5 Kids Under 15 Who Are Changing the World for Animals

Kids across the country are taking the sour lemons of animal mistreatment and making lemonade ... sometimes literally, like in American Humane's Lemonade for Shelter Aid contest (amazing how lemonade stands never go out of style, isn't it?).

Then there are the kids who have taken the lemonade stand to a whole new level with websites, advocacy, business models and nonprofit organizations. Meet the next generation of the animal welfare movement:

Brandon Wood, 10, helps save chimps from labs and advocates to end great ape experiments: Brandon thought he wanted a pet chimp, until he did a little research and learned that they belonged in wild. He also learned that over 1,000 chimps were stuck in labs, some being subjected to invasive experiments, about as far from the wild as they could be. So, he started his blog Make a Chimp Smile to raise money and awareness to get chimps out of labs and into sanctuaries. Though he's touched by their individual stories, he also gets the big picture, and has become a vocal advocate for the Great Ape Protection Act to permanently end research on chimps. You can read more about Brandon here.

Monica Plumb, 12, supplies oxygen masks for pets to fire departments: Experts estimate that 40,000 to 100,000 pets die from fire-related deaths each year, and there's little that firefighters can do, since human oxygen masks are not designed for your average pet snout. Specially-designed masks for pets do exist, but they're outside of department budgets. That's where Monica comes in with Petmask.com, which has raised money to donate more than 300 pet oxygen masks to fire departments, EMS Units and K9 Units across the country and has raised even more awareness on rescuing pets from fires. 

Clara Polito, 13, owns a vegan baking company: Move over Girl Scout Cookies and make room for Not So Thin Mints by Clara's Cakes — a chocolate cupcake with minty frosting and a dollop of chocolate ganache. That's just one of the amazing-sounding vegan cupcakes created and sold by this teen activist/baker. Clara also keeps up a vegan blog: Clara in Veganland. Check out a great interview with her about being vegan (at any age) over at the Elephant Journal.

Dena Miller, 13, raised $10,000 for Best Friends Animal Society ... and isn't done yet: Dena Miller had the choice of taking a trip anywhere in the world and she chose Kenab, Utah to visit Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. When Dena visited Israel in preparation for her bat mitzvah, her camera wasn't just aimed at holy sites; she took pictures of the many stray and neglected animals she came across. Back home, she turned her photography into a service project and asked friends and family to donate to Best Friends' Guardian Angel program instead of giving her gifts. Between the donations and selling the prints of her animal photos, Dena was able to raise $10,000. The photos are now available online, too, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to Best Friends.

Mimi Ausland, 14, started freekibble.com and a campaign for a national shelter pet holiday: Freekibble.com donates dog or cat food every time you visit the site and answer the daily trivia question (whether or not you get it right). In the two years since then-11-year-old Mimi Ausland started the nonprofit, freekibble.com has donated over 3.5 million meals to shelter animals and food banks. Last month, with Halo Pets and Tails magazine, Mimi launched a campaign for nothing less than a presidential order. "Letters for Pets" hoped to send 100,000 letters to President Obama, asking him to help boost pet adoptions by declaring April 30 National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day. They reached their goal in just 18 days, and are continuing the campaign through September.

The passion these five have for helping animals isn't a one-time project or a passing phase. Considering how much these amazing young activists have already accomplished, there's a lot for us, and the animals, to look forward to.

Photo credit: mccu934