Jennifer Skiff | |
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| Born | 1961 (age 62–63) Boston, MA |
| Occupation | Writer Journalist Television producer Animal advocate |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1986-present |
| Genre | Nonfiction |
| Notable works | God Stories The Divinity of Dogs Rescuing Ladybugs |
| Website | |
| jenniferskiff | |
Jennifer Skiff (born 1961) [1] is an American author, journalist and television producer, best known for writing inspirational books and animal welfare diplomacy.
Skiff was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Bar Harbor, Maine. [2] [3] Growing up, her family had pet dogs, and she has said she received emotional healing from dogs. [4] [5] Jennifer is a graduate of Hebron Academy, a college preparatory boarding school located in Hebron, Maine. [6] She graduated from Texas Christian University in 1983 with a double major in broadcast journalism and criminal justice. [7] [8]
Skiff began her career at WTVX-TV in Fort Pierce, Florida, and also worked as an anchor and reporter at WABI-TV in Bangor, Maine, and covered crime at KUTV in Salt Lake City, Utah. [3] [8] Wildlife Minutes, a television series she developed that highlighted the plight of endangered and threatened species, premiered on the Discovery Channel in 1987. [3] She worked as an investigative correspondent and producer for CNN for 14 years, and was a producer on the channel's environmental program Earth Matters. [2] [4] [8] As a segment producer for TBS's Network Earth, she was nominated for a 1992 CableACE Award for magazine show special or series, [9] and received an Environmental Media Award for TV News Magazine Segment as correspondent and writer for the series in 1996. [10]
Skiff started working on her first book, God Stories: Inspiring Encounters With the Divine, after what she described as a miraculous recovery from bone marrow cancer at the age of 32. [11] It was published by Random House in 2008 and includes 100 stories of encounters with God, which she collected from people of various faiths, backgrounds and nationalities. [1] [2] Publishers Weekly called it "mysterious and faith-inspiring" and "inspiring if uneven". [12] It was excerpted on Today.com. [13]
Her second book, The Divinity of Dogs: True Stories of Miracles Inspired by Man's Best Friend, was published by Simon & Schuster on October 23, 2012. The book is a compilation of inspirational stories about dogs gathered from people's submissions. [14] [15] It reached number 8 on the Toronto Star nonfiction bestseller list in April 2015. [16] The Divinity of Dogs was based on submissions Skiff received when writing God Stories. Starting in 2010, she spent over a year collecting submissions, photos, and interviews. The stories are told from the point of view of the dog owners. The book has a musical companion, The Divinity of Dogs: Music to Calm Dogs and the People Who Love Them, created by Skiff and pianist George Skaroulis. [1]
Skiff's third book, Rescuing Ladybugs: Inspirational Encounters with Animals That Changed the World, published by New World Library in 2018, [17] [18] highlights the true stories of remarkable people who didn't look away from seemingly impossible to change situations, and describes how their lives have been enriched while they've worked to save animals. Leaders in what Skiff calls the Compassion Movement, [19] their stories illustrate how we can break barriers to improve all life on earth.
From Rescuing Ladybugs: "There's an honorable war being fought in our world for animals. In it, the good are going after the evil, the generous are taking aim at the greedy, and the kind are blanketing the cruel. I refer to it as the compassion movement because it's fueled by a desire to alleviate suffering." [20]
In the book, Skiff says that in 2018 "there are more laws and corporate policies protecting farm animals than ever before, and more consumers are leaving animals off their plates and eating plant-based meals instead. This colossal shift is due to Josh Balk and other leaders in the compassion movement who confront cruelty head-on, using common sense and innovation." [21]
In the book, Skiff says "There are many leaders in the compassion movement — too many to profile in one book. These are the people we admire for their ability to see the roots of problems and develop effective strategies for fixing them, as well as for their courage to combat greed when it inevitably clashes with compassion. They are the visionaries, pacesetters, and analytical thinkers whose unexpected connections with animals are driving sweeping change throughout the world." [22]
In the book, Skiff notes Jill Robinson, co-founder of Animals Asia as "leading the compassion movement on the largest continent on earth – Asia". [23]
Michael W Fox, [24] veterinarian and author, on Rescuing Ladybugs: "Rescuing Ladybugs is an exceptional book - a clarion call to awaken our empathy, ignite compassionate action, and help recover our humanity in these dystopian times. It should be required reading."
Skiff co-authored the position paper that led to West Australian Parliament passing sweeping laws to end puppy farming that included, mandatory spay/neuter of dogs before the age of two-years-old, mandatory dog breeder registration, a centralized government dog registration system, and the transitioning of pet shops into adoption centers. [25] [26]
Skiff is the Director of International of Animal Wellness Action, an organization that champions legal standards that forbid animal cruelty, and the Center for a Humane Economy, an animal welfare charity. She leads the Center’s Kangaroos Are Not Shoes campaign, among others. The campaign compels the largest sportswear manufacturers in the world to discontinue their use of kangaroo leather in shoes. In 2023, Nike, Puma, and New Balance, made the pledge. [27] [28] [29] [30] [31]
After witnessing atrocities perpetrated on bears, Skiff initiated and led the successful campaign to build the first bear sanctuary in Laos. [32] In Indonesia, she negotiated the release of 12 chained monkeys into their native habitat from a hotel zoo, an initiative that shuttered the zoo six months later. [33]
In 2022, she began work as consultant to the Prime Minister of Morocco on a kingdom-wide initiative to eradicate rabies humanely by the method of trap, neuter, vaccinate, return of street dogs. [34]
Skiff splits her time living between Maine, USA, and Perth, Western Australia. [1] [2] [45] She is a former president and trustee of the Dogs' Refuge Home, a no-kill shelter in Australia, [46] and works with charities around the world to help abused and abandoned animals. [47]
Skiff was featured in the book, One Hundred & One Reasons to Get Out of Bed: Small World Steps, Big Planet Heroes by Barbara Royal and Natasha Milne. [48]
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing animal cruelty. Based in New York City since its inception in 1866, the organization's mission is "to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States."
The Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA (PHS/SPCA) is one of the largest humane organizations in the United States. Located in San Mateo County, California, it is a private non-profit charitable organization. It is an animal rescue, rehabilitation and adoption operation with two locations. The Tom and Annette Lantos Center for Compassion, where adoptable animals are housed, is in the city of Burlingame and the older physical plant, which serves as the intake shelter, is located at Coyote Point in the city of San Mateo. PHS/SPCA has been responsible for considerable progress in the California Legislature with new humane laws in the state, especially since the late 1970s. PHS/SPCA has been characterized as a progressive and innovative humane organization.
Victoria Stilwell is an English author, dog trainer and television presenter. Stilwell has appeared as a pet behavior expert and served as a producer on several international TV series including Dogs Might Fly, Dogs With Extraordinary Jobs, and Greatest American Dog (CBS), and is best known as the star and creator of the dog training TV show It's Me or the Dog.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a registered charity to promote animal welfare in Hong Kong, with outreach services to China.
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Jill Robinson MBE is a British animal welfare activist. She is the founder of Animals Asia Foundation.
Megan Blake is a pet lifestyle expert and an actress based on Malibu, California. She was Miss Georgia in 1983.
Wayne Pacelle is an American animal rights and animal welfare activist, non-profit businessperson and author. Two of his books have been New York Times best-sellers.
An American Opera is a 2007 documentary film by Tom McPhee chronicling the events following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana, when pet owners were forced to evacuate without their pets. An American Opera follows the pets, vets, owners, officials, rescuers, and adopters of animals as they try to remedy the situation, revealing that not everyone had the same goal of saving animals. McPhee directed, narrated, and produced the film with the production companies Man Smiling Moving Pictures and Cave Studio.
Malchik was a black mongrel stray dog living in Moscow, Russia. For about three years, Malchik lived at the Mendeleyevskaya station on the Moscow Metro. In 2001, he was killed when a 22-year-old woman, Yuliana Romanova, stabbed him with a kitchen knife. The incident sparked a wave of public outrage regarding the treatment of animals, and, in 2007, a monument was erected in Malchik's honour at Mendeleyevskaya station.
Sy Montgomery is an American naturalist, author and scriptwriter who writes for children as well as adults.
Cynthia Bathurst is an animal welfare advocate, winner of a national veterinary award, and founder and director of Safe Humane Chicago, a nonprofit which includes the first of its kind Court Case Dog Program.
Safe Humane Chicago is a nonprofit animal advocacy organization founded in 2008 by animal rights advocate Cynthia Bathurst. The nonprofit works to educate youth on animal safety and seeks justice for dogs that have been confiscated by law enforcement by placing them in foster care to later be adopted into new homes.
San Diego Humane Society, is a non-profit organization in San Diego, California with five campuses in San Diego County - El Cajon, Escondido, Oceanside, San Diego and Ramona. They are an open-admission shelter and are zero euthanasia for healthy and treatable shelter animals. The organization's programs include sheltering and adopting animals, humane law enforcement, practicing and advancing the field of Shelter Medicine, rescuing animals in emergency situations, wildlife rehabilitation, the country's first 24/7 kitten nursery, positive reinforcement behavior training, providing adult and youth education programs, providing free pet food and supplies to families in need, sharing animals through pet-assisted therapy and more. San Diego Humane Society provides animal services for 14 cities in San Diego County and cares for nearly 50,000 animals a year.
The Richmond SPCA is an idependent non-profit animal shelter in Richmond, Virginia founded in 1891.
Jo-Anne McArthur is a Canadian photojournalist, humane educator, animal rights activist and author. She is known for her We Animals project, a photography project documenting human relationships with animals. Through the We Animals Humane Education program, McArthur offers presentations about human relationships with animals in educational and other environments, and through the We Animals Archive, she provides photographs and other media for those working to help animals. We Animals Media, meanwhile, is a media agency focused on human/animal relationships.
Susan Cohn Rockefeller is an entrepreneur, conservationist, and filmmaker. She is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Musings. She also designs jewelry with themes that fit in with her work. She is a member of the Rockefeller family by her second marriage to David Rockefeller, Jr.
National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA), also known as the National Council of SPCAs, is the largest and oldest animal welfare organisation in South Africa. The NSPCA handles all matters relating to animal cruelty involving all animal species and is a registered Non-Profit Organisation registered with the Department of Social Development.
Animal welfare and rights in Goa refers to campaigns undertaken in the region of Goa, on the west coast of India, which has been on the rise in recent years. Goa is a popular tourist destination, visited by those from abroad and the rest of India, and concerns over animal rights has been built up both by local and visitor campaigns over the same.
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