About the Founder

Rebecca Moore became an animal rights activist at the age of 10, when she met a chicken for the first time at a summer camp. Upon returning home to NYC, she informed her family she was no longer going to eat animals. That was in 1978.

Before founding IFAH, Rebecca lived and worked in NYC, participating in community activism, working a multitude of jobs by day, and being devoted to experimental art (music, dance, theater and film) by night.

One day she got on a bus that dropped her off on a dirt road upstate that led to a farm animal rescue. She began volunteering; life shifted course. The next ten years were spent in the trenches of rescue, care and advocacy work at several organizations.

The Institute was unofficially founded in late 2008 when Rebecca brought home Nelly: a 6 year-old rooster with horribly deformed feet. He would live the next ten years in her care, until his passing from old age. Over the course of that decade, more and more chickens needing help would be joining him.

A need was identified. A mission took shape. A rescue was born.

The Institute found it’s name and got a website in 2013. A song was recorded to raise funds to cover costs (it doesn’t, but it does buy a bag of feed once in a while). Around that time she met her partner Brian and they added one, two and then three hand-built coops to their rented yard, as more birds were rescued. The Institute made the move to become a 501c3 Non-Profit in January of 2019. In 2022 IFAH moved to it’s own permanent location in Rhinebeck, NY.

Any day of the week, Rebecca can be found cleaning coops, administering medical care, making trips to the veterinarian, and trying to get on top of administrative tasks. She is also passionate about creating education and advocacy projects and events locally, like The Happy Cart and Hudson Valley Vegfest, that bring greater vegan access and awareness to the community.

About the Co-Founder