A Queer Sort of Sanctuary

LGBTQ-led and explicitly “green,” VINE always has been a queer sort of animal sanctuary.

Our very first website, hand-coded in 2000, stressed the intersections between speciesism and other forms of oppression, and our very first presentation at an animal rights conference, also in 2000, stressed the need to work in concert with movements for social and environmental justice.

Visitors to the sanctuary notice that we do not segregate animals by species, instead respecting their freedom of association. Just like us, many nonhuman animals like making friends with people of other species!

Similarly, we respect the rights of privacy and self-determination of our nonhuman community members. Our original motto was “let birds be birds,” and we have extended the spirit of that saying as we have welcomed cows and sheep into our multi-species community.

Because our care extends to free-living animals, we reserve more than half of the sanctuary grounds as wildlife refuge and we also do everything we can to reduce the ecological footprint of the sanctuary. From solar-powered wells to shelters made from salvaged and up-cycled materials, our commitment to the environment is evident.

Of course, like every other farmed animal sanctuary, we promote veganism. But, since other organizations are doing that so well, we focus much of our energy on other pieces of the puzzle.

VINE Sanctuary offers refuge to nonhuman animals who have escaped or been rescued from the meat, dairy, and egg industries or other injurious circumstances, such as cockfighting, experimentation, petting zoos, or pigeon shoots. In addition to sheltering and advocating for animals, we conduct research and community education aimed at diet change, agriculture reform, and more effective animal advocacy.

We believe that activists and organizations are most effective when they take advantage of the unique opportunities presented by their locations, standpoints, and skill-sets. Hence we always have sought to do the things that we are in the best position to do.

At the local level, we seek:

  1. To provide sanctuary for local animals who have escaped or been rescued from injurious circumstances;
  2. To learn and teach about local practices that injure animals and the environment;
  3. To promote healthy eating and food justice;
  4. To demonstrate the economic and environmental benefits of a plant-based agricultural economy; and
  5. To model an ethic of empathy and equity for everybody.

At the national and international levels, we seek:

  1. As space allows, to offer sanctuary to roosters rescued from cockfighting, cows rescued from dairying, hens rescued from egg production, and other animals rescued from other injurious circumstances;
  2. To share our expertise in order to promote rehabilitation rather than euthanasia for roosters used in cockfighting;
  3. To speak out as people who have lived in regions despoiled by the poultry and dairy industries, in hope of checking the worldwide spread of industrial animal agriculture;
  4. To promote awareness, among both animal advocates and social or environmental justice activists, of the connections between the exploitation of animals and problems such as poverty, hunger, sexism, racism, violence, and ecocide;
  5. To join, promote, and/or coordinate coalition efforts; and
  6. To draw upon our long history of activism in various movements in order to increase the efficacy of animal advocacy and liberation organizations.

plankIn early 2000, two feminists found a chicken in a ditch deep in the heart of poultry country. They founded the Eastern Shore Chicken Sanctuary on a small property surrounded by factory farms. The sanctuary operated in rural Maryland for almost ten years, changing its name to Eastern Shore Sanctuary & Education Center to reflect its expanded population (ducks and turkeys and barn cats too!) and the expansion of its activities to include advocacy and education. During those years, we received national acclaim as the first sanctuary to successfully rehabilitate roosters used in cockfighting. Off-site, we worked tirelessly to build bridges among the animal liberation, environmental, and social justice movements.

In 2009, the sanctuary relocated to Vermont, in order to realize our dream of more land and the opportunity to rescue cows exploited by the dairy industry. In less than a year, thanks to hard work and generous donors, that dream came true as the first refugees from the dairy industry arrived at the sanctuary. Now called VINE, we continue to pursue peace and justice for everybody, offering refuge to hundreds of nonhuman animals while helping activists of all kinds learn to think and act more ecologically.

VINE Sanctuary shelters and cares for hundreds of animals while working hard on a wide array of education and advocacy projects.

The nonhuman members of our unique multispecies community include chickens, cows, pigeons, ducks, doves, sheep, geese, goats, turkeys, alpacas, guinea fowl, peafowl, emus, and one exceptional pig.

Our humane education programs for children teach compassion  for animals along with vital values such as generosity and respect for differences. Our educational programs for adults, including the VINE Book Club and the In Context podcast, help activists become more skillful advocates for animals by better understanding the intersections between animal exploitation and other forms of injustice. Other projects include efforts to end cockfighting, demystify dairy, galvanize veganic gardening; and promote veganism in LBGTQ+ communities.

Read our recent annual reviews for details: • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018

We can’t do it alone! We need more, more, and more people to join our community as donors and volunteers.

Where are the hens going? What are they thinking?

