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Episode Notes

In this episode of The Open Sanctuary Podcast, Community Education Specialist Andie Springirth welcomes back special guest and Open Sanctuary Project contributor Dr. Emily Tronetti to discuss specific agency-supportive practices that sanctuaries can implement in their onsite educational endeavors to nurture the well-being of the residents and increase the effectiveness of their programming. In addition to exploring environmental-, resident-, and human-specific factors for agency-centered sanctuary educators to consider, this episode also highlights ways to center resident agency during onsite education that do not rely on potentially touching or being in close proximity to the residents.

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This Episode’s Referenced Open Sanctuary Project Resources:

• The Open Sanctuary Podcast – Introduction to Agency with Dr. Emily Tronetti | The Open Sanctuary Project
• The Open Sanctuary Podcast – Fostering Farmed Animal Agency in Sanctuary Education, Part One | The Open Sanctuary Project
• An Introduction To Fostering Agency In Farmed Animals At Your Animal Sanctuary | The Open Sanctuary Project
• A Guide to Fostering Farmed Animal Agency in Sanctuary Education | The Open Sanctuary Project
• A Guide to Fostering Farmed Animal Agency in Sanctuary Education: Asking Other Animals for Consent Handout | The Open Sanctuary Project
• A Guide to Fostering Farmed Animal Agency in Sanctuary Education: Reflection Workbook | The Open Sanctuary Project
• A Guide to Fostering Farmed Animal Agency in Sanctuary Education: Part One | The Open Sanctuary Project
• A Guide to Fostering Farmed Animal Agency in Sanctuary Education: Part Two | The Open Sanctuary Project
• A Guide to Fostering Farmed Animal Agency in Sanctuary Education: Part Three | The Open Sanctuary Project
• A Guide to Fostering Farmed Animal Agency in Sanctuary Education: Part Four | The Open Sanctuary Project
• A Guide to Fostering Farmed Animal Agency in Sanctuary Education: Part Five | The Open Sanctuary Project
• A Guide to Fostering Farmed Animal Agency in Sanctuary Education: Part Six | The Open Sanctuary Project
• Fostering Critical Thinking at Your Animal Sanctuary | The Open Sanctuary Project
• Fostering Empathy Towards Farmed Animals | The Open Sanctuary Project
• Understanding Biases that Can Negatively Impact Farmed Animals and How to Help Folks Overcome Them | The Open Sanctuary Project 
• An Introduction to Educational Programs and Opportunities Well-suited for Microsanctuaries | The Open Sanctuary Project 
• In-Person Sanctuary Educational Programming: What Are Your Options?
  The Open Sanctuary Project 
• Virtual Sanctuary Educational Programming: What Are Your Options? | The Open Sanctuary Project
• Observation: An Important Caregiver Tool | The Open Sanctuary Project

Episode Transcript (Auto-GeneratedThe following content was transcribed through an automated process and may contain transcription errors or misspellings.)

Andie Springirth: Hello sanctuary friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Open Sanctuary Podcast. My name is Andie. I’m the Open Sanctuary Projects community education specialist. And today, Dr. Emily Trinetti is back to chat more with me about fostering farmed animalA species or specific breed of animal that is raised by humans for the use of their bodies or what comes from their bodies. agency in sanctuary education. In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about specific agency supportive practices that sanctuaries can implement in their onsite educational endeavors to nurture the well-being of the residents and increase the effectiveness of their programming. But if you haven’t already listened to episodes number 27 and 28, I encourage you to do that first so that you can develop a bit of a fuller understanding of what we mean by agency and why it’s so important to nurture in our sanctuary spaces. Emily, thank you so much for joining me in this conversation again.

Dr. Emily Tronetti: Thanks, Andie. I am very excited to be back and even more excited to dive into this topic today.

