An Interview With Penny Bauder
Something that I always remember my brother’s closest friend saying when we were kids was “Every day’s a school day.” He always said it as a joke when he had done something wrong or made a mistake, but I think of it often as a reminder that we never stop learning. We really do learn something new every day and remaining open to that, I think, it so important.
As part of my series about “individuals and organizations making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Liz Tyson.
Dr. Liz Tyson is Born Free USA’s programs director. She has helped animals across the globe. She helped to establish the very first locally run sterilization program for street dogs in the Middle East; worked with indigenous communities in the Colombian Amazon to end the hunting of wild primates; ran a U.K. charity campaigning to end the exploitation of animals in circuses and zoos; and helped design a new rehabilitation complex for rescued monkeys at Ensessa Kotteh, Born Free’s sanctuary in Ethiopia. In 2018, she earned her doctorate in animal welfare law.
Liz recently published Licensing Laws and Animal Welfare: The Legal Protection of Wild Animals, with Palgrave MacMillan/Springer Nature. The book outlines the findings of her doctoral research, which is the most comprehensive study of the legal protection of wild animals in English zoos carried out to date.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit how you grew up?
I am from the U.K. and grew up mainly in the north of England — “home” for me is Manchester. We moved around a lot when I was younger due to my dad’s work — I went to six different schools between K-12 — so I was often the “new kid” in the playground. I think that experience of having to find my people and establish myself in new social groups is probably what has helped me as an adult to be open to new experiences. This, in turn, has led me to live and work in different countries around the world and, I hope, has really helped me grow and develop perspective as an advocate for social justice.
You are currently leading a social impact organization that is making a difference for our planet. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change in our world today?
I am lucky enough to be working in my dream job. As programs director for Born Free USA, I oversee the running of one of the largest primate sanctuaries in the United States, while also leading our campaigns work for animals and the environment. Our fundamental goal as an organization is to create a world where all animals are treated with respect and in accordance with their needs. We have particular expertise on issues surrounding wild animals and so our work is specifically focused on ending exploitation and harm to them. This work includes campaigning for an end to the wildlife trade, cruel trapping, the fur trade, and the keeping of wild animals in captivity. The name of our organization really is our aspiration: we are working for a world where wild animals are born in freedom and can live in freedom.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t obsessed with animals. I have a childhood journal, which I kept when I was clearly just learning to write, perhaps from when I was around 5 years old. In it, I had a habit of listing the animals I had seen that day. One entry, in my huge childish scrawl, reads: 3 beetles, 1 rabbit, 1 dog. There are many more similar entries. I took the documentation of my animal sightings very seriously! At 10 or 11 years old, I went vegetarian and, as an early teen, spent my weekends volunteering at my local wildlife hospital — cleaning out enclosures, hand-feeding baby pigeons and picking ticks off hedgehogs. My interest in, and subsequent desire to care for, animals has been inextricably woven into my life since the beginning, but I honestly couldn’t tell you where that passion came from.
Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest it. They don’t get up and just do it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and do it? What was that final trigger?
I was around 21 or 22 years old and working in a good, financially stable job in financial PR in an office in London. But I wasn’t happy. I couldn’t see myself as part of the corporate world and began to look for work that I felt would fulfil me. I applied for anything and everything that had to do with animals and, somehow, landed a role as a caregiver and education officer at a small monkey sanctuary on the south coast of England. Within six weeks, I left the city behind and took the first steps on my journey working with animals, which has since taken me to Colombia, the Middle East, Spain, Ireland, Poland, Ethiopia, and the United States. I have been so lucky to work with, and learn from, incredible activists and advocates from all around the world over the years. At the time I made the leap into this work, I didn’t know what to expect. That move remains the single most important decision I have ever made and, 17 years later, I do not regret a thing.
Many people don’t know the steps to take to start a new organization. But you did. What are some of the things or steps you took to get your project started?
