Margo DeMello received her Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from U.C. Davis in 1995, and currently lectures at Central New Mexico Community College, teaching sociology, cultural studies, and anthropology. She is the President and Executive Director of House Rabbit Society, an international rabbit advocacy organization, and the Program Director for Human-Animal Studies at Animals & Society Institute, an animals think tank. She also volunteers for Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary and Prairie Dog Pals.

Her books include Bodies of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo Community (Duke University Press 2000), Stories Rabbits Tell: A Natural and Cultural History of a Misunderstood Creature (with Susan Davis, Lantern 2003), Low-Carb Vegetarian (Book Publishing Co. 2004), Why Animals Matter: The Case for Animal Protection (with Erin Williams, Prometheus 2007), The Encyclopedia of Body Adornment (Greenwood 2007), Feet and Footwear (ABC-CLIO 2009), Teaching the Animal: Human-Animal Studies Across the Disciplines (Lantern 2010), Faces Around the World (ABC-CLIO 2012), Animals and Society: An Introduction to Human-Animal Studies (Columbia University Press 2012), and Speaking for Animals: Animal Autobiographical Writing (Routledge 2012), and she’s under contract to write a new book on tattooing called Inked (ABC-CLIO), and a textbook called Body Studies (Routledge).

She lives outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico, with a husband, four Chihuahuas, two cats, a parrot, and a few dozen house rabbits.