Episode Notes
Whether you’re just getting started or have been running an animal sanctuary for quite some time now, education often becomes an important part of your organization’s missionThe stated goals and activities of an organization. An animal sanctuary’s mission is commonly focused on objectives such as animal rescue and public advocacy.. Though many sanctuaries choose to facilitate onsite tour programs as part of their education strategy, there are a number of other ways to provide in-person educational opportunities for your community to connect with your sanctuary’s residents and mission that can be adapted to your specific philosophy, needs, and capabilities. In this episode, Community Education Specialist Andie chats with Research Specialist Amber Barnes and NonprofitA non-governmental organization whose primary purpose is something other than selling goods or services. Specialist Julia about the multitude of ways animal sanctuaries can provide in-person educational opportunities, along with some of the important considerations to make and points to discuss with your staff prior to facilitating them. This is the first part of a much longer discussion on this topic, so please stay tuned for more!
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This Episode’s Referenced Open Sanctuary Project Resources:
- In-Person Sanctuary Educational Programming: What Are Your Options?
- Fundamentals of an Effective Sanctuary Tour Program
- The Differences Between an Animal Sanctuary and a Petting Zoo
- Strategic Planning for Educational Programming at Your Animal Sanctuary
- Accessibility for Folks with Physical Disabilities at Your Animal Sanctuary
- Accessibility for Blind and Visually Disabled Community Members at Your Animal Sanctuary
- Accessibility for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community Members at Your Animal Sanctuary
- Understanding Mission and Vision Statements for Your Animal Sanctuary
- So, You Want to Start a Farmed Animal Sanctuary
Episode Transcript (Auto-GeneratedThe following content was transcribed through an automated process and may contain transcription errors or misspellings.)
Andie Springirth: Hello, hello sanctuary friends. This is Andie, the community education specialist at the Open Sanctuary Project. I am super-super excited to be here today. Joining me in today’s conversation are my wonderful and brilliant colleagues, Amber Barnes, our research specialist, and Julia Magnus, our nonprofit specialist. So, friends, today we’re going to shine a little light on some of the creative ways that animal sanctuaries can educate and empower their community and visitors in person. I just want to briefly note that we’re going to have an entirely separate episode on virtual education, so please stay tuned for more on that if you’re interested. But I want to kick this conversation off by first recognizing that there are a lot of ways to connect your sanctuary’s residents and mission with your community and visitors. And the ideas that we share today in this space, and also in our resources online, by no means encompass all of the possibilities. But, you know, I also want to recognize and remind everyone that all of the things that we talk about and share are certainly not right or even possible for all animal sanctuaries, but many can be adapted and fit to suit your organization’s unique needs. So hopefully these can serve as some fun and inspiring ideas for you all. So one of the most common in-person sanctuary educational programs is the on-site tour. This is a pretty popular sanctuary program, but it definitely does not suit all animal sanctuaries for various reasons, which can be philosophical, financial, spatial, and more. But if this is something that your sanctuary is interested in, I would love to first talk about some of the potential benefits of facilitating on-site sanctuary tours, as well as some of the potential challenges or foreseeable challenges that sanctuaries probably should consider before doing this. So, Amber and Julia, would either of you like to share some of the potential benefits or potential challenges that you can see in on-site tours at animal sanctuaries?
Amber Barnes: Uh, sure. Yeah, I’ll go. This is Amber, and I have experience with this in some of my caregiving background. Some of the benefits that I have found, and you all probably won’t be surprised to hear this if you’ve listened to our first podcast on enrichment, is that it can be an opportunity for enrichment for not just the residents, but also the community in a way that brings everyone together and provides enjoyment for everyone, which is always great, right? We want it to be enjoyable for everyone, obviously, residents come first. And I have definitely seen a number of residents that have very kind of chill personalities or personalities where they just really like some excitement and they run up. They want to, you know, see what’s going on with these tours and it definitely can be enriching. And on the flip side of that, it can also be, like, more of a, like, not a benefit, but you have to keep in mind is some residents find this overwhelming. This might, you know, we don’t, you know, they all have different backgrounds, they all have different personalities, just, you know, like everyone does. And some residents might not find this enriching at all. And in those cases, it’s really important that everyone has the option to walk away. So that would be my big take on just like, one, you know, two sides of the same coin kind of there, like enriching that could be, you know, wonderful, but also not for everyone. And I would recommend visual barriers in that case, particularly if you know someone shy, keeping them maybe like somewhere else, like giving them something else that makes them feel really safe and always, always the opportunity to walk away. And that’s for every resident.
