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Mary Katherine Cummins was born December 17, 1965 in Long Beach, California. Cummins is a real estate expert, freedom of speech advocate, animal rights activist and a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.
Early life and education
Cummins was born in Long Beach, California. The family soon after moved to Beverly Hills, California. She was raised mainly by her grandmother Mary R. Cummins also known as Maria Rivera. Her grandmother was born in Tacubaya in the Federal District of Mexico in 1899. Her grandfather is Robert Cummins who died in WWII. She has an older sister who is an actress named Juliette Cummins who is most well known for acting in horror movies. Her mother is Marie Juliette Cummins who is now Juliette Sponsel living in Santa Barbara married to Clifford Sponsel.
She attended St. Victor's Catholic School then Beverly Hills Catholic School now called Good Shepherd Catholic School in Beverly Hills. She then attended El Rodeo public school in Beverly Hills for 7th and 8th grades and Beverly Hills High School. She later attended the University of Southern California on scholarship as a biology/psychology major. She was on the Dean's list in high school and college. Cummins also volunteered with her church, school, local hospital, YMCA, projects for the elderly and disabled.
Growing up she was on the Beverly Hills YMCA swim team with swimmer Dara Torres, Culver City Roadrunners Swim Team with swimmer Tiffany Cohen, Beverly Hills High School swim and water polo teams and University of Southern California swim team. She was a top ten AAU swimmer in the United States and completed the first precursor to the modern day triathlon. Cummins worked out with the Soviet Union swim coach Boris Zenov and Gold and Silver medalists Marina Yarchenia, Marina Koshevaya at the UCLA pool in 1976 as featured in the LA Times.
Real Estate
Cummins received her California real estate sales license in 1984. She became a full broker in 1986. She received her California real estate appraiser license in 1994 when they were first mandatory. Cummins has been a real estate expert in both civil and criminal trial cases in California. She was one of the appraisers of the Ambassador Hotel in the eminent domain case in the 1990's. She's also done appraisals for eminent domain cases for the Los Angeles Metro and pro bono work for local non-profits. Besides teaching real estate appraisal theory classes she's also written many articles on all aspects of real estate appraisal and sales. To date she has done over 20,000 real estate appraisals for AMC's, brokers, lawyers, accountants, government agencies and private individuals. She has worked for Merrill Lynch, Westside Properties, the Apartment Owners Association (AOA) and Forensis Group.
Freedom of Speech
Cummins is an advocate on freedom of speech issues. In the past 20 years she has written reports on securities fraud and animal cruelty cases. In two of these cases she was sued for defamation in retaliation for posting her reports on the Internet and filing complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)and authorities.
"Fredric Rittereiser, Ashton Technology vs Mary Cummins", 2000. In this case the CEO of Ashton Technology Fredric Rittereiser and the company sued Cummins for defamation and tortious interference. Cummins represented herself pro se and won this case in November 2001.
"Kathy Knight-McConnell vs Mary Cummins", July 2003. In this case company paid stock promoter Kathy Knight-McConnell sued Cummins for defamation, trademark infringement and securities claims. Cummins represented herself pro se and won in 2004. This case set case law precedence as this was the beginning of Internet law.
Animal Activism
Cummins has always been a strong proponent for animal rights. She has rescued animals since she was a small child rescuing a fawn, bunny and squirrels at the age of six. Cummins started her own non-profit Animal Advocates in 2002. She is licensed with the California Department of Fish & Game and the USDA to rescue and rehabilitate wildlife including coyotes, bobcats, foxes, raccoons, skunks, opossums, squirrels, all the way down to bats.
Mary Cummins speaks to local community groups and students about respecting wildlife and humane wildlife control. Mary Cummins is also a Wildlife Control Operator. Mary Cummins has written manuals on small mammal rehabilitation besides numerous articles. Cummins is also on the Humane Society of the United States' animal rescue team. Cummins helped with a cock fighting raid in California in 2010. Cummins also assisted in a hoarder intervention in Lucerne Valley which was featured on Animal Planets show "Confessions, Animal Hoarding" in 2012.
Cummins also lobbies and speaks out for animal rights. She worked with other animal rights groups to help pass the West Hollywood fur ban. She also worked with Dr. Jennifer Conrad of the Paw Project to help ban the declawing of domestic cats, large cats and wild animals. In 2004 she was able to change the wildlife policy for the City of Los Angeles. She also made an amendment to zoning in Los Angeles County to allow wildlife rehabilitation. She's also lobbied for many new bills such as SB 1229.
Cummins went through the Rio Hondo Police Academy and the Humane Academy to become a Humane Officer. Cummins also worked for American Humane and the Found Animals Foundation. She was also outspoken about the tainted and rancid puppy and kitten formulas made by Petag.
