Jason’s Profile

Jason Bayless

About Jason

At the tender age of 19, Jason co-founded the National Organization to Stop Police Improprieties, a group based in his small hometown of Weatherford, Texas, that combats police misconduct around the country. After several years of working for social change and promoting non-violence, shifting to animal rights activism “just clicked” fourteen years ago, when Jason realized, “I can’t preach against violence if what I eat on my plate is a product of violence.” He became a vegan–avoiding all animal-derived products–and founded Vegan Power, a Texas-based outreach group.

Jason’s work for animals actually goes further back, to when he was 15 years old and found an injured grackle drowning in a pond. He picked up the bird and rushed him to a veterinarian. The vet wouldn’t treat the bird, but gave Jason a bottle of medicine and instructions for care. Jason took the grackle home and nursed him back to health. He went on to volunteer as a wildlife rehabilitator at Wild Care, Inc., he was named “volunteer of the quarter,” at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge and at Bat World Sanctuary and Education Center, which awarded him “volunteer of the year” in 1996 for his efforts in rehabbing orphaned Mexican Free-tailed bats.  He has also held workshops for children at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge, inspiring them to treat animals humanely.

Jason has served as a board member of the Center on Animal Liberation Affairs, as a campaign organizer with Animal Liberation of Texas, on the steering committee with Radical Education Community, and as campaign director for Texas Earth First. He worked at PETA,and held several titles such as, Senior Youth Outreach Specialist, Circus Monitor, and Senior Projects Specialist, just to name a few.  Jason also interned with Floridians for Humane Farms–a group that was the driving force behind passing legislation in Florida banning the intensive confinement of pregnant sows.

A born workaholic, Jason works long hours, finding out new ways to improve the lives of both human and non-human animals, then goes home to type away some more at his PC, moonlighting as a Web designer for several animal rights groups. Jason spends his free time shooting and editing videos for local musicians.

Jason also founded Psychosomatic Leprosy Productions, which is the home of Zombie Popcorn TV, Zombie Popcorn Netcasts like The Talking Dead, This Non-Religious Life, The New Architects,  and of course, Zombie Popcorn, the blog.

Jason has toured with the punk rock Warped Tour, Taste of Chaos,  and several popular youth bands. He has also been the focus of the documentary, *Wake Up Screaming. *

Jason was also the Executive Producer for the DVD ‘Something to Stand for – Putting an End to Animal Testing.’ Featuring MTV’s John Norris.

You can always find Jason armed with videos, leaflets, books and other educational materials that help to show people how they can fight cruelty to animals. Jason is currently the Director of the Institute for Critical Animal Studies (ICAS).

Short list of interviews with Jason:

What do Jason’s friends and past co-workers say about him?

Wake Up Screaming! Trailer

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