About GFAS
Animal protection leaders from a number of organizations came together in 2007 to found the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS). This was in response to:
- virtually unchecked and hidden animal exploitation of inhumanely kept wildlife
- the wildlife trade itself
- the flood of horses, captive wild parrots and abandoned “pet” reptiles suddenly without homes
- the growing demand for sanctuary for farmed animals and animals used in labs
- the plight of animals left in need by natural disasters and wars
- the need for the public to be able to differentiate exploitative operations from legitimate sanctuaries
- the need for global animal specific standards and operational standards for sanctuaries, based on the fine work of the former The Association of Sanctuaries, the former Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition, and others.
The GFAS mission is to promote excellence in sanctuary management and in humane care of animals through international accreditation, collaboration, mentoring, and greater recognition and resources for sanctuaries, while seeking to eliminate the causes of displaced animals.
GFAS is not the first accrediting organization for sanctuaries in the United States or other nations. While there have been sanctuary associations formed in the past, none has ever obtained worldwide recognition. Donors, the media, and members of the public have not recognized a single source of information on animal sanctuaries, partly because there have been so many isolated sanctuaries and no one, unified, international accrediting organization. Sanctuaries accredited by GFAS earn the highest level of credibility with donors, the media, and members of the public, and are clearly distinguished from pseudo-sanctuaries and substandard facilities. The GFAS accreditation is a “seal of approval” to reassure donors and foundations internationally.
In nations with an accreditation process in place, GFAS brings the benefits of increased collaboration and opportunities for partnership, with the goal of raising the level of care and building capacity whenever possible. GFAS fosters the synergy of sanctuaries working together in our global community, where the exploitation of the wildlife trade in particular must be addressed internationally.
No previous accrediting organization for sanctuaries has achieved the level of funding necessary to offer grants and be of real service to honorable sanctuaries across the globe as they strive to meet the incredible challenge of providing a fiscally sound infrastructure to meet the daily and long term needs of animals in the most humane manner possible. Offering compliance grants and fundraising solutions is a top priority for GFAS, recognizing the tremendous challenge sanctuaries face in meeting operating costs in these economic times.
The GFAS goal in working with and assisting sanctuaries is to ensure that sanctuaries are supported, honored, recognized and rewarded for meeting important criteria in providing care to the animals in residence, without putting unreasonable burdens on often over-extended and under-funded sanctuary operators.
Board of Directors
Adam M. Roberts is a Senior Vice President of Born Free USA, based in Washington, DC. He helped found the organization in 2002 to bring the UK-based Born Free Foundation’s message of compassionate conservation to the American public. He began his animal protection and conservation career in Washington in 1991 after graduating Vassar College. In addition to directing Born Free USA he serves on the Board of Directors of the Species Survival Network (SSN), a global coalition working on wildlife trade under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. He chairs the SSN Press Committee, Financial Committee, Bear Working Group, and Animals in Captivity Working Group. Adam is also a Member of the Board of Humane USA, a political action committee that works to raise funds for candidates for public office who have strong positions in favor of animal protection.
In 2003, Adam founded The $10 Club, a charity to fund poverty alleviation projects in developing countries. He runs the organization single-handedly, and as a volunteer. To date, the organization has supported work in more than 50 countries. He lives in Washington, DC with his wife, Stephanie, daughters Bella and Mia, two dogs, five cats, and two very pampered guinea pigs.
Mike Markarian, Vice President
Michael Markarian is chief operating officer and executive vice president of The Humane Society of the United States, overseeing the organization’s domestic programs, including its major campaigns, communications, field offices, emergency services, government affairs, litigation, and other work. He also serves as president of The Fund for Animals, an affiliate of The HSUS providing direct care, food and medical treatment to thousands of animals each year at its wildlife rehabilitation centers and sanctuaries. Additionally, as president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, he oversees the lobbying and political activity of that affiliate. Markarian is currently the chairman of Humane USA, a non-partisan and unaffiliated Political Action Committee of the animal protection movement.
Markarian has a master’s degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Maryland, and he is a graduate of the University of Missouri’s National
Animal Cruelty Investigations School.