Andie Springirth: Yeah, thank you for sharing that. That’s probably one of the most important issues to consider is the resident’s comfort and safety, right? Yeah, I really like that idea, too, about, you know, putting up some kind of barrier so they can’t see. That’s a really nice idea. Yeah. And you know, considering their needs is important throughout the entire duration of the tour, right? Before, during, and after. For not just their physical safety and comfort, but as Amber mentioned, their mental and emotional safety and comfort. I want to just say that it can be helpful to make sure that all of your staff, in particular, your educators and your tour guides, that you’re all following the same kind of protocol when it comes to these kinds of safety and comfort issues. Everybody’s on board with this, right? And everybody stays up to date because, you know, as Amber also briefly mentioned, like some of them might regularly be okay with this or not. And that might also change on a daily basis. Like somebody might be having a really crappy day for whatever reason. And so it’s important to kind of check in regularly, you know, on a daily basis as well as maybe even hourly depending on if you’re facilitating multiple tours in a day or a week. Julia, what other kinds of benefits and challenges can you foresee?
Julia Magnus: So my experience is quite different and my background is quite different. I have not worked at a larger farmed animal sanctuaryAn animal sanctuary that primarily cares for rescued animals that were farmed by humans., but instead operate a micro sanctuary, and we’re in the middle of the city in Chicago. Education is just constant day-to-day interactions with neighbors. We have three roosters and eight hens in three separate flocks. And so clearly when we moved in, there was only one rooster at that time, but it’s quite as simple as allowing somebody to come into your yard to just see them, just see them in their runs, in their coops. And it’s all the same considerations apply that Amber mentioned that you need to be very cognizant and careful of resident anxiety, stress around others. My roosters are quite protective, so they actually pick up on things that’ll happen in the alley. So sometimes they can be quite sensitive. It depends on time of day for roosters, particularly like in the morning, they will be more on the watch. In the later afternoon is often a good time to have neighbors walk by and see them. But neighbors generally are curious and they are interested. In Chicago, roosters are legal, which is unusual. And so even while they’re legal, it’s not like your typical cityscape kind of noise-scape kind of anything, but people are interested, want to know, and they like particularly to bring food. So educating them on the kinds of foods that they like and enjoy is fun. And letting them watch the birds enjoy those foods is great. Like they, it’s kind of, they’re kind of mascots in my neighborhood now. People are proud of them and they like to talk about them after having seen them and shared food with them and hung around them. And yeah, it’s just, it’s a different kind of way of doing things and is a different environment, but the educational opportunities are still there. We do get people asking for eggs sometimes, and that’s a great chance to be able to explain why we don’t eat eggs and what we do with them, which is feed them back or we have birds implanted to prevent reproductive disease. But most folks don’t know anything about that and most folks have never even thought about it. So these are the kinds of when they day-to-day get to interact with birds, they get to start thinking about these questions a little more, and we’ve seen a lot of really great results from that.
