When PETA opened its office in Washington, D.C., five years ago, we couldn’t think of a better namesake than Nanci Alexander. Founder of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida and owner of the landmark gourmet vegan restaurant Sublime in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Nanci is a founding member and PETA patron extraordinaire. This year, we celebrated the building’s fifth anniversary with a brunch in Nanci’s honor and a look back at what has been accomplished by those working at the Nanci Alexander Center (NAC).
Joining us to praise Nanci were Jane Velez-Mitchell, host of the new online show Jane Unchained, and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has served as D.C.’s representative in Congress for the past 25 years. We surprised Rep. Norton—who, some decades ago, wished us well in our anti-vivisection work—with PETA’s Justice in Action Award as a thank-you for her commitment to protecting animals.
So what have staffers at the NAC helped achieve for animals? They’ve shut down hoarding facilities in three states; worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to have our scientists’ recommendations incorporated into its endocrine-disruptor screening program, potentially saving more than 3 million animals from chemical tests; and beat “ag-gag” bills in 20 states.
The largest animal rights legal department in the world is housed at the NAC. And the historic lawsuit against SeaWorld, arguing that its imprisonment of orcas violates the 13th Amendment, was launched from our D.C. base.
The NAC also enables us to make animal rights issues front and center at the nation’s capital. We use the building as a base for our protests at nearby embassies and landmarks, all outreach on the National Mall, and our agency meetings. We’ve covered D.C. with ads about the National Institutes of Health’s cruel maternal-deprivation experiments on monkeys, and we are a major presence at D.C.’s annual Gay Pride Parade. And even the building itself has become notable, with tourists clamoring for selfies beside the jumbo (yes!) “crying circus elephant” statue on the NAC’s front lawn.
Photo credit: Leigh Vogel/PETA
In the 1800s, a slaughterhouse operated where our building stands today. Now, in 2015, thanks to Nanci, our staff, and our more than 3 million members and supporters, we have made it home to an unstoppable center for animal rights.
