Men Changing the Face of Animal Welfare
Three innovative advocates redefine masculinity for the new millennium
Profiles of Randy Grim (Stray Rescue of St. Louis), Gene Bauston (Farm Sanctuary) and Eddie Lama (FaunaVision and Oasis Sanctuary)
Originally published in Animal Affairs Journal (Fall 2006) - Read .pdf magazine version
Conventional wisdom has it that in the animal protection field, women greatly outnumber men. This may be because the sensitivity and compassion required are “feminine” traits, and many still believe that being a man means not being anything like a woman. In an often sexist and homophobic society that generally equates caring with weakness, and violence to power, men who speak out on behalf of animals risk the brand of "wimp" or something worse.
Ironically, men who stand up for animals are anything but weak. It takes courage, strength and integrity to fight for unconventional beliefs that may bring criticism from others.
While male animal advocates—from Pythagoras to Peter Singer—are by no means a new breed, more men seem to be speaking out and taking action on behalf of animals than ever before. These male advocates continue to expand the very parameters of masculinity by incorporating empathy and respect for all life into their sphere of concern. Rather than saying that such men are “getting in touch with their feminine side,” it would be much more accurate to say that they "are becoming more attuned to the deepest parts of their humanity."
The three men profiled here—Randy Grim, Gene Bauston and Eddie Lama—exemplify the aforementioned attributes of courage, strength and integrity in their advocacy on behalf of animals. In some ways, these men represent the vanguard of an evolutionary shift toward a new humanity—from being warriors and hunters to priests and shamen, to paraphrase the pioneering psychiatrist Carl Jung. While these men may be outside of the mainstream, they are connected to something much deeper and more sacred than conformity to social expectations.
Here are their unique and inspiring stories.
Profiles of Randy Grim (Stray Rescue of St. Louis), Gene Bauston (Farm Sanctuary) and Eddie Lama (FaunaVision and Oasis Sanctuary)
Originally published in Animal Affairs Journal (Fall 2006) - Read .pdf magazine version
Conventional wisdom has it that in the animal protection field, women greatly outnumber men. This may be because the sensitivity and compassion required are “feminine” traits, and many still believe that being a man means not being anything like a woman. In an often sexist and homophobic society that generally equates caring with weakness, and violence to power, men who speak out on behalf of animals risk the brand of "wimp" or something worse.
Ironically, men who stand up for animals are anything but weak. It takes courage, strength and integrity to fight for unconventional beliefs that may bring criticism from others.
While male animal advocates—from Pythagoras to Peter Singer—are by no means a new breed, more men seem to be speaking out and taking action on behalf of animals than ever before. These male advocates continue to expand the very parameters of masculinity by incorporating empathy and respect for all life into their sphere of concern. Rather than saying that such men are “getting in touch with their feminine side,” it would be much more accurate to say that they "are becoming more attuned to the deepest parts of their humanity."
The three men profiled here—Randy Grim, Gene Bauston and Eddie Lama—exemplify the aforementioned attributes of courage, strength and integrity in their advocacy on behalf of animals. In some ways, these men represent the vanguard of an evolutionary shift toward a new humanity—from being warriors and hunters to priests and shamen, to paraphrase the pioneering psychiatrist Carl Jung. While these men may be outside of the mainstream, they are connected to something much deeper and more sacred than conformity to social expectations.
Here are their unique and inspiring stories.
Randy Grim
Randy Grim, Stray Rescue of St. Louis
Founder, Stray Rescue of St. Louis
It’s not unusual for Randy Grim to be physically threatened in the course of his daily routine, and he’s been at the business end of a gun more than once. His territory, after all, is the urban badlands of East St. Louis, an area with one of the highest murder rates in the world. But how is it that this exceedingly shy guy with extreme social anxiety disorder feels completely confident risking life and limb on a regular basis? He does it for the dogs.
“I may be a recluse who’s afraid to shop at a mall, but I’d take a bullet any day for the animals,” Randy explains. “Every time I save an animal’s life, I feel I’ve saved a part of myself. And I’m so grateful, because I would be completely lost without the animals. My life would be very bleak.”
When he first started rescuing homeless animals from the mean streets of St. Louis in the early 1990s, Randy wasn’t looking to start the organization he now heads that includes two no-kill shelters and over 200 volunteers—it’s a calling that found him. Stray Rescue of St. Louis was born out of need. The sheer number of dogs roaming the streets demanded that someone do something, and Randy was that someone.
These dogs are some of the most abused creatures on the planet. Many are used in fighting rings and are discarded on the streets with missing limbs or gunshot wounds. “I need to help these dogs because they’re like me,” says Randy. “I too was abused as a child, by my father.” Fortunately, Randy also had a very nurturing mother, and four siblings who loved animals. “My family only felt whole when we were rescuing an animal,” Randy recalls. “One winter when I was six, we took in an Irish setter who we named Rebel. I remember sitting with him by the fire as he shivered and shook, and feeling so sorry that this innocent, loving creature had suffered so horribly.”
