Temple Grandin

Lecture - Open to Public! 

Temple Grandin: Humane Livestock Handling Practices

Co-presented by: the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University's Office of Continuing Education and the Center for Animals and Public Policy
Wednesday, August 29, 2012  7:00 PM (doors open at 6:00 PM)

Worcester Technical High School Auditorium  1 Skyline Drive, Worcester, MA  01605

Click here for more info about registration. 

It may seem odd that I'd post about a livestock handling lecture on my blog, but I'm fascinated with Temple Grandin and I'm excited to attend this talk. Dr. Grandin was born in 1947 and was diagnosed with autism as a young child. Her parents were advised to institutionalize her (which they did not do). As an adolescent, Dr. Grandin was fortunate to have teachers and caregivers that recognized her astonishing visual and scientific mind, her innate talent for designing and building machines, and her ability to understand and connect with animals. Dr. Grandin went on to earn a PhD in animal science, and is most known for redesigning slaughterhouses with the animal's natural behavior and welfare as the primary consideration. With Dr. Grandin's design, the animal does not experience any fear, anxiety, or pain as it's herded to slaughter, so that it can remain calm at the time of its death. Granted, the animal is dying to become meat, but Dr Grandin's motto is that nature is cruel, but humans don't have to be (eg, a cow in the wild would be hunted and brutally ripped apart by a predator).

I'm fascinated by how completely different Temple's mind is in its visual orientation, and how this enables her to connect with animals and see solutions that even the most gifted, "normal" person could not likely access. We really are limited by the design of our own brains and the scope of what they allow us to sense. To learn more about her amazing story, check out the 2010 Emmy Award-winning film, Temple Grandin.