From Brenna Galdenzi

GMAD is thrilled to highlight Monica Farrington in our new on-line Volunteer Spotlight!

Monica Farrington has been a loyal GMAD volunteer for over 18 years and has helped us live up to our goal of Protecting the Well-Being of All Animals. In addition to generously providing financial support, she has been known to drop everything and rush to help an animal in need.

Monica started working in animal welfare when she became involved with EndTrap, a Vermont organization strictly focused on the dangers of the leg hold trap. Monica remembers how emotionally involved she would become while volunteering with the group. She even encouraged some EndTrap members to also join GMAD, which was a big win for the animals!

Over the years Monica has had some pretty unique experiences in animal protection. GMAD’s president Sharon MacNair recalled one instance where Monica and her husband Al removed the back seats from their car to transport an elderly goat named Cornflake to safety. We were relieved to hear Monica’s report that Cornflake was a polite passenger and even seemed to enjoy the ride to her new home!

While Monica never shared her home with a goat, she did save two beautiful cats after Hurricane Katrina, and named them “Katrina” and “Louise”. Sharon and other GMAD volunteers who volunteered in Louisiana brought the two homeless felines back to VT to save them from an uncertain fate since their makeshift shelter was about to close down. Monica agreed to foster them and another cat until they could be placed in forever homes. After finding that the 2 younger cats got along with her existing cats, Monica decided to keep them. It is quite endearing how Louise sweetly finds Katrina, who is deaf, to let her know when she hears the can opener which signals feeding time.

While Monica works on behalf of a variety of animal protection issues, she passionately objects to Premarin ,a drug obtained from the urine of pregnant horses. Monica said that the methods used to collect the urine are inhumane, and the medicine itself was shown to increase risk of breast cancer in women. We commend her for her dedication to this important cause, both for the well-being of horses and potentially women.

In addition to being a crusader for animals, Monica is also an actress and a screenwriter. She taught a high school drama class for five years, and she had appearances in the movie 27 Dresses and the upcoming movie Ted. She also used to work in editing and was involved in the production of T.V. shows such as Dr. Phil and Seinfeld.

Green Mountain Animal Defenders and the animals we serve are beyond thankful to have Monica on our side!

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