Andie Springirth: Thank you. Yeah, those are some really, really nice points to bring up. And I appreciate you bringing your perspective as a micro sanctuary operator into this. I think that’s really important, that tours, you know, I think a lot of folks think tours as a large group of people, but it certainly does not have to be that way. It can simply be, as Julia mentioned, a neighbor passing by or community member who’s interested in learning and curious in learning a little bit more about the rooster friends hanging out in the yard. On-site tours in their various forms, they’re great ways to share your residents’ stories and allow them to participate in the telling of their stories if they if they so desire. It’s also a great way to share calls to action, Julia, as you mentioned, you know, in sharing about why you don’t consume eggs. I consider that kind of a way of calling someone to action. They’re also a great way to get feedback about your sanctuary and your programming. So, there’s a lot of benefits. And, you know, I also do just want to go back to that safety and comfort issue and just draw attention to a resource, a written resource that we have on our website, is what’s the difference between an animal sanctuary and a petting zooAn organization where animals, either rescued, bought, borrowed, or bred, are kept, typically for the benefit of human visitor interest.? And I think a lot of folks would be surprised how easy it is to blur that line sometimes. So, if you are interested in learning more about that and how we can do our best to not cross that line, not blur the line, please do take a look at that resource on our website. I also wanted to bring up a couple of other considerations to make with on-site tours. Since they are, they do tend to be such a popular educational in-person educational opportunity at sanctuaries. One of those is the question of who is going to actually facilitate your tours. So if you are just a micro sanctuary operator in your own space and you’re the sole caregiverSomeone who provides daily care, specifically for animal residents at an animal sanctuary, shelter, or rescue. and organizer, then that’s probably going to be you, or potentially a close friend or volunteer. If you’re a bit of a larger sanctuary and you have the financial and staffing capabilities to hire others for this one particular job, right? How are you going to train them? And importantly, how are you going to support those people? So, I am a former sanctuary educator and tour guide at a larger animal sanctuary and also at a wildlife clinic and can honestly say that giving tours regularly can be emotionally and physically draining, especially depending on the space and how far you’re walking. But talking about, you know, animal 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., which is likely going to come up in a sanctuary context on a tour, is tough. So, I guess the question I’m asking, I think folks should consider is how will you support them, you know, and prioritize community care in this way for your staff doing the work like this. Another question I wanted to ask Amber and Julia, you all have provided a ton of valuable insight in our sanctuary accessibility series, and I think this is another important question to ask in terms of on-site tours, regardless of what your property is like, but especially if you have larger walking tours. You know, what do you, what are, in what important ways do you all think sanctuaries can, you know, make on-site tours more accommodating for more folks? What are some important considerations to make in terms of accessibility?
Amber Barnes: I’ll go ahead and jump in here. Just to state I have an invisible disability. So, I have autoimmune diseases, and sometimes I’m doing pretty well and other times it is very disabling. So, it’s been really great to see this conversation happening with the sanctuary community. And one that’s, I guess, bringing that invisible disability is something that I’d like to talk about in terms of like tours is often you might not know even that someone has an issue that they could maybe use some assistance with, and it is very common within the community with like chronic illness or, you know, invisible disabilities to you, you just kind of become accustomed to that, not, there’s not accessibility for, you don’t bring it up, right? You don’t even, you know, so I think having language worked in beforehand and when people arrive, that mentions, “Please let us know if you have particular, you know, like needs.” And this is also for, you know, invisible disabilities, maybe something in your programming, where you’re inviting in individuals, like including it in that email or that, you know, paper or whatever it is that you’re reaching out to, is like, “We’re, you know, we strive to be aware and accommodating whenever possible for people with visible and invisible disabilities,” you know, making people feel like they are still seen in that community. And there are different things you can do. I would think even possibly doing kind of offering alternative tours, which was something that I just came up with, too. So I’m just like, but yeah, like gearing them to certain areas sometimes for those of you that have larger sanctuaries that go way, way out somewhere like these. It’s great, and obviously everyone would like to participate in that, but what about also having something that is closer or nearer like restrooms or shade, water, those things? Easier ground, you know, to move across, things like that. So that’s just kind of what came to mind for me.
Julia Magnus: Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much. So on my end, you know, I live in the city and I don’t have a multi-acre property for folks to be traversing across. We do have an elderly downstairs neighbor who is really interested in the chickens and she loves them, but she is not, it’s not the kind of thing where she wants to be all up with them or handling necessarily, but it’s something that she truly enjoys just going out there. We set up a bench and she can watch them and she calls it chicken TV. So, it’s just sitting there and watching them. And we’ve had to do a little work to make sure that her dog companion is, you know, appropriately behaved in those contexts. But I think even just offering folks the opportunity to just sit quietly and observe animals and especially in like our little hustle-bustle Chicago here, it can offer a lovely respite from the urban day-to-day, and folks really enjoy it. About 10 minutes from me, we have another urban sanctuary where we have folks who regularly visit who have dealt with both mental trauma and other forms of disability that they just find it soothing to go there and sit. It’s not even a tour. It’s just being present and with the animals and the residents. It seems to bring joy to their lives and it’s a lovely way to incorporate people into being within an animal in a way that’s non-exploitative and mutually beneficial.
