2025: The Year of Topsy vividly tells the life story of the Asian-born elephant called Topsy, who was electrocuted to death on Coney Island, New York, in 1903. Fully illustrated with archive newspapers,contemporary photographs, illustrations, and ephemera, this book by legendary animal advocate Kim Stallwood also features the lives of many other notable captured elephants who performed in circuses or were imprisoned in zoos.

Kim will be joining us on October 26  to talk about Topsy, the challenge of writing about her life, and the genre of animal biography. You can learn more about Kim and the project by visiting the Topsy website. Your event registration confirmation will include a link to a free PDF of the book. Register here.

Vermont Public aired a piece about VINE Sanctuary’s work with roosters today! You can listen to it here. The page includes an article with different information. That’s worth reading, but don’t skip the recording, which goes into greater detail about roosters rescued from cockfighting and the harmful impact of the gender stereotypes about them.

As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, we’re recognizing and assessing the impact of our work. From the start, cofounders Miriam Jones and pattrice jones recognized an obligation to both share the stories of animals at the sanctuary and share insights and ideas arising from interactions with and among sanctuary residents. And so, in addition to publishing our own observations, we have also invited scholars and activists to visit and write about what they learned at the sanctuary.

And — wow — when we add up the number of books that mention the sanctuary, it adds up to more than 20!

Here are some:

• • Animal Crisis by Alice Crary and Lori Gruen includes a brief discussion of happenings among nonhuman community members at the sanctuary
  • Animal Oppression and Capitalism edited by David Nibert includes a chapter by pattrice jones that references cows and pigeons at the sanctuary
  • Animaladies edited by Fiona Probyn-Rapsey and Lori Gruen includes a chapter by Cheryl Wylie and pattrice jones that discusses the sanctuary’s interactions with backyard hen-keepers and men who participate in cockfighting.
  • Bird’s-Eye Views by pattrice jones collects two decades worth of essays grounded in happenings at the sanctuary
  • Censored Landscapes is a book of photographs by Isabella La Rocca González. The photo of a squab farm is accompanied by an essay about pigeons that mentions the pigeons at VINE.
  • The chapter on “Sanctuary” authored by Timothy Pachirat in Critical Terms for Animal Studies includes a discussion of VINE practices and features two sanctuary residents, Maddox and Alphy.
  • Ecofeminism: Feminist Intersections with Other Animals and the Earth includes a chapter by pattrice jones that described how we learned from roosters at the sanctuary. The introduction and timeline by editors Carol J. Adams and Lori Gruen also mention VINE.
  • Poncho the cow and a group of exceptionally polite ducks appear in the afterword to Entangled Empathy by Lori Gruen.
  • Ethics and Animals by Lori Gruen includes a description of an episode at the sanctuary involving rowdy geese and an elderly cow.
  • VINE cofounder Miriam Jones writes about the experiences a rooster at the sanctuary in The Ethics of Captivity edited by Lori Gruen.
  • For the Birds by Karen Davis includes an afterword by pattrice jones that talks about Karen’s keystone contributions to our sanctuary.
  • The Good It Promises, The Harm It Does edited by Carol J. Adams, Alice Crary, and Lori Gruen includes a chapter by pattrice jones that contrasts VINE’s queer ethos with that of Effective Altruism.
  • Several scenarios among chickens at the original site of our sanctuary feature in a chapter by pattrice jones in Minding the Animal Psyche edited by Gay Bradshaw.
  • Mourning Animals edited by Margo Demello includes a chapter about death at sanctuaries coauthored by pattrice jones and Lori Gruen.
  • Multispecies Assemblies by Eva Meijer cites VINE as an example of a multispecies community in which humans try to listen to animals.
  • The Omnivore’s Deception by John Sanbonmatsu includes a description of a visit to VINE during which an elderly cow arrived.
  • The Oxen at the Intersection by pattrice jones is about VINE’s efforts to save two cows and includes numerous scenes set at the sanctuary.
  • VINE is mentioned several times in the Routledge Companion to Gender and Animals edited by Chloe Taylor. In one chapter, Pablo Pérez Castelló shares insights gleaned from his extensive participant-research at the sanctuary.
  • Saving Animals by Elan Abrell includes a description of a visit to VINE along with a discussion of the VINE ethos.
  • Sister Species edited by Lisa Kemmerer includes a chapter by pattrice jones that begins in a foraging yard at our sanctuary’s original location.
  • Viktor the rooster makes an appearance in Striking at the Roots by Mark Hawthorne
  • Transfarmation by Leah Garcés includes a rich description of a visit to the sanctuary in which the author learns the life histories of Norma and other dairy survivors living at the sanctuary.