Washo is a 15-year-old Native American who lives in Oregon with a house full of animals he has rescued. He has been passionate about animals from a very young age and campaigns to educate people about endangered and wild captured animals versus captive bred animals, especially the special needs of exotic animals and why they should not be pets.

Washo started three Roots & Shoots program groups that provide enrichment to monkeys at the Oregon National Primate Research Center in Beaverton, Oregon. The groups are based on grade — elementary school, middle school and high school — and their projects include creating foraging toys, making the monkeys treats and a bamboo project. He has been involved with this project for over three years, and received the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes last year for his contributions to the center.

Washo also began volunteering at the Oregon Zoo as a Zooteen in 2005. He became an intern in the primate department last fall, a position usually reserved for college students.

In 2004 he won the second annual Youth Guardian Award from the In Defense of Animals organization.

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