In 2003, Randy’s life changed radically when he became the guardian of Quentin, dubbed “The Miracle Dog” because he inexplicably survived euthanization in the St. Louis animal shelter’s gas chamber. “Quentin is an amazing ambassador for the millions of dogs who are killed every year simply because no one will take care of them,” says Randy. “And he loves every minute of it—flying on planes, making appearances, doing photo shoots. He’s treated like royalty wherever he goes.”
While Quentin seems to enjoy the high life, Randy has trouble coping with the demands of his stressful vocation. He seeks release in Xanax, cigarettes and perhaps a dry martini at the end of a long day when he returns home to his seven dogs and three cats. This vegetarian is also a diehard ice hockey fan and likes watching South Park. “Though I sometimes need a little escape,” Randy adds, “rescuing animals is still the best therapy in the world.”
For more information, visit strayrescue.org.
It’s not unusual for Randy Grim to be physically threatened in the course of his daily routine, and he’s been at the business end of a gun more than once. His territory, after all, is the urban badlands of East St. Louis, an area with one of the highest murder rates in the world. But how is it that this exceedingly shy guy with extreme social anxiety disorder feels completely confident risking life and limb on a regular basis? He does it for the dogs.
“I may be a recluse who’s afraid to shop at a mall, but I’d take a bullet any day for the animals,” Randy explains. “Every time I save an animal’s life, I feel I’ve saved a part of myself. And I’m so grateful, because I would be completely lost without the animals. My life would be very bleak.”
When he first started rescuing homeless animals from the mean streets of St. Louis in the early 1990s, Randy wasn’t looking to start the organization he now heads that includes two no-kill shelters and over 200 volunteers—it’s a calling that found him. Stray Rescue of St. Louis was born out of need. The sheer number of dogs roaming the streets demanded that someone do something, and Randy was that someone.
These dogs are some of the most abused creatures on the planet. Many are used in fighting rings and are discarded on the streets with missing limbs or gunshot wounds. “I need to help these dogs because they’re like me,” says Randy. “I too was abused as a child, by my father.” Fortunately, Randy also had a very nurturing mother, and four siblings who loved animals. “My family only felt whole when we were rescuing an animal,” Randy recalls. “One winter when I was six, we took in an Irish setter who we named Rebel. I remember sitting with him by the fire as he shivered and shook, and feeling so sorry that this innocent, loving creature had suffered so horribly.”
In 2003, Randy’s life changed radically when he became the guardian of Quentin, dubbed “The Miracle Dog” because he inexplicably survived euthanization in the St. Louis animal shelter’s gas chamber. “Quentin is an amazing ambassador for the millions of dogs who are killed every year simply because no one will take care of them,” says Randy. “And he loves every minute of it—flying on planes, making appearances, doing photo shoots. He’s treated like royalty wherever he goes.”
While Quentin seems to enjoy the high life, Randy has trouble coping with the demands of his stressful vocation. He seeks release in Xanax, cigarettes and perhaps a dry martini at the end of a long day when he returns home to his seven dogs and three cats. This vegetarian is also a diehard ice hockey fan and likes watching South Park. “Though I sometimes need a little escape,” Randy adds, “rescuing animals is still the best therapy in the world.”
For more information, visit strayrescue.org.
Gene Bauston
Gene Bauston, Farm Sanctuary
Co-founder, Farm Sanctuary
During his youth growing up in the Hollywood Hills, Gene Bauston always felt profoundly connected to nature and animals. “I was captivated with all the wildlife, like deer, skunks, raccoons, snakes and coyotes,” he recalls. Gradually, wealthy people came and built big houses surrounded by security gates, displacing animals from their natural habitat. “Feeling powerless as a child to stop the destruction affected me deeply,” declares Gene. “That’s one of the reasons I’ve spent most of my adulthood challenging humanity’s fatal indifference toward animals.”
The main vehicle for Gene’s life journey is Farm Sanctuary, a non-profit organization he and Lorri Bauston started 20 years ago when they first got married. Widely acknowledged as the world’s premiere farmed animal rescue organization, as well as the progenitor of the modern farmed animal rescue movement, Farm Sanctuary is like the proverbial mighty oak that from a little acorn grew—and then planted more acorns. What started with a battered old VW bus now comprises two shelters (in Upstate New York and Northern California) encompassing 475 acres. Here, thousands of abused cows, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys and other “food” animals have been given a second chance.
