Agenda
Posterboard 
Stream 
Month February – April 2013
In Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures, science writer Virginia Morell takes us on a dazzling odyssey into the inner worlds of animals. With 30 years of experience covering the sciences, Morell uses her formidable gifts as a storyteller to transport us to field sites and laboratories around the world, introducing us to pioneering animal-cognition researchers and their surprisingly intelligent and sensitive subjects. She probes the moral and ethical dilemmas of recognizing that even “lesser animals” have cognitive abilities such as memory, feelings, personality, and self-awareness — traits that many in the 20th century felt were unique to human beings.
Virginia Morell is a prolific contributor to National Geographic, Science, and Smithsonian, among other publications. She is also the author of Ancestral Passions, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; Blue Nile; and coauthor with Richard Leakey of Wildlife Wars. After the discussion, Virgina Morell will be available to sign copies of the book for anyone in attendance.
You can join our meetup for this event here. See you there! Win a copy of Animal Wise!
A photographic exhibition featuring large format photographs of the 300 rabbits saved from a meat farm in Tasmania now living safely at Big Ears Animals Sanctuary. This exhibition is to highlight the beauty of the most misunderstood family pet, to show their beauty, and help educate. Mary Costello is a photographer who donates 100% of her proceeds from the images to the Big Ears Animal Sanctuary. This is an exhibition for the whole family.
Big Ears Animal Sanctuary is a 100% not for profit registered charity. It was co-founded by Brett and Jacqui Steele and is administered by a board of five very animal friendly people. The sanctuary is on a 25 acre property located in northern Tasmania.
The property provides sanctuary for many different species of animals, as you will see on this site. Some have been rescued, such as the battery hens and others needed new homes for various reasons, including neglect, mistreatment or abandonment. All animals live in harmony with each other and with us, their human guardians, and fellow animals.
All the animals at the sanctuary are provided with shelter, food, veterinary care and the freedom to engage in all their natural behaviours. The rabbits burrow and make warrens, the cows and donkeys graze and the pigs root around in the mud.
We are a ‘no kill’ Sanctuary.
Big Ears Animal Sanctuary is different to animal shelters in that the majority of the animals here are not moved onto other people. This is their home, a safe place for them to live out the rest of their days.
We believe there is no ‘difference’ between companion animals and animals slaughtered for food, clothes or experimentation. All animals are capable of experiencing the same emotions as humans, such as sadness or joy (one only has to observe a rabbit doing a ‘binky’ to know this).
We abhor the cruelty caused by modern factory farming techniques such as battery hen systems and confinement pig farming, believing it not only similar to concentration camps but also damaging to the health of the human consumers of these products.
We respect life of all forms and aim to show compassion and kindness to the creatures that have no voice in this world. We believe that being human gives us the responsibility to care, educate and work towards changing attitudes about the “us” and “them” mentality. After all, it wasn’t so long ago that women were considered property and there was a system in South Africa called apartheid. As these things have changed, so too, one day will be the way the world treats its animals. This is what we strive for.