World Farm Animals Day

For Immediate Release
Contact: Scott Delucchi, 650.340.7022


Peninsula Humane Society to Celebrate “World Farm Animals Day"
with Cooking Demos, Noted Speakers

September 19, 2006 (San Mateo) -- On October 1, from 11 am to 3 pm, the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA (PHS/SPCA) will host a special event in conjunction with the Bay Area Vegetarians and Animal Place to celebrate World Farm Animals Day.

Free to the public, this event will take place in the PHS/SPCA Auditorium, located at the far south end of the shelter’s 12 Airport Blvd. location. Vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike are welcome to come by for professional cooking demonstrations, vegan food samples, inspirational speakers, and ideas for living with compassion and good health. The event will also feature a children’s area with age-appropriate activities.
At 11:15 am, Chef Alex Bury, who opened the famous all-organic Sparks restaurant in Guerneville, CA, will lead a breakfast-themed cooking demo and provide tasty food samples. Alex now works for PETA and teaches the art of healthful cooking for Bay Area Vegetarians. Her column, Heart Smart Cooking: Cooking with Compassion and Good Health, appears in the Bay Area Vegetarians’ newsletter.

From 12 to 12:45 pm, guest speaker Kim Sturla will share real life stories of the rescue and rehabilitation of animals that call her Northern CA farm sanctuary, the Animal Place, home. Sturla, a former PHS/SPCA executive director, has been a central figure in protecting animals for 30 years. She wrote the first law in the country that protects pre-university students unwilling to participate in animal dissections.

Following Sturla’s talk, at 1 pm Chef Alex Bury will demonstrate how to prepare rustic Italian polenta with roasted garlic tomato sauce and spring rolls with Thai peanut sauce, offering more samples and recipes to attendees.

Drawing from undercover investigations, activist Lauren Ornelas will speak from 2 to 2:45 pm about the impact our food choices have on animals confined in agricultural animal facilities and what we can each do to help animals. Ornelas is recognized for persuading Trader Joe’s to stop selling duck meat, Pier 1 to cease using feathers, and was the spark that got the CEO of Whole Foods Market to become a vegan.

Guests will be able to sample products from Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods Market, MaggieMudd and Sunflour Baking, in addition to the samples prepared by Chef Bury.

Though best known for sheltering, then finding homes for dogs, cats and small companion animals, PHS/SPCA also cares for dozens of farm animals each year. Some are found stray, others are surrendered by their owners, and some are removed from situations in which, sadly, they are being abused or neglected to a point where their health is suffering. The Society recently rescued 11 goats from a company which is facing animal cruelty charges. Five of the rescued goats are currently available for adoption at PHS/SPCA and others have been placed into foster homes until new, permanent homes can be found.

World Farm Animals Day is an annual event established by the Farm Animal Reform Movement to raise awareness of the billions of animals suffering and slaughtered in the world's factory farms. The occasion is observed with events in all 50 states and two dozen other countries.

Details and flyers for the San Mateo event are available at http://www.bayareaveg.org/wfad.

For more information or to be part of PHS/SPCA's announcement list for future programs, please call the PHS/SPCA Education Department at 650/340-7022, ext. 369.

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