Skip to main content
  • Our New Client in Our First California Lawsuit 
  • LA Times: “For too long, we’ve salved our consciences with tepid animal welfare laws”
  • “The most important animal-rights case of the 21st century”
  • NhRP Seminar Series
  • NhRP Interview Series
<
>
Nonhuman Rights Project
  • About NhRP
    • Meet the Team
    • Our Story
    • FAQ
    • Unlocking the Cage
    • Media Center
    • Contact Us
  • Our Work
    • Litigation
    • Legislation + Advocacy
    • Education
    • The Fight to #FreeTheFresnoElephants
    • Free Happy Now
  • Progress
  • Blog
  • Donate
  • Shop   ↗
  • About NhRP
    • Meet the Team
    • Our Story
    • FAQ
    • Unlocking the Cage
    • Media Center
    • Contact Us
  • Our Work
    • Litigation
    • Legislation + Advocacy
    • Education
    • The Fight to #FreeTheFresnoElephants
    • Free Happy Now
  • Progress
  • Blog
Photo: Billy Dodson

Who We Are

We work to secure fundamental rights for nonhuman animals through litigation, legislation, and education.

Our Objectives

  1. To change the common law status of great apes, elephants, dolphins, and whales from mere “things,” which lack the capacity to possess any legal right, to “legal persons,” who possess such fundamental rights as bodily liberty and bodily integrity.
  2. To draw on the common law and evolving standards of morality, scientific discovery, and human experience to consider other qualities that may be sufficient for recognition of nonhuman animals’ legal personhood and fundamental rights.
  3. To develop local, national, and global issue-oriented grassroots and legislative campaigns to promote recognition of nonhuman animals as beings worthy of moral and legal consideration and with their own inherent interests in freedom from captivity, participation in a community of other members of their species, and the protection of their natural habitats.
  4. To build a broad-based coalition of organizations and individuals to secure legally recognized fundamental rights for nonhuman animals.
  5. To foster understanding of the social, historical, political, and legal justice of our arguments and the scientific discovery of other species’ cognitive and emotional complexity that informs them.

Our Team

Steven M. Wise

Founder and President

Steve is the founder and president of the NhRP, representing nonhuman animals in the courtroom and serving as lead spokesperson for the organization’s work.

View full profile

Gail Price-Wise

Board Member

Gail oversees the NhRP’s finances, ensuring compliance with federal and state non-profit operational procedures.

View full profile

Jane Goodall

Board Member

Jane is a founding NhRP board member, providing guidance on nonprofit operations and wildlife conservation and protection.

View full profile

Elizabeth Stein

Staff Attorney

Elizabeth serves as New York legal counsel to the NhRP, writing legal briefs on behalf of nonhuman animals and litigating before judges.

View full profile

Monica Miller

Consulting Attorney

Monica is a NhRP consulting attorney, developing habeas corpus cases, drafting motions and briefs, and advising the organization on legal strategy.

View full profile

Lauren Choplin

Communications Director

Lauren heads up the NhRP’s internal and external communications, coordinating media coverage of our legal and policy work and managing our blog and social media pages.

View full profile

Courtney Fern

Director of Government Relations and Campaigns

Courtney oversees the NhRP's legislative and grassroots advocacy.

View full profile

Shirley Shtiegman

International Coordinator

Shirley coordinates the NhRP's international legal working groups.

View full profile

Spencer Lo

Staff Attorney

Spencer Lo is a NhRP staff attorney.

View full profile

Jake Davis

Staff Attorney

Jake is an attorney with the NhRP.

View full profile

Peggy Cusack

Chief Operations Officer

Peggy oversees our day-to-day activities and internal organizational operations.

View full profile

Jeff Fraser

Board Member
View full profile

Our Values

  1. We communicate truthfully, authentically, respectfully, and in a dignified manner with the courts, the legal profession, lawmakers, the media, and the public and make available and accessible all our legal documents.
  2. We give credit generously and unfailingly to anyone who assists with achieving our mission.
  3. We work in harmony with any individual or organization that assists in advancing our objectives.
  4. We treat our coworkers, donors, and volunteers with the greatest respect and gratitude for their efforts on behalf of nonhuman animals.
  5. We deeply value all donations and administer them with the utmost responsibility with an emphasis on practical effectiveness.

The NhRP is an equal opportunity employer. In accordance with applicable law, we prohibit discrimination against any applicant, employee, contractor, intern, or volunteer based on any actual or perceived legally recognized basis including but not limited to: veteran status, uniformed service member status, gender identity and gender expression, race, color, religion, sex and gender, sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, marital status, or any other consideration protected by federal, state or local law.

Find our latest financial documents and annual reports below:

2021 IRS Tax Form 990
2020 IRS Tax Form 990
2019 IRS Tax Form 990
2018 IRS Tax Form 990

2021 Audited Financial Statement
2020 Audited Financial Statement
2018 & 2019 Audited Financial Statement

2021 Annual Report
2020 Annual Report
2019 Annual Report

 

“

How should we relate to beings who look into mirrors and see themselves as individuals, who mourn companions and may die of grief, who have a consciousness of ‘self?’ Don’t they deserve to be treated with the same sort of consideration we accord to other highly sensitive beings: ourselves?

”
- Jane Goodall

Action Center

Step 1:
Sign up to receive updates, event invitations, calls to action, and more via email.

Sign Up Now

Step 2:
Follow us on social media to become part of our online community.

            

Step 3:
Help raise awareness of our mission and work by sharing via social media.

“

The Nonhuman Rights Project works for the recognition and protection of fundamental rights for nonhuman animals! 

”

Step 4:
Sign up to host an Unlocking the Cage screening.

Sign up

Step 5:
Have a fantastic day! And thank you for helping nonhuman animals.

<
>

Sign Up

Follow Us

Share the Mission

Host an Event

Nonhuman Rights Project

We are the only civil rights organization in the United States dedicated solely to securing rights for nonhuman animals.

5195 NW 112th Terrace
Coral Springs, FL 33076
Tax ID #: 04-3289466

Sign up to receive updates

© 2023 Nonhuman Rights Project, all rights reserved.

  • Privacy

Follow us to get updates