Tags
animal liberation, animal rights, animal-assisted therapy, healing, human-animal relationships, mutual reciprocity, sanctuary, social enterprise, therapy
For most folks trying to run a farmed animal sanctuary, they soon learn it is a money sink. Not everyone is as fortunate, visionary, or aggressive in their fundraising as the founders of Farm Sanctuary. The founders of Caboodle Ranch and Angel’s Gate Hospice may know that all too well. It’s expensive to run a rehabilitation center and sanctuary for animals. Majority of Americans don’t find it to be of value. Grants aren’t available specifically for sanctuaries. And earned income from tours and bed and breakfast don’t generate much. The only sanctuaries that survive and become effective, amazing organizations are those that have either a strong giving program, adopt social enterprise, or have a combination of the two.
But do any farmed animal sanctuaries exist that are social enterprises?
Last week, I wrote a post on Social Enterprise for Animals, describing what social enterprise means and its potential for promoting animals’ rights. Now I am scouring the web for examples to see whether or not social enterprises for animals truly exist and if they do, whether or not they’re working. I asked several online animal rights advocates on Facebook and Animal Rights Zone what their expectations are for a farmed animal sanctuary. Space, moral integrity, active education and outreach, promoting veganism, and consideration for the animals (including making responsible assessments of the sanctuary’s capacity and not selling them or leasing them to other “sanctuaries”) were some of the responses. So given their definition of a farmed animal sanctuary, does room exist for social enterprise?
The Potential for the Sanctuary as Healing Center
Sanctuaries that are social enterprises have the potential to shift the value of rescued farmed animals from commodity to companion and mutual healer by showing where they come from and that their stories matter. When I visited the Gentle Barn website’s “In Memoriam” page this morning, I was moved to tears. Each of those animals had passed away, but their stories had survived. I could see their faces and imagine their mannerisms, their quirks while they lived. My heart swelled with tender sadness. A photo and a true story–that’s all it took for me to be sold. But for many humans who are insulated from or indifferent to animals’ lives, this is not enough. Selling the emotional and relational value of animals and the importance of their rights through social enterprise has opportunity to reach wider audiences when they also address fundamental human needs. They earn revenue from those whose immediate response may be disregard for animals. In addition to providing lifelong sanctuary for rescued farmed animals, sharing their stories and emphasizing their agency through those stories, Gentle Barn invites at-risk, abused, and “special needs” children to heal with the farmed animals. Opening the sanctuary to children is not a new concept. I would say that the wellbeing of children is definitely in the top tier of fundamental human needs. I don’t know yet the various sources of Gentle Barn’s income so I can’t say that they are a social enterprise, but if they are not earning revenue directly from children healing with animals then they may want to reconsider.
Sanctuaries as social enterprises can also change animal-assisted therapy. The difference between animal-assisted therapy and sanctuary as healing center is in the process of production. Animal-assisted therapy, such as it is now, depends on networks of suppliers and producers that maintain the status quo of animals by breeding and training them for that specific lifelong purpose: to heal a human in need. Farm animal-assisted therapy nurtures the bond for those individuals involved, but we know nothing of how and if it changes the social value or status of animals. When sanctuaries rescue animals directly from animal enterprises and their vast system of production and then directly compete with farm animal-assisted therapy as legitimate healing centers, they can disrupt the status quo. As Gentle Barn expands their program with children, they have an opportunity to offer extended therapy to individual children and teenagers. They would definitely need to consider the investment into the therapy angle, but with extensive research, it may be worth it. They would be the first to create a social enterprise that directly supports their mission to provide rescue, rehabilitation, and lifelong sanctuary for farmed animals, through helping children heal.
The Limitations of Sanctuary as Healing Center
Sanctuaries with “helping people” as an integral part of their mission are not completely identical to sanctuaries whose missions are solely to help animals. All sanctuaries have limited capacity, and how they allocate that reflects where their priorities lie. A sanctuary that is also a healing center may prioritize the healing of humans above the rescue of animals. Heartland Farm Sanctuary and Sanctuary One are examples of healing farms where the farmed animals are a piece of the greater mission that is healing. The goal, then, is not so much to inspire mutual healing between traumatized farmed animal and needy human as it is to provide healing for the needy human. Where they lack the capacity to search and rescue farmed animals, they supplement through partnerships with local humane societies. As a consequence, the sanctuary does not carry the rich, compelling stories of sanctuaries that actually engage in rescue or belong to a network of citizen rescuers. However, because they are both fairly new sanctuaries and are both beginning from a social enterprise angle, only time will tell how they implement it and how it works for shifting the value of animals.
