Melissa Gates, Director of Programs at Catskill Animal Sanctuary shares her recent experience teaching kids, and tells us about the wonderful Camp Kindness vegan summer camp! It's a one-week long day camp run by trained humane educators that gives kids the opportunity to interact with farm animals, while inspiring them to make kind, compassionate choices for all. Check out this one-of-a-kind camp, and register your kids-- they will love it!
Guest Post by Melissa Gates, Director of Programs at Catskill Animal Sanctuary
Ten Girl Scouts, ranging in age from nine to eleven years old, playfully traipsed after me in their sparkling new designer galoshes as I led them from Catskill Animal Sanctuary’s Welcome Hut around into the sloping potbellied pig field for their Volunteer Day.
“Are we going to scoop…pooooop?” asked one girl, her voice rising upward like a slide whistle accompanied by a face contorted into unspeakable crescendos.
“It would be very nice of us,” said I, raising a pitchfork to my side and motioning for the girls to circle around, “as these little loves depend upon CAS to provide them with proper affection, food, water and shelter. Part of that entails scooping up their poop every day.”
The potbellied pigs eyed the group of girls, snouts to the air and tails wagging, perhaps wondering if the day would bring treats or belly rubs or even better…both. This porcine crew knows the group volunteer gig pretty well. The shy pigs wander off to private corners, where they know we will respect their privacy. Suspicious pigs stand at a distance, smelling and rooting and planning and waiting. The extroverts wander over and introduce themselves with little nudges of their wet, sensitive noses against willing hands, legs and giggles. Shy Girl, who is, as her name implies, normally a quite timid resident at CAS, has days where she will waddle over to check out groups. Chopper, who eagerly falls over sideways at the mere suggestion of a hand heading toward his belly, can have shy days, too. Pigs, just like people and all other animals, have their moods. Today wasn’t one of those days for our friendly guy, Ozzie. He sauntered over, tail flailing a mile a minute with a clear look of warmth upon his face as his nose wiggled and pointed, smelling from girl to girl, likely anticipating his healthy dose of love and affection for the day, but not before…
One pointed finger became two then five then ten until a pitchy horror of shrieking girl chorus erupted,“EeeEEEEeeeeEEEw! He’s pooping NOW!”
At times like these, teaching moments choose us; those of us brave enough not to shy away from the challenge of poop discussions with little girls sporting designer galoshes in pink and yellow polka dots know what we must do. For those of us who make the conscious decision not to dilute the poop topic but rather to embrace the opportunity for heightened compassion, these moments are precious...even when faced with little girl squeals.
“Everybody poops, right?” I asked, looking around from surprised to disgusted to embarrassed faces. “This is Ozzie. He and other pigs are actually quite courteous when they go to the bathroom,” I continued. “When given the amount of space they need, pigs use one area for their bathroom breaks, another area for eating and yet another area for sleeping! What do you think would happen if our pig friends didn’t poop?”
“We wouldn’t have to pick it up!” exclaimed one child, affirming my theory that there really is at least one silly kid in every group.
“Hmmm. True,” I answered.“But how do you feel when you don’t go to the bathroom when you need to go?”
“Bad. My tummy aches and I feel bad if I hold it too long,” said another.
“Right; and we wouldn’t want our pig friends to feel that way, would we?” All the girls’ heads nodded no, emphatically. “Plus, what can most people do that pigs and other animals can’t, to our knowledge?”
“Excuse themselves to go to the bathroom!” hollered one girl, hand waving over her head.
“That is a very astute point.” I replied. “There is something else humans can do that not many other animals can. What do you think that might be?” Hands shot up. I lifted a brow and extended an inviting hand to one girl who looked as though she might burst if she kept her answer in any longer.
“Ask their moms to drive cars to other bathrooms!” she sang out. Kids come out with the darndest things.
“Also a very good point,” I said. “So when you decide to excuse yourself or when you decideto ask your mom for help, rather than going to the bathroom on the floor, what is it you’re doing?”
