VINE Sanctuary news

VINE Sanctuary provides a haven for animals who have escaped or been rescued from the meat, dairy and egg industries or other abusive circumstances. We also conduct research and education aimed at creating systemic changes in agriculture, trade, and consumption as well as human attitudes about animals and the environment.

These days, we see to be in the midst of a crisis of imagination in which people feel so overwhelmed by problems that they have a hard time conceiving new strategies much less envisioning an altogether different future. When this is true for animal advocates, that hurts animals.

Animals are hurt by lack of human imagination in other ways. The inability to empathize with those who are different than you is a kind of lack of imagination. At a more basic level, many people literally cannot imagine how to eat without consuming animal products.

Here at VINE Sanctuary, we think that improving our imaginative capacities will be helpful for everybody. So, we are excited to announce a new local initiative. Over the next year, we will be partnering with other organizations to sponsor events intended to foster imagination. We believe that this will help everybody by encouraging the development of a capacity critical to both empathy and creative problem solving.

We’ll be kicking off this yearlong effort with a “Celebration of Imagination” cosponsored by the local Unitarian Universalist Church. Participants in this potluck event will be challenged to create innovative vegan dishes to and also to bring poetry and/or artwork to share. Visit the event page for more details.

Attendees of that event will go home with tips for stimulating creative thinking. For our friends elsewhere, here are a few ideas for strengthening your own imagination:

• Stretch your body to expand your mind. Whether it’s yoga, swimming, or dancing, you may find that literally shaking things up a bit physically will get your mind moving in new directions.

• We’re always suggesting this, and we know that it may seem ironic coming in an e-newsletter, but we cannot stress often enough how important it is to go outside sometimes, to rest your eyes on clouds and trees rather than screens, and to notice other animals, whether they be birds deep in a forest or insects foraging in a bit of urban greenery. 

• Have you read an odd book lately? Sometimes people are so busy keeping up with the latest books in their area of focus that they forget to include fiction, poetry, or non-fiction in other fields in their reading lists. We recommend reading adventurously. Reading fiction helps you see the world from other points of view. Besides enhancing empathy, that can promote creative thinking. Reading non-fiction outside of your usual field may lead you to discover surprising connections. Poetry can do all of these things

• Stuck on a problem? Maybe words are getting in the way. Try brainstorming by doodling or sketching, or break out the art supplies and see what emerges when you let your hands do what they want while you think about the problem or try to imagine a solution. Or stay with the words, but let them flow more freely by setting a timer and just writing writing writing by hand, writing nonsense words if you go blank, for five or ten minutes. 

• Similarly, if you are planning or problem-solving with a group, try brainstorming in other ways than just sitting around a table talking. Try acting out or dancing the situation you hope to change. Pass out colored pencils and then pair up to sketch, draw, or map the problem you’re trying to solve or the path to the future you envision.

Meet the newest member of the VINE community -- Gemini. We can't tell you much about him, because he only arrived this week after being discarded by a dairy, and he is still very weak due to being underfed. He's also very sad, having been first separated from his mother and then from the female calves destined to be exploited by the dairy. Nonetheless, he is already making new friends. The sociable young ewe called Shadow has been spending time with him. Recently rescued from dairying herself, Magnolia seems to be thinking about adopting him, and elder Autumn seems on track to become his adoptive grandmother.

But we need to warn you about something: Gemini has a growth hanging from his throat that seems be the vestiges of a twin. Because of this, and because he is so underweight, we all have to be braced for the possibility that Gemini has internal abnormalities that will take him from us too soon.

Members of our animal care team voted unanimously to invite Gemini to the sanctuary despite this very real prospect of heartbreak. As one staff member wrote in a group text, "He needs refuge and we can offer it for him, however short his time may be. The extra work I believe we can handle and still give him the best life he could possibly have. We may not know him long, but at least he will know great love in his life, no matter the length."

Other new community members this month include three chicks, who arrived with their mothers, along with one rooster and three other hens, after a breeder of birds for cockfighting was busted for animal cruelty. We'd love to show you a photo, but they never stop moving long enough for an un-fuzzy snapshot. You can see two of them in action in this video.

In other on-site news, the days are already getting shorter, and that means it's time to start getting ready for fall. On Saturday, September 1, we will be hosting a Labor (for Animals) Day event at the sanctuary. This free event is open to the public. Participants will help out with several seasonal projects requiring many hands. Their labors will be rewarded with a sanctuary tour followed by vegan snacks with sanctuary staff. Sanctuary cofounder pattrice jones will then lead an "afterparty" hike to the back pasture. See the event page for more details.

9/23: Celebration of Imagination
Celebrate the Autumnal Equinox and your own creativity at VINE's quarterly vegan potluck. Details here: www.facebook.com