Love from Florida: Sanctuary Travels from snow to sun

Yoga Animalia: Feline & Bovine - Wax On & Nandi, Indraloka Animal Sanctuary, Mehoopany, Pennsylvania

Happy Holidays! I recently visited United Poultry Concerns in Machipongo, Virginia on my way south, and I was absolutely delighted to finally spend some time with Karen Davis and the sanctuary residents. The human and avian team at UPC have been creating change for birds for decades, and I am so honored to have visited and photographed at the sanctuary which is a haven for formerly farmed animals amidst one of the most concentrated chicken factory farming regions.

Yoga Animalia: Galline - Rainbow, United Poultry Concerns, Machipongo, Virginia

I just arrived in Ocala, Florida at Kindred Spirits Sanctuary who are graciously hosting me as I  spend winter editing photos from two-and-a-half years of travel. My goal is to dedicate the entirety of winter to preparing the photos and stories from the 74 sanctuaries I have visited, with the hoped-for goal of getting ready to run a crowdfunding campaign in 2018 to make the Yoga Animalia Book a reality. More details about the book to come!

Yoga Animalia: Bovine - Owen, Kindred Spirits Sanctuary, Ocala, Florida

In the meantime, if you would like to support my art please consider becoming a monthly patron on my Patreon page. Asking for help as an artist is really challenging, but I am attempting to get out of my own way and make it easier to bring my sanctuary portraits into the world. Your support will enable this, and through Patreon, you will get neat bonuses not available anywhere else.

Many thanks for reading, and I hope your holiday season is surrounded by that which makes you happy. I will leave you with a few snow photos of my friends at Indraloka Animal Sanctuary.

May joy find you,

Cameron

Ogie and Mookie in front, PennyLove behind

Abhey, Greenie, Daisy, Decha, Galen, LucyLou Goosey, Lucy Goosey, Opie, Whitey, Peep, Bo

Quicker, Joe, Whirlee Girlee, Fancy, Hubub

Yin, Yang, Nod, Teehee, Lexi

Sanctuary Gathering at Animal Rights National Conference 2017

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38 sanctuary humans representing 22 farm animal sanctuaries gathered at the Animal Rights National Conference.

Thirty-eight sanctuary humans representing twenty-two farm animal sanctuaries gathered at the 2017 Animal Rights National Conference to meet in person this past weekend. We also began a conversation about working more closely together as a united sanctuary movement which made my heart burst with joy. Many of these humans I have had the joy of visiting, meeting the individuals for whom they care, and creating portraits of the rescued individuals who reside at the sanctuary. Others I met for the first time, and new travel plans and destinations and connections were formed. To the best of my knowledge, no such gathering has ever happened at the AR Conference, and that so many were able to participate was a monumental achievement. The momentum we began at this simple gathering was couched in love for the sanctuary movement of which we are all a part, and I look forward to that energy continuing to build, grow, expand, and thrive.

East to South to West and Back Again

Frosty, Rowdy Girl Sanctuary, Angleton Texas

Oh, the Places You'll Go! Wisdom from Dr. Seuss that I recall as July finds me writing to you from San Francisco. Back in the middle of May I traveled south from my winter abode in Pennsylvania to Full Circle Farm Sanctuary near Atlanta, experiencing the beautiful new property to which they moved. Driving through southern parts new to my eyes, I trekked west in time for the New Orleans VegFest to bring some sanctuary love to NOLA, a city of many people who needs must travel 6-8 hours to find the nearest farm animal sanctuary. Then it was south of Houston to Rowdy Girl Sanctuary located in Angleton, Texas. My Prius got some long overdue doctoring before I headed northwest to Santuario de Karuna in Tijeras, New Mexico, very near Albuquerque. Afterward I trekked in to my home state to celebrate at Oakland VegFest.
    June passed in a beautiful SoCal fog of newborn human baby time as I stayed in Ventura, California and helped my best friend as she birthed my newest niece. The festival season is just ramping up though, so back on the road I go!
    I will be wrapping up my Northern California travels with a stop to visit Sweet Farm in Half Moon Bay this Friday. NorCal has seen a sprouting of new sanctuaries, and earlier this week I visited Goatlandia Farm Animal Sanctuary in Santa Rosa, Flip Side Sanctuary in Sebastopol, and Rancho Compasión in Nicasio, all very near San Francisco. I hope you enjoy the first photos of these visits in this blog post!
    Thank you for your continued support, and if a sanctuary resident's portrait can fit in your life or the life of someone you love, visit my Etsy page or send me an email at Cameron@YogaAnimalia.com. May so much joy find you!
    Cameron

Joon, Rancho Compasión, Nicasio, California

Ryan Gosling, Full Circle Farm Sanctuary, Warm Springs, Georgia

Hondo, Santuario de Karuna, Tijeras, New Mexico

Betty, Flip Side Sanctuary, Sebastopol, California

Noll, Goatlandia Farm Animal Sanctuary, Santa Rosa, California

March Sanctuary Spotlight: Rooterville

In mid-February I traveled to a rural part of north-central Florida, about an hour south of Jacksonville and 50 minutes east of Gainesville. After my Apple GPS told me several wrong ways, nonexistent roads to take, and other tomfoolery, I arrived on the outskirts of Melrose at Rooterville's doorstep, marked by a marquee like you might see outside a church or a theater.

Rooterville Sign lit up for the night

It marked the second sanctuary of the new year I would visit, and I was soon to learn that the source of its name were the potbellied pigs who originally inspired the creation of the sanctuary. Rooterville had grown from its early days as a potbelly rescue into a more fully-fledged farm animal sanctuary. Here I met a host of porcine characters, lounging, rooting, and exploring almost everywhere I looked.