Kim K. Haddad, DVM owns and manages three small animal hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as the San Mateo K9 Social Club, a dog daycare, professional pet grooming salon and boutique for high quality foods and pet supplies. Dr. Haddad also provides veterinary care for California native wildlife at Coyote Point Museum, an AZA Accredited facility, and has been a relief veterinarian at the San Francisco Zoo for many years. She also served as medical director for Another Life for Animals, a domestic dog and cat rescue and shelter organization. She was the founder of the Kimya Institute for Animal Welfare and manager of the Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition, which have both now come under the GFAS umbrella as the Captive Wild Animal Protection Campaign. She is also an advisor to the American Zoological Association Animal Welfare Committee, and is a member of the Animal Welfare Committee of the American Association of Zoological Veterinarians, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the California Veterinary Medical Association and the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights.
She received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1997 from the University of Florida, and worked as a small animal veterinarian and volunteered at the Jacksonville Zoological Gardens. A San Francisco native, she resides in the Bay Area with her two boys, four dogs and two cats.
Philip Wilson is the Member Society Manager for the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) in the USA. WSPA is an international non profit animal welfare organization and is also the world’s largest alliance of animal welfare groups. WSPA works with over 900
independent animal welfare organizations (member societies) in 150 countries to raise the standards of animal welfare around the world. Philip joined WSPA in 1998, following several years of ecological research at the University of Reading in the UK. Initially based at the WSPA headquarters in London, he worked on a variety of wildlife programs including tackling the dancing bear issue in Turkey, bear baiting in Pakistan and bear farming in Asia.
In 2003, he started working in a more generic way with WSPA member societies helping to implement WSPA’s global mission of working more effectively and collaboratively with member societies. In 2004, Philip transferred to the WSPA US office where he has been located for the past 5 years, recruiting, supporting and engaging US member societies.
Peter A. Bender is a trustee of the Pettus Crowe Foundation. Since 1995, he has served on the Board of Directors of The Humane Society of the United States. He also serves on the Boards of the HSUS Wildlife Land Trust and the International Center for Earth Concerns. In addition, he chairs the Friends of the HSUS Wildlife Land Trust.
From 1996 to 2009, Mr. Bender was managing trustee and executive director of the Pegasus Foundation, a private, non-profit foundation that funds animal protection programs. From 2004 to 2009, he also served as manager of the Caring Fields Animal Sanctuary in Palm City, Florida.
Mr. Bender served for 20 years in a variety of leadership positions with the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that runs AmeriCorps, the domestic volunteer program.
He currently resides in New Hampshire with his spouse, Anne Ostberg, and their companion cats, Catherine and Meredith, adopted from the Massachusetts SPCA.
Sue Leary brings extensive experience in management of nonprofit organizations. Since receiving her B.S. in Biology in 1976, her career has focused on coordination of programs and services; education and advocacy; administration and planning; and membership development. Since 1995, she has served as President of American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) and its affiliate, the Alternatives Research & Development Foundation. AAVS, which opposes the use of animals in experimentation, has consistently supported sanctuaries that care for animals released from laboratories. Other Board appointments presently include: Ryerss Farm for Aged Equines, Gray Panthers, National Council for Animal Protection, and International Assoc. Against Painful Experiments on Animals.
Ms. Leary served on the Planning Committee for the Sixth World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences and continues to serve on the ALTWEB Project Team, based at the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing, Johns Hopkins University. Sue lives just outside Philadelphia, PA with her husband, Rob, and assorted furry friends.
Ian Robinson, BVSc Cert SHP CertZooMed FRCVS, is the Emergency Relief Program Director for IFAW – the International Fund for Animal Welfare. He oversees IFAW’s international animal rescue, rehabilitation and sanctuary work around the world. This includes response to natural disasters, oiled wildlife following oilspills, marine mammal strandings and entanglements, and wildlife rescue as well as working with many rehabilitation centres and
sanctuaries around the world. Ian qualified as a veterinarian from Bristol University, UK, in 1975, and following some 12 years in general practice, moved into animal welfare full time, first for the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), where he helped open and managed the largest wildlife rehabilitation hospital in Europe, treating over 6,000 wildlife casualties per year, of over 200 different species. Ian joined IFAW in 2003. He has been involved in responses to animal emergencies in many countries around the world, both before and since joining IFAW, including the Arabian Gulf, Mauritania, the Galapagos Islands, India and Sri
Lanka, as well as the UK, Europe and the USA.
Ian has written a number of scientific papers, and contributed to several veterinary textbooks on wildlife. He was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2006.
