, patience, and human behavior—and what animal advocacy can learn from it. Not wine itself, but the way the wine world has learned how to invite people in, keep them engaged, and let interest deepen over time. Drawing on examples from animal law...
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Free Adoptions: Do Fees Really Protect Animals?
The Animal Advocate
Do adoption fees really protect animals — or do they just make us feel better? For years, many in animal welfare have believed that adoption fees act as a safeguard: if someone can’t afford the fee, how will they afford the pet? Free adoptions, the argument goes, invite impulse decisions and bad outcomes. In this episode, I explain why I once believed that too — and why I’ve changed my mind. Drawing on my experience working directly with shelters, serving on the board of the Pennsylvania SPCA, and running programs that connect people and animals, I examine what actually happens during...
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Her Name Is Tangi: Why Housing Policy Is Animal Welfare Policy
The Animal Advocate
When a dog ends up in a taped-shut box outside a shelter, it’s not a single-issue problem — it’s a sign of how many pressures families and animals are facing right now. In this episode, Penny shares why she set aside her planned topic to talk about the growing number of families forced to give up pets because they can’t find or keep housing that allows them. Tangi’s story illustrates what’s happening across the country, and why advocates need to treat this as a housing issue just as much as an animal welfare issue. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why cases like Tangi’s are...
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When Cruelty Laws Collide With Inaccessible Vet Care: What Advocates Can Do
The Animal Advocate
Cruelty laws require pet owners to provide necessary veterinary care, but in many communities that care is financially or geographically out of reach—and the law offers no workable way to address that gap. In this episode, I examine what happens when statutes mandate “necessary veterinary care,” but many communities face barriers such as high cost, lack of clinics, transportation challenges, or the absence of a veterinarian accepting new clients. We cover: Why inability—not unwillingness—to access treatment is often the real issue How veterinary deserts, clinic shortages,...
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Ending Cat Declawing: Which States Are Enacting Bans in 2025?
The Animal Advocate
Declawing isn’t a nail trim—it’s the amputation of the last bone of each toe. In this episode, I break down what the procedure involves, the states banning it, and what advocates should know about the growing movement to end it. We cover: What declawing is—and why it's far more invasive than most owners realize Documented health impacts: chronic pain, nerve damage, back problems, and behavioral changes Why declawed cats bite more often, and how that affects human health The seven states that have enacted statewide bans, plus pending bills in Minnesota, Illinois, and...
info_outlineThink you need a law degree or years of experience to pass animal protection laws? Suzanne Gonzalez started Pennsylvania Voters for Animals with no legislative background and helped pass a comprehensive pet sales ban in Easton, PA. Host Penny Ellison shares their step-by-step blueprint that any group of committed advocates can replicate.
In this episode, we explore:
- Why forming a 501(c)(4) instead of a 501(c)(3) gave Pennsylvania Voters for Animals more legislative power—and how to get pro bono legal help setting up your own organization
- The research shortcut: How to use other cities' successful ordinances as your starting point instead of reinventing the wheel
- Why local advocacy works better than jumping straight to state legislation—and how to mobilize community members to show up and testify
- Strategic partnerships that accelerate success: How Pennsylvania Voters for Animals connected with Voters for Animal Rights, Animal Defense Partnership, and World Animal Protection US
- How to handle opposition from the pet trade industry—and when to compromise without abandoning your principles
Key Takeaway: You don't need a law degree, political connections, or massive resources to pass animal protection laws. Suzanne and Pennsylvania Voters for Animals proved that ordinary people with commitment, strategic partnerships, and a willingness to learn can achieve results—one community at a time.
Resources Mentioned:
- Pennsylvania Voters for Animals
- Voters for Animal Rights (New York)
- Animal Defense Partnership
- World Animal Protection US
- Fish Feel
- Lady Freethinker
If you're in Pennsylvania and want to bring a pet sales ban or other animal protection ordinance to your community, reach out to Pennsylvania Voters for Animals at pavotersforanimals.org. They're building a network of advocates across the state and are eager to help you succeed. Even if you're in another state, they're happy to share their experiences and resources.
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