Gene Baur

Gene Baur (formerly Gene Bauston) is an activist, best-selling author, and president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, the first animal rescue organization dedicated to farmed animals. He has been at the forefront of animal rights since he began the Sanctuary in 1986. [http://www.farmsanctuary.org/about/index.htm Farm Sanctuary: About Us.] ] Baur grew up in Hollywood, California. He attended Cal State Northridge where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Sociology. He paid for college in part by doing background work in television and movies, including commercials for McDonalds and KFC, about which he later expressed regret. During high school and college, he had various jobs, including dishwasher, day laborer, bartender, and teacher, and he volunteered to help children suffering from terminal illnesses as well as abused adolescents. He also participated in the efforts of human rights, animal rights, consumer and environmental organizations. In the 1980s he began investigations into factory farms, stockyards, and slaughterhouses. Baur felt the conditions he observed were unacceptable, and these experiences helped motivate the creation of Farm Sanctuary. The sanctuary's first rescued animal was a downed sheep found on a pile of dead animals behind Lancaster stockyards in 1986. Baur's investigative exposés and advocacy efforts on behalf of farm animals have earned international media coverage, including ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, the "Los Angeles Times", and the "New York Times". [McNeil, Donald. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9C03E3DB1631F931A35752C0A9629C8B63&n=Top%2fNews%2fScience%2fTopics%2fLivestock Where the Cows Come Home] . New York Times: January 2, 2004.]

Baur later obtained a Master's degree in agricultural economics from Cornell University, in order to better understand factory farming. He has testified before local, state and federal legislative bodies, and appeared on various expert panels.

He played a key role in the passage of several animal-protection ordinances, including a 2004 California law banning the production and sale of foie gras, [Milionis, Allison. [http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=1559&IssueNum=85 Protests target Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in effort to reform farm animal conditions] . LA City Beat: January 20, 2005.] and a 2002 Florida initiative banning gestation crates. [ Jones, Susan. [http://www.cnsnews.com/Business/archive/200211/BUS20021107a.html Pregnant Pigs in Florida Are Just the Start, Group Says] CNSNews: November 07, 2002] After the Florida campaign the Florida Elections Commission found that Farm Sanctuary, and Gene Bauston personally, had willfully broken campaign finance laws. Farm Sanctuary and Gene Baur consented to pay a fine of $50,000. [ [http://www.fec.state.fl.us/Final%20Orders/2002/209.pdf Florida Elections Commission, Case number FEC 02-093.] ] [ [http://www.activistcash.com/organization_blackeye.cfm?oid=115 ActivistCash summary] ] More recently, he was instrumental in passing a 2006 (repealed in 2008) Chicago ordinance banning the sale of foie gras [Paulson, Amanda. [http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1213/p01s04-ussc.html A ban on foie gras? Could this really be Chicago?] CS Monitor: December 13, 2005] and a 2006 ballot measure in Arizona banning gestation crates and veal crates. [ [http://www.yesonproposition204.com/ Arizonans for Humane Farms website] .] Gene and Farm Sanctuary are currently involved in an initiative (Proposition 2) to ban veal crates, gestation crates and battery cages, which will appear on the ballot in California [ [http://www.humanecalifornia.org/ Californians for Humane Farms website] ] in November, 2008.

In March 2008. Baur released a book entitled "Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food" published by Simon & Schuster. It has appeared on the Los Angeles Times and Boston Globe bestseller lists.

References

External links

* [http://www.genebaur.org Personal home page of Gene Baur]
* [http://www.farmsanctuary.org Farm Sanctuary home page]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/sglGreatSpeechesandInterviews_FarmSanctuary Gene Baur talks about his book "Farm Sanctuary" in mp3] recorded July 25, 2008 in Sacramento, Ca