Five little noted but accomplished animal advocates who died in 2025

Marshall R. Thompson,  Jamie Massey,  Sarah Fisher,  Neil C. Wolff,  DVM,  and Vincent van der Merwe

Among the many accomplished animal advocates whose passage in the last months of 2025 mostly escaped notice from all but family and friends were Marshall R. Thompson,  Jamie Massey,  Sarah Fisher,  Neil C. Wolff,  DVM,  and Vincent van der Merwe.

Marshall R. Thompson

Marshall R. Thompson,  77,  a cinematographer best known as cofounder,  with his wife Susan Tellem,  of American Tortoise Rescue,  died on November 2, 2025 in Malibu,  California.

“We built American Tortoise Rescue together,”  remembered Tellem,  “and his love for these animals shaped everything we created.  Moving through this transition has not been easy,  but it has reminded me how strong and supportive this community is.

“Many happy years ago,  in 1990,”   Tellem recounted on June 30,  2024,  “Marshall and I founded American Tortoise Rescue at a time when there were no national turtle and tortoise rescues.

“This was a change for us,  as we had rescued cats,  dogs,  bunnies,  snakes,  birds,  and many other animals.

Started with two box turtles

“It started because we were in a pet shop and saw two box turtles for adoption.  I never thought of turtles as pets,”  Tellem admitted,  “so this would be another animal we could save and learn more about.  We brought the ‘Peggy Sue’ duo home and then wondered,  like so many other turtle owners, what they needed to eat.  We devoured books and talked to vets.

“The more we read,”  Tellem said,  “the more we realized the U.S. needed a national clearing house of the correct information.

“Since then,”  Tellem continued,  “the two of us carried this mission on together.  But,  sadly,  in 2021 Marshall was diagnosed with dementia.  This came right after the fire,”  the Woolsey Fire of 2018,  “that destroyed our home.  Marshall lost his video business equipment and his Navy captain dad’s World War II mementos.  It was too much for him.”

Almost all of the American Tortoise Rescue animals,  including 35 turtles and three cats,  survived the catastrophic fire.  The Tellems moved a manufactured home onto the property and Susan Tellem resumed her turtle and tortoise caretaking.

More challenges followed,  including two more wildfires that razed parts of Malibu in December 2024 and January 2025.

“It’s about evolving”

Following Marshall’s death,  “After three decades in Malibu,”  Tellem told American Tortoise Rescue followers,  “I made the difficult decision to move to a smaller place to be closer to my grandkids,  which has been a real comfort.

“With less space, I also had to make some big decisions about our sanctuary.

“Some of our larger tortoises,  like Tank and Popcorn,  and many others have moved north to a wonderful new home at Turtle & Tortoise Rescue of Arroyo Grande,  a volunteer-run, family-led sanctuary where rescued turtles and tortoises enjoy room to roam, sunshine, and expert care.”

“A few longtime friends are still with me,”  Tellem said,  “and of course I’ll continue doing what I’ve always done—speaking out, sharing resources, and helping people help turtles. This isn’t about slowing down.  It’s about evolving.

“We’re updating the American Tortoise Rescue website to reflect this next chapter,”  Tellem pledged,  “with new ways to support turtles and tortoises,  connect with rescues,  and find reliable care information.

“And of course, World Turtle Day® isn’t going anywhere. We’ll continue our education, advocacy, and rescue support efforts—it remains at the heart of everything we do.”

Jamie Massey

Jamie Massey,  71,  died on December 11,  2025 in Tucson, Arizona,  remembered by Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Humane Economy president Wayne Pacelle as “A front-line advocate who got things done.  He was instrumental in shutting down the greyhound racing track in Tucson,”  Pacelle mentioned,  “and was the lead advocate on the 1998 ballot measure to outlaw cockfighting in Arizona,  which was one of the redoubts of staged cockfighting.”

The Arizona ballot measure,  and one in Missouri,  Pacelle remembered to Tucson Sentinel obituarist Mia Kortright,  furnished the campaign blueprint for subsequent ballot initiatives that outlawed cockfighting in Oklahoma,  New Mexico,  and Louisiana.

“The efforts in Arizona were really the beginning of a wave of anti-cockfighting legislation,” Pacelle told Kortright.