Andie Springirth: Yay. Okay, so let’s dive right in then and explore some of the most impactful ways that sanctuary educators can foster resident agency during on-site programming. So in our first podcast episode on agency, which was episode number 27, we talked about the importance of setting up agency-centered sanctuary environments to the greatest and safest extent possible. And in San education. This is perhaps doubly important since we so often invite visitors on site to the residents personal homes to potentially either indirectly or directly interact with them. Now, as sanctuaries, of course, our priority is the safety and well-being of the residents. So, it’s critically important that they feel safe in the presence of visitors at all times. And one of the most important tangible environmental tools for promoting safe consent-based interactions, especially when children and larger residents are involved, is fencing. It sounds very obvious, but it’s one of it’s one of the most important tools we can use because fencing allows residents who actually want to and are able to engage with visitors to engage. It generally also allows residents who do not want to engage to keep their distance. Facilitating interactions via fence line can also be a great opportunity for educators to remind guests that the sanctuary is the resident’s home and the importance of course of being respectful of that. Now, in addition to fencing, there are various forms of coverage that can also provide residents with a sense of comfort and safety from visitors like trees, shrubs, and perches. This can be particularly helpful for bird residents like chickens, but other residents and species might feel safer when they have a clear line of sight and that’s super important to keep in mind as well. It’s also really helpful to know what kind of zones of proximity different residents have so you can set up these visits to be as agency centered as possible. Now, if you determine that it’s safe and appropriate to bring visitors into the resident’s living spaceThe indoor or outdoor area where an animal resident lives, eats, and rests., it’s critically important that there’s enough space for every resident to move away and not ever feel pressured to engage. Right? Residents should never be crowded or cornered by visitors. And as we mentioned with the various zones of proximity, this is going to look different for every single resident. Some are going to require more or less space to feel comfortable. And this is why, as the guide emphasizes, it’s understanding the species unique body language, communicative cues, and perspective of each resident is key. So Emily, the guide to fostering farmed animal agency in sanctuary education includes this wonderful idea. of creating a designated safe space for residents. Would you mind sharing a little bit more about this very important concept with our audience?

Dr. Emily Tronetti: I would love to. So, yeah, this idea of sanctuaries implementing designated safe spaces for their residents is something that was inspired by like my behavior consultant background, specifically my experience working with animals struggling with fear and anxiety, which is something that some of our sanctuary res ress might struggle with, especially when there are strangers in their home. So, of course, our goal as sanctuary educators is that residents don’t feel fearful or anxious or stressed. We want them to feel as comfortable as possible at all times. So, to ensure this, to promote resident agency and consent during sanctuary education, it can be helpful for each enclosure to have a designated safe space that residents can know that they can retreat to at any time and won’t be bothered in those spaces. And so this could be a certain pasture or paddock within a larger fenced-in area. It could be a part of their barn or their shelter. So, for example, using my friend Pearl the sheep as my example, when visitors are in Pearl’s paddock and then she chooses to go into the barn, this may indicate that she would like some alone time. And it can be helpful to kind of use this as an educational opportunity to say to visitors, oh, you know, it looks like Pearl would like some some time to herself. And that’s okay. Because I think when we when we point this out to our visitors, we can help them see that farmed animalsA species or specific breed of animal that is raised by humans for the use of their bodies or what comes from their bodies. deserve to make choices about what they want and where they’re comfortable and what their interactions are going to look like. So, you might be wondering how to determine where these safe spaces should be within each closure. And ideally, we give each individual resident the opportunity to choose these spaces for themselves. So to do this, we can observe where they choose to retreat to already, like if they’re feeling overwhelmed or if they simply want to rest unbothered. And depending on what we are observing, we might have to reassess where we bring our visitors. And then in the cases of like a new resident, or if a current resident like just doesn’t really seem to already have a preferred safe space, we can provide a variety of options, options that are comfortable, enriching, and easily accessible. And that last one is really important. So, if we’re creating a safe space, those safe spaces should be accessible. So, the path and entrance to these spaces should never be blocked by any obstacles, and that includes our visitors. So, During a visit, we should be as the sanctuary educator be really aware, you know, is is a visitor maybe kind of cornering a resident or standing in a in the path to where that resident might go if they need their safe space. So, over time, residents, they can come to understand the meaning of these spaces. They’ll begin to associate going into a particular area with humans, leaving them alone. They’ll associate these spaces with safety. And to kind of further you know, strengthen this association. We can have enrichment available in these spaces to kind of aid in the residents kind of decompressing and to just to further support, you know, those feelings of safety and comfort.