When I joined Born Free, it was already very much established as a global leader within our sector so I can take no credit for its establishment. However, I have been involved in setting up new projects and organizations over the years, and I think the main thing for someone thinking of starting a new organization is to really work on your foundations. It can be so tempting to dive right in, start working on an issue that you are passionate about and think about structure and planning later, but I would recommend taking a step back and doing it right to avoid challenges down the road. This means seeing who else is already working on this issue and understanding where your work might fit within existing efforts. If you can join forces with others already on the right path, that might be your best chance of success.
If you do go ahead and establish something brand new — whether a distinct project or an organization — find the right people to work with you to make it happen. Passion for a project is vital in our line of work but finding people with a range of skills that will help you achieve your goals is also essential for success. Then there is the ever-important question of funding, resources, and legal structures. You may have to establish a formal organization to be able to access funds, which requires thinking about your board of directors, formalizing your constitution, ensuring that you adhere to legal rules relating to management of funds, among other things. Some of the first steps towards starting a new project or organization can seem tedious and unnecessary when you are so keen to get to work on fixing a problem, but these steps are so important if you want to achieve long-term success.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
Working at a sanctuary that is home to more than 400 rescued monkeys means that something interesting is happening every day. Perhaps the most interesting, and certainly the most rewarding, part of our work is when we can rescue someone from a traumatic situation. In the last few weeks, we brought Kiki, a 5-year-old vervet monkey, to the sanctuary after she was given up by the family who had been keeping her as a pet in their home. Vervets are native to eastern and southern Africa so Kiki should have been born to a free-living troop of monkeys on the other side of the world. Instead, she was deliberately bred for profit, likely removed from her mother at just a few weeks old, and never saw another monkey for five long years after that. Her life has now changed as she has begun her journey of recovery with us. She completed her mandatory quarantine period last week and was moved alongside our existing group of vervet monkeys over the weekend. In the coming weeks, she will be slowly introduced to her new friends and her new life can truly begin.
In the coming months, we are planning for the arrival of three more former “pet” monkeys. We are delighted that we are able to give these individuals a second chance but, with an estimated 15,000 pet monkeys in the United Stated, we simply cannot take them all. That is why, as well as caring for the victims of the cruel trade in primates as pets, we are working on important legislation that would stop the suffering caused by the exploitation of primates in this way for good. The Captive Primate Safety Act was introduced in both the House and the Senate in the last few weeks and, if passed, will ban the private ownership of monkeys, among other things. If our work on this bill is successful, we will be ensuring that monkeys like Kiki no longer have to suffer in the way that she did.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson or take away you learned from that?
This wasn’t quite when I first started but when I lived in Colombia, my work was predominantly field-based in the Amazon. We were on a field trip to visit one of the indigenous communities in the north of the region where we worked. It was around a five-day hike. My indigenous colleagues, who had lived in the forest their entire lives, skipped across the makeshift bridges made of fallen logs across rivers without a second thought, despite the heavy packs on their backs. I was not sure that I could make it across a particularly wide crossing with my pack on without taking my rubber boots off and going barefoot so I could feel the tree trunk beneath my feet, but they encouraged me to give it a go, telling me it was “fácil, muy fácil” (easy, very easy!). Of course, I fell in the river, much to everyone’s amusement. My colleagues were crying laughing as they hauled me out by my pack and helped me to the other bank. The lesson I learned: Trust your gut (and cross log bridges barefoot).
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
I have been inspired by so many people over the years — our movement is truly full of some of the most inspiring, hard-working and compassionate people! One person who stands out to me is Dr. Sara Bennett, a primatologist who ran a wonderful monkey sanctuary, Fundación Maikuchiga, in the Colombian Amazon for many years. The sanctuary was located within the Tikuna indigenous reserve of the community of Mocagua, located on the banks of the Amazon. Not only did the sanctuary provide incredible care for the monkeys, and successfully rehabilitated many of them, Sara ran the organization in true partnership with the local community. Other than Sara, all employees were from the community and, when Sara moved back to her native United States last year, she handed over the reins to Jhon, one of the community leaders who had worked with her for over a decade. Too often, the involvement of local people in conservation projects is tokenistic and cynical, but this was never the case at Fundación Maikuchiga. Each year, any funds which were left over after salaries and running costs would be handed over to the community to use as they wished for their benefit. Every year since its inception, the community voted to use the funds to provide school supplies for every child in Mocagua. Sara’s commitment, hard work, lack of ego and genuine compassion towards all living beings, has been an inspiration to me since I first had the privilege of knowing her.
