Iowa’s first farm animal sanctuary in Oxford celebrates growth, awareness with 10-year anniversary

OXFORD — When Shawn and Jered Camp started Iowa’s first animal farm sanctuary in rural Johnson County, it was a “moo moo here” and an “oink oink there.”

All of it started when Shawn, a former restaurant manager, and Jered, a former 4-H’er who grew up around farm animals, wanted to do something more to help a cause they cared about.

In just a decade, the vegan couple has grown the Iowa Farm Sanctuary from a 10-acre field to a 40-acre pasture that’s home to more than 150 animals of all types and sizes today. There, they care for residents, educate visitors about some of the realities of meat production, and host programs like LEAP (Leaders for Ethics, Animals, and the Planet,) an alternative to 4-H for children who want to raise animals.

Shawn Camp, executive director and cofounder of Iowa Farm Sanctuary, spoke with The Gazette about the progress of animal welfare in Iowa, how to further advance humane treatment of farm animals and the significance of the vegan organization’s 10-year milestone in America’s top pork producing state.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

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Q: Tell me how you get into this — what prompted Iowa Farm Sanctuary?

A: Jered and I, we were living in a new construction home in North Liberty, both working regular day jobs and had become passionate vegans. As we were transitioning to a vegan lifestyle, we decided that we wanted to volunteer at a farm animal rescue. It seemed like we could be doing more with vegan activism.

So we started to look around to see where we could potentially volunteer and get to interact with rescued farmed animals, and there was not a sanctuary in the state of Iowa.

We were both so young and driven that we're like, “Well, we can do that.” I wasn't in love with the work I was doing, and Jared had a background caring for farmed animals, and so we just kind of started that way.

We got our nonprofit status, 501(c) 3, and started looking for a small acreage, and that's kind of how it all started.

We got the ball rolling back in 2015 and rescued our first animals (in) July 2016.

Q: How many animals are in your care, and what types of places do they come from?

A: We have about 150 residents here, and that's everything from our chickens and ducks all the way up to our biggest cows and everything in between.

I used to say that about 50 percent of our animals came as owner surrenders, and the other 50 percent from highway accidents. I think that has probably shifted. We definitely get more owner surrenders now.

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We used to get a ton of piglets that would fall out of the little holes on the sides of (semitrailers) and cattle involved in high-speed semi accidents. The owner surrenders that we get, it's typically a farmer reaching out. They have a calf born with a contracted front leg, a goat who is born blind.

A lot of animals this time of year are unfortunately outdoors during the brutal cold (like the weather) we had last week. And if they're newborns, they can't regulate their body temperatures. A lot of them are out in pastures and not found, if they're born in the middle of the night, until the next day, and experience frostbite. So we get a lot of frostbite cases.

It's kind of all over the place. There's certainly no shortage of farmed animals needing homes.

Q: Do the animal surrenders you take in tell you anything about the state of animal welfare in Iowa?

A: That's a difficult question.

The situation with the pigs falling off the semis, it begs the question, is there something that we can do to keep them from falling off these semis? Which is kind of a double-edged sword for me, because it's really the only way that those pigs are ever going to be rescued, right? If they make it to their intended destination, it means that they will die.

But, yeah, there's certainly a lot of work to be done in the world of farmed animal welfare. In Iowa, there are no legal protections for them beyond having to have a roof over their head — it doesn't have to have four walls surrounding them — so they have to have access to essentially a wind break of sorts, and fresh water and food.

Further, anything that is considered an industry standard in animal agriculture becomes legal. I use the example of thumping piglets. If you were to pick up a puppy by their back legs and forcibly swing them against concrete to smash their skulls, that would be considered animal cruelty. But that is the industry standard for piglets, and so it becomes legal, and that is the routine way of killing piglets.

So, certainly a lot of work in Iowa that can be done. And on a more federal level, birds who are farmed for food have absolutely no legal protections all the way to the slaughterhouse.

Q: How have things changed or evolved for your organization and animal welfare since you started 10 years ago? Do you think things have improved?

A: It's hard to get a big picture there. From where I'm standing, pre-COVID, there was a big uptick in the vegan movement.

There were lots of people that were opening up farm animal rescues. There was a lot of new vegan food on the scene. There was a lot of activism happening.

When COVID happened, a lot of priorities shifted and now it is a little bit harder to focus on animal rights when a lot of people are fighting for human rights.