Andie Springirth: Yeah, those are excellent ideas. And I’d just like to chime in very briefly here to mention to our listeners that the Open Sanctuary Project has a ton of resources on our website that are dedicated to helping you build enrichment into your program. One specific and very important piece of advice regarding enrichment that I’d like to share in the context of creating designated safe spaces is that the form of enrichment you offer in them be thoroughly vetted, tested, and proven to actually help your specific residents decompress. I would not, for example, offer a brand new gigantic bouncy ball in this space during a guided visitor tour if your care team has not already determined that the residents you’re offering it to actually enjoy the ball. And that’s because some forms of enrichment, particularly ones that are new and novel, can sometimes be a little scary initially or perpetually depending on the resident. So, it’s important, right, to offer enrichment that, you know, is going to aid in fostering feelings of comfort and safety as you just mentioned.

Dr. Emily Tronetti: Yeah, that’s such a great and important point, Andie. Thank you. So, thinking about these different ideas, thinking about this idea of a designated safe space, another option which you could be kind of offered alternatively or additionally is if visitors are allowed in resident living spaces, we can potentially have like a clearly designated space for the visitors to stand or sit such as benches that really serve as like a visual signal as to where the visitors are expected to be. So rather than giving them full access to the enclosure of a resident, instead have them have a space where they are expected to be. So there are two different reasons for this. One is that folks who are sitting as opposed to standing and looming over the residents may be less stressful for the residents. And it’s also an easy way to promote clear communication between species. So for example, if visitors are sitting on the bench in the sheep pasture, this indicates to the sheep that visitors would like to interact. The sheep can then choose whether or not they would like to approach and interact with the visitors. So, some sheep might then decide to do so. They might then communicate their consent by approaching the benches, maybe sniffing or nudging a visitor’s hand. And over time, the sheep can learn that a visitor sitting on benches means that they, the sheep, will not be followed or pursued or touched without their consent. And so, this can help the sheep build trust in humans. And with time, you may even notice some of the sheep choosing to interact with visitors more frequently because they feel in control of the interaction of their environment. Benches can provide a lot of other benefits as well. They may serve as environmental enrichment for residents like goats, and they can also help make sanctuary visits more accessible to folks by providing places to sit and rest, which you know, as we know, sometimes with our long sanctuary visits, especially on a hot day. Providing benches, especially like in a shaded area, can really provide some additional relief and consideration of various health issues of, you know, both visitors and our residents. But even benches are not without safety risks in a sanctuary setting. Depending on the resident, having a person lower to the ground can put that person at risk of being mounted or bumped in the chest or face. So, as always, it’s vital to weigh the risk. and benefits for each individual resident and what is going to work best given the specific environment and of course your specific resources.

Andie Springirth: Speaking of the environment, Andie, are there some other environmental factors for agency centered sanctuary educators to consider? Yes, there are. I would say aside from the literal visitors and their presence, it’s really important to take a careful look at your space and consider any other environmental factors that might impact the agency of the residents, including factors that may change depending on the day or even the season. So, think about things like noise from, say, a live band at an annual fundraising event or noise from nearby traffic or construction. Things like the weather, temperature, humidity, and even the presence or the comingings and goings of various types of insects. All right, so we have been chatting about some of the ways lots of different environmental factors can impact the residents and how those factors can change depending on the day and the season. But the residents and how they feel can also vary and change depending on the day and the season even from moment to moment as most of us should know and this is dependent on the residents themselves because everyone of course is an individual. So Emily, I’m wondering if you could share some important resident specific factors that sanctuary educators should consider before, during, and after on-site education programs with visitors and why it’s so important to keep the individual in mind.

