APV News:

What does a nonprofit organization do when a global pandemic prevents them from hosting their annual fundraiser in-person?

New Mexico’s only statewide legislative advocacy group dedicated to animal protection issues, Animal Protection Voters (APV), decided to pivot and host their second annual Laws & Paws event online. 

Rather than the two-hour event held previously at APV’s Santa Fe office, the event now spans several weeks, culminating Friday, June 12, and anyone across the state can attend.

The event schedule includes highlights such as:

• Unveiling of a DIY signature summer cocktail recipe, dubbed “Victory 57,” created by local business The Liquid Muse
• Unveiling of DIY plant-based hors d’oeuvres recipes created by Tony Quintana, Plant-Based Eating program manager of Animal Protection Voters’ sister nonprofit, Animal Protection of New Mexico
• Video messages from special guests, and
• Drawings for prizes, including:
  • a brand new electric bike from Sport Systems and 505 Cycling,
  • a custom pen & ink drawing of the winner’s companion animal by Animal Protection Voters’ talented marketing director, Jessi Princiotto, and
  • a custom sculpture of the winner’s companion animal by Animal Protection Voters’ artistic deputy director, Daniel Abram.

 The Laws & Paws event celebrates the passage of Senate Bill 57, the affordable low-cost spay/neuter bill that was passed by the New Mexico Legislature and signed by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham earlier this year. That bill created a new sustainable funding mechanism for low-cost spay/neuter services for New Mexico families’ animals, and it is expected to conserve local tax dollars while reducing shelter animal euthanasia. The Laws & Paws event will also serve to build the organization’s strength for the next critical fight to ban cruel traps, snares, and poisons on New Mexico’s public lands.

Animal Protection Voters has been a driving force behind monumental protections for animals in the New Mexico State Legislature. Founded in 2002, the group was behind the 17-year fight to ultimately ban cockfighting in the state, making New Mexico the second-to-last state in the country to do so.

Animal Protect Voters also has succeeded in lobbying for statutory changes to make extreme animal cruelty a felony, as well as require bittering agents in antifreeze to prevent accidental poisonings. More recently, in 2019, Animal Protection Voters won a hard-fought victory for New Mexico’s iconic wildlife by pushing successfully to ban horrific coyote killing contests.

Anyone can “attend” the Laws & Paws event online by visiting apvnm.org/lawspaws20 through June 12.