Are there three things the community, society, or politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
Our community can reject the exploitation of wild animals in all forms. This means not supporting the trade in wildlife and pets, supporting in situ community-led conservation efforts rather than visiting a zoo, ditching fur from their wardrobes and supporting calls to introduce legislation that will protect animals from harm.
As individuals, we all have the potential to make changes that lessen our impact and make our lives more sustainable, however, what is really needed if we are to reverse the environmental destruction that is being wrought around the world is for governments to step up and make systemic change. Born Free is championing the Global Nature Recovery Investment Initiative (GNRII), which is a roadmap for governments to follow to enact meaningful and sustainable change for our world and all its inhabitants.
Education is also essential for all of us. Continuing to both learn and facilitate others in their learning on important issues facing animals and the environment is the only way in which we can build a true picture of where we are and where we need to be in the future.
How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?
The entirety of my experience is within the non-profit sector and so this really sits outside of my professional experience. However, what I would say on this front is that consumers are becoming far more savvy around things like “greenwashing,” in which companies make small, often tokenistic or insignificant moves in the name of sustainability or environment as a PR exercise rather than as part of a real commitment to change. An example of this might be a company that covers its product with imagery relating to recyclable packaging, for example, while the product itself, or the manufacturing process, is inherently bad for the environment. Given the incredible challenges that we face in the race against extinction, greenwashing is not going to cut it. Companies should be making meaningful, systemic change wherever they can, not because it is profitable, but because it is the right thing to do.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
- In everything you do: Make the most of every learning opportunity, howsoever it is presented to you.
- From my work in lobbying law makers: Laws are social constructs written by fallible people with agendas of their own. Understanding this has helped me to play a more effective part in the lobbying process for animals and the environment.
- In the care of animals: Listen to what they are showing and telling you. Animals are not voiceless, as is often said in animal protection circles, we just need to listen better to them.
- As a woman working in a leadership position: You will need to be able to stand up for yourself and speak louder to be heard.
- In management: Directing energy into supporting the people you manage so they can thrive is the most effective way towards success for everyone.
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
I would recommend finding something that you are interested in and learning about how you can get involved. We all have different interests, experiences, skills, and abilities and we all have something great to offer — whether to impact the environment directly, society as a whole, or our local community. Something that is becoming more and more understood is the way in which social justice issues as linked together and how the furtherance of one social justice goal is likely to have a positive impact on others. With this in mind, my recommendation would be to find something you feel passionately about, find out who is making change in that area, and how you can contribute to that. You won’t regret it!
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Something that I always remember my brother’s closest friend saying when we were kids was “Every day’s a school day.” He always said it as a joke when he had done something wrong or made a mistake, but I think of it often as a reminder that we never stop learning. We really do learn something new every day and remaining open to that, I think, it so important.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
I would love to meet Angela Davis and learn more about her activism, her successes, and the challenges that she has faced over her many decades of campaigning for social justice. She is such an important figure within feminist, class and racial equality movements, but she is also vegan and has spoken many times on how the exploitation of animals links with human exploitation and oppression in various forms. I would just love to learn more from her on all these issues.
How can our readers follow you online?
Born Free USA can be found on Twitter (www.twitter.com/bornfreeusa), Facebook (www.facebook.com/bornfreeusa), and Instagram (www.instagram.com/bornfreeusaorg).
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Social Impact Heroes: Why & How Liz Tyson of Born Free USA Is Helping To Change Our World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.