This oral history interview is an intimate conversation between two people, both of whom have generously agreed to share this recording with Oral History Summer School, and with you. Please listen in the spirit with which this was shared.
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Katrin Hecker is the founder and executive director of Animal Kind in Hudson, New York. She grew up in East Germany and immigrated to West Germany with her family. She then moved to New York City to learn English. There, she discovered art, music, lived with members of the Black Panther Party, and also worked for the Sullivanians. She then moved to Hudson with her boyfriend after he bought a church next to Bliss Towers. Once in Hudson, her life changed when a three-legged cat appeared in their yard. This started her initiative to trap, neuter, and release the hordes of feral cats living on the streets of Hudson. She started Animal Kind to formalize her efforts and has been rescuing cats ever since.
Katie Best-Richmond is from San Antonio, Texas and loves hearing how people’s childhoods influence their passion and work. She is a proud cat mom of three and grew up rescuing stray and lost animals.
Oral history is an iterative process. In keeping with oral history values of anti-fixity, interviewees will have an opportunity to add, annotate and reflect upon their lives and interviews in perpetuity. Talking back to the archive is a form of “shared authority.”