Over the years, Gene has personally rescued many animals from unimaginable horrors and certain death. For instance, one bitterly cold winter day, he found a downed male calf—still wet from being born just hours before—left for dead at a New York stockyard, his temperature so low it couldn’t be read on the thermometer. Thanks to Gene, “Opie” survived and now lives happily at Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen. “Animals’ ability to recover from the most horrendous cruelty and actually learn to trust humans again is simply amazing,” exclaims Gene. “I am constantly humbled and awed by their phenomenal capacity for forgiveness.”
Farm Sanctuary also focuses on passing laws to ban certain cruel farming practices and educating the public through campaigns that promote compassion for animals. “To stop the cycle of violence taking place under industrialized farming, we must create empathy for other species,” Gene insists. “Rather than getting angry at the individuals who are killing or eating animals, we must help these people heal and see the light by expressing our righteous outrage at the system that perpetuates these atrocities.”
As a spokesperson for Farm Sanctuary, Gene has made numerous appearances on television, but started his career in front of the camera during his teens and early twenties as an extra. You can still see Gene as a clean-cut kid in Happy Days reruns, or in the movie War Games starring Matthew Broderick, and even as a Nazi Youth in the mid-70s disaster film classic The Hindenburg. Gene also appeared in McDonald’s commercials, a decidedly ironic twist given the direction he has taken in life.
While Gene and Lorri decided to go their separate ways in 2004, Gene continues to steer a steady course at Farm Sanctuary’s helm. With gentle persistence, he remains a model for compassionate, healthy living and an inspiration to animal advocates the world over.
For more information, visit farmsanctuary.org.
During his youth growing up in the Hollywood Hills, Gene Bauston always felt profoundly connected to nature and animals. “I was captivated with all the wildlife, like deer, skunks, raccoons, snakes and coyotes,” he recalls. Gradually, wealthy people came and built big houses surrounded by security gates, displacing animals from their natural habitat. “Feeling powerless as a child to stop the destruction affected me deeply,” declares Gene. “That’s one of the reasons I’ve spent most of my adulthood challenging humanity’s fatal indifference toward animals.”
The main vehicle for Gene’s life journey is Farm Sanctuary, a non-profit organization he and Lorri Bauston started 20 years ago when they first got married. Widely acknowledged as the world’s premiere farmed animal rescue organization, as well as the progenitor of the modern farmed animal rescue movement, Farm Sanctuary is like the proverbial mighty oak that from a little acorn grew—and then planted more acorns. What started with a battered old VW bus now comprises two shelters (in Upstate New York and Northern California) encompassing 475 acres. Here, thousands of abused cows, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys and other “food” animals have been given a second chance.
Over the years, Gene has personally rescued many animals from unimaginable horrors and certain death. For instance, one bitterly cold winter day, he found a downed male calf—still wet from being born just hours before—left for dead at a New York stockyard, his temperature so low it couldn’t be read on the thermometer. Thanks to Gene, “Opie” survived and now lives happily at Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen. “Animals’ ability to recover from the most horrendous cruelty and actually learn to trust humans again is simply amazing,” exclaims Gene. “I am constantly humbled and awed by their phenomenal capacity for forgiveness.”
Farm Sanctuary also focuses on passing laws to ban certain cruel farming practices and educating the public through campaigns that promote compassion for animals. “To stop the cycle of violence taking place under industrialized farming, we must create empathy for other species,” Gene insists. “Rather than getting angry at the individuals who are killing or eating animals, we must help these people heal and see the light by expressing our righteous outrage at the system that perpetuates these atrocities.”
As a spokesperson for Farm Sanctuary, Gene has made numerous appearances on television, but started his career in front of the camera during his teens and early twenties as an extra. You can still see Gene as a clean-cut kid in Happy Days reruns, or in the movie War Games starring Matthew Broderick, and even as a Nazi Youth in the mid-70s disaster film classic The Hindenburg. Gene also appeared in McDonald’s commercials, a decidedly ironic twist given the direction he has taken in life.
While Gene and Lorri decided to go their separate ways in 2004, Gene continues to steer a steady course at Farm Sanctuary’s helm. With gentle persistence, he remains a model for compassionate, healthy living and an inspiration to animal advocates the world over.
For more information, visit farmsanctuary.org.
Eddie Lama
Eddie Lama, Oasis Sanctuary & FaunaVision
Founder, Oasis Sanctuary and FaunaVision
“There’s a school of philosophy that defines a miracle as a change in perception.” This quote, the first words spoken by Eddie Lama in the award-winning documentary The Witness, sum up what has made Eddie the man he is today. The film premiered in the year 2000, and practically overnight, this charismatic construction worker became one of the world’s most famous animal rights activists.
