[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 36 (Wednesday, March 13, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E285]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   IN HONOR OF PATRICIA ``PAT'' DERBY

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 13, 2013

  Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Patricia ``Pat'' Derby, 
a world-renowned advocate, champion of animal rights, and a dear 
friend.
   Patricia Bysshe Shelly was born June 7, 1942, in East Sussex, 
England, the second of two children born to Charles Boswell Shelley, a 
Cambridge University professor, and Mary, a homemaker. Pat's father 
died when she was 12, and at the age of 15 she immigrated by herself to 
New York City to pursue her dream of theatre and ballet. She enrolled 
at New York's Columbia University but later dropped out to pursue her 
Hollywood dreams in California.
   While living in San Francisco, she met future husband and animal 
trainer Ted Derby and began working with him as a team, training 
animals for television and movies. Throughout the 1960's and 70's, Pat 
trained many exotic animals for Hollywood TV shows like ``Flipper,'' 
``Lassie,'' and ``Gunsmoke.''
   However, after many years of witnessing widespread abuse of exotic 
and performing animals, Pat quit the business and quickly became one of 
the most vocal critics of animal abuse in Hollywood.
   In 1975, Pat wrote her best-selling book, ``The Lady and Her 
Tiger,'' which documented her time working with animals in the 
entertainment industry and brought to light the negative aspects of the 
industry's practices, which invariably made her an enemy of many 
Hollywood elite.
   In 1984, Mrs. Derby and her lifetime associate, Ed Stewart, founded 
the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS). Her hope what that this 
organization would serve to advocate for, and protect, the animals we 
see on a daily basis in TV shows and movies.
   Pat's first, and most important, mission was always to educate 
others regarding animal rights and how organizations should approach 
caring for captive wild animals.
   Pat also worked closely with government agencies, and kept her USDA 
and California Fish and Game permits up-to-date as there were few 
facilities to aid animals when she first started. These permits were 
initially used to start a sanctuary that has since grown from 30 acres 
to 2,300 acres in Galt, California which has housed everything from 
lions and wolves to a sick baby Elephant. Each of which lived out the 
entirety of its life in full health on Pat's sanctuary.
   Pat's long time associate Ed Stewart wrote that when some people die 
they are unduly given ``hero'' status, and yet that is not Pat. She was 
a true hero in the animals rights world whose sole crusade was aimed at 
helping animals that could not protect or advocate for themselves. Pat 
realized that even wild animals need someone to look out for them, and 
she dedicated her life to that belief.
   Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Patricia ``Pat'' Derby for her 
lifetime commitment to protecting the welfare of performing animals.

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