“Deciding!” came a shout from one girl, who had really listened as I hung on the word decide.
“Exactly!” I encouraged,“Humans have the gift of intellect, which helps us make good decisions and come to correct conclusions about what is true or real and about how to solve problems. Other animals are smart and can learn human words and signs, and are very often effective at initiating communication and interaction with people. Animals have family units and friends; they think, feel love, suffer pain, and communicate with one another the same as we do...but in their own languages. They do not have the same level of advanced intellect that humans have, though, so in a human-powered world, this often puts animals in danger of being hurt, like if they were left out in fields full of their own poop, which would distress them and could also make them physically sick. This is one of the many kind ways in which people can take care of animals. We pick up their poop in the same way that we take care of our baby brothers’ and sisters’ poop when we help change their diapers.”
“Hey, why don’t pigs wear diapers?” asked the one quota-filling silly girl, with a practiced look of sincerity. I walked right into that one.
The girls and I talked a little more about what it means to allow animals the dignity of their nature, to allow pigs to poop in their latrine area, to allow chickens to flap their wings, to allow cows to live free from milk machines, to allow the planet to live free from pollution, and to allow people the right to live free from wrongful discrimination.
It wasn’t long before the girls were ambitiously scooping poop and satisfying Ozzie’s loving need for affection. They understood the good they were doing to help our pig friends, and with this newfound understanding and context of the help they were providing, the girls were happy to open their hearts to a stinky but necessary chore in order to lend a hand. The fires of compassion grew stronger in the girls’ hearts that day as their perspectives and experiences widened to include animals.
I got to thinking, this really is the foundation for Catskill Animal Sanctuary’s Camp Kindness program, our vegan summer day camp for kids. At Camp Kindness, we offer kids opportunities for deciding to live with greater compassion. We provide facts about the impacts of animal-based agriculture on animals, people and the planet and we empower kids to think critically about
this wonderful world we share. Telling a child that he or she should be kind to animals is a nice start; teaching kids that they each have the power to lead lives based upon deciding to be nice to animals is a world-changing paradigm shifter.
At Camp Kindness, trained Humane Educators work closely with the small camp groups to empower each child to think freely, carefully and independently, and to arrive at their own conclusions and truths, as guided by the spirit of compassion for all.
The age-appropriate lesson plans are mapped out well in advance of the four one-week long camp sessions, but each is molded like clay as it unfolds to meet the shifting needs of the individual kids and to positively reflect the group dynamic in order to bring out the best in each child.
Kids are encouraged to think critically about food production issues, animal rights, the environment and their own health at Camp Kindness. One-on-one interaction with our animal friends is a key aspect of camp, enabling kids to learn about animal behavior and personalities as well as animal care.
Kids leave camp understanding that every animal is a unique individual, which helps those who do not otherwise have an opportunity to mingle with traditionally farmed animals. Everyone leaves feeling supported and knowing that they are not alone; that feeling compassion for animals is indeed a wonderful and inspiring thing.
At Camp Kindness, kids are presented with facts and asked to think creatively and compassionately, and they leave with plenty of tools from which to choose, from vegan cooking skills and recipes to journaling for expressing feelings to growing their own food and gaining experience with animals and getting to know the personalities of a few critters. Camp Kindness helps to reinforce what compassionate parents teach their children every day; that all animals are thinking, breathing, feeling beings worthy of our love and respect; that we may each positively impact the world by deciding to make compassionate choices; that being kind to one another, to animals and to the planet feels good!
I left CAS at the end of this Girl Scout Volunteer Day feeling a strong sense of hope for the future and really looking forward to this year’s Camp Kindness sessions. If we can encourage little girls in glittering galoshes to set aside their dislike of poop in order to lend a hand to pigs in need, we can do just about anything, including making the world a more compassionate place...one child at a time.
