When she’s not gracing the small screen, Katie Cleary spends her time fighting for animal rights. While walking the red carpet at the Danse Avec Clairobscur in Los Angeles earlier this month, the 34-year-old model spoke with Good Celebrity and shared her passion for giving back.
Cleary’s love for animals started at a young age and was inspired by her favorite animal – the tiger.
“
There are only 3,200 tigers left in the wild so that was my first campaign when I was 11 years old,” she told us on the red carpet. “And that was my first campaign when I actually had my charity, Peace4Animals. We’re always about raising awareness for big cats.”
“Wear your own skin.” “Fur looks better on the animals!” @animalequality pic.twitter.com/JyM4AT9aFO — Katie Cleary✌ (@Katie_Cleary) November 9, 2015
Cleary continued to discuss her successful organization, which was created to protect endangered species. “I have my own charity called Peace4Animals and it’s about raising awareness and passing legislation for pretty much all the animal welfare issues you can imagine from puppy mills to endangered species,” she said. Cleary founded Peace4Animals in 2012. It’s her mission to protect species that have no voice and urge others to respect all living creatures on the planet.
Love this lil trouble maker “Rowdy” the #Capuchin monkey, rescued by the #WildlifeWaystation @millennialmagazine www.WildlifeWaystation.org A photo posted by KATIE CLEARY (@katiecleary11) on
“We are the voice of the voiceless animals around the world! We make an impact to bring awareness and justice to the barbaric acts of killing, abuse, neglect, and the inhumane treatment of all animals we share this planet with! We rescue, find homes and work to rehabilitate,” Cleary writes on the organization’s site.
In collaboration with Peace4Animals, Cleary launched WorldAnimalNews.com in October.
“It’s basically taking it from a radio show to now the CNN for animal welfare,” she told Good Celebrity.
“Everyday we have unique articles and a lot of people that really want to know how they can make a difference in this world for animals. And also environmental issues because they’re tied together.”
World Animal News pulls together breaking news stories about animal injustice along with articles about community members fighting for animal rights. Various writers contribute articles to the breaking news website, creating a continuous flow of current events.
A secret meeting between the DEA & Safari Club was crashed by protesters. #SaveOurRhinos https://t.co/Wsqz4OTEWf pic.twitter.com/Al31iVPuci
— World Animal News (@WorldAnimalNews) November 15, 2015
“If we can’t save our environment and our planet, we can’t save our animals and we can’t save us,” Cleary said. “We’re really trying to do whatever we can to educate people on the truth of what’s happening.”
Kisses? @Eastwoodranch Foundation #Malibu @aliwood72 A photo posted by KATIE CLEARY (@katiecleary11) on
Her charitable work doesn’t stop there. Cleary and her team collaborated to create the documentary Give Me Shelter, which showcases the inhumane treatment of animals across the globe.
Give Me Shelter is produced by Cleary and directed by Kristin Rizzo. This documentary film dives deep into the mistreatment of animals, shining a light on the “underground black market trade of wild and exotic animals, puppy mills, poaching, animal abuse and neglect, the fur industry, circus, seal clubbing, horse slaughter, the palm oil industry, shark finning and the pet industry.”
“It focuses on the top 10 animal welfare issues that we really thought needed to be exposed,” Cleary said.
Give Me Shelter scored many awards upon its release including Winner of the Best Doc Short Film at the Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood and an official selection into the Jam Fest Film Festival in 2013.
The documentary is available on Netflix.
Cleary also urges supporters to donate to her organizations and support animal welfare.
“We really need help and funding to make this all happen,” she said.