Determined 16-Year-Old Took Her Passion for Helping Animals All the Way to 'South by So What?!'
For Immediate
Release:
April 14, 2011
Contact:
Shakira Croce 202-483-7382
Mesquite, Texas
— For taking on the Canadian seal slaughter and urging her peers to go
fur-free, 16-year-old Mesquite resident Celia
Renteria will receive a Star Street Teamer Award from peta2,
the world's largest youth animal rights organization.
"Celia Renteria embodies all the qualities of a great activist:
compassion toward the most vulnerable members of society, tons of energy, and
an enormous level of dedication," says peta2 Director Dan Shannon.
"By actively engaging thousands of her peers in her fight for animal
rights, she's setting an example not only for her community but also for our
more than 85,000 other peta2 youth activists who want to help animals."
Renteria spent the last semester at North Mesquite High School collecting more than 1,000 signatures for a petition against the Canadian seal slaughter, the largest massacre of marine mammals on Earth. She recently took her passion for campaigning against the fur industry to Austin, where she helped peta2 gather more than 2,000 fur-free pledges from attendees of the South by So What?! festivalas part of peta2's Grow Your Own Fur campaign, which encourages young people never to wear fur. Renteria paid her own way into the festival with the sole aim of assisting peta2's campaign. Photos of Renteria engaging South by So What?! attendees are available.
Renteria also extends her compassion for animals through eating a vegan diet. For more information, please visit peta2.com or click here.
