Maximilian Elder '13 spent a portion of his summer undercover, posing as a consumer to investigate the lion meat industry. "My goal was to trace lion meat back to its source," he said. "I called restaurant chefs, online retailers, and big exotic meat distributors. The bottom line is that nobody is sure where most of this meat for consumption comes from. It's not raised on a beautiful pastoral farm somewhere. I found out that some of it comes from breeders for circuses and zoos. The lions are sold to a taxidermist who skins them and sells the meat as a byproduct to butchers."

The probe was part of Elder's internship in Washington, D.C., with the International Fund for Animal Welfare, one of the world's largest conservation charities, where Elder also researched threats to the survival of whales. "I worked specifically on the effects of man-made noise from intrusions such as ocean liners and offshore oil drills. The noise gets to the point that it disrupts calling and whales can no longer communicate with each other."

For both assignments, Elder's findings are being included in published reports for legislators, regulators, and the news media. "I hope they have an impact," he said. "People sometimes ask me why I am working to save animal lives instead of human lives, but our treatment of animals fosters a mentality that spills over into our treatment of each other and the environment."

A philosophy major, Elder discovered his passion for animal rights as a freshman in "Introduction to Philosophy," during lively discussions on the ethics of eating meat. "I had friends in high school who were vegetarian, but I never thought about it critically before. The class presented sound logical arguments on both sides of the debate, but it was definitely the catalyst for my choice to become a vegetarian."

Elder actually holds the distinction of being the first undergraduate intern at the International Fund for Animal Welfare since its founding in 1969 - a success he attributes in part to Kenyon's Career Development Office, which worked with him on his resume. The group was impressed with classes such as "Social Justice" as well as Elder's acceptance this year through the Center for Global Engagement into a study abroad program at University of Oxford. He has also served as manager of the Kenyon Craft Center, where he helped organize fundraisers such as the Empty Bowls Project for the hungry.

Elder anticipates pursuing a doctorate in philosophy and someday teaching ethics. "I would like to help students have the same realizations I had in my classes," he said, "because they re-ordered my priorities and changed my life."