Q: Iowa Farm Sanctuary has taken in some interesting animals over the years, including cases that have gotten statewide attention like PHill the water buffalo. What are some of the biggest things these animals have taught you and the folks who visit your farm?

A: A lot of people who visit our farm, they're taking a little day trip. They want to get outside. We have a milelong nature trail, and folks get to interact with animals they may have never met elsewhere.

Most Iowans have never met a pig unless they're at the State Fair. So people get to come out here and see how big a pig grows when they're allowed to live their full natural lifespan. I would say 90 percent of people say “I had no idea pigs got that big.“

We have signage throughout our property where they can either scan a QR code to learn more about a particular animal, or there's informational signage hanging around the property as well.

A lot of people do come here with the intent to get outside, pet a cute cow. It never fails, when they check out at our little gift shop, they are like, “Wow, I learned so much. I had no idea how many pigs are farmed in Iowa or how chickens are treated in the egg industry.” It's a really cool opportunity that we have here.

People don't love being around vegans for whatever reason, whether we're too preachy or it makes them question their own decisions. But when people make the own decision to show up here at the sanctuary and be open minded about where these animals come from, the information is allowed to sink in a little more readily, rather than when you're sitting down to eat a hamburger.

I'm not a psychologist, but there’s something there. Maybe there's less guilt here when you get to see the survivors of the industry rather than sitting down with a non-survivor.

Q: Iowa is one of the biggest pork and egg producing states, and has been forced to contend with animal welfare laws passed in other big markets, like California. What paths do you see to advance animal welfare for farm animals?

A: I'm under no illusion that the world's going to go vegan. (The most viable path is) those movements to create better living conditions for the animals who are brought into the world for food.

I would love to take an abolitionist approach. That is an ideal world for me, (that) people stop eating animals, maybe someday. But we have to start somewhere.

I do think (the approach involves) a combination of people being able to see that the cows and goats that we have here are no different than the dogs and cats that they have at home — that can be really profound.

But our little sanctuary here in rural Iowa isn't going to change the world, especially on the scale of 10 billion land animals who are slaughtered every year.

Those laws and legislative things happening in California that affect Iowa farmers, that's a big deal, and it does make a difference, and it gets people thinking too.

We didn't get where we are with animal farming overnight. Confined animal feeding operations, that didn't happen overnight, and I don't think it's going to change back overnight either.

Q: The Animal Rescue League of Iowa is calling on lawmakers this session to pass a bill reclassifying animal torture as a felony. Would that have any effect on farm animal welfare?

A: It, unfortunately, doesn’t include farmed animals.

That (raises) an interesting point too — where do we draw that line, and why can we torture these (farm) animals but not those?

(The bill) covers what we consider companion animals. Horses fall into the livestock category, and they do not fall under companion animals. Horses are in the same boat as cattle and pigs.

Q: What does it mean for your organization to hit this 10-year milestone in a state like Iowa that is so heavily focused on commercial agriculture?

A: There were a lot of a lot of folks who doubted us in the beginning. I think my husband and I were just young and dumb enough when we set out to do this that you weren't going to stop us. We didn't have any reservations.

But looking back now and being a little bit older, it is pretty incredible that we've not only been able to survive, but we have thrived in Iowa. When we first went vegan, it was so hard for me to live in Iowa. I didn't know anybody else who was vegan, and just hopping on the Interstate to go to Target, I would see semis full of pigs, and it broke my heart.

I was crying daily and telling my husband I wanted to move to Portland or L.A., just to be around more like-minded people. But he convinced me (that) we're right where we need to be and he was right — this is where it matters, the work that we're doing.

I think it's pretty incredible that we have survived 10 years and grown. We went from a 10-acre property in the beginning. During COVID, we moved to a 40-acre property. We've doubled our animal intake since then.

It's pretty remarkable what we've done in 10 years, especially in Iowa.

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Q: How can folks further animal welfare, particularly for farm animals, even if they aren’t vegan? How can they help your mission?

A: People can certainly support our work, and I would imagine a lot of our supporters are not vegan, they just appreciate the work that we're doing to help animals in need.

You can come out for a Sunday stroll when we open in May. We have our 10 Years of Rescue Gala coming up March 28. We have merchandise available to purchase.

My favorite way to support us is to sponsor one of our animals. It's kind of like a virtual adoption. You pick an animal whose rescue story speaks to you, and sign up for a reoccurring donation for that animal. You get a certificate of sponsorship, quarterly updates and photos, and a free season pass to come visit them.

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.