Gene Baur
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Gene Baur (formerly Gene Bauston) is the 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.[1]
Baur grew up in Hollywood, California. He attended Cal State Northridge and paid for college by doing background work in television and movies, including commercials for McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken, about which he later expressed regret. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in sociology, he volunteered with children suffering from terminal illnesses and abused adolescents.
He worked various jobs, including dishwasher and day laborer, and volunteered and worked for advocacy groups including Greenpeace and the Public Interest Research Group. 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.[1]
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.[2]
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[3], and a 2002 Florida initiative banning gestation crates [4]. 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.[5][6] More recently, he was instrumental in passing a 2006 Chicago ordinance banning the sale of foie gras[7] and a 2006 ballot measure in Arizona banning gestation crates and veal crates.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Farm Sanctuary: About Us.
- ^ McNeil, Donald. Where the Cows Come Home. New York Times: January 2, 2004.
- ^ Milionis, Allison. Protests target Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in effort to reform farm animal conditions. LA City Beat: January 20, 2005.
- ^ Jones, Susan. Pregnant Pigs in Florida Are Just the Start, Group Says CNSNews: November 07, 2002
- ^ Florida Elections Commission, Case number FEC 02-093.
- ^ ActivistCash summary
- ^ Paulson, Amanda. A ban on foie gras? Could this really be Chicago? CS Monitor: December 13, 2005
- ^ Arizonans for Humane Farms website.
