by Marta Holmberg

Jennifer's a great role model for her fellow Street Teamers—she has organized demonstrations against KFC, hasn't eaten animals in years, and has even single-handedly gotten a dissection choice policy passed at her high school. Read on to learn why we think she's so cool.

Name: Jennifer Thornburg
Age: 18
Hometown: Asheville, North Carolina

What made you decide to become active for animals?
Oddly enough, I dissected a chicken in seventh grade and couldn't get that picture out of my head. For many students who dissect, dissection makes them "harden up" to animal rights, as dissection teaches disrespect for life and treats animals as if they were objects. Thankfully, dissection taught me the opposite: Animals are similar to humans in many ways and can feel pain just like us. These realizations led me to become vegetarian and eventually vegan, which led me into animal rights.

How long have you been vegetarian/vegan?
I've been vegan for about 3½ years, and I was vegetarian for a few months before going vegan.

Is your family supportive of your animal rights beliefs?
My father is proud of me for standing up for what I believe in and encourages me to continue to do so. My mother is less supportive, but tolerant, of what I believe in.

Do you live with any companion animals?
I live with a bipolar cat named Foo Bear, who will be cuddling with me one minute and attacking me the next. My companion dog, Bosco, currently lives with my sister.

Yes, that's Jennifer on the right dressed as the evil Colonel Sanders!

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I enjoy hanging out with friends (getting coffee, shopping, and talking), baking, and reading in my spare time; though most of my spare time is dedicated to animals. I spend a lot of time planning protests, talking to science teachers about alternatives to dissection, and communicating with local animal rights activists. I attend monthly vegan potlucks, hosted by the Asheville Vegetarian Society, and do a lot of tabling with Carolina Animal Action.

You got a dissection choice policy passed at your school. Can you tell us how you did that?
I started to work on my high school's policy last October, since October is "Cut Out Dissection" Month. At first, there was one science teacher who was against having a dissection choice policy at the high school, but she eventually came around to agreeing that a policy would benefit the school. After presenting the policy at a couple of committee meetings, getting all the science teachers to approve of the policy, and gaining a lot of petition signatures, the policy finally passed on the second-to-last day of school. I consider the policy to be my baby: After nine months of carrying around copies of the policy and preparing for it to take effect, I finally gave birth to it in June.

Why do you think it's important for students to have the choice not to dissect?
For many students, dissection goes against their religious and ethical beliefs. No student should ever be forced to choose between ethics and passing a class, and yet, for many students, this is an unfortunate choice that they are forced to make. Many of the cats and dogs who are dissected are stolen from their families and homes, and animals such as frogs are caught from the wild, which is bad for both the animal and the environment. Many of the fetal pigs who are dissected come from factory-farmed pigs, who are killed and used for meat. These animals are treated horribly in life, and they die painful, violent deaths. In addition to helping animals and the environment, dissection alternatives are cheaper (many alternatives are even available via the Internet for free) and, according to more than 20 studies, are equally or more educational then real animal dissection. With so many reasons not to dissect, a student should never be forced into dissecting against his/her will.

How many Oreos do you think you could eat in one sitting?
On my last try, I only managed to stuff down eight Oreos, but I know that I could have eaten a whole pint of the So Delicious Cookies and Cream ice cream.

What's your message to the rest of the peta2 Street Team?
Get out there and make a difference! You can do a lot for animals: Write a letter to the editor, do a quick one-hour protest, talk to your science teachers about dissection alternatives, have a weekly animal rights club meeting, bring vegan cookies to school for your friends (and let them know that they are animal-friendly!), wear a T-shirt with an animal-friendly message … there are so many ways to help animals—just be creative. You can find a lot of ways to help animals; you just have to get started, and don't quit! You'll be surprised at the rate that new projects, protests, and ideas come to you when you put in a little effort.

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