Executive Director
Patty Finch
Patty Finch has worked in local, national and international humane organizations including nine years at The Humane Society of the United States, where she served as Vice President Youth Education, Executive Director of the National Association of Humane And Environmental Education, and as a founding Vice President of EarthKind and Humane Society International. While with HSUS, she advanced KIND News from a fledgling publication to a flourishing humane education program, which has since educated more than 200 million youth; and she began the trainer-of-trainer humane education workshops in Costa Rica, which continue to this day, featuring an award-winning curriculum.
Patty has also served on five humane organization boards. Her grant experience includes serving as a main author of a successful $9.2 million grant from the US Dept. of Education; designing and overseeing two grant award programs for the Think Tank at Maricopa Community College District; serving as a bi-state grant manager for the University of California at Fullerton; and conceptualizing the forerunner of the current grants program at PetSmart Charities, overseeing up to 375 active grants annually and evaluating up to 600 applications per year. She also initiated and guided development of the webinar offerings of PetSmart Charities, where she served in several positions, including Director of Charitable Giving and Programs, overseeing the distribution of more than $10 million in annual grants. Patty has a Master’s Degree, summa cum laude, from Arizona State University.
Staff
Accreditation Manager
Robin Mason previously worked as Education and Technology Manager for PetSmart Charities for eight years, and prior to that, worked in Human Resources in municipal government. While working for PetSmart Charities, she assisted in developing and managing the free online educational program for animal welfare organizations across North America. Robin has a passion for utilizing technology to assist non-profit organizations in developing efficiencies to assist these organizations in meeting their mission. She has developed and managed several databases and developed strategies to improve and streamline processes. Robin’s experience also includes reviewing and processing of grant applications.
Robin was also a beta tester for Microsoft software which afforded her the opportunity to met Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer of Microsoft. Robin has a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona State University.
Program Director
Josephine Martell has worked in the animal welfare field for over 8 years with a primary focus on exotic animals in captivity, specifically big cats. Josephine has served as a national spokesperson and has appeared in numerous media outlets, including Animal Planet, Larry King Live, 20/20 and the Today Show. Before joining GFAS as Program Director, overseeing the Captive Wild Animal Protection Campaign, Josephine worked at the International Fund for Animal Welfare for six years on national and international legislation and policy. She has written multiple reports as well as conducted an undercover investigation into poor welfare practices for big cats in captivity. She is currently working on research examining the motivations behind big cat ownership in the US.
Josephine holds a MS in public policy from the Center for Animals and Public Policy at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. She currently lives in Rhode Island with her husband and their daughter Florence, where she runs avidly and serves as the Vice President of Action for the RI Chapter of the National Organization for Women.
Central America Coordinator
Tracy O’Toole serves as the Director of Wildlife Development Programs for the International Trade and Development department of Humane Society International. Tracy is responsible for overseeing capacity building programs in Central America on CITES enforcement and basic animal handling techniques as well as the management of small grants throughout Central America to strengthen the technical and institutional capacity of wildlife rescue centers as well as to support public education and outreach programs to combat illegal wildlife trade throughout the region. Ms. O’Toole is also working to develop a network of wildlife rescue centers throughout Latin America that are able to receive, treat and release confiscated wildlife back into designated protected areas.
Prior to joining HSI, Ms. O’Toole worked extensively in the fields of international development and conservation for various donor organizations such as USAID and Europe Aid in the Caribbean, Latin America and the Middle East. During her six year tenure, Ms. O’Toole worked as an eco-tourism planner primarily in the fields of small and medium enterprise creation and product development for community based organizations. In addition to a postgraduate certificate in sustainable development, Ms. O’Toole holds an MA in International Business from the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce in France as well as a B.A. in International Relations/Spanish from Saint Louis University in the USA. She is fluent in French, Portuguese and Spanish.
Europe Co-ordinator
Chris Draper is the Senior Scientific Researcher for the Zoo Check programme of the Born Free Foundation in the UK, where he investigates the welfare of wild animals in captivity. He is also studying for a PhD at the University of Bristol on the implementation of legislation and assessment of animal welfare in zoos. He has worked for several animal welfare organisations on issues involving laboratory animals, farmed animals and wildlife. He previously worked as an animal keeper at a facility in the USA with a range of wild animals, and primarily with 50 retired laboratory chimpanzees. Chris is a chartered biologist, with a degree in zoology and a Master’s degree in primatology. He lives in West Sussex, UK.