See How This Teen is Collecting Data to Protect Wildlife

A ton of advocates have one particular moment in life that motivated them to go even harder for animals. Amrita Josyula, a high school senior from Austin, TX, used her moment to launch Fauna Ark, an organization that works to help save animals from being hit by vehicles!

When she was younger, Amrita instinctively looked away after watching a stray cat try to cross a road just as a pickup truck sped into the same lane. This moment propelled her to act; she decided that going forward, instead of shielding her eyes, she would tackle this issue head-on. She started Fauna Ark, which she later used for her Girl Scout Gold Award project, to make the world a safer place for animals. 👏👏👏

Having that one life-changing moment in your back pocket is the push you need to keep going and continue caring; your passion is your most valuable asset.— Amrita

How cool is this: Fauna Ark worked with the Texas Department of Transportation to add wildlife-signage info to the driver’s license handbook. 🤯 Thx to Amrita, the handbook now covers recommended behavior when approaching wildlife while driving. She also collabs with the UC Davis Road Ecology Center to help with research. If you ever see an injured or dead animal on the road, you can use the form Amrita created to report it, and the data will be sent to state transportation committees. If there is a specific hotspot for wildlife-vehicle collisions, Fauna Ark will focus its efforts there.

There are tons of easy ways to help make sure you never accidentally hit an animal while driving, like driving slowly at night or honking your horn/flashing your high beams at animals who look like they’re about to cross. It’s also super smart to always have an animal rescue kit in your car in case you see an injured animal on the road. If you find an injured animal, contact local authorities or animal control first. If you can’t get through, call PETA day or night at 757-622-7382.

Many people care about protecting animals, and we just need to supply them with the tools to do so. —  Amrita

For creating an organization that can help save animals from painful deaths on the road, peta2 is presenting Amrita with our Hero to Animals Award!

You’re awesome, Amrita—we can’t wait to see Fauna Ark’s enormous impact. 🙌

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Teens have the power to make systemic changes to help animals: See how Annalie gave her school curriculum an animal-friendly glow-up!