To learn more about Camp Kindness or register your child for a session, click here: To learn more about other CAS programming this season, including the weekend-long Vegan Parenting Workshop in July, click here.
Melissa Gates has directed two statewide animal rights organizations and is currently serving as the Director of Programs at the Catskill Animal Sanctuary in Saugerties, New York. She is a longtime vegan and community organizer for animals, people, and the planet, with nearly two decades of experience in the field. When not engrossed in her work, Melissa can often be seen out & about advocating for justice, hiking, exploring New York's live music scene or snuggling up by her fireplace with some great jazz, a good book & feline friends Eden-Shade, Mama Shed, Sumo Monster, Cito Mosquito Fernandez Jones & Levon Whitey Gates.
In this post, Kathy Stevens, director and founder of Catskill Animal Sanctuary (CAS) tells us why it's so important for kids to meet farm animals. She encourages families to come visit the cows, pigs, horses, chickens, rabbits, turkeys and goats living at the sanctuary. If you are raising your kids vegetarian or vegan, visiting CAS is a must. Starting in March they will have accomodations on site, so you can stay right at the sanctuary!
Guest post by Kathy Stevens, founder and director of Catskill Animal Sanctuary
It’s seven in the morning. Kathy Keefe, Catskill Animal Sanctuary’s (CAS) farm manager, is stacking dishes on a cart inside the main barn’s spacious feed room. The pig dishes are piled and overflowing with broccoli, apples, tomatoes, beans, and pumpkin; the horse dishes are each different from the other, depending on the nutritional needs of the Sanctuary’s resident equines, and the same is true for the chicken dishes. Heavy broiler chickens who struggle under industry-induced obesity get a low-calorie diet, while others get calorie-dense sunflower seeds and cracked corn mixed in with their grain-based diet. All the chickens get leafy greens, too, and even the broilers get to snack on an occasional grape or banana slice. One dish gets glucosamine, another an iron supplement, electrolytes in a third and Omega 3’s in a fourth. That’s the level of individual care the animals at Catskill Animal Sanctuary receive. The notion that whether human or hen, we are all individuals and should be treated as such permeates every aspect of CAS, and I believe it’s the main reason families flock to us. When you bring your kids to CAS, for instance, you’ll find that there’s no such thing as a “standard tour” at our 110-acre farm animal sanctuary. Instead, your family is apt to be greeted in the parking lot by a member of the Underfoot Family-- a pig or chicken, turkey or goat who, for one reason or another, is happier roaming freely than living among members of his/her species. So be forewarned, a human may well walk out to greet you, but so might Rambo the sheep, Mike the rooster,or Arthur the goat. Next, you’ll find that your tour guide will want to know the names of your children, how old they are, and whether they’ve ever kissed a pig or napped with a cow. There’s no “script” at CAS, so I can’t promise that these will be the exact questions; but what I can promise is this: that from the moment you arrive, your child will be actively included in the experience of visiting Catskill Animal Sanctuary. In fact, when tour groups are filled with families with young children, they often don’t move too far and definitely don’t move too fast. Why? Because kids need to sit on the ground, eye to eye, with Ethel the turkey. Because kids need to walk slowly into the rabbit enclosure and sit quietly (“Pretend to be a rock,” we say) as the shy creatures inch closer, perhaps sniffing a knee, before hopping away. And because kids need to lie on their bellies, heads in their hands, watching the pigs do what pigs do: root, flop down in the pond on a hot day, press their cool wet snouts through the fence to say hello. When you’re raising vegetarian/vegan kids, or moving along that path, visiting places where food animals are happy and right there, in your face, reinforces all that you’re doing at home. When children have had the chance to be kissed by a cow, choosing a different meal simply affirms their innate kindness and deepens their bond with our animal friends. We recently received an e-mail from a proud mom. Her son Henry, now ten years old, has attended our children’s day camp, Camp Kindness, for two summers in a row, and has since become a passionate and committed vegan. Henry and his family were recently out at dinner with family friends, and Henry was questioned by the grown-ups about his diet. According to his mom, after very eloquently listing several animal, health, and environmental reasons for his decision, Henry looked at the grown-ups and said, “So I think that the question shouldn’t be about why I’m vegetarian…the question should be about why you aren’t.”  