Dr. Emily Tronetti: Yeah, there are so many different things about our residents to consider in the context of sanctuary education. For example, the residents space as we just talked about, but also crucial to consider especially when inviting visitors to sanctuaries is the number of residents uh as well as the social dynamics between them and how this is impacted by the presence of visitors, especially considering even the presence of maybe adults versus kids and how that might impact the social dynamics and the behavior of our residents. So, as we’re planning for and conducting visits, we should reflect on these things. We should also reflect on how many interactions each resident has had with humans, you know, in that week, day, hour, and how long those those interactions were. There is a lot to think about here, right? But one thing I do especially want to highlight is decompression time. Our residents given a chance to decompress between interactions with humans. And then other factors to consider with regard to our residents and on-site sanctuary education include the residents routines and how they might be affected by visits or other educational programs or events. We should also think about the current behavior and preferences of each individual resident and of course how their agency is impacted at a given moment. So not only like what their behavior is like generally but what is their behavior in this moment and how is their agency going to be impacted by this specific interaction or event or moment. So for example, if a pig is napping when you arrive with your visitors, should they be disturbed? How do we know if that pig can sense or not if they’re sleeping. And a related set of considerations is how disabilities, health, and age may impact resident behavior and agency. So, for example, a chicken with mobility issues may not be able to move away from visitors as quickly as her friends or move away at all. And you know, if we’re aware of this, we can then instruct visitors to give her more space or to not approach her. So, these are just a handful of the many complex and interconnected factors specific to our residents that we need to consider as sanctuary educators. And to further complicate our work is the fact that sanctuaries are often caring for several individuals of various species, each with unique histories. Some with trauma, some who maybe weren’t socialized either to like specific types of humans like kids or maybe weren’t socialized to humans at all. And so this is going to all impact their behavior and their comfort level and and what they would choose to do or not to do. So it’s imperative that sanctuary educators deepen their knowledge and understanding of species specific and resident specific behaviors, emotions, and needs and make adaptations to their sanctuary programming with this information in mind.

Andie Springirth: Yes. And one of those needs that we want to highlight today is the need for residents to have their communication of consent or their withdrawal of consent acknowledged and respected. In the first episode on agency that we released, we spoke pretty extensively about consent and its importance in sanctuary settings, but it bears a very critical mention here today as well since unlike some mandatory interactions between caregivers and residents for things like medical care, interactions with visitors should be entirely up to the residents. Right. As a gentle Reminder, farmed animals offer consent or denial of consent through species and individual specific nonverbal cues such as emotions, preferences, behaviors, body language, physical and physiological states. But as we mentioned, interpreting non-human animal consent does not always come very naturally to us humans. So it’s incredibly important that sanctuary educators carefully plan ahead and approach all potential interactions with residents as mindfully as possible. So, a very important first step in any consent-based interaction with residents is acknowledging the power we have in getting to choose to enter their living spaces. As sanctuary educators, we should be asking ourselves what our motivations actually are for choosing to enter their space with visitors, right? Who could potentially benefit from this interaction and who could potentially be at risk of being harmed during this interaction either directly or indirectly. Another very important step is to carefully observe how the residents respond as you approach their space. So, are they moving towards the gate with loose bouncy bodies or are they stiffening up, watching you from a distance or even moving further away? Right? Demonstrating these types of behaviors is how the residents communicate consent or withhold it from us. And then probably the most crucial step that follows is to respect the decisions being made by the residents. So if they are telling us in their own unique way no to these potential interactions, it is imperative that we not force it upon them. You might be surprised on certain days or times that someone who typically enjoys these interactions, such as a resident that’s been ascribed a role like sanctuary greeter or sanctuary ambassador, suddenly does not. And instead of making the assumption that they’re going to enjoy it if you just initiate it and impose it on them. It’s important to consider that there are a lot of potential reasons they may not want to at that moment and then support their decision. Remember, there are a lot of negative emotional and physical consequences that agency suppression and denial can have on farmed animals. So, allowing them to choose their own roles and determine how they interact or not with others will have a much more positive impact on everyone. In the guide, there is a lovely video of Emily and her friend Pearl the sheep that demonstrates what a consentbased interaction can look like with other animals. I encourage all of our listeners to take a close look at that. The guide also comes with a freely downloadable consent handout that is available as a supportive aid for sanctuary educators and visitors. We’ll include links to both of those in our show notes so you have a general idea of how to conduct and teach others about consentbased interactions with other animals. But speaking of teaching others about consentbased interactions. Emily, can we talk about the massive impact that simply modeling consent can have on our visitors?

