Dr Teya Brooks Pribac
Founder and Director
Teya is a scholar and multidisciplinary artist based in the Blue Mountains. She holds a PhD in animal studies from the University of Sydney. Her publications include numerous academic articles and award–winning books: Enter the Animal (2021) and Letters to My Sheep (2023; Spanish translation 2026). She is also the author of Not Just Another Vegan Cookbook (2022).
In 2024, she founded Plant Inspired, offering free plant-based community cooking classes, and in 2025 co-founded the Blue Mountains Community Dinner Club, bringing people together through plant-based meals while supporting charitable causes. Her work combines animal ethics, community building, creativity, and planetary sustainability.
David Brooks
Founder and Executive Officer
David is a writer of poetry, fiction, essays, and criticism with over fifty years of literary experience. In recent decades, his work has focused increasingly on advocacy for animals, including publications such as Derrida’s Breakfast, Turin: Approaching Animals (meditations), Animal Dreams (essays), and his Essay on Rights of Non-human Animals, which explore ethical and philosophical dimensions of human–animal relationships.
A former Associate Professor of Australian Literature at the University of Sydney, David served as managing co-editor of the literary journal Southerly for almost twenty years. His contributions to Australian literary culture have been widely recognised, most recently with the 2025 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry and the 2025 Patrick White Award. He currently lives in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, where he shares his home with rescued sheep.
Dr Hal Ginges
Director
Principal of a legal practice established in 1978, Hal has a long background representing individuals and communities with limited access to power, including roles with the Aboriginal Legal Service, criminal defence for prisoners, and representation of refugees, people experiencing mental illness, and families involved in the child welfare system.
He has extensive experience in animal law and animal welfare advocacy. Hal has represented animal rescuers in legal proceedings, supported animal welfare initiatives, and founded Action for Animals, promoting awareness of animal welfare, campaigning against cruelty, and raising funds for sanctuaries and related causes. A candidate for the Animal Justice Party in the 2016 federal election, he is also co-founder of several community organisations, including the Blue Mountains Steiner School and Blue Mountains Food Co-op.
Dr Melissa Boyde
Director
Melissa is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the School of Creative Arts and Humanities at the University of Wollongong, and chief editor of the Animal Studies Journal, which she founded in 2012. For ten years she was co-editor of the Animal Publics book series published by Sydney University Press (now Animal Politics).
Chair of the Australasian Animal Studies Association for a number of years and a member of various advisory boards in animal studies research and publishing, Melissa brings rigorous academic perspective to the Trust's governance and educational mission.
Jeremy Townend
Foundation member
Jeremy is a former partner of a Sydney-based law firm, where he practised for 20 years and was involved in drafting the original constitutions of several major animal welfare organisations, including Animal Liberation (NSW), the Animal Societies Federation (NSW), and the Australian Federation of Animal Societies (now Animals Australia).
In 1992, he moved to Jaipur with his wife Christine, for 15 years managing the Help in Suffering Animal Shelter, transforming it into one of India’s leading animal welfare organisations. Together with Christine, he also helped establish and develop shelters and Animal Birth Control (ABC) programs in Kalimpong and Darjeeling, working closely with local municipalities to improve the welfare of street and community dogs. These programs continue to operate successfully and contribute to ongoing animal welfare outcomes in the region.