Founding Family

Erika, Jim and Claire are the founders and managing directors of Animal Aid. They have lived in India for about 15 years, and live in a small village near Udaipur.

Managing Animal Aid is their life’s passion and absorbs their attention full-time. They don’t have a background in veterinary medicine but through their love of animals they have come to learn a great deal about animal behavior and needs.

Claire spoke fairly good Hindi by the time she was 10, in 1999. That’s when the family moved in to the village they’ve lived in ever since, Chota Hawala, just outside of Udaipur.

Street animals –cows, donkeys, dogs, live in abundance eating garbage throughout India.

As they deepened roots and their understanding of how things work here, they learned that in most cities in India there are no hospitals or shelters for un-owned animals. The government veterinary facilities are aimed toward milk production and animal farming. They do not treat un-owned animals or street animals.

They hired Animal Aid’s first vet in 2002 and opened the Animal Aid hospital in 2003. In the early months there were only  four staff members, no ambulance, not even a telephone! Animal Aid grew rapidly and almost miraculously. Since that time their animal treatments have grown exponentially and by 2010, about 30,000 animals have been treated.  They have shifted from the original site which was very small to a rented 4-acres where 250 animals under treatment and in sanctuary are housed each day and where 40 full-time staff members and volunteers from around the world take care of them.

Education and inspiration is vital to saving animals lives. By the time Claire was 15 she was a natural ambassador for animals and began visiting schools with a slide show (and holding up laminated posters!) to inform kids about what Animal Aid does and why it’s so important, and how they can help. After making presentations in 120 schools in Udaipur, Claire has learned a lot about what kids care about, what they CAN care about if given sufficient information and motivation.

In the last couple of years, Animal Aid has expanded its message to focus, in addition to street animals, on the conditions and suffering of animals raised for meat, milk, leather and eggs. Claire conducts vegan outreach activities.

They are a vegan family. They still read widely on a variety of subjects but animal rights thrives in every corner of their lives. They are grateful to all the friends and family and inspirational people and animals who have guided them toward understanding the principles of animal protection, which have enriched our lives and made us happy beyond description.