Retired teacher

In a 2020 book entitled,  If Life is For Living, What’s Living For?,   former campaign colleague Joyce Pollack summarized to ANIMALS 24-7,  Massey described studying to become a teacher at the University of Wisconsin in Madison,  having grown up in Hinsdale,  Illinois.

“After graduation,”  Pollack continued,  “he student-taught in Scotland,  then returned to the U.S.

“He taught at various public schools,  including one in Texas,”  Pollack recounted,  “where he lived on an 1,100 acre ranch.  During this period,  he fell in love with nature and began a lifelong passion for bird-watching.  He later moved to Phoenix in 1988,  where he worked with developmentally-disabled adults.  His devotion to animal advocacy crystallized during that time.”

Offered Animal Defense League of Arizona,  “His advocacy began with the 1994 citizen initiative that banned leghold traps and poisons on Arizona public lands.  He later founded Arizona Lobby for Animals and led legislative efforts to ban cockfighting.

Organizer

“When those efforts failed, he formed Citizens Against Cockfighting and organized the volunteer-driven ballot initiative that resulted in Arizona voters banning cockfighting in 1998 by a 68–32 percent margin.

“Jamie later helped to secure a statewide cockfighting ban in Oklahoma.

“Jamie continued organizing volunteers on local and statewide initiatives,”  said the Animal Defense League of Arizona posting.

“He led signature gathering in Pima County for the 2006 citizen initiative that banned gestation crates for pregnant pigs and crates for veal calves.  In 2008 he launched a South Tucson ballot campaign to improve conditions for greyhounds at Tucson Greyhound Park;  greyhound racing was later banned statewide in 2016.

“Jamie also played a key role in a volunteer campaign that led the Tucson City Council to ban the sale of puppy mill dogs in pet stores,  a policy later overturned by state preemption,”  the Animal Defense League of Arizona finished.

“A hero to many of us”

“Jamie was really a hero to many us,” Animal Defense League of Arizona and Humane Voters of Arizona board member Karen Michael told Kortright.

Continued Kortright,  “Karyn Zoldan said she worked around 2008 with Massey to gather signatures on ballot measures that would prohibit the now-defunct Tucson Greyhound Park in South Tucson from giving dogs anabolic steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs and prevent the dogs from being kept in minimum-size cages for more than 18 hours.

“She had already written numerous letters to the editor of the Arizona Daily Star at the time, when Massey called her asking if she wanted to help.

“The city of South Tucson didn’t enforce the measure when it became an ordinance,  she added,  but it did alert the community to what was happening,  which contributed to the decline in the popularity of dog racing at the site.

“The Tucson Greyhound Park stopped holding races when then-governor Doug Ducey signed a bill banning them statewide.  The park closed completely in 2022,”  Kortright said.

Sarah Fisher

Sarah Fisher,  61,  died on December 29,  2025,  her actress daughters Emily and Daisy announced in a joint posting to the Facebook page for Fisher’s Tilley Farm sanctuary for rescued horses,  ponies,  and donkeys at Farmborough,  near Bath,  England.

Wife of actor Anthony Head,  best known for his role as Rupert Giles in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series,  Sarah Fisher was also a longtime volunteer for the Battersea Cats & Dogs Home in London,  and for the Forever Hounds Trust greyhound rescue,  was patron of Holly Hedge Animal Sanctuary in Somerset,  and was a trustee for the Gambia Horse & Donkey Trust.

Within the British animal rescue community,  Fisher was probably known mostly for her Animal Centered Education program,  ACE for short,  featuring seminars by celebrity dog trainer Victoria Stilwell.

Neil C. Wolff,  DVM

Neil C. Wolff,  DVM,  72,  died on November 19,  2025 in Greenwich,  Connecticut,  locally remembered as the father of four boys who coached 54 youth sports teams over the years,  for 30 years owning and operating the Cos Cob Blue Cross Animal Hospital,  and for the Animal Concierge Housecalls mobile clinic he started in 2017,  five years after selling the Cos Cob practice and temporarily retiring to Florida.

Wolff in 1981 became a cofounder,  with Nedim Buyuchimici,  DVM,  of the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights.   merged with the Humane Society of the U.S.

The Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights (AVAR) for the next 27 years amplified the voices of veterinarians opposed to American Veterinary Medical Association policies favoring factory farming practices,  animal use in biomedical research,  testing,  training,  and teaching,  and use of gas chambers and decompression chambers to kill shelter animals.

The Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights also preceded the American Veterinary Medical Association in endorsing early-age spay/neuter,  and conflicted with the American Veterinary Medical Association over strategies for providing low-cost,  high-volume spay/neuter.

Wolff,  after his founding role,  had relatively little active involvement in AVAR,  headquartered in Sacramento,  California,  close to Buyuchimici’s longtime employment as a professor of veterinary ophthalmology at the University of California,  Davis campus.

Having grown to about 3,500 affiliated veterinary members,  AVAR in January 2008 merged into the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association,  a subsidiary of the Humane Society of the U.S.,  now called Humane World for Animals.

Vincent van der Merwe

Vincent van der Merwe,  42,  “internationally recognized for his role in cheetah conservation and reintroduction projects in Africa and Asia,”  including the reintroduction of cheetahs to Kuno National Park,  India,  reported Don Pinnock of the Daily Maverick,  committed suicide on March 16,  2025 in his apartment in Riyadh,  Saudi Arabia.

“According to the Times of India,”  Pinnock wrote,  “Van der Merwe’s body was found in the hallway of his apartment building with a head injury,  his head having struck the floor.  The family Facebook posts indicate it was not an accident.

“He was working with the government of Saudi Arabia as manager of its project to reintroduce cheetahs,  which once thrived there,  but became locally extinct more than 50 years ago. Last week,  he extended his contract in Saudi Arabia for another year.”

Cheetah coordinator for the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Carnivore Conservation Program,  Van der Merwe in 2018 reintroduced cheetahs from South Africa to the Majete Wildlife Reserve near Liwonde,  Malawi.

“Lion-savvy”

“All of the cheetahs introduced to Liwonde were raised on lion reserves and are, therefore, lion savvy,”  van der Merwe explained to Millie Kerr of the Smithsonian magazine.  “This is essential since lions are the principal killers of cheetahs in fenced areas.”

Jo Taylor in July 2019 described the translocation of a female cheetah to Majeta,  the fifth to be moved,  for African Parks.

“The cheetah was a trooper as her transport container bounced along poorly maintained roads, waiting at border posts for all the correct documents to be checked over by officials,  and traveling day and night for over 55 hours,”  in the back of a pickup truck,  Taylor wrote.

“At the border posts, people would gather around to try and get a glimpse of what was in the wooden box labeled with African Parks and Endangered Wildlife Trust stickers.

“Traveling through Tete in Mozambique was the warmest part of the journey, but thanks to Vincent’s innovative thinking, we rigged up a system to deliver cool air conditioning from the bakkie [pickup truck] directly into the cheetah’s container.  This kept her from overheating during the hot portions of the trip.

“Habitat is not a limiting factor”

“Many cups of coffee,  packets of pistachios and power bars later we made our way down the winding roads to Majete’s gate,  where the cheetah was able to stretch her legs in the holding boma. Here she will remain for a few weeks as she acclimatizes to her new surroundings,  as did the other cheetahs prior to their release into the wilds of Majete.”

Before the 2022 reintroduction of cheetahs to the very different habitat of Kuno National Park,  India,  van der Merwe told BBC correspondent Soutik Biswas,  “As long as there is sufficient prey,  habitat is not a limiting factor” for cheetahs.  “They survive and reproduce in high-density predator environments and co-exist with lions,  leopards,   spotted hyenas and wild dogs,”  van der Merwe said.

The Indian cheetah reintroduction,  Pinnock noted,  “soon hit controversy when cheetahs in unfenced Kuno Park began dying for various reasons,  others escaping into surrounding villages and farmland.

“It’s going to be one hell of an uphill battle,”  van de Merwe acknowledged.  “There are going to be massive losses initially.  But,  you know,  we’ll learn.  We hope that within 10 years we could have some form of population growth in India,  but certainly,  within the first 10 years of this project,  there is going to be a lot of heartache and pain.”

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