Advocacy 101- Learn the Legislative Process in CT and how you can make a difference! Join CFA’s President, Dr. Jim Lombella for an Educational Webinar on Advocacy 101. Learn how you can advocate for legislative change and help animals here in CT! Guest Presenter will be CT Votes for Animals (CVA) Policy and Legislative Intern, Joshua Levin, a social work graduate student from UConn. Joining Joshua for this important webinar is Alexis Bourassa-Lobbyist | Communications Director from Focus Gov. Affairs. Alexis Bourassa joined FOCUS Government Affairs after graduating from the University of Connecticut (UConn), where she earned dual bachelor’s degrees in Communications and English with a concentration in Public Relations in 2019. At FOCUS, Alexis plays a vital role in implementing, maintaining, and managing both internal and external communication efforts for the firm. Joshua will provide a full outline on CT’s legislative process including information on how to register to vote, find your legislator, advocate at the capitol, navigate the General Assembly website, and more!

Join us for an important presentation on the harmful effects of Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (SGARs) on Connecticut's wildlife. Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides are killing Connecticut's wildlife and their offspring at an alarming rate. The use of SGARs is counterproductive to rodent control by poisoning, harming and killing the very animals that naturally regulate rodent populations throughout Connecticut. Our guest speaker, Christine Cummings, Director of A Place Called Hope, will share insights and provide a live raptor demonstration to illustrate the importance of natural rodent control methods. Nicole Rivard, Media/Government Relations Manager for Friends of Animals, will discuss ways in which you can help to ban these harmful poisons. Learn firsthand how we can come “together for animals” and help stop this unnecessary poisoning impacting wildlife in CT and beyond.

An educational webinar: The Effects of Neonicotinoids / Pesticides on our Pollinators, Insects, Animals, and Ecosystems - How you can HELP!

No topic other than animal cruelty could be more fitting for CFA’s first educational program. And no one other than CFA Board Member and animal cruelty expert, Dr. Virginia Maxwell could be better suited to deliver this presentation. A professor and Assistant Chair of Forensic Science at the University of New Haven, Virginia is credited with developing the first graduate program in animal cruelty investigation at the University. She is also the co-author of one of the first books on animal cruelty investigation.

Short documentary film about the dangers of rat poisons known as SGARs; Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides. For more information, visit: https://www.preyforwildlife.org

Join the Pollinator Pathway and the Natural Resources Defense Council for an update on state efforts to restrict the use of neonicotinoid pesticides. Speakers will cover the science behind the threats posed by “neonics” to pollinators, biodiversity, and our own health as well as neonics’ surprising prevalence in our environment. These widely used pesticides contaminate soil, water, and plant life on a nearly unprecedented scale, driving mass losses of birds and bees, and raising alarm bells for a whole host of wildlife, clean water, and human health. The webinar will also provide information on pending legislation we can impact. Speakers: Dan Raichel, Acting Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Pollinator initiative, and Dr. Kathleen Nolan, President of the Physicians for Social Responsibility, New York Chapter, and Senior Research Director at Catskill Mountainkeeper, who joined us last year for a talk on neonics.