This book came out a few years ago but I just listened to the audio version and have to make readers aware of it if you are not already! It’s a memoir, by Gentle Barn founder Ellie Laks, detailing her long journey to forming this wonderful sanctuary, which both serves as a haven for animals rescued from slaughter and enables at-risk youth to heal by caring for them.
Laks starts with her own childhood, which was not very pleasant, and made her just the kind of at-risk youth she seeks now to help. Her parents had no respect for the lives of animals and their treatment of those she kept as pets was abusive to both her and them. Pets died when they wouldn’t let her keep them inside during harsh winters, for example, and when she cried over it, they told her to “get over it;” they’re “just” animals. Ugh, just makes me shake with anger and want them to be punished for animal cruelty. And I know these kinds of parents exist in abundance. But ultimately it’s the work of people like Laks that changes minds and leads to a more compassionate world.
Memoir about beginning a non-profit though it may be, at points it reads like a thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat! Laks’ path is fraught with not only difficulty – an angry, jealous neighbor that will stop at nothing to shut her down – but danger as well. When she talks about finding the perfect space in Santa Clarita, and moving the sanctuary from just outside of L.A. up there, the first thing I thought, having lived in L.A. was, uh-oh, isn’t that wildfire country? It sure is, and they nearly lose all of the animals, and their own lives, fleeing from a fire one year. This part of the book was totally un-put-downable!
Hoping to open my own version of an animal rescue, I wanted to know financial details of how Laks did this. Funny, but there aren’t many, because, like with me, her passion was much more solid than her business acumen! Several times, the sanctuary is almost forced to shut down due to lack of funds. Laks was so much more compassionate about saving the animals and at-risk youth than thinking about how to actually bring in money. Finally, she lands a very good business partner – and husband, Jay, and he helps brainstorm unique ways to fund-raise. Then, very serendipitously – the sanctuary being near L.A. – someone who loves it knows Portia de Rossi, Ellen DeGeneres’s partner, and after being on the Ellen Show, the Gentle Barn really takes off. Though the original is still in Santa Clarita, there are now several throughout the U.S.
After my beloved Rhea passed away, I searched for books celebrating the animal-human bond that would help me manage my grief. Someone in the Our Hen House flock (a Facebook group for members of the vegan podcast) mentioned books about building animal sanctuaries. This is the first one I picked up and it is definitely very high on my list of favorite memoirs about love of animals.