On the surface, it seems unlikely that Eddie would wind up devoting his life to animals. He grew up in a tough neighborhood where cats were more often chased down alleyways and brutalized than loved as pets. It was a dark world, where substance abuse and criminal activity were a part of Eddie’s everyday life. But even a near fatal beating at the hands of some rivals did not result in the kind of life-altering change he experienced at the “paws” of a kitten. As the story goes, when asked by an attractive woman to babysit for a kitten, Eddie agreed, only as a way of earning a date.
And in fact, he did fall in love...with the kitten. The experience triggered a deeper awareness of his relation to animals, and his life was forever changed. By this time, he had overcome his drug addictions and started a construction company, but he remained a diehard chainsmoker—unfiltered Camels, three packs a day. Concern about secondhand smoke’s effect on his latest rescued cat made him put the cigarettes down and pick up a healthier way of life. Besides rescuing stray and abandoned dogs and cats from construction sites, he became a complete vegetarian, giving up his reserved seat at the local steakhouse.
As Eddie learned about society’s exploitation of animals, he started thinking about how to bring this information to the public in a way that would have a powerful impact. With our highly visual culture and the typical New Yorker’s short attention span in mind, he created FaunaVision, one of the most revolutionary tactical innovations in the history of animal rights activism. The first FaunaVision was a construction van converted into a multi-media vehicle, outfitted with side television screens and a sound system. Eddie and his volunteers made weekly excursions through the streets of New York, exposing people to footage of animals being tortured for their fur and flesh—something that would not be coming “to a theater near you” anytime soon.
Around this time, Eddie and best friend Eddie Rizzo (who passed away in 2004) bought an old dairy farm in the Catskills of Sullivan County, N.Y., and founded Oasis Sanctuary, a safe haven for abused, rescued and abandoned animals. Oasis served as a place where both animals and people could help one another heal. Today, Oasis is home to over 200 animals, including cats, dogs, pigs, roosters and turkeys.
Eddie’s dramatic transformation makes his story compelling and universal: people identify with him because they realize that if someone from Eddie’s background can change, then maybe they can, too. Based on his own radical change in perception, Eddie says that “changing people’s perspective on animals is the mission,” and is hopeful that someday humans will no longer exploit animals. With honesty and determination, Eddie is helping to make this dream a reality.
For more information, visit oasissanctuary.org.
“There’s a school of philosophy that defines a miracle as a change in perception.” This quote, the first words spoken by Eddie Lama in the award-winning documentary The Witness, sum up what has made Eddie the man he is today. The film premiered in the year 2000, and practically overnight, this charismatic construction worker became one of the world’s most famous animal rights activists.
On the surface, it seems unlikely that Eddie would wind up devoting his life to animals. He grew up in a tough neighborhood where cats were more often chased down alleyways and brutalized than loved as pets. It was a dark world, where substance abuse and criminal activity were a part of Eddie’s everyday life. But even a near fatal beating at the hands of some rivals did not result in the kind of life-altering change he experienced at the “paws” of a kitten. As the story goes, when asked by an attractive woman to babysit for a kitten, Eddie agreed, only as a way of earning a date.
And in fact, he did fall in love...with the kitten. The experience triggered a deeper awareness of his relation to animals, and his life was forever changed. By this time, he had overcome his drug addictions and started a construction company, but he remained a diehard chainsmoker—unfiltered Camels, three packs a day. Concern about secondhand smoke’s effect on his latest rescued cat made him put the cigarettes down and pick up a healthier way of life. Besides rescuing stray and abandoned dogs and cats from construction sites, he became a complete vegetarian, giving up his reserved seat at the local steakhouse.
As Eddie learned about society’s exploitation of animals, he started thinking about how to bring this information to the public in a way that would have a powerful impact. With our highly visual culture and the typical New Yorker’s short attention span in mind, he created FaunaVision, one of the most revolutionary tactical innovations in the history of animal rights activism. The first FaunaVision was a construction van converted into a multi-media vehicle, outfitted with side television screens and a sound system. Eddie and his volunteers made weekly excursions through the streets of New York, exposing people to footage of animals being tortured for their fur and flesh—something that would not be coming “to a theater near you” anytime soon.
Around this time, Eddie and best friend Eddie Rizzo (who passed away in 2004) bought an old dairy farm in the Catskills of Sullivan County, N.Y., and founded Oasis Sanctuary, a safe haven for abused, rescued and abandoned animals. Oasis served as a place where both animals and people could help one another heal. Today, Oasis is home to over 200 animals, including cats, dogs, pigs, roosters and turkeys.
Eddie’s dramatic transformation makes his story compelling and universal: people identify with him because they realize that if someone from Eddie’s background can change, then maybe they can, too. Based on his own radical change in perception, Eddie says that “changing people’s perspective on animals is the mission,” and is hopeful that someday humans will no longer exploit animals. With honesty and determination, Eddie is helping to make this dream a reality.
For more information, visit oasissanctuary.org.