Animal Camp: Lessons in Love and Hope from Rescued Farm Animals

by Kathy Stevens

Picking up where she left off in Where the Blind Horse Sings, Kathy Stevens regales us with more tales of the rescued animals at Catskill Animal Sanctuary (CAS), some touching, some hilarious, all provocative. We meet Barbie, the broiler hen found hiding under a blue Honda in Brooklyn who falls for the animal ambassador Rambo, a ram with an uncanny sense of what others need. Then there s Norma Rae, the turkey rescued from a turkey bowl just before Thanksgiving. There s also Noah, a twenty-one-year-old stallion, starved and locked in a dark stall for his entire life until he came to the safety and plenty of CAS. Claude, the giant pink free-range pig, is but another of the underfoot family, those who roam the barnyard, free and with dignity, interacting with their own and other species in startling and profound ways.The love Stevens has for these animals, and the amount of love they give her in return, is stunning and will make any reader more thoughtful of how we treat a whole class of animals in this country. Pigs, cows, chickens, turkeys, horses, goats, sheep, and more, march into CAS and into our hearts as we learn about their quirks and personalities and what makes us human.

Genres: Animals, Nonfiction, Vegan, Nature

287 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Kathy Stevens, Founder and Director of CAS, spent her childhood on a Virginia horse farm. Kathy moved to Boston for graduate school, and after a decade of teaching high school English, she was asked to head a charter school. Instead, one year later, she opened Catskill Animal Sanctuary, one of the country's leading havens for farm animals and a center for raising public awareness of their sentience and their suffering. She is the author of two critically and popularly-acclaimed books, Where the Blind Horse Sings and Animal Camp, a blogger on farm animal issues for the Huffington Post, and a frequent contributor to books and articles on farm animals, vegan living, and related issues. Kathy is an avid reader, loves to hike, swim, and bike, and spends rare quiet time with her close friends.

Reviews

[Bobby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up a copy of Animal Camp because I recently became aware of Catskill Animal Sanctuary when looking into places my wife and I might visit when we venture up to New York state next month. I thought that a book by CAS founder Kathy Stevens could be a deciding factor whether or not to visit there. What I got was so much more than what I expected. Animal Camp is one of the most compassionate, insightful, intelligent, and well written books of its kind that I have yet encountered.

Stevens begins the book with a more extensive story than what is found in the second 2/3 of the book, several chapters on what she called "Animal Camp": a plan to take a trio of, in a sense, "special needs" animals (a cow, a pig, and a horse) to a friend's land and, spending a summer together, see if healing could happen so that the trio would be more capable of living back at CAS when it was all over. There were scenes in this part of the book that made me tear up from the beauty of the connections made - especially one touching scene between two of the trio - and the whole story was affirming and beautiful.

After this opening story, the rest of the book is comprised of chapters that are mostly shorter showcasing so many different residents of CAS, the staff there, and the daily trials, especially with a few animals who came to CAS practically at the point of death. There's a little bit on how challenging winters in New York can be. There are rescues, adoptions, scary moments, and tales of overcoming adversity, humans and animals alike.

Well before I had finished this book I knew that I'd have to read Stevens' previous book, Where The Blind Horse Sings. If it's anywhere as well written and compassionate as Animal Camp - and there's good reason to think it will be - then it, too, will be delightful. Animal Camp is highly recommended.

[Me · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a keeper! Kathy Stevens founded the Catskill Animal Sanctuary as a haven for abused and neglected livestock. In this book, she shares some of the animals stories and constantly reminds us that animals have feelings and emotions more similar to us than we'd probably like to admit. Take for example, Hannah, a sheep infatuated with Rambo, another sheep, who although flattered, often just tolerates her adoration. Enter the "other woman".... a hen named Barbie who takes to resting on top of Rambo and clearly also adores him. Hannah repeatedly glares at the hen but when this has effect, she takes more drastic measures. Stevens enters the barn one day to find Hannah missing and asks her staff "where's Hannah?". They answer "She's in time out. Hannah head butted Barbie across the barn!".

