Nancy Blaney

Nancy Blaney has advocated on behalf of animals for more than 35 years. She has been at the Animal Welfare Institute since 2007, where she is currently Director of Government Affairs for the Animal Welfare Institute. In this position, Nancy is responsible for working with federal and state legislators and regulators, other interest groups, and the law enforcement community in support of improving animal welfare, the prosecution of animal cruelty crimes, and public awareness of the relationship between animal abuse and other forms of violence, particularly all forms of family violence. Nancy serves as co-chair of the Animal Cruelty Advisory Council of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys and is a recipient of APA’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She also is a member of the National Sheriffs’ Association’s Animal Cruelty and Abuse Committee and the Training Advisory Board of the National Animal Care and Control Association (NACA). She received the Executive Director’s Award at NACA’s annual conference in October 2019. She has made presentations on the subjects of legislation and employing the legislative process on behalf of animals, as well as on animals and interpersonal violence, to audiences of judges, law enforcement, prosecutors, domestic violence and animal welfare advocates, and others. Nancy and her colleague Dr. Mary Lou Randour have made numerous presentations on the relationship between animal cruelty and domestic violence, including the need for services for domestic violence survivors who have companion animals, the importance of cross-reporting between animal welfare and human service agencies, and the value of community coordinated response teams. They are the authors of several articles, including “Protecting Domestic Violence Victims by Protecting Their Pets,” and “Animal Abuse as a Type of Trauma: Lessons for Human and Animal Service Professionals,” and also of the chapter “Advances in Understanding and Addressing the Link Between Pet Abuse and Human Partner Violence,” in the forthcoming Handbook of Interpersonal Violence Across the Lifespan. AWI became the first advocate for animals on Capitol Hill in 1951. Dedicated to alleviating the suffering of animals caused by humans, AWI has been a leader in achieving the most significant federal animal protection laws and has extended its efforts to improving the enforcement of state and local cruelty laws and calling attention to the relationship between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence. .