Colorado Animal Welfare Conference Session
BAP Panel Discussion
5pm • Day 1 – September 21, 2022
Fallen Timbers B
Panel Discussion
The Bureau of Animal Protection (BAP) is an agency housed under the Colorado Department of Agriculture focused on administering and enforcing Colorado’s animal protection laws to prevent the neglect, mistreatment, and abuse of livestock and domestic animals. In this panel discussion, Dr. Rebecca Niemiec, BAP program manager and Taylor Peterson, BAP leader investigator, will discuss the work that the BAP does and the new directions they are pursuing for the BAP program.
Dr. Rebecca Niemiec
Dr. Rebecca Niemiec is the manager of the Bureau of Animal Protection. For the past decade she has studied and conducted outreach and stakeholder engagement on human-animal relations.
Taylor Peterson
Taylor Peterson is the Bureau of Animal Protection lead investigator/complaint coordinator. She started this role in April 2022. Before coming to the BAP, she was an animal control supervisor with the Park County Sheriff’s Office. Peterson has been serving as a commissioned BAP agent for four and a half years. She has completed 358 hours of animal welfare and animal cruelty/neglect investigations on livestock as well as companion animal cases. She is excited to provide support and education on accepted animal husbandry to the entire state of Colorado.
Dr. Maggie Baldwin
Dr. Maggie Baldwin is the Colorado State Veterinarian and oversees the Animal Health Division within the Colorado Department of Agriculture. Dr. Baldwin joined the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s Animal Health Division in January 2017, focusing on emergency response, incident management, and public outreach. She provides oversight and guidance to the BAP program and deploys resources from the Animal Health Division to assist the BAP in addressing cases.