Biographical Sketch for Gail Pope
Founder & President of BrightHaven
Animal Reiki Master & Teacher
Gail Popeis the Founder and President of BrightHaven Animal Sanctuary and Pet Hospice. She has been helping senior, special needs and sick animals on their holistic journeys to better health, well-being, hospice and transition for almost two decades, and these days her passion is to educate others to realize these options for their own pets.
Born and educated in Harrow, England, Gail’s career path encompassed banking and investment experience before she moved to the airline industry, where she stayed for 20 years until her husband’s company transfer brought them to the US.
Here, Gail was first employed as personal assistant to actress Stefanie Powers. She also worked for The William Holden Wildlife Foundation and then formed her own Travel Company with daughter Kirstie, which she later sold.
After a life-changing revelation, Gail decided to form an animal rescue organization and obtained employment for many years with veterinarian Douglas Coward to gain experience for her new profession.
Since 1991, Gail’s exciting journey in animal healthcare and hospice has been widely acclaimed as she embraced holistic as well as conventional care. In doing so, amazingly, she returned many animals to better health and longevity—with cats often living to their late 20’s and early 30’s and dogs to their mid-20’s. Gail now mainly uses classical veterinary homeopathy and is a certified animal Reiki teacher.
Gail, Richard and BrightHaven have been featured in many publications as well as on TV and radio, among them The LA Times, Orange County Magazine, OC Register, Access TV, Channel 50, Best Friends Magazine, and Animal Wellness magazine. Seminars and consultations are always offered at BrightHaven as Gail follows her passion—“Helping People to help Animals”.
Abstract
Title of Presentation: The Gentle Shift (presented in conjunction with Richard Pope)
This presentation shows how the organization “Cats are People Too!” was persuaded by its own resident animals to gently shift its focus from that of a conventional animal rescue organization to become BrightHaven, a retirement retreat and hospice relying on natural diet and healthcare. BrightHaven is also an enormously effective animal rescue network and a prolific education center.
The Popes will describe their original philosophy in 1990 and explain how the shifts that took place were mainly driven by the animals themselves, which caused a reevaluation of their own thoughts and beliefs on animal care, healing and hospice work. They will touch on diet, social hierarchy, medical care, continual healing, an animal’s natural preparation for transition and how a BrightHaven animal dies naturally and peacefully.
The grieving process will be discussed, and finally, the Popes will present their current philosophy in comparison with the 1990 model. Gail has been working full time in animal care since 1989; Richard helps part time due to his real estate career—which finances BrightHaven. The Popes have cared for and rescued over 600 animals and witnessed well over 500 of those dying in peace and with dignity.