Camp Kindness vegan bake sale Come share the love. Catskill Animal Sanctuary in Saugerties, NY is open for tours Saturdays and Sundays April through October. The Homestead, our four-room inn, will be open year-round, seven days a week, beginning in March so you can plan your trip and stay right at the farm! Camp Kindness, which holds week-long sessions in July and August, will begin registering children in April. We hope to see you soon! Note from Editor: My husband and I visited CAS a few years before our daughter, Charlotte was born, and can attest to the fact that it is truly a beautiful haven for rescued farm animals. The animals who live there receive so much love and attention. We can't wait to bring Charlotte this summer! The sanctuary is located within 1/2hr of the historic town of Woodstock. So make a family vacation out of it; visit the sanctuary (sleep on site), go hiking, go tubing down the Esopus River, take a train ride on the Catskill Mountain Railroad, shop, and eat at one of the many vegetarian restaurants in the area. Kathy Stevens is the Founder and Director of CAS. Kathy moved to Boston for graduate school, and after a decade of teaching high school English, she was asked to head a charter school. Instead, one year later, she opened Catskill Animal Sanctuary, one of the country's leading havens for farm animals and a center for raising public awareness of their sentience and their suffering. She is the author of two critically and popularly-acclaimed books, "Where the Blind Horse Sings" and "Animal Camp", a regular blogger on farm animal issues for the Huffington Post, and a frequent contributor to books and articles on farm animals, vegan living, and related issues.
Elizabeth Forel, president of The Coalition to Ban Horse Drawn Carriages is leading the fight to shut down the horse-drawn carriage industry in NYC. Read her post below to find out how you can help get these sweet horses off the streets...
 photo by Elizabeth Forel _
Guest post by Elizabeth Forel
If you live in New York City, most likely your exposure to horses is to the “famous” NYC carriage horse.They are famed more for being a contrived icon, reflecting past times when people did not think so much about how the animal felt but rather how they felt as they fantasized they were one of the wealthy riding in a horse-drawn carriage -- maybe riding on a snowy night. How lovely and romantic … but not for the horse. Times are different now, and there is no need for horses to pull people around, especially in one of the busiest cities on the planet.
Many people are much more aware of animal cruelty and suffering nowadays and do not want to be a part of it. Carriage horses never have a nice day. They do not have the option of saying yes or no.Pulling tourists is their job - a job that was forced on them. As prey animals they are conditioned to protect themselves against potential threats - real or perceived - and to react quickly. That is why we often hear of horses spooking and bolting into traffic to get away from their source of fear, which can be a loud noise or even a rustling leaf. They are massive in size and strength, and as they gallop down a congested street they can cause injury and death to themselves and others.
 Horses don't belong on loud, busy city streets. (photo by Donny Moss) _
Working tightly restrained between the shafts of the carriage and wearing blinders, horses are denied their most basic instincts, even the ability to scratch an itch. By law, they may work nine hours a day, seven days a week. They are supposed to get a 15- minute break every two hours but this law is not enforced.
During the holiday season, the horses are worked till they drop from exhaustion as one did on December 4th on 59th St. This was the fourth in a series of incidents that began on October 23rd with the death of Charlie Horse who collapsed and died on West 54th Street (pictured below right). Charlie's death was followed a week later by a horse who spooked and bolted onto Central Park South, running scared through traffic until he finally crashed his carriage on Seventh Avenue. On November 4th, a horse named Luke collapsed on West 60th Street. This slew of recent incidents has brought needed attention to the cruelty in the carriage-horse industry, and more support for a ban.
