Welcome to The Animal Advocate, the podcast for animal lovers who want to become effective animal advocates. Whether you want to start your own nonprofit, inspire your community to adopt more animal-friendly practices, or push for legislative change, this podcast is here to arm you with the knowledge and inspiration you need.
With over 20 years of experience in animal law and advocacy, your host, Penny Ellison, is a long-time devoted animal advocate. From teaching Animal Law and Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania Law School to serving on the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania SPCA and founding the nonprofit Hand2Paw, Penny's mission is to educate animal lovers like you to advocate for greater protections for animals, to inspire individual action to protect habitat, and help you make ethical choices every day.
If you're eager to learn and make a meaningful impact, feeling frustrated by the current political climate, and wondering how to make a difference, let The Animal Advocate be your guide. Join us each episode to learn about topics like what makes a strong or weak animal cruelty law, the different types of animal shelters, environmental practices that impact the lives of wild animals, and practical advice on things to consider before starting an animal rescue.
Be sure to check out our website, www.animaladvocacyacademy.com, for more resources on how to be a better animal advocate and to learn more about our online courses. Remember – you don't need any credentials to be an advocate. Anyone can be the positive change you want to see! Compassion is great but compassionate action is infinitely better.
Looking for a job helping animals that doesn't require a veterinary degree? Animal law, cruelty investigation, grassroots organizing, and shelter communications are all paid careers in animal advocacy.
Some pay well and some don't, and entry-level animal law jobs are competitive. Knowing who hires, and who's a good fit, makes the search easier.
In this episode, you'll learn:
What grassroots organizers do and which backgrounds transfer
Where animal lawyers and paralegals work
Animal shelter jobs in communications, PR, and community outreach
What animal cruelty investigators do and what they're called in different states
Other paths, from shelter medicine and fundraising to legislative staff and research
Key Takeaway: Start by asking what you're good at, then find out who in animal advocacy needs those skills.
If you want to move policy in your community, or build the skills to do it well, you can access the free private audio series on the Four C's of Legislative Advocacy for Animals at AnimalAdvocacyAcademy.com/fourcs.
23 Sept 2026
What Is Animal Advocacy? How to Become an Animal Advocate
Being an animal advocate doesn't take a law degree, a microphone, or a new nonprofit. It takes 4 moves: pick something specific, figure out who controls the outcome, learn enough to be useful, and keep showing up. The first move makes you feel like an advocate. The fourth is what makes you useful.
Penny shows what advocacy looks like far beyond the city council podium. That includes weekend fostering, a single transport leg, or taking payroll off the hands of a rescue director doing it at 11 at night. She also names the things that feel like advocacy but usually aren't.
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why "I want to help animals" is a value, not a project, and how to narrow it into something you can work on this week
The many forms fostering, volunteering, and board service can take, including how to put your day job to work for a rescue
The one question to ask before you act, and why arguing in the comments, tagging rescues in cruelty posts, and signing petitions usually aren't advocacy
How to learn enough to be useful without becoming either an instant expert or a perpetual researcher
Why you probably don't need to start a nonprofit, and why reliability over time matters more than passion
Key Takeaway: Nobody declares you an animal advocate; you become one by picking one thing, finding who can change it, taking the first step this week and then keep showing up.
If the one thing you pick turns out to need a change in the law, I created a short private audio series called The Four C's of Legislative Advocacy for Animals. It lays out a practical framework for advocates who want laws that work in the real world. You can download it free at AnimalAdvocacyAcademy.com/fourcs.
9 Sept 2026
Is Fostering a Dog Right for Me? A Foster's Honest Answer
Ask Kelly Motter what fostering a dog is like and she'll tell you about the moment a dog decides they're safe. Sometimes it's the first tail wag. Once it was a terrified boxer mix who sat with her on the kitchen floor for half an hour before he finally put his whole weight against her and let go. Two years in, she says it happens with every single dog, and she still can't describe the feeling.
Most people who consider fostering worry about a different moment. The goodbye. I'd get too attached. I could never give them up. It stops a lot of good people before they start, and Kelly has an answer to it that isn't the gentle one you'd expect.
She hosts The Foster Files podcast, she's placed dog after dog into homes she helped choose, and she came on the show to work through the questions that keep people on the sidelines.
In this episode, you'll learn:
What people are really saying when they say they'd get too attached, and why fosters hear that sentence differently than you'd think
The questions to ask a rescue before you agree to take a dog home
What happens if a dog isn't working out in your household, and who is responsible for sorting it out
Why a foster can tell you things about a dog's temperament that no breeder and no shelter ever could
The barriers people assume disqualify them from fostering, including the fenced yard question, and which ones are real
Key Takeaway: Fostering asks something of you, and it gives back more, so find an organization that will support you well and let yourself have the experience of watching a frightened dog become themselves again.
If you want to move policy in your community, or build the skills to do it well, you can access the free private audio series on the Four C's here: AnimalAdvocacyAcademy.com/fourcs
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
16 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
9 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 38 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
57
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
51
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