Global Leader Takes The Helm Of
Marin Humane Society
NEW! In the news
Top dog sounds off
(Marin IJ, 8/20/07)
The Marin Humane Society’s new Executive Director, Neil Trent, has had a number of unique experiences in his 30-plus years of working around the world to improve the lives of animals, including several undercover stints. One of his most memorable involved orchestrating a sting operation with the Brazilian wildlife police in the middle of the Amazon to catch illegal wildlife traders. He recounts:
It was a very densely populated market area — Manaus — and the wildlife traffic there is horrific. There are lots of wildlife for sale. In this market, in particular, it was such a labyrinth to get through to where the animals were on the inside that it was almost impossible for the police to get to the traffickers before they were tipped off and would disappear with the animals.
So I went in playing a naïve tourist wanting to buy a monkey. The police had arranged to raid the place at a certain time and I was in the process of dealing with a trader. It was my job to have gotten the trader to have brought out some animals and put them on display at that time. So when the police arrived with their guns, there were parrots and monkeys out, and I had a sloth in my arms. The trader tried to get him back and we fell on top of each other, with me trying to make sure the sloth didn’t get harmed. Eventually, in the struggle, the guy realized that he’d get caught if he didn’t let go and get out of there. We collected 30 parrots, half a dozen monkeys and a couple other sloths, and prepared to take these animals to a protected, pristine conservation area to release them.
As I took the sloth I had fought for, and who was still in my arms, to the transport vehicle to put in a crate, he very slowly turned his head toward me until his nose was practically touching mine, and looked at me. It was just as though he was saying ‘thank you.’ I was really moved.
The crew who was filming this operation for a local TV station captured this moment on film and said that it looked to them, too, like there was a connection. I could feel it. It was one of those magic moments. I am absolutely convinced that that animal was aware that he had been in danger and was now going to be released. When we arrived at the conservation area, I took him out and put him on a tree, and he slowly climbed up it.
Born in Hertfordshire, England, the new Executive Director of the Marin Humane Society is an internationally recognized leader in animal welfare and has worked closely with the likes of Jane Goodall, Jill Robinson (Animals Asia), and Paul and Heather McCartney to stop animal suffering around the globe. For the past 10 years, Neil has led the Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Humane Society International (HSI), responding to animals in crisis after the Asian tsunami, replacing dog killing in Sri Lanka with rabies vaccination programs, fighting the dog and cat fur trade in Europe, and drawing attention to the baby seal slaughter in Canada. Among his major accomplishments at HSI, he counts developing a humane slaughter initiative in Indonesia and Malaysia that affects millions of farmed animals, and a dog population program in the Indian subcontinent that is changing the way dogs are perceived and treated in that part of the world.
Prior to HSI, Neil worked for the World Society for the Protection of Animals, serving for five years as the Regional Director for North & Latin America, and dealing with such issues as companion animal overpopulation, livestock transport and slaughter, and illegal poaching and trafficking in wildlife. Before that, he spent two decades working in various positions at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, starting his career in law enforcement as a humane officer and progressing to the oversight of shelter operations and training in the UK, the Bahamas and Australia.
The international work was wildly exciting, but what Neil missed most during those years were moments like the one he had experienced with the sloth — individual connections with animals, such as he had had routinely when he began his career with the Royal SPCA.
“When I first started out,” he says, “I worked a lot one-on-one with animals and tried hard to improve the plight of that individual dog or cat. It was very rewarding. As my career became more internationally focused, I would find myself in a country where I had no legal rights, and my role would be to document situations causing animal suffering. Once in a while, we were able to make some important changes, but I was working more with government officials than with animals.”
And animals have always been Neil’s focus.
“As long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to work with animals. We had lots of animals growing up and I learned very quickly that I connected with them,” he says. “I had this instinctive deep feeling for what was right for them, almost a protective instinct. And I just let that flow. I was completely myopic — working with animals was all I could see for myself.”
Neil has long admired MHS’ orientation toward advocacy on animal issues and says, “I am very excited to be joining this leading-light organization and I appreciate that I am filling some very big shoes — Diane has put her lifeblood into the Marin Humane Society.” (Diane Allevato retired in June after 26 years as the MHS Executive Director.)
“Neil is a true citizen of the world and brings to MHS and the Bay Area unparalleled global experience,” says Suzanne Golt, President of the MHS Board of Directors. “Along with his experience in all aspects of animal sheltering and management, his ability to inspire compassion for animals across cultural divides is exceptional. He will serve our community well as the Marin Humane Society embarks on its next 100 years.”
Neil has moved to Marin with his wife, Jane, and sons, William, 11, and Oliver, 9. Their family includes a dog named Abby and cats, Spirit and Spider. Jane is a force of her own in the animal world: A volunteer with Golden Retriever Rescue Education and Training (GRREAT) back in Maryland, she was recently featured in their newsletter for having successfully fostered more than 40 Goldens — quite a milestone.
Fostering was very much a family affair. “The very first dog that we fostered, stayed!,” laughs Neil, referring to Abby. “She is pretty bombproof, so she acts like a mother to the other dogs. And the kids got very good at this, too. The boys got engaged in it and talked about who they’d recommend to adopt the dogs. It was a nice learning curve for them.”
After years of traveling six months out of the year, Neil is looking forward to leaving his globe-trotting lifestyle behind and getting acquainted with his new community. “I’ve had a very warm welcome to Marin and it keeps getting better,” he says. “We’re very excited to be here.”
Welcome, Neil!
