Christine Stevens (animal welfare activist) explained

Christine Gesell Stevens
Birth Date:	March 10, 1918
Birth Place:	St. Louis, Missouri
Death Date:	October 11, 2002 (aged 84)
Death Place:	Georgetown
Occupation:	Animal welfare activist

Christine Gesell Stevens (March 10, 1918  - October 11, 2002) was an American animal welfare activist and conservationist.

Biography

Stevens was born in St. Louis, Missouri.^[1] She studied at the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (1936-1938) and at the Society of Arts and Crafts in Detroit (1938-1942). She married Roger L. Stevens in 1938. They had a daughter, Christabel.^[1]

Stevens founded the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) in 1951 and the Society for Animal Protective Legislation (SAPL) in 1955.^{[1] [2] [3]} Under Stevens's leadership the SAPL succeeded in helping to pass animal protection laws including the Animal Welfare Act, Humane Slaughter Act, Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.^[3]

Stevens was the president of AWI until her death in 2002.^{[4] [5] [6]} She is considered the mother of the Animal Welfare Act and the Endangered Species Act. She took no salary for her AWI work.^[7] Stevens was an honorary trustee of the Bat Conservation International and the New York State Humane Association.^[1]

She died at Georgetown University Hospital.^[6] The Christine Stevens Wildlife Awards was named in her honour.^[8]

See also

• Women and animal advocacy

Further reading

• The Animals’ Angel Celebrating Christine Stevens’ Passionate Animal Activism. Animal Welfare Institute Quarterly (2003, Volume 52).

Notes and References

1. Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations For 2001. U.S. Government Printing Office. Washington, 2000. p. 540.
2. Epstein, Charlotte. (2008). The Power of Words in International Relations: Birth of an Anti-Whaling Discourse. MIT Press. p. 140.
3. Magoc, Chris J. (2011). Chronology of Americans and the Environment. ABC-CLIO. p. 98.
4. Phelps, Norm. (2007). The Longest Struggle: Animal Advocacy from Pythagoras to PETA. Lantern Books. pp. 190-191.
5. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/mc00582 "Animal Rights Network Oral History Collection 1999-2002"
6. Saxon, Wolfgang. (2002). "Christine Stevens, 84, a Friend to the Animals". The New York Times. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
7. Guither, Harold D. (1998). Animal Rights: History and Scope of a Radical Social Movement. Southern Illinois University Press. p. 41.
8. https://awionline.org/content/christine-stevens-wildlife-awards "Christine Stevens Wildlife Awards"