Shreya Padukone is the program lead at the Animal Law Center in India, where she takes on research and capacity-building initiatives. She also works with Aneeha Patwardhan Consulting to support custom operations projects at animal advocacy nonprofits. Shreya has been involved in environmental and wildlife law. She soon realised the significance of farmed animal advocacy in the broader context and joined ALC, India's pioneering research centre specialising in animal law and policy.
Shreya’s Path to Animal Law
Shreya's journey to becoming an animal advocate started around five or six years ago when she finished law school. Initially, she was focused on environmental law, especially wildlife conservation. Interestingly, during her time in law school, while she was very passionate about conservation and animal welfare, she was following a plant-based diet for health reasons.
In India, becoming a lawyer involves getting a law degree and doing practical training. After she graduated, Shreya started by volunteering for projects and researching on wildlife law, but she soon realised how it was closely interconnected with farmed animal advocacy.
Her dedication to animal welfare led her to a crucial point in her career. She decided to commit to animal law and joined the Animal Law Center, a leading research centre for animal law and policy in India. She also completed the HSI India Farm Animal Protection Leadership Fellowship.
Shreya's journey took an interesting turn when she worked as an executive assistant with the Managing Director, of FWI India, where she used her legal skills for various non-legal tasks and assisted in operationalizing systems. She is a program lead at the Animal Law Center, leading research and capacity building in animal law and fundraising to support them.
Shreya's career in the legal field shifted significantly, from focusing on legal research in animal and environmental law in the beginning to her current dedication also to animal advocacy, operations and policy research.
Shreya’s Successes in Animal Law:
Shreya was key in creating and starting education programs about animal law. She was part of setting up India's first postgraduate programs in animal protection laws, including a postgraduate diploma and a master's program. Even though the master's program was reduced later due to funding gaps, it was a big step in making animal law a serious and credible subject in India.
Working at the Animal Law Center, Shreya is also helping programs to sensitise government officials on the regulation of animal industries. This is really important in India, where enforcing laws to protect animals can be tricky because of different cultural and socioeconomic factors. Her efforts help stakeholders understand more about animal welfare laws and play a part in supporting laws and policies that better protect animals.
Shreya’s Challenges in Animal Law:
India's wide range of cultures, religions and regional diversity makes it tricky to protect animals and make laws about them. Shreya works where people have different ideas, customs, and attitudes toward animals depending on where they live. To help animals, she needs to be careful and strategic about her plans because what works in one area might not work in another. The challenge is to create and implement rules for animal welfare that respect these differences while ensuring animals are treated well, and their rights are protected.
Another challenge is securing adequate funding. Sometimes, donors have ideas about how to help animals, but these ideas might not fit well with what's required in India. Shreya hopes to bridge this gap and ensure donors’ support leads to meaningful and appropriate ways of helping farmed animals in the Indian context.
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