Heidi Prescott . . . The Next Generation
Heidi Prescott began working with animals in 1986 when a friend brought her an injured woodpecker. She decided to train as a wildlife rehabilitator, and was soon licensed by the state of Maryland. Her home became filled with injured and orphaned birds, squirrels, raccoons, and other animals.
Heidi soon learned of the vast numbers of animals killed by sport hunters, and in 1989 volunteered to organize Maryland's first hunt disruption. Within months, she was working full-time for The Fund for Animals.
As the Fund's Outreach Director, Heidi worked with grassroots activists to organize innumerable hunt protests throughout the country. In 1990, she spent 13 days in a Maryland jail for talking to a hunter and rustling leaves on public land. Refusing to pay the $500 fine, she became the first anti-hunting activist to spend time in jail for the crime of "hunter harassment."
Heidi brought The Fund for Animals into the forefront of the struggle to end pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania. She was the leading figure in the battle for legislation to ban pigeon shoots, losing by just three votes in 1994. "Wait," she says earnestly as The Fund's new National Director, "until next year."