Personal life
Cummins currently lives in Bel Air, California which is also home to her wildlife sanctuary and wildlife rehabilitation facility. Her hobbies are motorcycling, skiing, scuba diving, hiking, cooking and reading. She is a "green" Vegan doing what she can to help the environment, people and animals.
Awards and Honors
Member of the California Council for Wildlife Rehabilitators Member of the National Wildlife Rehabilitation Association Member of the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council Member of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) National Disaster Animal Rescue Team (NDART) Certificate of appreciation from the City of Los Angeles for many years of service in 2003 Certificate of appreciation from EARS for assisting with wildlife in the California fires Certificate of appreciation from the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services 2009 Los Angeles Business Journal Top Non-profit award for Animal Advocates 2013 Los Angeles Business Journal Latino Business awards for Cummins Real Estate 2014
Publications and Articles
Animals
2002 "What to do when you find a baby squirrel" 2002 "What to do when you find an injured squirrel" 2003 "How to reunite squirrels babies with their mothers" 2003 "How to trim trees with wildlife in mind" 2003 "How to properly care for un-releasable squirrels" 2003 "How to build proper caging for wildlife" 2003 Cat Fancy Magazine, "Mama Mia" 2003 "How to humanely deal with coyotes" 2004 "Rehabilitation of tree squirrels" manual. 2004 "Rehabilitation of ground squirrels" manual. 2004 "Rehabilitation of skunks" manual. 2004 "Treatment of Malocclusion in Squirrels," Co-author Dr. Bill Ridgeway 2004 "How to trim rodent teeth" 2004 "How to make pet squirrels wild again" 2004 "How to set up a wildlife referral system in animal shelters" 2005 IWRC, "Journal of Wildlife Rehabilitation," "Raising baby tree squirrels from weaning to release"
Selected Media
Animals
2003 Animal Planet "Beverly Hills Vet, Squirrel Rehabilitation" 2003 CADFG "Scrawl of the Wild" 2003 LA Times "Rodent poisoning project angers animal activists" 2004 Cable television show "Wildlife Rescue," six episodes, Doggy TV 2004 Gardena Valley News "Helping furry friends survive urban jungle" 2004 KROQ radio interview with Scott Mason 2005 Discovery Channel "The Undetectables, Squirrel Care" 2005 LA Weekly "A Billionaire's Bark" 2005 KROQ radio interview with Scott Mason 2005 Thousand Oaks Acorn "Public outcry over slain tiger loud but not universal" 2005 LA Times "Urban remedies: Dealing with new arrivals" 2005 Thousand Oaks Acorn "Public outcry over slain tiger loud but not universal" 2005 LA City Beat "Welcome to the jungle" 2006 Daily News "Stuckey stays on as $50,000 City consultant" 2006 Book "Squirrels: The Animal Answer Guide" 2006 Daily News "County relaxes restrictions on llamas, animal rehab" 2006 Daily News "Council hears Stuckey critics" 2006 LA Times "Fired City Official's appeal in limbo" 2007 LA Times "Opossums: your garden's evening clean-up crew" 2009 LA Times "Your morning adorable, baby skunks and the handstand dance" 2010 Martha Stewart "A gopher named Charlie" 2010 Martha Stewart "A second chance for Charlie" 2010 LA Times "Your morning adorable: rescued rabbit enjoys a meal" 2010 LA Times "Your morning adorable: rub a dub dub, raccoons in a tub" 2010 Top YouTube pets video channel in March 2011 Ventura County Star "City says bats remain at Moorpark home" 2011 CBS Los Angeles "Moorpark Says Homeowners Not Doing Enough To Fight Bats" 2011 NBC "WeHo one step closer to fur ban" 2012 Santa Monica Patch "Wild Animal in Town? Call on Us, Vet Says" 2012 Santa Monica Daily Press "Groups want policy change after mountain lion death" 2012 ABC "IDA Rally held in Santa Monica in protest of fatal shooting of mountain lion" 2012 NBC "Animal-Rights Group Protests Santa Monica Mountain Lion Shooting"
Real Estate
1985 LA Times "People in Westside Real Estate" Cummins joins Merrill Lynch 1990 LA Times "People in Westside Real Estate" Cummins joins Westside Properties 2002 LA Times "Suggestions for the bidder whose offers are rejected" 2007 LA Times "Historical homes, not for everyone" 2009 LA Weekly "Jimmy Nasralla finds a lawyer" 2009 LA Weekly "Is LA City Attorney Trutanich screwing over the little guy?" 2009 LA Weekly "Jimmy on the edge of town"
