Drumroll, please! It’s time to announce the winner of PETA’s Nanci Alexander Activist Award—which is presented annually to a committed, influential individual whose contributions to animal rights have done enormous good in the world.
The award’s namesake, Nanci Alexander, is an honorary PETA director and has been with us since the very beginning. Founder of both the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida and the nation’s first gourmet vegan restaurant, Sublime, she is the embodiment of a vital, compassionate animal activist.
This year, she chose to recognize Dr. John Gluck as the award recipient.
Gluck is a scientist whose passion and expertise have served as a guiding light for others in his profession. His ethical journey from animal experimenter to animal rights champion is an inspiration.
As a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, Gluck witnessed archaic experiments on monkeys firsthand. The primate laboratory in which he began his career normalized the imprisonment and torture of monkeys—but for him, this all changed when he developed a connection to the sensitive, intelligent animals. Understanding that our fellow primates are individuals who have complex emotions, behavior, and social relationships set him on the path of promoting ethical research.
He joined PETA’s successful push to end a series of maternal deprivation experiments on baby monkeys at the National Institutes of Health and our #IStoppedYouCanToo campaign, which urges experimenters to challenge the status quo that keeps millions of animals in laboratories, subjected to pointless and cruel procedures.
Always generous with his time, knowledge, and wisdom, Gluck has helped other advocates criticize and end animal experiments. In his moving and eloquent book Voracious Science and Vulnerable Animals, he describes his misgivings about the use of animals in experiments and shares the stories of some of the monkeys who inspired him.
He has noted, “There is no research more valuable than our own integrity and ethical coherence, and our treatment of animals is a direct reflection of our values toward life and one another.”
Thank you from Nanci Alexander and PETA for being a champion for animals in laboratories, Dr. Gluck, and congratulations on this award.
