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Farm Sanctuary

Farm Sanctuary is an animal protection organization, founded in 1986 as an advocate for farm animals. It promotes laws and policies that support animal welfare, animal protection and vegetarianism/veganism by rescue, education and advocacy. Farm Sanctuary houses over 800 cows, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigs, sheep, rabbits, and goats at a animal sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York. They house over 400 farm animals at a sanctuary in Orland, California which, unlike the New York shelter, also houses burros.

History

Farm Sanctuary was founded in 1986 by Gene Baur and Lorri Bauston. It was originally funded by sales of vegetarian hot dogs at Grateful Dead concerts. The first animal rescued was a sheep named Hilda, who was rescued from a pile of dead animals behind a stockyard.

Legislation and advocacy

Farm Sanctuary played a key role in the passage of several animal protection ordinances, including a 2004 California law banning the production and sale of foie gras, a 2002 Florida initiative banning gestation crates, a 2006 Chicago ordinance banning the sale of foie gras and a 2006 ballot measure in Arizona banning gestation crates and veal crates.

In 2007, the organization partnered with Turtle Mountain, a dairy free ice cream company, and Dan Piraro, a notable vegan panel cartoonist, to create the Farm Sanctuary Kidz Club.

Farm Sanctuary has been active in the opposition against the United States Food and Drug Administration approval of cloned animals for food. Their opposition is based on health problems in the cloned animals, and problems that the maternal carrier has while pregnant with the cloned animal. Farm Sanctuary claims increased rates of hydrops fetalis, Large Offspring Syndrome, and other systemic abnormalities.

Controversy

In 1993, Farm Sanctuary was listed as an organization that has "claimed to have perpetrated acts of extremism in the United States" in the Report to Congress on the Extent and Effects of Domestic and International Terrorism on Animal Enterprises. The Department of Justice later retracted the inclusion of Farm Sanctuary in this list. Future editions of the report were printed with a cover letter identifying this mistake, and a letter of apology was sent to Farm Sanctuary.

In March 2003, a Farm Sanctuary employee was charged with animal theft for stealing an injured lamb from a farm and taking it to a veterinarian. Farm Sanctuary founder Gene Baur stated in an interview: "We have taken animals out of bad situations – living animals off of dead piles or trash cans – and we have been willing to face 'theft' charges if needed in doing so."

In 2005, when Farm Sanctuary advocated a foie gras ban in Chicago, they asked Charlie Trotter, who had said he would no longer be serving the product in his restaurants, to join them. Trotter had previously stated "I just said, 'Enough is enough here. I can't really justify this. What I have seen, it's just inappropriate. There are too many great things to eat out there that I don't believe that any animal would have to go through that for our benefit." However, when Farm Sanctuary asked Trotter to sign a pledge stating he would never serve foie gras, he replied saying "These people are idiots. Understand my position: I have nothing to do with a group like that. I think they're pathetic.