Global Ambassador Program

February 8, 2021Lu Shegay & Zihao Yu

The members of the Institute of Animal Law of Asia (IALA), the Managing Director and the Executive Director, have been selected in the inaugural round of the Global Ambassador Program (GAP) for 2021-2022!


Last fall, the Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) launched the Global Ambassador Program (GAP), an initiative "to cultivate animal law education and advocacy abroad," "to pioneer animal law education through advocacy and outreach in their home countries," and to develop the animal law field. CALS Ambassadors will also be invited to speak at the Global Animal Law Summit organized by the Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS), either virtually or in person.


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Photo by Francesco Ungaro from Pexels

Our Managing Director, Lu Shegay, created a project within the GAP called “Enhancing Legal Regulations of Aquatic Animals in Kazakhstan” that aims to raise awareness about the detrimental effects of human activities on aquatic animals and the need to extend legal protections to aquatic animals. Lu plans to focus on education as a tool to protect animals - organizing webinars and inviting experts from across the globe to share their experience and knowledge about aquatic animals and speak about how the issues of fishing, aquariums, and fish farming are handled within their countries.

Lu is an attorney from Kazakhstan. She earned her LL.B at KIMEP University and LL.M in Animal Law at Lewis & Clark Law School, having been the recipient of the International Animal Advocates LLM Scholarship and the first Animal Law LLM student from Kazakhstan. Her primary interests in Animal Law are legal personhood for animals and the investigation of crimes against animals.

Lu’s forthcoming work is the chapter on animals in agriculture in Animal Law, which will be published in Kazakhstan and become a supplemental reading for KIMEP University’s Animal Law course. She contributes to the discussion of the draft law on the Animal Welfare Act of Kazakhstan, serves as an advisor and research assistant on foreign legislation in animal law issues, and contributes to the discussion on the closure of aquariums in Kazakhstan.

"farm animals" by lboren2687 is marked with CC PDM 1.0

Our Executive Director, Zihao Yu, developed a project within the GAP on farmed animals' welfare in mainland China. It will be focused on improving the awareness of welfare for animals used in agriculture in mainland China through education. Zihao will develop a Farm Animal Welfare in Mainland China Project to focus on improving the awareness of animal welfare for animals used in agriculture in mainland China through education. The activities that Zihao plans to achieve in his Project include field research, a debate competition, and webinars - all designed for law students, activists, and scholars in China.

Zihao earned his LL.B with the National Scholarship of China and LL.M in Law of Environmental and Resources Conservation with the Postgraduate Special Academic Scholarship at Peking University, and his LLM thesis was honored with the Scholarship of Zhongda Thesis of Environment Law and his exchange study at Lund University was honored with the Jingjiang Scholarship for Young Leaders. He also was a recipient of the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy International Scholarship and earned his LL.M in Animal Law, having been one of the first Animal Law LLM graduates from China.

Zihao studied the effectiveness of legislation and the interaction between law, culture, and sustainable development in China. He conducted research on animal law in China and comparative studies.

Learn more about the Global Ambassador Program here.

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