Pigs & Clouds, Rooterville, A Sanctuary, Melrose, Florida

Doodle & I, Rooterville, A Sanctuary, Melrose, Florida

Leo & I, Rooterville, A Sanctuary, Melrose, Florida

I also met a few equine and caprine friends, including (pictured) Doodle and Leo, both whom insisted on selfies with me, and many photos of themselves besides. I must say, both boys have dashing hairdos - I don't think I've quite seen the like at other sanctuaries!

Paul & Pancake, Rooterville, A Sanctuary, Melrose, Florida

While later perusing Rooterville's website, I noticed that they had several open staffing positions available. I did not intend to leave Florida until April, so I reached out to Elaine, the founder of Rooterville, and asked if she would be interested in me working at the sanctuary for the month of March. It fit for both of us, especially given my previous caregiving and tour guide experience, both roles for which she is looking, and thus I have been helping out the last week and a half. Katie Kowhugger is getting acquainted with several of the most curious porcine residents, and it has been a delight to get to know the residents even better myself. More photos to come throughout the month!

Miracle in her recovery suite after her spay, anxious to join the larger population, and for more treats, Rooterville, A Sanctuary, Melrose, Florida

Rudy helps me out with my email, Rooterville, A Sanctuary, Melrose, Florida

Good Night Peepers & Chica, Rooterville, A Sanctuary, Melrose, Florida

Sanctuary Spotlight: Something of a Homecoming - Farm Sanctuary, New York

Full Moon at Farm Sanctuary, Watkins Glen, New York

I arrived at the Watkins Glen, NY birthplace of the farmed animal sanctuary movement at night. I had trekked through trees protesting my RV's passage, dirt roads that simultaneously shrouded and announced my transit, and a rather terrifying stretch of single-lane country road where deer could spring into my path at any moment. When my nerves settled with the pings of Katie Kowhugger's engine, I squinted to see the property on which I found myself - and I was awestruck. I had parked in the Farm Sanctuary visitor area, and in the wan August moonlight I could only make out a few buildings and a few moving shapes I would later learn were Nikki pig and two of her children. My desert eyes were flabbergasted at the moonlit suggestion of green growing wantonly everywhere I gazed. Four years I had heard stories of this place, and I was a trifle overwhelmed that I was finally there and had made it on my own. It looked like paradise, and I could only see a fraction of it.

By morning light I beheld the meander of fences framing towering red barns; the green expanses revealed varieties of hue and shade – trees and grass-carpeted hillocks and tall meadow flowers. The Visitor Barn before me dwarfed my expectations. What I assumed correctly to be the B&B cabins daintily blinked up at the rising sun with their guests. Lowing from nearby told me that one herd of cattle was readying for the day. The moving shapes I saw the previous night resolved into individual pigs exploring their meadow. A faint bustle of activity on the hilltop distance, in front of the only building not rouged but standing like a solidification of soft yellow sunlight, turned out to be the Melrose Small Animal Hospital and the staff heading out for the day. Behind me the front of the sanctuary was embraced by forest with only small pockets of human activity. There was magic everywhere my gaze traveled.

Farm Sanctuary, Watkins Glen, New York

Luke, most perfect of all canines

Part of the magic for me of Farm Sanctuary are the humans with or for whom I used to work. That was highlighted when my former boss Susie Coston, National Shelter Director and the human with whom the care of all beings non-human resides, drove up with Education Director Samantha Pachirat and the two canine companions that own Susie, Orville and Luke, the later of whom I refer to as one of, admittedly many, canine boyfriends. Orville wasted no time in nearly flattening Susie in his rush to escape the car, take a snort of my familiar scent, and then bound up and into Katie Kowhugger to lay claim to this new territory. Luke was a skosh more of a gentleman and at least let me snuggle him. Seeing these friends on their home turf was delightful, since I had only previously had the pleasure of their company at one of the California locations.

Many of the caregivers that work at the New York location are also humans with whom I feel fortunate to have worked, whether remotely or when they would come to assist at the Acton location where I used to be. Seeing so many faces I know, plus meeting many about whom I had only heard stories, was a joyous celebration after my cross-country travel and challenges. Despite having been absent Farm Sanctuary life for more than a year, I was welcomed in to the New York location as family, something I did not know that my heart had been longing for until it happened.

Ashley, Farm Sanctuary, Watkins Glen, New York

In the quest of the Yoga Animalia Project I did not anticipate just how the lack of a stable base would affect me, the stress and anxiety it would cause; settling in for what I intended to be not more than a week but which became three weeks in Watkins Glen, I was able to discover a seed of home across the continent. Being able to pitch in and help with health checks, cleaning, or photos was a balm to my frayed nerves. The camaraderie and support from people for whom I hold so much respect and love was a gift.

But it was not only the humans that offered this support: the residents worked their magic upon me, creating new friendships and bonds I look forward to sharing in the coming month. Adding to this was the very place – all that green in the late summer sun radiated into my very being, allowing me to look out at the hills where the sheep grazed, the wallows the pigs created to cool off, the patches of curious ground the chickens inspected, the little trails the goats forged through tall and dense grass, and see it with eyes heavy with appreciation and gratitude. It was here at Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York, the first sanctuary stop on my easterly travel, that the challenges of the journey paled in comparison to what I beheld: a vision of a more compassionate world.

Chuck, Farm Sanctuary, Watkins Glen, New York