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the animal stories. Disliked the vegan rant.

[Valleri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't believe it. After reading and absolutely LOVING Where the Blind Horse Sings: Love and Healing at an Animal Sanctuary, I couldn't wait to read Animal Camp! I can't believe the same author wrote both books. Where the Blind Horse Sings was chock-full of sweet stories about farm animal rescues and lightly touched on how animals are mistreated by agribusiness.

Animal Camp was such a disappointment. When I wasn't reading about animals being abused, I was reading about why everyone should become vegan. I felt like I was repeatedly being bonked on the head about it. I'm vegetarian and I was offended. I can only imagine how someone who eats meat might feel. Honestly, all I could think of was the old saying “You get more flies with honey than with vinegar.”

So, if there is a third book I can assure you I won't be reading it.

[Charlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 for me. I'm a vegan already and knew most of the content in this book. I got it on a visit where I stopped by CAS. however I did still learn a handful of things. I did really like hearing the animals stories of how they arrived to CAS or showed their personalities.

I wish it was more of a story and not just essays. I felt like the writing style was not my favorite. things weren't always written smoothly and often had abrupt interruptions. I do feel she covered a broad range of topics.

she does talk a lot about being vegan and as a vegan I agree, but I do think it could have been organized better for the message to come across in a better way.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Half story, half rant

Hey, did you know people who don't want a pig to snuffle their face are terrible human beings? It's not that they're Jewish or Muslim or otherwise been raised to have little enthusiasm for pigs. They're just bad and you should definitely hate on them.

This book is half animal tales and half vegan rant. One half is better than the other.

[Jamie Rae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about the Catskill Animal Sanctuary 😊

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book after reading Where The Blind Horse Sings, which I totally loved. I was a little disappointed with this book because the author spent so much time talking about how cruel the animal production for food industry is. I know where she is coming from, I feel the same way too, but I hate seeing through her eyes the cruel treatment over and over again. For the same reason that I turn the tv off when the ASPCA commercials with the pathetic dogs come on because they make me cry. I love animals, I have 10 animals, but I just can't deal with that in your face sadness. I think a little less of that and a little more of the precious stories about the wonderful animals would have the same results. When you read about the loving and adorable farm animals like Rambo, Franklin, Paulie, Lumpy and all the rest, nobody in their right mind would look at mc nuggets, bacon, and hamburgers in the same way again. But I applaud Kathy Stevens for the wonderful work she is doing, and want her to know that she IS making a difference.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like the author and I are kindred spirits, in that we observe the same things about animal and human behavior. Namely, that we humans tend to "objectify" certain animals so we can feel okay about eating them, when, in fact, most of the animals we eat have emotions and personalities, if we only let ourselves get to know them. Which we don't. Because then it would be so hard to eat them. The author helps me see clearly how we treat the animals we want to eat, like slaves, without any regard for their feelings. I enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading the first one, which I somehow missed. This book tells more stories about the delightful animals at her animal sanctuary for barnyard animals, and is a very positive one.

[Merceda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really touching stories about Catskill Animal Sanctuary and the abused animals that it rescues. Kathy and her group of workers and volunteers have helped so many animals in such a short time frame (since 2003). Again, I think about going vegetarian, or even vegan, but oh my goodness. That is a big step.

[Barbara E · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book can change your life. I laughed, I cried, and I was profoundly moved. Kathy has done an amazing job capturing the heart and spirit of the amazing beings that she shares her world with. There is a picture of my granddaughter, Ani, at Camp Kindness and Ani and I are both listed in the acknowledgements. I was very touched.

[Cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Kathy Stevens' writing about her life at Catskill Animal Sanctuary and the friends she meets there. Her voice is very personable and down to earth and, best of all, the animals and their stories really shine through.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Kathy Cuthbertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable read - Kathy Stevens is an inspiration