Dr. Emily Tronetti: So, this is obviously a topic I’m very passionate about, and in my experience, visitors get to witness and practice consent-based interactions with sanctuary residents. They can learn the importance of keeping distance or creating space from other animals and allowing them to approach us rather than us approaching them. We can also model for visitors how beneficial it is to pause during interactions with other animals and let them choose whether or not they want to continue to engage with us. Getting to practice these skills and having these experiences can empower visitors to engage in consent-based interactions with all the animals they interact with inside and outside of the sanctuary. This is one powerful way that on-site sanctuary education programs can distinguish themselves from like a petting zooAn organization where animals, either rescued, bought, borrowed, or bred, are kept, typically for the benefit of human visitor interest. program, for example. And another topic related to this that I just want to mention is deciding whether or not we should have visitors feed nutritional treats to residents as part of our education programming. While it may not seem like it to some, there’s a lot we need to consider when making this decision. So, for example, sometimes the presence of food can increase arousal and potentially cause conflict between the residents and from like an agency perspective, some animals who want to engage with the visitors or who want to enjoy treats may not be able to because they may be pushed away by the more food motivated residents or maybe one particular resident is struggling with a health issue or a mobility issue and isn’t able to get to the treats because of what they’re experiencing physically. So, I think that there’s a lot we need to consider with just that question. I recommend checking out the to feed or not to feed section of the guide to learn more about some of these considerations and I also include some tips on how you might mitigate some of these potential problems when visitors are feeding the residents.

Andie Springirth: Right. And speaking of visitors, let’s highlight some important human specific factors that can impact resident agency during on-site sanctuary visits. A few things to take into consideration right off the bat are the number and age of the visitors. Right?

Andie Springirth: Larger groups will likely affect the agency and well-being of residents differently than smaller groups and as Emily mentioned just a little bit earlier in this episode, groups composed entirely of adults will affect the agency and well-being of the residents differently than groups that include children, right? Not all residents enjoy the company of children and they will respond accordingly. Shout out to all of my headbutting goat friends out there. I know all the sanctuary educators who’ve seen this know exactly what I’m talking about. But in all seriousness, it is imperative that we carefully consider these kinds of factors. and establish some clear protocols around the appropriate number and age of visitors allowed near or potentially inside the resident spaces. So maybe your sanctuary decides to require all young children to stand behind a barrier when interacting with residents. Or maybe your sanctuary decides to offer separate family focused visits that are carefully planned to ensure safe and enjoyable experiences for everyone. The visitor to educator ratio is another important factor. I highly recommend having more than one person facilitate a visit if you can. Regardless of the size of the group, this could look like an educator who focuses on guiding the visitors with a volunteer who focuses on safely opening and closing gates, but it could look like a lot of things, and it’s going to depend, of course, on your sanctuary’s unique circumstances. But having multiple staff and/or volunteers involved, it also enables your team to observe the residents more effectively for signs of non-consent, including behaviors that could put the safety of others at risk. Emily, are there any other there human specific factors that are important for sanctuaries to consider for on-site programming that you want to add?

Dr. Emily Tronetti: Yeah, when thinking about humans, the humans who visit sanctuaries, I think one of the things that we should consider is that every one of those humans, every one of our visitors is also an individual just like our residents who each have their own experiences, struggles, and biases that they’re bringing with them to the sanctuary.

Dr. Emily Tronetti: And all of this may influence how they, the humans, perceive the residents and how they interact with them. And so with this in mind, you know, we as sanctuary educators should aim to create a calm, welcoming and gentle environment for everybody, humans and nonhumans alike. And so to create this kind of environment, the pace and length of our educational programming plays a role. For example, large groups and short visit durations can result in an experience that feels rushed for both staff and visitors. And so when we’re feeling rushed, it can make it even more challenging to prioritize the agency and consent of the residents because to really do so, we need to slow down. We need to be present with the animals. But on the flip side, longer visit durations come with challenges as well, right? There’s challenges in regard to maintaining visitor engagement, potentially with accessibility, and also with resident agency. You know, a resident might not want to interact with someone for very long. So, a lot of things to consider. Really, what it comes down to is being willing to get to know your space, your residence, and also being willing to like change our minds about how we do things based on how those experiences are going, right? Like, if you’re trying something and it does feel rushed, maybe we need to take a step back and reconsider how we’re doing things. It’s also critical to set clear expectations. s for visitors prior to their visit. So, for example, it’s important to communicate that the sanctuary is not a petting zoo. You know, a lot of folks visiting sanctuaries might have that expectation that it’ll be like a petting zoo experience, but as part of our work as agency centered sanctuary educators, we are dedicated to disrupting traditional ways of viewing and interacting with other animals. So, we should make this clear, you know, we should make it clear that we don’t expect animals to behave in a certain way for human benefit. We don’t expect that residents are ever available for visitor viewership and pleasure. And when we’re prioritizing the agency and consent of our residents, this means that visitors shouldn’t just walk up to and impose themselves on our residents.

