If only animals could write thank-you notes . . .!

Janine Motta, tabling for animals

“Doom and gloom” about the plight of animals marked my last post here -- and earlier posts too.  I closed by asking if anything can end “this shameful scenario” of animal abuse and misuse all over the world, and pointed to the next post.  Here it is! 

The answer is obvious, of course: only humans can un-do the damage humans have caused.  Only we can make this a better world for animals.

But how bring about significant change for the better?  One way: emulate those who are doing it every day.  Start with someone who has devoted her life to working for animals: Janine Motta, Programs Director with the Animal Protection League of NJ.  

“I learned about animal experimentation in 1988 when I picked up a flier from the NJ Animal Rights Alliance (APL’s original name).   It completely changed my life.  That flier, and all I learned shortly after, affected me deeply.  I became an animal rights activist almost overnight,” she says.

This May, Motta will celebrate 30 years of working for animals with APLNJ.  That overnight conversion really took!

First she volunteered with APLNJ.  A year later, she joined the staff as office manager, and although she moved into the programs director role 10 years ago, she still handles donations and member relations, for instance, as well as payroll and bills.  Motta’s myriad efforts help keep the organization running.  

As programs director, she took on oversight of APL’s programs.  The excellent people who run them need little supervision, she says, so her involvement largely entails touching base, brainstorming and helping as needed.    

With programs that are temporarily inactive, Motta maintains the website for its educational value to readers, and she strategizes outreach methods to reach those who are “hungry for information.”  Just one example: promoting plant-based eating by exposing people to what happens to animals behind the scenes.

Motta

“Tabling” at area events (shown in top photo) is one way to get the word out via printed info and conversations with people there.  In refining APL’s program to help people with vet bills, Motta has built a network of vets to recommend, and she talks with worried pet owners about their options -- “an emotionally taxing” activity.

A typical day for this lifetime animal advocate?   There really isn’t one.  Each day she considers the timing for jobs to be done -- basic and back-burnered things, and then the emergencies.  While she’s aware that callers expect 9-5 phone responsiveness, Motta says she finally learned to take breaks.  Not surprisingly, her work , often on the road, spills over into nights and weekends.

Nor do her efforts for animals end at the office door: she lives with rescued rabbits, cats and chickens, and cares for a small cat colony.  Raised in Clifton, NJ and now based in Hunterdon County,  Motta enjoys the theater as well as outdoor activities like kayaking, hiking and mountain biking.

She also runs a small advocacy group for rabbits, the NJ House Rabbit Society (www.NJHRS.com).  It aims to educate people about properly caring for rabbits, including freeing them from outside hutches and treating them like companions.  The group’s low-cost spay/neuter voucher program is one-of-a-kind. 

As is Janine Motta!   If enough of us applied Motta’s level of passion to our own work for animals, we could make a significant positive difference.       

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(Note to readers: Please suggest other people who also contribute to the welfare of animals in a big way and who deserve to be profiled here.  A comment of a sentence or two will alert me to be in touch with you.  Thanks!)

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