Nathan Runkle

Nathan Runkle, executive director of Mercy For Animals, is a leading animal-rights advocate. Reared on an Ohio farm, Runkle has a long-held connection with farmed animals. After an animal abuse case involving a piglet slammed headfirst into a concrete floor during an agricultural project at a local high school, Nathan founded MFA to give "food" animals a much-needed advocate in his community. Since founding MFA over a decade ago, Runkle has overseen the NGO's growth into a leading international force in the prevention of cruelty to farmed animals and promotion of compassionate food choices and policies. In 2009, at the age of 25, Runkle became the youngest person ever inducted into the US Animal Rights Hall of Fame.

In his book, Mercy For Animals, Runkle examines how our country moved from a network of small farms with more than 50 percent of Americans involved in agriculture to a massive coast-to-coast industrial complex controlled by a mere 1 percent of our population—and the consequences of this drastic change for animals, as well as our global and local environments. In this talk, he will discuss the way MFA protects farmed animals in behind-the-scenes negotiations with companies like Nestlé—conglomerates whose policy changes can spare countless lives and strengthen our planet.

Light refreshments will be served.