What goes on plate isn’t always pretty
Author’s forays into factory farms turn into rescue operation
‘Farm Sanctuary’ by Gene Baur Touchstone
Gene Baur is a very smart man.
He is a practicing vegan and animal rights activist who has written a book about rescuing animals from the horrors of factory farming.
But as the author himself notes, his theme throughout the book is, emphatically, “Love the sinner, hate the sin.”
As a result, “Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food” does not make the carnivore reader feel akin to Attila the Hun. In the majority of the book, Baur exchanges the hysterical sob-story methods employed by some of his ilk for a straightforward account of what he’s seen and what he does.
Baur came to animal activism after growing up in California and traveling the country after college. Reading Frances Moore Lappe’s “Diet for a Small Planet” made him more aware, in his words, of “how wasteful factory farming was, how many resources were used to produce meat.”
But it was a series of visits to the now-defunct Lancaster Stockyards in Pennsylvania that propelled Baur into his life’s work.
At Lancaster he learned about “downed animals” —cows, sheep or pigs that were “lying dead or injured in the alleyways or the holding pens.”
During one of his visits in the summer of 1986, Baur came upon an injured sheep that had been tossed on what was known as the “dead pile.”
The author and his then-wife, Lorri, rescued the animal and named her Hilda. While Baur admits that the couple “did not own the sheep and therefore had no right to remove her,” he also notes that stockyard workers avoided the dead pile. “We were essentially picking through trash,” he writes.
With Hilda, a herd grows
Back at their house in Wilmington, Del., Hilda became the first animal to be rescued by the group that came to be known as Farm Sanctuary.
Eventually Baur and his growing group of volunteers rescued more animals from the stockyard in Lancaster.
In 1989 Baur and his volunteers were able to purchase a 175-acre farm in Watkins Glen, N.Y. In the early 1990s they purchased a second farm in Orland, Calif. At both facilities, rescued animals reside in “barns and shelters where the animals can come and go as they please except when, in the case of the farmed birds, they need to be protected from … predators.” Both facilities are open to the public.
Rescuing animals from factory farms is just one part of what Baur sees as his mission. The bulk of the book is devoted to his efforts to make consumers aware of the inhumane treatment of animals, such as laying hens packed tightly into cages; cramped gestation crates for sows; and the gruesome use of “maceration machines” to dispose of unwanted male chicks.
The author also discusses the use of antibiotics in the beef industry as well as mostly unsuccessful attempts by Farm Sanctuary and like-minded legislators from across the country to get the Department of Agriculture to take a more vigorous stand on testing for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly referred to as mad cow disease.
Eaters urged to start small
Baur’s amazement at how government and agribusiness leaders continue to turn a blind eye to potential disease threats and cruel treatment of animals is infectious.
Even though his tone is more educational than rabid, Baur does manage to slip in jabs at even the gentlest of vegetarians.
In discussing certain practices by the commercial dairy industry he notes, “One of the most common misconceptions I’ve encountered over the years is the notion that if you don’t eat meat, you don’t contribute to the cruel treatment of animals.”
But overall his voice is one of conciliation. By the end of the book he gives, if not a free pass to meat-eaters and cheese-loving vegetarians, at least a chance to do the right thing.
Baur urges readers to avoid “factory-farmed meat, milk and eggs” and, where possible, to visit local farms that sell at neighborhood farmers markets. Or try eating vegan one day a week.
Each chapter in Baur’s book ends with a biography and picture of an animal rescued by Farm Sanctuary. As he wraps up his book, the author encourages readers of all culinary styles to join his “Adopt-a-Farm Animal” program by paying monthly to take care of a rescued critter.
Overall, “Farm Sanctuary” serves as a more than adequate primer to the mistreatment of animals warehoused in factory farms. Baur keeps the consumer guilt trips to a minimum and, in doing so, may win himself some vegan converts along the way.
ellisonweist@portlandtribune.com
Gene Baur
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, March 27
Where: Clinton Street Theater, 2522 S.E. Clinton St., 503-238-8899
Cost: Free