Dana Barre said:
HI – this is Dana Barre, the founder of Heartland Farm Sanctuary. I appreciate your post but wish to clarify one point. Although it is true that we take in animals from Humane Societies, a good share of our animals have been rescued. For example, last week we rescued a sheep that had a dislocated knee that had gone untreated for 8 months. Last winter we rescued a horse and a mule from a severe neglect case where the animals had been seized by the authorities. In another case we rescued a calf that was 24 hours away from slaughter. True, we do not have the financial resources to partake in rescues of large numbers of animals at a time, however that is the reality of newer rescues. Our hope is that, as we grow responsibly and develop a larger base of supporters that relate to our mission of helping animals and people, we can rescue many more animals and provide them with the lifetime care they deserve. And by helping heal people as well as animals, we are increasing society’s compassion for all living creatures. Thank you, Dana Barre
Anastasia said:
Hi Dana–thanks for taking the time to read this post and offering feedback. As someone who does not live in Wisconsin (and for a blog post didn’t take the time to interview you or the other subjects of this post for more info), I rely on the website to offer the spirit of what the sanctuary is and does. And when I find no stories of individual animals rescued, just descriptions of programs instead and partnerships with the humane society, I assume that’s the heart of what the sanctuary is and does.
Also, I strive not to diss anyone in the movement doing hard work for animals and human relations with other animals. I recognize that it’s all hard work, and my blog posts tend to be reflections on how we can improve all the hard work we’re doing. But I can’t be the one challenging everyone all the time, taking that role alone. Those challenges need to emerge from community dialogue, from our movement. So, I sincerely appreciate your comment, your dedication, and your hard work. Cheers, Anastasia
Dana Barre said:
You know, we at Heartland get so focused on the issues and tasks at hand, we sometimes lose sight of whether our website and social media materials reflect what we are doing to help one group or the other (people or animals). Right now we only have two and a half paid employees (my time is voluntary). Last year was a much busier year for us in terms of animal rescue, and I guess the videos we had made to document some of the rescues are no longer on the front pages as they once were. We will have to change that. Thanks for the subtle reminder! And THANK YOU for acknowledging the vast scope of efforts out there to help animals. Dana
inviteddiy said:
Hi Anatasia, I came across your blog while doing some career research as one of the models I’m researching is farm sanctuaries and was very interested that you are covering animal sanctuaries and social enterprises. Have you been able to identify any models of farm sanctuaries or animal organizations as social enterprises? I’d be very interested to learn more if so.
Thanks,
Krista
Invited DIY Blog
Anastasia said:
Hey Krista,
Not really. The closest I’ve found is in this post. It’s hard to make farm sanctuaries into social enterprises–though not impossible. It takes a creative, entrepreneurial mind to think outside the box to come up with ideas based on what’s already there. You have to answer the question: How can the mission of farm sanctuaries to change the values of animals traditionally farmed become an economic transformation of value and be self-sustaining, without exploiting the very animals they’re serving? It’s an on-going question that shouldn’t be abandoned because it’s hard. It requires creativity, a constant perceptiveness to opportunity, and a clear understanding of who the animals are and what they need to live in self-reliance and dignity. The social enterprise model is more common among human service organizations. But I have found some scattered projects and initiatives that have potential to be what you consider a social enterprise. One of them is in Dallas-Fort Worth: the wildlife advocacy and rehabilitation organization has a social enterprise component that offers wildlife conflict mediation services. The key to a project being a social enterprise is not whether it makes money but whether it has the power to transform social values and sustain itself economically. The creative opportunities for a social enterprise are limitless, and the beautiful part is that it doesn’t have to subscribe to a capitalist model, though most examples you find, it does.
Anastasia
karin perlsteyn said:
Anastasia,
I just wanted to thank you for the inspiring posts.
you have the gift of simplifying complex ideas.
I believe its very important to show animals as individuals, thats the way to generate empathy from those who consider them commodities (as we know, most people do, but I believe its a cultural viewpoint that can be changed). That’s why i started a facebook page for a rescued chicken from the meat industry, i post pictures and videos there, and try to show her as a pet- beware it’s in hebrew):
https://www.facebook.com/pages/%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%97%D7%99-%D7%94%D7%A2%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%93-%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%99/672814062730502
I always had this idea of opening an animal sanctuary that is economically self sustained. The best idea I came up with so far is having a vegan restaurant near by…The idea of incorporating the healing of children is refreshing. I think it could also get governmental funds (once we market it as helping humans), at least in Israel it can, veganism is becoming more and more important (we even have a vegan potential mayor, a very successful capitalist gone vegan :0).
I’m very glad I found this blog, I will definately continue following it for inspiration.
Karin.