 Charlie collapsed and died on West 54th Street (photo by Matthew Miller) _
Horses forced to pull carriages have a rough, miserable life. After pulling heavy carriages for hours on end in all weather extremes the horses go back to their stables on the far west side of Manhattan-- there are four stables. Their stalls are generally on the 2nd floor, accessed by a very steep ramp. The minimum stall size by law is only 60 sq. ft. which is less than half of what experts recommend, which is 144 sq. ft for standardbreds and 196 sq. ft. for the larger draft breeds. This is barely enough room to lay down. For these poor horses, there is no pasture to graze in the grass.The next day, they are pulled out of the stables and put on the job again -- wearing blinders and heavy tack, between the shafts of their carriages. This is truly a miserable existence.
There are many alternatives to riding in a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park in NYC. Depending on the season, consider walking through the beautiful park, renting a bike, having a picnic, renting a boat at the Boathouse, or going ice skating on Wollman Rink (or just watching the skaters). If you want an interesting, fun ride around the park and city, consider taking a pedicab ride.This is an open rickshaw type vehicle, pedal driven by the driver.The people who drive these vehicles choose to do this work unlike the carriage horses. So choose an activity that you and your family can be proud of, one that doesn't involve animal cruelty.
_ There are two animal sanctuaries, both about two to three hours outside of New York City, that are a must see. If you have kids, take them, they will love it! Many rescued horses live out there lives in peace, comfort and are treated with love and respect at the sanctuaries. 1) Equine Advocates in Chatham, NY has about 80 equines, which include some adorable donkeys, a couple of grumpy Llamas, pygmy goats and a host of horses rescued from all kinds of horrible situations. Some worked in the Premarin industry where their urine was used to make hormone drugs for women. Others came directly from the kill auctions, break downs from the racetrack. These animals now get to live out their lives in a natural, safe environment allowing them to socialize with each other, something so necessary for herd animals as horses are. 2) Catskill Animal Sanctuary is the other heaven on earth in Saugerties, NY. They have several horses at Catskill, but you can also meet pigs, goats, sheep, chickens -- and you can do a farm tour with president, Kathy Stevens. They also host many fun events throughout the year so check the calendar! Check with both organizations first before going there since they close during certain seasons. But it is absolutely worth the trip. Kids will love it and they get it.They are introduced to animals in a natural environment and the respect and understanding comes naturally. It is hard to learn respect for animals when one sees them in bondage in such cruel conditions. They appear like automatons with little expression or spirit. They are commodities used to make money. Most of the driver/owners consider the horses beasts of burden with no needs or desires of their own. To them, they are just “work horses” - a means to an end. But in a natural supportive environment, these horses will blossom. ..as evidenced by the picture below.  Bobby rolling when he first got off the trailer (photo by Jim Craner) _ Did you know that horses are vegetarians … actually vegans? Technically, they are considered herbivores, consuming grass, fruits, vegetables, oats, grains and barley. Yes, equines are very cool. Prey animals by nature, horses are gentle, sensitive beings. Carrots and apples are like candy to them. Many even like peppermints and beets although heir steady day- to-day diet consists of grains and hay. But they never, ever eat other animals. It is just not in their peaceful nature. This along with their size and strength is why the horse is the most abused domestic animal. Since 2006, The Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages has been campaigning to shut down the inhumane and unsafe carriage horse trade in New York City. It has been a long hard struggle but it is getting more and more attention and support. Other major cities including London, Beijing and Toronto, to name a few, do not allow the commercial carriage trade. In Oxford, England, the local Council recently voted to deny the carriage business the right to work Please visit us online at the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages and sign our petition to support legislation that is in the State legislature.
Also check out Donny Moss's documentary, Blinders for a behind-the-scenes look into the horse-drawn carriage industry. Let’s all stand up for these horses. They deserve it. Elizabeth Forel is a longtime animal advocate and president of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages.
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