Frequently Asked Questions

Wild grape, rose, and honeysuckle vines climbed the fences and wove through the trees of the original site of the sanctuary in rural Maryland. Vines of all kinds also thrive at the sanctuary’s new home in Vermont, climbing trees and providing tasty berries for wild birds.

Vines both enact and represent the power of nature and the interconnectedness of all things. Vines pull down walls and snake through windows. They feed birds and serve as bridges between trees.

As an acronym, VINE stands for “Veganism is the Next Evolution.” What do we mean by that? Simply that “veganism” represents an essential next step not only in confronting climate change but also for anyone who understands that the intersecting forms of oppression among people exist within and are patterned by the matrix of beliefs and practices that promote and excuse the exploitation of animals and the despoliation of the environment.

But we also say that “Veganism Is Not Enough.” By this we mean that personal veganism is a baseline rather than a cure-all. Those who seek to liberate animals from human dominion will need to do much more, including laying the groundwork for a equitable plant-based agricultural economy.

Rooster Rehab
VINE Sanctuary, in its earlier incarnation as Eastern Shore Sanctuary, devised a rehabilitation program for roosters formerly exploited in cockfighting. Prior to our invention of these techniques, all roosters seized from cockfights or from breeders of fighting cocks were automatically euthanized. Other sanctuaries have since embraced our methods, but we are still the only sanctuary that routinely rescues and rehabilitates roosters used in cockfighting.
Queering Animal Liberation
VINE Sanctuary was founded by lesbian-feminists and is still LGBTQ-run. All of us living on site at the sanctuary are lesbian, bi, or trans, and we count LGBTQ folks of all varieties among our volunteers and supporters. More important than our own “queer” identities, we have been at the forefront of the emerging effort to discover and uncover the linkages between the exploitation of animals and the oppression of LGBTQ people. In so doing, we are helping to build bridges between the animal liberation and LGBTQ rights movements.
Green Pastures — and Barns
Everything we do at our solar-powered sanctuary demonstrates our conviction that “green means vegan” and that “vegan means green.” On site, we are as “freegan” as possible, building with salvaged materials, constructing ramps and shelters with recycled lumber, and “upcycling” found items into useful objects such as planters and feeders. We buy locally-grown hay and bird feed. On-site gardens and fruit trees feed human and nonhuman residents alike. Off site, we work hard to promote veganism among environmentalists and environmental awareness among vegans.
An Ecofeminist Animal Sanctuary
As feminists, we have always been alert to gendered exploitation of animals such as cockfighting, “dairy” and egg production, and the forced reproduction upon which all uses of animals depend. As ecofeminists, we work within an “ethos of care” and see ourselves not as heroic saviors or “the voice of the voiceless” but, rather, as allies of animals who have their own voices and whose rights to freedom and self-determination must be respected. Adult sanctuary residents are allowed every opportunity possible to make their own decisions and are handled by humans only if they have sought that contact or it is necessary for veterinary treatment.
Interspecies Cooperation
Denizens of VINE Sanctuary often exercise the freedom of association by choosing companions of other species. Unlike other sanctuaries, VINE does not segregate animals by species. Thus, we have a gaggle of “peace-keeping geese” who remind rehabilitated roosters not to fight. In the winter, several sheep willingly give rides to roosters who prefer not to walk in the snow. Ducks sometimes “adopt” juvenile chickens, and Buddy the cow welcomes every newcomer “up the hill,” paying especial attention to anybody who might be lonely.
Promoting Plant-Based Agriculture
VINE began as a small chicken sanctuary surrounded by factory farms in a rural region dominated by the poultry industry. We now care for cows and sheep (as well as chickens and a wide variety of other birds) in a rural region in which milk and wool are dominant agricultural products. Nearly alone among farmed animal sanctuaries and demand-side proponents of veganism, we have always worked on the essential project of mapping out the means by which rural communities now dominated and despoiled by animal agriculture might be transformed into equitable and sustainable plant-based agricultural economies. We also sponsor community gardens and promote veganic gardening projects of all varieties.
Going Beyond “Go Vegan”
The cofounders of VINE Sanctuary brought decades of activist experience and academic study of social change to the project of animal liberation. We know that the kind of worldwide social and economic changes that will be necessary to liberate animals will require concerted pursuit of a suite of strategies by means of a diversity of tactics. In conference presentations, lectures to student activists, blog posts, position papers, radio shows, magazine articles, chapters in activist anthologies, and other venues over more than a decade, we have sought to improve the efficacy of animal advocacy by promoting strategic thinking, sharing essential conceptual tools, and cultivating a culture of self-reflection among animal advocates.
Making Connections
Founded by social justice activists, VINE Sanctuary understand the conjunctions among animal exploitation, social injustice, and environmental despoliation. We also know the vital value of coalitions among activists and across movements. Since our incorporation in 2000, we have worked hard to build bridges both by organizing collective efforts and by taking on the often thankless task of prompting activists of all varieties to think about forms of oppression they might prefer to ignore. Whether or not we live to see it, we know that the reward for such work will be a worldwide movement for the liberation of everybody.

