Ingrid Newirk

Ingrid Newkirk was born in Surrey, England, and moved with her family to New Delhi, India, when she was 7 years old. There, she assisted her mother in volunteering for Mother Teresa and various charities, and those early experiences—rolling bandages for people with leprosy, stuffing toys for orphans, and rescuing stray animals—informed her view that it doesn’t matter who is suffering, only whether you can help them.

In 1970, Ingrid took a litter of abandoned kittens to an animal shelter—and that soon led to her resignation from the brokerage where she had worked. She then took her first job working in behalf of animals (cleaning kennels and investigating cruelty cases), which led to leading roles in humane law enforcement. Her experiences along the way—including finding a fox and a squirrel caught in steel traps, discovering a pig left to starve on a farm, and inspecting laboratories and circuses for the government—inspired her to launch PETA in 1980.

At that time, researchers were experimenting on chimpanzees in squalid laboratories, pigs were being slammed into walls in car-crash tests, and dogs were being shot in military exercises. But PETA’s landmark victories for animals, including the first-ever police raid on a laboratory and convictions for cruelty to animals in the meat industry—as well as the media attention that has accompanied them—have led to a huge change in public attitudes, and the victories keep coming.

These days, the demand for vegan food has skyrocketed (e.g., Taco Bell is testing a Vegan Crunchwrap this week), Ringling Bros. has reinvented itself as a stunning animal-free circus, nearly every major fashion brand has gone fur-free, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is no longer required to mandate archaic and cruel animal tests for new drugs. PETA’s work continues, with campaigns that include calling on fashion houses to stop selling reptile skins, pushing for lifesaving reforms in the horse racing industry, and fighting the monkey-to-laboratory pipeline.

Ingrid has authored 13 books and been profiled by The New Yorker, the Los Angeles Times, and Fortune, which dubbed her the “Mother Teresa of rabbits.” She was also the subject of HBO’s award-winning documentary I Am an Animal and was named one of Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women.