Animals, Articles, Sheroes

SHero: Rachel Mohd

Rachel Mohd is an animal rights activist that definitely falls into the category of Shero. She is an 18-year-old local to Birmingham who started Animal Allies, a club that works on animal activism. I had the pleasure of interviewing her. Read on to see what she had to say!

Question: How did you get interested in animal rights?
Answer: I have always been passionate about animal rights. I think once I started volunteering at my local human society, my love for animals finally had an outlet. Seeing animals gain the confidence they needed in order to be adopted after training them for a few weeks really opened my eyes and made me want others to see what they were capable of.

Q: When did you decide you wanted to start Animal Allies?
A: I have always wanted to start Animal Allies, I just didn’t know how. One of my teachers told me that I should’ve started a club at my high school promoting animal allies, but it was too late because applications were due long ago. I thought that was a great idea and still wanted to do it, so I contacted the teen advisory board at the Homewood Public Library and told them my idea and then Animal Allies was born.

Q:What all does Animal Allies do?
A: Animal Allies do different things each meeting. We have had guest speakers come in and educate the community on what it takes to own a pet and the importance spaying and neutering. We have also had staff from my local humane society, The Greater Birmingham Humane Society, come in and teach us about how to become volunteers. We were asked to make posters for The Cats and Dogs Foundation to be displayed at Birmingham’s Do Dah Day. We have had vegetarian pot lucks, watched educational films on animal rights, made posters that promoted animal rights to hang around town, made totes with animal rights slogans, and we have even had therapy animals come in.

Q: Are there plans to expand Animal Allies?
A: There are plans to expand Animal Allies. We have started to make flyers to put up around town so more people can hear about our club and what we do. We want to continue putting our name out and gaining new members.

Q: Do you think animal rights are an issue everyone should get involved with? If so, why?
A: I believe that animal rights are an issue and everyone should be work towards being a voice for the animals. I have always believed that we should support animal rights because animals can’t do it themselves. If we don’t stick up for the animals, no one else will. It is important to understand that you don’t have to do anything big in order to support animal rights. Meatless Mondays, volunteering at your local humane society, adopting instead of shopping for a pet, and even just educating those close to you are all ways anyone can help support animals.

Q: Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to start their own sort of organization?
A: Have passion for what you are do and there is no way you won’t succeed! Many people believe that you have to have certain traits in order to create something, but it’s important to realize that if you have already thought about creating your own organization, you have what it takes!

Q: What’s your favorite animal?
A: My favorite animal would have to be a dog!

Thank you so much to Rachel Mohd for doing this interview!

(Written by Megan Flint.)

Kristen

Kristen is a contributor for GirlSpring. Her posts focus on GirlSpring updates and current events.

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