We use “vegan” in the broadest sense, seeing all injuries to animals as acts to be avoided insofar as possible. In terms of diet, that means choosing plant-based foods such as legumes, grains, greens, fruits, root crops, and nuts instead of the flesh, milk, or eggs of nonhuman animals. To us, vegan also means choosing plant-based fibers rather than leather or fur and boycotting products tested on animals.

Since animals also are grievously injured by human-engendered environmental hazards such as water pollution and climate change, we insist that “vegan means green” and encourage everybody to include the “three Rs” (reduce, reuse, recycle) in their vegan practice and to make other eco-friendly choices, such as bicycling, ride-sharing, or taking public transport; buying locally-grown and organic fruits and vegetables; and conserving water and energy however possible.

Since people are animals too, we think that the ongoing process of “going vegan” ought to include efforts to reduce the human suffering for which one is personally responsible. That means joining efforts to improve the lives of the farmworkers who tend and harvest the plants you eat and also eschewing consumer goods (such as chocolate harvested by enslaved children) that you know to be the products of unfair trade or labor practices.

That’s a lot to think about! So, rather than seeing veganism as a stable state of cruelty-free perfection, we see “going vegan” as a never-ending process. We encourage everybody to “go vegan” every day, by constantly questioning and attempting to lessen the harms for which they are personally responsible.

Hundreds of animals, including dozens of cows, hundreds of chickens and pigeons, scores of ducks, and smaller numbers of sheep, turkeys, goats, geese, guinea fowl, peacocks, alpacas, and emus live at the sanctuary along with one exceptional pig and several miscellaneous birds. Learn all about these amazing animals here.

combingOur animal care team includes four full-time staff members, one part-time staff member, and a handful of volunteers. Two full-time staff members who also do other things also pitch in on sanctuary chores. It’s hard work, mostly outdoors, in all weather. We always need more help! Contact us if you live nearby and can lend a hand regularly or if you are a member of a group that would like to come for a volunteer work day. If you can afford to contribute to our general operating fund, to help us pay our staff members a living wage, please do! Because we do not have a full-time fundraiser, we also need help with grant writing, public relations, and other efforts to boost the finances of the sanctuary. Sign up to volunteer if you have skills to share!

Save

Animals come to the sanctuary by many different roads. Some have been seized by authorities due to extreme cruelty or neglect. These include roosters seized from cockfighting as well as seizures from small farms and petting zoos, usually due to starvation.

Some sanctuary residents escaped from captivity and found their way to sanctuary. Others have been abandoned or discarded by farmers who have no use for them. Many sanctuary residents had been rescued by other individuals or organizations who then were unable to afford the high cost of their care. Others, such as chicks and ducklings given to children as springtime gifts, were formerly “pets.”

Like all farmed animal sanctuaries, we receive requests to take in roosters almost every week. This is due to the fad for backyard hen-keeping. More often than not, hatcheries often send some males (who are otherwise killed) to people who think they are buying only female chicks. When these birds reach maturity and begin to crow, there often is no local refuge for them. Support The Rooster Project to help us solve that problem.

Because they contain all of the nutrients needed by a growing chick, chicken eggs are the perfect food for chickens, duck eggs are the perfect food for ducks, and etc. In the wild, flock members or other animals scavenge any eggs not actively guarded by a brooding bird. Eggs left behind by birds here at the sanctuary are distributed back to the flocks after being boiled to eliminate any possible transmission of pathogens.

There is no milk! Just like us, cows lactate only after giving birth and for so long as the child is nursing. Dairy farmers forcibly impregnate cows and then take their calves away, using machines to collect milk while simulating nursing. We need your help to demystify dairy, because so many consumers still believe that female cows lactate incessantly and will suffer if not milked by people. Cows need people to understand that the dairy industry creates even more suffering (and even more pollution) than the “beef” industry.

Finding the funds to feed and shelter hundreds of animals is a constant struggle. We do receive some grants from foundations, but that is never enough to cover even the most basic costs. We depend on our community of supporters to keep the sanctuary going. Join that community—donate today!

Yes! Our staff is small, and we rely on volunteers for many critical activities, both online and on-site at the sanctuary as well as around the country. We’d love to have you join our growing group of volunteers.

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