Jodie Wiederkehr (vegan) - Committed Change Maker, Part 1 of 2

Jodie Wiederkehr has worked in animal protection for over 30 years. She is the campaign director of Chicago Alliance for Animals, the founder of Center for Ethical Science, and the founder of Partnership to Ban Horse Carriages Worldwide.

“Starting in 1997, I started at a cageless cat shelter in Chicago, a no-kill cageless cat shelter. And then, I moved to Massachusetts to work for an anti-vivisection society. From there, I worked for the campaign to protect dogs, where we got a ballot initiative on the 2008 election ballot, and we banned greyhound racing in the state, which liberated approximately 2,000 dogs.”

“We spent, I would say, hundreds, if not thousands of hours documenting horse carriages and the violations. We stayed down by the horse carriage stand the entire day to prove to the city that the horses were being overworked and that they were not getting water.” “And then we finally got our bill heard again in March of 2020, right when the pandemic was hitting, and then a month later, which it should have been a week later, but because of COVID the city council meeting got postponed. But then a month later, in April of 2020, they voted 46 to 4, which was an overwhelming vote to ban them (horse-drawn carriages).”

Our Beloved Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) has spoken out against the maltreatment of our equine brethren. “Even all the riding horses, professional horse or whatever horse, they always put gag around their mouth so that they can control them. This is terrible. I just, sometimes I don’t know how we live on this planet, really. The way we treat each other and the way we treat other beings. Oh, sometimes I just want to faint, right there. I feel so sorry, so painful as if I’m being done to, you can feel it.”

Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan): “Gratefully present the Shining World Compassion Award to Jodie Wiederkehr (vegan) in recognition of your tireless work, protecting the lives of animal-people with all love, respect and appreciation. Wishing you continued success in your noble endeavors, and may Heaven bless you abundantly, always.”