Her presentation Nov 9 Thursday night is 7:00 pm in the Peter Kaye Room at the Vancouver Public Library.

Carolyn Matlack an animal law attorney in North Carolina has just published a book titled “We’ve Got Feelings, Too” (www.wevegotfeelingstoo.com).

She is coming to Vancouver next week and is being sponsored by the BC Veterinary Medical Association at the downtown VPL to speak on Thursday, November 9, about the premise of her book and, in fact, her life purpose: to see that animals are treated not as a chair in the eyes of North American courts but as “sentient property”; a term she has coined to indicate that our pets don’t depreciate over time like other property. They A-preciate and she wants the law to recognize this fact. The implications are huge considering how big the companion animal market is. Take a look at her website to get a sense for what this change could mean.

You may not know, for instance, that the US Federal government just signed a bill that requires there to be an emergency response plan for animals in the case of natural disasters. The legal stature of animals is changing rapidly and Carolyn is at the forefront of the battle.

Lawyers are intrigued and judges, vets, humane societies, the SPCA, and pet owners in general are as well. She is speaking at the University of Washington School of Law on Wednesday and turned down an invitation from a law school in Portland. There are many people interested!!

She also publishes the Animal Legal Report (www.animallegalreports.com) so she is clearly an expert in the field, a dynamic speaker, and quite the motivated, impassioned, and articulate woman.