Andie Springirth: Yeah, thank you for sharing that, Julie. I appreciate that. Yeah, tours certainly do not have to be a mile and a half long, right? You can, you know, folks can simply sit on a bench or a chair and observe. And a lot of times, Julia, as you’ve mentioned before, the residents also enjoy that kind of a non-exploitative interaction in that way. Animals do enjoy watching humans too sometimes, right? So, thank you for sharing that with all of us. I do want to move on to another in-person educational opportunity for sanctuaries. I know we could talk for a lot longer on tours. But please do check out our written resources on tours on our website if you want to read a little bit more about that. But I want to shift to talking just a bit about in-classroom visits. And I’m referring to when sanctuary educators, sometimes referred to as humane educators, go off-site of the sanctuary and join a classroom of children or adults. I know there are varying age groups that different sanctuaries tend to, but you know, they would bring things like large informative posters or larger visuals or perhaps even put together some kind of PowerPoint presentation to share with them. I know some sanctuaries with larger budgets and larger financial and staffing capabilities have even offered virtual reality experiences with goggles in classrooms. So there’s a lot of different opportunities that in-classroom visits can present sanctuaries with. I’d say that one of the biggest benefits of in-classroom visits is that it allows sanctuary educators to kind of go where the people are. And I say this as a benefit because, you know, if you’re a sanctuary that’s kind of in a remote area or in a spot that’s maybe a little bit harder for folks to access, this enables you to get to your community members a little more easily. Now, with that said, as this being a potential benefit to the community, it can also be a potential challenge for you because this means that you have to figure out how you’re going to get your sanctuary educators or yourself to this school or the classroom space that you’re going to visit. And that costs money, obviously, for travel. It also costs money in terms of taking up more time for the staff member. Another in-person education opportunity are on-site workshops. So workshops, it’s a bit of a nebulous term because there’s a lot of variability regarding what that can mean. You know, usually they’re brief, kind of intensive educational programs that involve a smaller group of people, but you know, that’s really up to you. If you want to have a workshop of 50 people, great. If you want to have a workshop with five people, that’s perfectly legitimate, too. You know, some of the benefits of on-site workshops is they allow folks a wonderful opportunity not only to connect to your sanctuary and your residents and mission, but it allows them to network with one another and build community and strengthen relationships and also share ideas, new ideas in a little bit more of an intimate space. And I think that this is a really great opportunity for sanctuaries to share engaging conversations and questions around sanctuary related topics. Also, they could be skill-based. You might be sharing a workshop on a particular skill, you know, for folks who are interested in sanctuary related work. I do want to briefly mention on this topic that we have currently eight Open Sanctuary Project lesson plans for elementary-aged kids. They were designed to be used as longer-term programs, but they can certainly be used as standalone workshops. So I encourage anybody who’s interested in taking a look at those to do so on our website, and they’re 100% modifiable and adaptable to fit your unique needs. In terms of potential challenges for on-site workshops, you know, I think some of the same questions that we brought up for on-site tours come up in terms of accessibility, right? Also in terms of planning, since these are a little bit more intensive usually, you know, they can take more time to prepare and facilitate and also depending on how long you want to make them. You know, you might want to consider things like food and beverage. I mean, again, this might be a one-hour workshop. It could also be, you know, a half-day workshop. And so, you’re definitely going to want to take those things into consideration. I’m just going to go through a couple more on-site opportunities and in-person educational opportunities that are potentially very well suited for micro sanctuary context. So, as Julia mentioned, you know, you operate in micro sanctuary yourself and you’ve shared some really, really creative and wonderful in-person opportunities. Would you mind sharing some more of the educational programming activities that you’ve done, you know, in addition to what you mentioned about allowing visitors to sometimes sit and observe your residents? What other, how, what other ways has your sanctuary done this in person?
