Farm Sanctuary

At Sanctuary Bistro it is important to us that we support non-profits in the arts, education and animal rights.  We had the pleasure of having a benefit dinner for Farm Sanctuary.  We interviewed Eileen Harrington to learn more about her inspiration and work with Farm Sanctuary.  Please help support this amazing cause. Here is our interview with her below.

Getting involved with Farm Sanctuary

I heard about Farm Sanctuary long before I visited the Orland shelter.  I moved to Sonoma County where the animal advocacy group I was on the "board" of, now called Compassionate Living, attended Farm Sanctuary events at the Orland shelter regularly. I went to the annual Spring Hoe Down, Thanksgiving for the Turkeys and had Gene Baur, the Founder and President speak at the grad school I was attending. Of course, I fell in love with the animals, staff, mission and work of Farm Sanctuary.  Two animals at Farm Sanctuary were rescued and placed at Farm Sanctuary with our group's help--Carrie Underwood, a rooster we thought was a girl because he was a baby when we found him the woods in Rohnert Park, and Reggie, a heritage pig who was raised on a small farm to be food as part of a Sonoma County Press Democrat reporter's experiment in raising and killing her own pig.  Both are now living the "Farm Sanctuary Life" at the Orland Shelter. 

Farm Sanctuary's Mission

Farm Sanctuary's mission is "To protect farm animals from cruelty, inspire change in the way society views and treats farm animals, and promote compassionate vegan living."

Facts about the Plight of Farmed Animals

Every year, 9 billion chickens are slaughtered for meat in the United States. Called “broilers” by the industry, these curious, social birds are treated simply as production units, selectively bred and fed for abnormally fast growth without consideration for their well-being.There were more than 5.8 million pigs used for breeding in the United States in 2011, most of whom were confined to gestation crates, typically lined up row after row in large sheds. These naturally curious and intelligent animals are first impregnated at 7 months of age and live out their lives in a cycle of pregnancy, birth, and nursing until they are eventually sent to slaughter.More than 9.3 million cows were used to produce milk in the United States in 2008, and more than 2.5 million dairy cows were slaughtered for meat.Cows used by the dairy industry are intensively confined, continually impregnated, and bred for high milk production with little concern for their well-being. Far from being the “happy cows” the industry makes them out to be, these typically playful, nurturing animals endure immense suffering on factory farms.

 

In 2010, 34.2 million cattle were slaughtered for beef in the United States. Often beginning their short lives on rangeland, calves are soon separated from their nurturing mothers and endure a series of painful mutilations. Before they are a year old, young calves endure a long and stressful journey to a feedlot, where they are fattened on an unnatural diet until they reach “market weight” and are sent to slaughter.Turkeys raised for human consumption are crowded into poorly ventilated industrial production facilities, sometimes with as many as 10,000 birds packed into a single factory building. In 2007, 265 million of these naturally explorative and socially sophisticated birds were slaughtered in the United States.

 

In the U.S., sheep and goats are raised for meat, for milk, and for fibers used in textiles. In all three industries, these playful, intelligent animals routinely suffer inhumane treatment throughout their lives and are ultimately slaughtered for human consumption. In the U.S., an estimated 2.2 million sheep and lambs and 1.5 million goats are slaughtered for meat every year.

YOU can make a difference

Choosing a plant based diet is the best way to love animals, love the environment and love yourself.  Factory and conventional farming is not only cruel and inhumane to the animals raised in the system, but the farms and ranch systems contribute to the displacement and killing of wildlife, create enormous water and air pollution, and are considered significant contributors to global warming/Climate Change (See Pew Report and UN Report, "Livestock's Long Shadow"  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livestock%27s_Long_Shadow).  Confirming The China Study, Kaiser Permanente has cited a plant-based diet as the healthiest diet for one's body and long term health.

The Walk for Farm Animals

The Walk for Farm Animals has been part of Farm Sanctuary since the beginning. In 1986, we didn’t yet have our sanctuary in Watkins Glen, but we had a small group of dedicated volunteers who helped us establish the first Walk for Farm Animals in support of our mission to stop animal abuse and suffering. Those first efforts were modest by today’s standards, but they helped fund the down payment for what became our first official shelter and national headquarters.  From those humble beginnings, the Walks have continued to be a vital part of our fundraising and outreach efforts and keep growing as more people learn about farm animal issues and want to help. The funds raised by the Walks support our work to rescue farm animals, provide urgent care and lifelong refuge, as well as our education and advocacy efforts for farm animals everywhere. Over the years, the Walks have raised nearly $2 million for Farm Sanctuary thanks to the dedication of our volunteer Walk Coordinators, corporate and business partners and our amazing walkers.