Dr. Emily Tronetti: So, we should set clear expectations about these norms that we have developed as part of our sanctuary philosophy. We should set these expectations before folks even come to our space. And so we can do this with disclaimers and information on our website, in booking emails, you know, if they’re booking a visit, and of course on social media, making sure that this is very clear. It’s a clear part of our philosophy as an organization that the residents come first. We can also continue to reinforce this messaging throughout the educational programs and events. And doing these different things, it really helps to avoid misunderstandings and also promotes the safety and and well-being for all.

Andie Springirth: Yes, that is incredibly important. Thank you for sharing that. Before we go, I also wanted to touch on a few ways to center resident agency during on-site education that do not rely on potentially touching or being in close proximity to the residents. We recognize that on-site visits are very common in the sanctuary world, but we also want to emphasize that there are are a variety of other ways to connect visitors with the residents that are less likely to impact resident agency and well-being in ways that we’re trying to avoid. My personal favorite is very simple. It’s providing the opportunity for visitors to just mindfully observe the residents as they carry out their daily lives from afar. From an educational standpoint, it’s incredibly beneficial for visitors to see formerly farmed animals enact their agency and engage in positive species typical behaviors without the close presence of strangers. It can also open up a beautiful dialogue between us as sanctuary educators and our visitors. We can encourage them to ask questions about what they’re seeing. We can of course ask them questions too, right? What are they seeing and witnessing? Are the residents comfortable with a group of strangers watching them? If not, that’s another great educational opportunity to foster resident agency by guiding the group away and explicitly noting how you interpreted the resident’s behavior and denial of consent to be observed.

Andie Springirth: If the residents are comfortable being observed, you can continue to engage in conversation with visitors, right? What are the residents doing? How are they interacting with one another? What do their relationships with one another seem to be like? Would the chickens get to dust bathe or would the cowsWhile  "cows" can be defined to refer exclusively to female cattle, at The Open Sanctuary Project we refer to domesticated cattle of all ages and sexes as "cows." get to graze if they were living in a modern agricultural setting? Why or why not? Why does any of this matter? It’s kind of like bird watching in a way. And by that, of course, I mean wild bird watching or birding as most folks call it, right? The point is not to interrupt. Though, of course, even observation from afar can have an impact. That may or may not be welcome. But generally, when we go birding, our goal is not to touch anyone or disrupt their space. Right? In fact, it’s it’s usually the exact opposite. We’re going out there to quietly watch, carefully listen, and respectfully learn in a space that’s meant to be safe for everybody. Emily, do you have a particular favorite way to center resident agency during on-site education that also doesn’t rely on potentially touching the residents?

Dr. Emily Tronetti: Yeah. Well, I first just want to say I absolutely love what you just shared and I completely agree and also very much love just observing and being in the presence of our residents even from afar. It can be so impactful. So, thank you for sharing that. that I also love to find ways for sanctuary education to be as mutually enriching as possible for both the visitors and the residents. One of the common themes of our podcasts on agency and our resources on agency and that’s that this is going to look very different depending on each individual resident. We have to get to know each resident and what they find enriching as Andie mentioned earlier and determine if and how we might integrate that into our programming. And you know, of course, we have to make sure as we’re as we’re thinking through this that the priority always remains that the residents are the focus here, that making this an enriching experience for them because there is a risk of exploitationExploitation is characterized by the abuse of a position of physical, psychological, emotional, social, or economic vulnerability to obtain agreement from someone (e.g., humans and nonhuman animals) or something (e.g, land and water) that is unable to reasonably refuse an offer or demand. It is also characterized by excessive self gain at the expense of something or someone else’s labor, well-being, and/or existence. if we are trying to get the animals to do something that looks fun for the purpose of entertaining our visitors. So, we have to be careful, right?