Julia Magnus: Well, first I want to, I’m into that, of those lesson plans that you were discussing, one that is my particular favorite is your hatching project one. Julia Magnus: Thank you. That’s one that comes up a lot around here because we often get owner surrenderThe act of transferring guardianship of an animal to a person or organization, especially via legal contract. requests or surrender requests from schools because I do work with rescue as well, you know, and we get requests for survivors of hatching projects. So, it’s been very helpful to have that lesson plan to offer to folks who are reaching out from that context, and it has often gotten them to commit to stopping live hatching projects and implementing this kind of alternative instead. So, that’s one way. Another way that we do 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. here, it’s not even about on-site visiting, but sometimes we go visit folks who have chickens themselves and want to learn better about how to compassionately care for them. So, we’ll do visits to their coops, to their flocks, and try and give our best counsel on what might be improvements, what could be done better to provide the best care for birds. So, it’s also meeting people where they are as well as inviting them to where we are. I find people are very open to it and really enjoy when they can have people on their own site and get to know firsthand like this is a very simple change you could implement that might improve the quality of life if you’re a resident, and sometimes even just bringing the materials. We often have spare materials and stuff to bring, and offer it. It can go a long way. I mean, we’ve seen folks who were previous backyard chickenThe raising of chickens primarily for the consumption of their eggs and/or flesh, typically in a non-agricultural environment. folks change to veganAn individual that seeks to eliminate the exploitation of and cruelty to nonhuman animals as much as possible, including the abstention from elements of animal exploitation in non-food instances when possible and practicable as well. The term vegan can also be used as an adjective to describe a product, organization, or way of living that seeks to eliminate the exploitation of and cruelty to nonhuman animals as much as possible (e.g., vegan cheese, vegan restaurant, etc.). because of these kinds of efforts, and it’s pretty great.
Andie Springirth: Yeah, thank you, Julia, so much. I really appreciate your perspective on that. Some of the other in-person opportunities that not only Julia has shared with me, but some other micro sanctuary operators, you know, there’s in-person opportunities that you can find on platforms at local community centers and libraries, right? Even VegFests. Of course, anybody can go there, but those provide really nice platforms for folks to raise awareness about the issues 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. are facing and also to share the stories of their residents, and Julia mentioned those can be really, really impactful and life-changing. So the final in-person opportunity I wanted to briefly mention today is the film screening. And I know of several sanctuaries who have facilitated a film screening before, and I find them to be particularly a particularly wonderful way to raise awareness as well, because I think that sharing information in such a visual way can be a really great catalyst for change as well as a really wonderful conversation starter. And it also allows, you know, multiple voices to, to, you know, on your platform. It doesn’t just have to be you as a sanctuary educator or facilitator. You can allow multiple voices to do that. But like anything else, right, there are some important considerations to make as anyone who is film savvy, which was not me and is not me, but prior to learning a bit more about this opportunity. I was not thinking about the fact that films are copyright protected. So if you are considering sharing a film in your space at your sanctuary or in some other community space, please make sure that you are following all the regulations and rules so you don’t get in trouble for that. You might need permission or even a license from the producers and the creators in order to share this. So, and that depends of course on what format you’re sharing it in, if you’re charging for this particular event, et cetera. So, in terms of charging as well, right, the cost of facilitating a film screening can range wildly from relatively inexpensive to very expensive depending on, you know, the scope and the type of experience you want to share. It could be really, really simple. You know, you can set up a bunch of chairs and some blankets and, you know, have a projector, you know, with a small screen sticking up or you can go the full, you know, drive-in movie theater and go that route. But, of course, as with anything, you’ll want to consider how you’re going to accommodate folks, right? How you’re going to make sure that everyone has comfortable seating. You’ll want to consider kind of audio and visual and technical equipment that you’ll need. Being aware of these kinds of things can help you make the right decision for your sanctuary. You know, as you’ve heard today, there are a lot of creative possibilities for your sanctuary to explore. I just want to reiterate that we offer a lot more ideas and information in our written resources on this topic, like kids camps and conferences. But if you’re interested in taking a look, please go to www.opensanctuary.org and type in in-person education in the search bar. We hope that you find those resources as well as this new avenue for sharing our information helpful and accessible. And to conclude today’s episode, I’d just like to share five questions to help guide you as you consider your in-person education possibilities. Hopefully, these can help you figure out what’s most suitable and sustainable for your organization. So, the first one is, what kind of in-person program are you and your sanctuary in the best position to design and facilitate? Second, what options and opportunities draw on your sanctuary strengths and interests? Third, what resources are available to you financially, technologically, spatially, staffing, et cetera? Fourth, what programs are already being offered in your community that relate to your work that you might support and or build on? And fifth, and finally, what programs and opportunities are not being offered in your community that you might start facilitating? So, we sure hope that this conversation has been helpful. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or if you want to share some of your own creative educational programs and ideas. We love hearing from you. And please also take a look in our show notes for links to the resources we’ve mentioned and any others that are relevant to today’s topics. Thank you so much for tuning in, Amber and Julia. Thank you so much for joining me and we hope you and your sanctuary community have a wonderful day.
