Vegan animal-rights activists Carolyn Merino Mullin and Ellen Lavinthal opened The Animal Museum in the Arts District of downtown Los Angeles last month. The museum’s first exhibit—entitled “Crazy Cat Ladies”—focuses on eschewing the stereotypes of the iconic “Caty Lady” with humorous undertones. Upcoming exhibits will explore other facets of human and animal relationships. On February 25, “The Sexual Politics of Meat” exhibit will display the art of 14 women, provoked by the titular topic and inspired by author Carol J. Adams’ book of the same name. On view beginning February 27, the “Animal Protection: An American Movement” exhibit will highlight the progress of animal law over the last 150 years. “This is the first museum of its kind in the country, if not the world, to show the human-animal relationship,” Lavinthal says. “What we want is to empower people and encourage change.”