12-Year-Old Animal Rights Activist Recognized

At this year’s Animal Rights National Conference in Washington, DC, 12-year-old Thomas Ponce received Farm Animal Rights Movement’s Young Animal Activist Award. Ponce has been recognized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and is the founder of Lobby For Animals, whose mission is to push for legislative protection for animals and animal activists. The organization recently received a $1,000 grant from Pollination Project, a nonprofit that invests in social change initiatives. “The good news is we have the power to stop all this [animal] abuse … I choose to make a stand! I believe together we can stop the abuse,” Ponce writes on his webpage. Past winners of the Young Animal Activist Award include Nathan Runkle of Mercy For Animals and Paul Shapiro of The Humane Society of the United States.