Washington, DC, July 29, 2024–Today, the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) announced Christopher Berry as the organization’s new Executive Director. Berry’s assumption of this key leadership role comes at an important juncture in the history of the organization and the nonhuman animal rights movement.
Berry has been the NhRP’s Chief Programs Officer since January of 2024. Prior to joining the NhRP, he spent 13 years managing litigation at the Animal Legal Defense Fund, where he specialized in the civil enforcement of animal protection laws and related issues such as standing, private rights of action, and civil procedure. Berry became Executive Director of the NhRP this month following a rigorous search that began over a year ago.
“Christopher has the legal expertise, leadership skills, and steadfast commitment to legal rights for nonhuman animals that will enable us to continue to make steady, world-changing progress and meet any challenge we face,” said Peggy Cusack, who has served as the organization’s Acting Executive Director since 2023. Cusack will now become NhRP Chief of Staff.
In February of 2024, the NhRP lost its founder and president Steven M. Wise–a world-renowned lawyer, legal scholar, and animal rights pioneer–to complications of glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer. For 30 years, Steve stewarded and grew the organization, the only one of its kind in the US. Under his leadership, the NhRP filed historic lawsuits demanding the right to liberty of captive chimpanzees and elephants, achieving widely recognized legal firsts for the NhRP’s clients. Most notably, two judges on New York’s highest court wrote landmark dissents in support of the right to liberty of the NhRP’s client Happy the elephant, refuting the idea that only humans can have rights. The NhRP also helped develop and pass the first animal rights law in the country–an ordinance that protects elephants’ right to liberty.
In his new role as Executive Director and previously as Chief Programs Officer, Berry draws on his years-long admiration for Steve and the NhRP’s unique mission and progress.
“Steve was a brilliant visionary and tenacious advocate,” Berry said. “He recognized that our legal system wasn’t living up to its promise of ‘justice for all’ and built an organization with the right focus, brilliant staff, and professionalism to make a compelling case for recognizing the legal rights of animals. Having seen far too many cases involving illegal conduct and extreme exploitation that courts wouldn’t remedy, I’m beyond honored to build on what Steve has created to lead the Nonhuman Rights Project at this pivotal moment. The legal system must recognize that animal interests matter, and I’m looking forward to helping make this happen with my amazing colleagues at the NhRP.”
Berry earned his J.D. from the University of Michigan School of Law and a B.S. in political science from the University of South Dakota. He will be the organization’s third Executive Director, following Kevin Schneider, who served from 2015 to 2022, and Natalie Prosin, who served from 2011 to 2015.