Dr. Emily Tronetti: We we have to make sure that the residents and their well-being is always the priority. So, for example, kind of Using the the ball example that Andie mentioned earlier about if we do determine that ball is something that a cowWhile  "cow" can be defined to refer exclusively to female cattle, at The Open Sanctuary Project we refer to domesticated cattle of all ages and sexes as "cows." enjoys, for example, but maybe that cow doesn’t enjoy being touched by humans, we can provide an opportunity for them to still have an enriching experience in the presence of visitors. So, we could maybe have visitors on the opposite side of a fence toss that cow’s favorite ball in the pasture for them to chase and play with. And that can be really obviously very ing for the cow but also really exciting and enjoyable uh for the visitors as well. Visitors can also participate in providing other types of enriching experiences for residents in many ways, right? We can guide visitors on filling food puzzle toys or crafting other enrichment items for the residents. And then one of my favorite activities is to guide visitors in locating natural brows to share with the residents such as fallen branches of trees or leaves on the ground that are of course safe for the residents to consume. I love this activity because it provides other openings to teach visitors about things like the natural behaviors of our residents as well as the land that we share.

Andie Springirth: Yay. And I’m so glad you brought that up because I just have to plug in here a recent lesson plan we just published for middle schoolers that’s revolves around foraging and offers enrichment in terms of providing some of this foraged food to the residents as as long as it’s safe and appropriate. Have to add that in here too. But do take a look at that because it is a wonderful way to offer both the visitors and the residents an enriching experience like you mentioned. But yeah, all of these alternative agency center ways of connecting with sanctuary residents make me so excited. Right. They aid us in nurturing relationships between visitors and residents that are based in trust, respect, and consent versus exploitation. And they also aid us in deepening our visitors empathy for other animals. They prompt critical reflection and they allow us to share and visitors to experience the true meaning and power of sanctuary.

Andie Springirth: Speaking of critical reflection, Emily, there are some very important reflection questions related to on-site programming that are included in the guide for sanctuary educators to ponder. And as a thoughtful way to wind down our time together today, would you like to share a few of them?

Dr. Emily Tronetti: Yes, thank you. So, here are some of my favorite questions that I encourage our listeners to reflect done. Take some time to reflect on your sanctuary’s current on-site educational programming, if applicable. What are some ways that these programs might impact resident agency and well-being? What barriers do you and your sanctuary face in fostering agency during your educational programs and outreachAn activity or campaign to share information with the public or a specific group. Typically used in reference to an organization’s efforts to share their mission. events? How might you navigate these? In what ways do you plan ahead to set resident visitor interactions up for success? success. In what ways can you improve upon this?

Andie Springirth: Well, folks, that is where we’re going to leave you all today. I hope today’s conversation has been helpful for you and your community. Emily, thank you so much again for joining me on the podcast.

Dr. Emily Tronetti: Thanks, Andie. It was a great conversation. I’m glad that we were able to to come together today.

Andie Springirth: Yes, as always. And for our listeners, if you’re interested in checking out the fully downloadable guide that this episode was based off, of please check out the show notes below for a link or you can go to our website at www.openctuary.org and type in a guide to fostering farmed animal agency and sanctuary education in the search bar. I’d like to briefly mention once again that when you search you will notice we also offer this guide in a different format. So in our efforts to make our resources as accessible as possible in addition to offering the fully downloadable guide we also broke the guide down into six individual resources which you can read on our website separately. As always, if you have any questions, comments, or feedback for us about today’s topic, please get in touch with us via the contact page on our website or via social media. We’d love to hear how you’re implementing agency centered education practices at your sanctuary. And please stay tuned for a few more conversations on agency and education. In our next episodes, Emily and I are going to focus on how to support resident agency while you facilitate educational programming offsite as well as ways to explicitly teach others about farmed animal agency. Thank you again for joining us today, friends, and until next time, we hope you and your community stay well.