Kim Sturla, Animal Place Sanctuary; & A Mother’s Love: The Bond Between Mother Cow and Baby Calf

Here’s this week’s show:

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In this episode, Alissa talks with us about voting with the animals in mind for next week’s provincial election. Then guest co-host Cynthia tells us about the upcoming transit ad campaign in Vancouver in which Vancouverites will be prompted to think “Why Love One But Eat the Other?”.

A Mother’s Love: The Bond Between Mother Cow and Baby Calf

This Sunday is Mother’s Day, and we, at Animal Voices, encourage you to honour and celebrate all mothers this week, including non-human animal mothers. For this segment, we honour the mother cow, and bring forth information and stories that depict the intense bond that a mother cow has with her baby calf upon birth. However, for the approximately 265 million dairy cows that are on this planet, they have their babies whisked away from them at birth, in order to facilitate the business that they are forced into – which is to produce 704 million tonnes of milk for human consumption each year. As a result, they are unable to live out the primal need to care for and nurture their calves, who are either sent to be made veal of, or to become dairy cows themselves.

Remember to wear your Cow Ribbon to show support for all mothers! (Click here to see the recent interview we did about this provocative campaign.)

And check out this touching video by actress Emily Deschanel that she has made for Mother’s Day, that explains some of the facts about the lives of dairy cows, and their babies:

Kim Sturla, Animal Place Sanctuary, for International Respect for Chickens Month

May is International Respect for Chickens Month!

Our feature interview today is with Kim Sturla, who is the co-founder and Executive Director of an animal sanctuary in Northern California called Animal Place. Founded in 1989, Animal Place is one of the oldest and largest sanctuaries for farmed animals in the United States. The 600 acre shelter provides refuge to hundreds of neglected farmed animals. In addition to permanent sanctuary, Animal Place’s Rescue Ranch is a 60-acre adoption center, placing needy farmed animals into permanent homes. In honour of International Respect for Chickens Month, Kim speaks with us about the work that Animal Place does, which has recently involved 2 large-scale rescues of over 5,000 battery hens, plus a rescue of 4 roosters from a cockfighting operation. Animal Place’s mission is simple: to extend compassion to all life.

A documentary called “Turlock” has recently been produced, which documents the largest rescue of farmed animals in California history. Animal Place is responsible for coordinating the intake of 4,460 hens over a two-day operation. You can watch the documentary film here, for free, and learn more about the rescue at the film website here.