Newman, riding in (and eating) the truck.

I've always loved and tried to help animals. I think it runs in the family; my mother was always feeding and caring for the stray animals in our town, and my grandmother used to go buy off horses bound for slaughter. Fifteen years ago I adopted my first animal: a pregnant cat I named Lucia who had been turned into WARL. Her son Rico is still with me. Later on, I volunteered my time at the NY Avenue Shelter in DC, and adopted my beautiful dog Sage from there. After doing some volunteer work for Days End Farm Horse Rescue as well as for a friend's large sheep and goat farm in Virginia, I realized that I had real affinity for all animals, not only traditional "pets".

Anne and Lucy, with Spenser the sheep and Sage in the foreground, and WC the sheep and Dee Dee Donkey in back More photos at www.stargazingfarm.org

Now, I live on a small farm with Rico and Sage, along with indoor rabbits Chucho and Andy, a naughty mob of sheep and goats (including of course, the infamous Mr. Newman Goat), Dee Dee Donkey, Lucy Horse, horse, George the duck and his pals. Tetsuro, a large potbellied pig is the latest arrival - a stray from PG County!

I work full time as Webmaster and Systems Administrator for the Internet Society, and do consulting work for several developing-country NGOs. I trained as a linguist and Arabist at Yale University and University of Michigan, and did postgraduate work at the University of Bonn, Germany and American University in Cairo, Egypt -- but then transitioned into the Computer industry in the late 80's. MetroPets, which I started with a fellow animal shelter volunteer in 1999, has been a way to combine my interest in Internet technology with my desire to help animals.

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