The Lives of the Animals at Farm Sanctuary

It took two days for animal advocate Julie Robertson to capture Anna and Maybelle. Spotted wandering along the side of a busy road, the piglets were frightened and wary. Maybelle had an infected eye, Anna was limping, and both were infested with scabies and suffering from upper respiratory infections. They were also very thirsty and hungry, which is what allowed Julie, using some treats, to finally lure them into a crate and whisk them to safety.Anna and Maybelle had likely fallen off a transport vehicle. Piglets are notorious for squirming their way out of trailers, and they sometimes fall out onto the road without the driver even noticing (this in addition to the countless piglets and other farm animals who end up on the road when transport vehicles crash or overturn; one such tragic accident recently brought us to Ohio). Such incidents can be fatal for the young animals, but Anna and Maybelle were lucky enough to avoid being seriously injured in the fall or getting hit by another vehicle. They also had each other, which was surely a comfort during their two frightening days by the roadside.Upon capturing them, Julie, who works with the non-profit Georgia Animal Rights and Protection (GARP), brought the pair to her house and made them a blanket nest on her porch. The exhausted piglets headed straight for the cozy pile and fell promptly to sleep.Over the next several days, Julie got to know the piglets. She had them examined by a vet, who started them on treatment for their scabies. Anna and Maybelle settled in, and even quickly learned to sit for treats. Julie observed that the friends, possibly sisters, were closely bonded and that shy Maybelle was emotionally dependent on Anna. As she searched for a permanent home, Julie knew it would have to be one where the two could stay together.She got in touch with PETA, where her situation came to the attention of a former Farm Sanctuary staffer. He reached out to us, and we gladly offered Anna and Maybelle a home at our New York Shelter.We can’t know exactly where these piglets came from, but we believe they were on their way from a small farm to a stockyard. Anna and Maybelle still have their tails, indicating that they were not born on a factory farm. At large, industrial breeding operations, piglets’ tails are amputated in preparation for their time at growing/finishing facilities, where intense crowding and stress can provoke neurotic behaviors such as tail biting; rather than alter the conditions to reduce stress, producers choose to protect their “product” by altering the animals through painful mutilations. Though they began their lives at a smaller facility, Anna and Maybelle would ultimately have met the same fate as those factory pigs. At the stockyard, they would be have been sold to a finishing operating to be raised to a mere six months of age, at which point they would have been sent to slaughter.A pig’s life can be so much more that, and Anna and Maybelle’s lives will be. At Farm Sanctuary, we recognize pigs for the complex individuals they are and work every day to nourish their health, their relationships, and their rich inner lives. Right now, these young piglets’ lives are all about exploration and fun — and each other. They play and dig and run with utter abandon, and they are always together. While Maybelle is now quite friendly, Anna is still timid and takes some time to warm up to people. Both, however, adore children. Seeing them playfully chase a pair of young visitors, we recognize a common joy in simply being alive.

DONATE to Farm Sanctuary

The San Francisco Bay Area Walk takes donations on an ongoing basis through registering for the Walk (as a "virtual" if you are not attending, donating through the Sleep In for Farm Animals, or donating to those fundraising for the Walk, like I am! For example, see my fundraising page at: http://events.walkforfarmanimals.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.event&eventID=690   Feel free to pick anyone you would like to support!

Upcoming Events

The Celebration for the Turkeys Thanksgiving event has been moved to San Francisco due to concerns about the Avian Flu in Northern California. For more information and tickets see http://www.farmsanctuary.org/san-francisco-at-citizen-fox-celebration/

More information

Tours will begin again in the near future at the Orland Sanctuary. Overlooking breathtaking Black Butte Lake, our 300-acre sanctuary is home to more than 300 pigs, sheep, cattle, chickens, and other rescued farm animals. Our Orland sanctuary is located 30 miles west of Chico and 100 miles north of Sacramento. Contact (607) 583-2225 ext. 221