“The machinery of animal exploitation – whether it’s product is food, fiber, research, or entertainment – excels at disassembly. It severs the connection between animals and their natural behaviors, between mothers and children, between parts of the body. And it severs the connection between animals and the people who consume what is made of them. In over a decade of animal sheltering, I have seen that one of the most powerful things we can do for animals is to forge anew that connection. To so many people, these creatures simply aren’t real. When they encounter a pig for the first time and see that she has a life and feelings and a personality, it is a revelation. It changes people. And it makes them agents of change. That is why projects like THE GHOSTS IN OUR MACHINE are so important. The potent images and storytelling of this film and website will bring hidden lives to light. By making these animals, and our complicity in their suffering, real, vivid and urgent, this project has the potential to call forth compassion and galvanize action for animals. THE GHOSTS IN OUR MACHINE deserves to be seen by a wide audience, and I sincerely hope that it will be.”
Susie Coston
National Shelter Director, Farm Sanctuary
photo courtesy Jo-Anne McArthur
Susie Coston, Farm Sanctuary‘s national shelter director, joined the organization in March 2000. In the six years prior to coming to Farm Sanctuary, she worked for a veterinarian and at a sanctuary in West Virginia. Before that, she earned a master’s degree in special education and worked with kids with disabilities. As a committed farm animal caregiver for more than a decade, Susie has been a mentor for many of her peers (who have started their own sanctuaries throughout the U.S.) and is well-known for bringing the animals’ stories of love, loss and life to the public. Currently, she oversees a full department of caregivers, feeders, cleaners, and project workers at the New York Shelter, ensuring that hundreds of animals are given the best possible care at every stage of their lives. Aside from working at Farm Sanctuary, Susie cares for her own family of rescued cats and dogs..
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