Eden Farm Animal Sanctuary&

Matilda’s PromiseVegan Education Centre

Who are the other animals on whose behalf we advocate?

Thank you:Vegan Ireland (Aga, Gloria & Irena) & Bernie, Ed &

RogerActivists & scientists for advice & contributions, Andrew Baxter, Editor, Declan – friendship & lifts

to the vet, Cif,(artwork), Sebastien (website & support),

Sany without whose love for the turkeys the movie would not have happened,

Ronnie, partner & special friend, for supporting me and giving the residents of Eden their home

• History of Sanctuary

• Introduction to Residents

• Why the Education Centre?

• Why I made the movie

Dorothy & Marjorie

May 2008

Bertie & Cara, triplets

January 2009

Chickens used for breeding/due to be slaughtered at Petting Farm

Henry, Mamou, Matilda, Money Penny, Jules & Laura

Veganism & Getting to know other animals

Willow

Our common biologyEyes, ears, nose, mouth – even eyebrows and eyelashes

Their Sentience – my consciousness

Families, friends, lives that are important to them

Psychological make up that is very similar to our own

Cara & Willow

Capacity for Pleasure

Becoming vegan

Leg of Lamb

What is Eden & What is a Sanctuary?

Sanctuary Defined: Refuge, Place of Safety, Religious connotations of sacredness & paradise

Eden is not a visitor centre; it is a home for the residents at Eden.

• Home to 102 residents

• Chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, sheep, cats

• Abused, abandoned, or otherwise oppressed by our use of them for food in animal agricultural/backyard situations

• Lifelong home (we do not rehome)

Bertie

Nature of Sanctuary

Perspective of Transpecies Psychology: More in common biologically, psychologically, & socially than the differences that are used to justify our oppression of them

The aftermath of violation in the same regardless of species

Emotions: Fear, Despair, Helplessness: Freeman couldn’t stand & was starving. You can see the defeat and terror in his eyes

FreemanFreeman, neurological difficulty, unwanted, bullied

Same interventions that help us recover from trauma help non human animals: stability, safety, love, compassion

Joy, a rescued caged hen

They teach us about themselves & how our use of them hurts them

Rescued from Free Range, backyard situations (very high rate of illness & suffering in this group)

Egg laying hens are very friendly, cheerful, and curious. They are almost always busy. Egg laying takes an enormous toll on their health and their suffering is horrific.

• Challenging

• Resident’s Health is compromised because of breeding and treatment

• Ethical dilemmas

• Financial worries

The Geese Police, Dorothy, Marjorie & Lucinda

What is the Problem & Are Sanctuaries the answer?

• Without undermining the value of sanctuary for individual lives, it is worth pointing out that sanctuaries, without education, are for the benefit of the few but not the many

• It is the many we need to concern ourselves with

• There are billions of non human animals who need to be rescued. It is impractical to imagine that sanctuaries can cope

• Sanctuaries are not the answer to our use of other animals: we need to stop breeding them.

Matilda’s PromiseAnimal Rights & Vegan Education Centre

Matilda & Laura

You Haven’t Lived Until You’ve Hugged a Turkey

• I wanted to show people who turkeys are

• Movie is a representation of non-human animals in the light in which we know and love them at Eden

• Visitors to Eden expressed surprise at how we are with the residents. Nothing particular to usThe inherent trust and love farmed animals have for the humans who use themIt makes our betrayal of them all the worse.

• Movie situated in context of scientific facts on sentience and cognition in other animals.

• Reason: I did not want it dismissed as the product of the imagination of an eccentric or as anecdotal. It is rooted in scientific fact because I believe I have a responsibility to make others aware of those facts, as I become aware of them

Maeve

• Designed for non-vegans and thus it parallels my own journey to veganism to some extent.

• Deliberately positive in order to attract non-vegan viewers.

• Feel free to use it in your own outreach

• Material in the website www.matildaspromise.org

Other Animals’ Voices

Maeve & Marian

Who are these beings that we use, hurt and kill?

Other Animals’ VoicesWho are the turkeys we breed, harm, and kill for food?

We often see the non-human animals we oppress referred to as ‘The Voiceless’. I do not believe they are voiceless. They have voices and they use them, constantly. It is no

reflection on them that we do not understand their language. But we share a common body language and a language of emotion through which they have a lot to tell us if we

listen.

In the movie ‘You Haven’t Lived Until You’ve Hugged a Turkey’, they use this common language to give an account of who they are.

Their story is rooted in scientific fact, and their voices are joined, in this documentary, by the voices of the scientists who investigate their lives.

Together they illustrate that other animals have comparative cognitive and sensory capacities to our own that enable them to experience and to be aware of the suffering that

our use inflicts on them.

They are not voiceless; listen to them and they will speak to you of justice and of love.