Niko Koffeman
Niko Koffeman is the founder and chairman of the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation and also the elected member of the Dutch Senate for the Party for the Animals. In 1992, he already thought that there should be a Party for the Animals. When this idea was turned into reality by Lieke Keller, Marianne Thieme and Ton Dekker in 2002, he supported them with words and deeds from the very start. Niko Koffeman has been passionately involved in animal, nature and environmental protection since he was 18. He prevented the establishment of a landfill site in the Lickebaert area by planting a protest wood, he ran campaigns against bloodsports and the genetic manipulation of animals, he was the co-founder of the Wakker Dier Foundation (an organisation that campaigns against factory farming) and achieved national fame as the result of the protests against the Royal Family’s participation in wild boar hunting. As the external campaign adviser for the Socialist Party, he managed to help them go from 0 to 25 seats in the Dutch parliament within a thirteen year period. Koffeman is also the originator of the Adopt-a-Chicken and Adopt-an-Apple Tree schemes and the VegaPolis (a health insurance policy for vegetarians). The film Meat the Truth was also originally the brainchild of Niko Koffeman.