Announcing the 2025-26 CALS Ambassadors

At the Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS), our reach grows with every passing year. Today, our alumni represent 33 countries across six continents, making CALS uniquely positioned to advance legal protections for animals worldwide. Through the Global Ambassador Program (GAP), CALS empowers animal law JD, LLM, and MSL alumni to continue their advocacy and education around the world by supporting projects that create meaningful, lasting impact for animals and the communities that care for them.

Since its launch in 2020, the Global Ambassador Program has supported four rounds of alumni-led initiatives spanning legislative reform, animal law education, capacity building and more. These efforts have helped grow the global animal law movement and foster change across borders.

Now, we are excited to announce our fifth round of CALS Ambassadors, who will serve from November 1, 2025, through October 31, 2026: Gladys Kamasanyu (Uganda), Dulki Seethawaka (Sri Lanka), Emily Talkington (United States), and Jessica Tselepy (Australia). Below, they share their GAP projects and how they plan to advance animal protection in their home regions and beyond.

Gladys Kamasanyu (LLM ’20)
Saving Wildlife in Uganda’s Nakaseke Community Wildlife Area

A Chief Magistrate, Gladys Kamasanyu leads Africa’s first and only specialized wildlife court in Kampala, Uganda. Through her nonprofit, Help African Animals, she works to raise awareness and build capacity around animal protection, bridging the gap between rural communities and conservation law. Her GAP project focuses on the Nakaseke District, one of Uganda’s wildlife crime hotspots, where she will organize community outreach events to promote coexistence between people and wildlife. By educating residents about the need to protect wildlife and offering sustainable alternatives to poaching, Gladys aims to involve local community members in conservation efforts, reduce human-wildlife conflict, and preserve threatened species for generations to come.

Dulki Seethawaka (LLM ’25)
Building a Movement for Animal Protection in Sri Lanka

Dulki Seethawaka is a leading voice for legislative reform in animal protection and a senior executive researcher at the Centre for Environmental Law and Policy at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Her project, “Decoding Compassion,” will bring together experts and participants from diverse fields to build the first-ever group of Sri Lankan animal advocates. Through lectures, workshops, discussions, and field visits, participants will gain practical skills and new perspectives on how compassion can guide effective advocacy. The immersive seven-day program will lay the groundwork for an interdisciplinary movement for animal protection in Sri Lanka and serve as a model for future initiatives around the world.

Emily Talkington (MSL ’23)
Introducing Animal Law into Veterinary Education

A companion animal and wildlife veterinarian based in California, Emily Talkington is committed to uniting veterinary medicine and animal law. Her project will introduce the study of animal law to her alma mater, St. George’s University School of Veterinary Medicine in Grenada, West Indies—an international, AVMA-accredited institution with students and faculty from more than 50 countries. Through presentations about her work as a traveling international veterinarian and advocate, Emily aims to make animal law a permanent part of the school’s professional development courses. Her project seeks to inspire veterinary students and veterinarians to consider the ethical, legal, and policy dimensions of their work, encouraging St. George’s to become the first international veterinary school to formally teach animal law and paving the way for others to follow.

Jessica Tselepy (LLM ’23)
Empowering Animal Protection Organizations in Australia

Based in Australia, Jessica Tselepy is pursuing her PhD at the University of Melbourne, where her research examines the treatment of animals in global trade law. Drawing on her experience as co-founder of Hello Bridges, a nonprofit that helps ethical organizations work more effectively, Jessica’s project will strengthen the capacity and reach of animal protection organizations across Australia. By helping these groups streamline operations, integrate technology, and access research more efficiently—and leveraging partnerships with established organizations—she aims to amplify the movement’s collective impact. Her work will build sustainable networks and resources that enable advocates to spend less time on administration and more time protecting animals.

In the year ahead, we’ll share updates about our CALS Ambassadors’ work, culminating in a celebratory webinar next fall that will showcase their impact. To view the webinar featuring our fourth round of CALS Ambassadors, visit this link.

The Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) was founded in 2008 with a mission to educate the next generation of animal law advocates and advance animal protection through the law. With vision and bold risk-taking, CALS has since developed into a world-renowned animal law epicenter. CALS’ Alumni-in-Action from 30 countries are making a difference for animals around the world. CALS is a self-funded Center within the law school operating under the Lewis & Clark College 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, and is able to provide these educational opportunities through donations and grants.