NARN Info

History
Founded in 1986, the Northwest Animal Rights Network is the largest grassroots animal activist group in the Pacific Northwest. Over the years, NARN's campaigns have been instrumental in closing seven major fur salons, as well as in establishing agreements with Nordstrom (who has since reneged) and Frederick's and Nelson (who filed for bankruptcy in 1992) in which they agreed to discontinue selling fur. These efforts and others, such as the crashing of a fur fashion show, have consistently kept issues of animal suffering in the media's attention and in the public's mind.

The Northwest Animal Rights Network is a legacy of the UK animal liberation movement. Jerry Esterly founded the organization upon his return from England, where he was active with and educated by the world's most dedicated animal activists. He returned to Seattle to find that the city's only animal rights group was on the verge of collapse. Not willing to stand idly by while the pro-animal community fragmented, Esterly and several others began to look for funding from within that community.

As is common in Seattle, the community responded with generosity and six months later NARN had $4,800, an office at 12th and Pike, a part-time staff, and a membership that was growing rapidly. In these early days the group organized weekly demonstrations and its membership soon reached 300.

Membership
NARN encourages active participation in meetings and events by all, regardless of experience or span of involvement with the organization. As such, all volunteers and/or meeting attendees, as well as donors (no matter the amount or frequency) are considered automatic “Supporters”.

A "Member" is defined by the number of hours one volunteers for NARN each quarter (3-month span). In order to be considered a "Member", one must have volunteered a minimum of 10 hours per quarter over the preceeding year. (Meeting attendance does NOT count toward volunteer hours.)

Members have the right to vote at board elections, whereas Supporters do not. In all other ways, the two are identical.