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Featured Activist!

When Neil Armstrong took his historic first steps on the moon in 1969, Bill Schramm took his first major leap for animal-kind. That's the year Bill became a vegetarian and began his life-long commitment to helping non-human animals. His love for the four-footed and the winged is evident in his nearly 40-year legacy of fighting for their protection.

Bill's first introduction to animal activism came in 1982, when Conan the Barbarian hit theatres. After hearing that the producers had willfully harmed and injured horses in scenes of the movie, Bill organized a protest against the barbaric film. From there, he continued to come to the defense of animals in the entertainment industry by protesting circuses, rodeos and dog racing, thus letting patrons know that, when it comes to animals in entertainment, there's no excuse for abuse.

Bill has fought for animals from the legislative angle as well. Whether working on keeping slot machines out of dog- and horse-racing tracks, or fighting to ban veal and gestation crates in his home state of Arizona, Bill has done it all and succeeded! Not only is Arizona now veal and gestation crate-free, but slot machines have stayed out of dog and horse racetracks ever since.

More recently, when he heard about a new advertising campaign promoting cow's milk for children, Bill jumped at the opportunity to educate the public about the cruelty inherent in milk production. He organized a peaceful demonstration against the campaign, citing cruelty to dairy cows and their young, and the questionable health benefits of drinking another species' milk. He and a group of animal advocates handed out literature when the new dairy campaign was announced, and let people know how they felt about the terrible treatment of cattle in the dairy industry.

With so much animal activism under his belt, it's no wonder Bill became a Farm Sanctuary member in 2000. He has participated in numerous Farm Sanctuary fundraisers, including the Walk for Farm Animals. He has also used his experience with legislative efforts to join in on our legal campaigns, and has collected signatures, written letters to the editor and even humbly worked in our office repairing equipment. Bill is especially close to one of the California Shelter's shining stars: Lily, an 800-pound pig who jumped off a slaughterhouse-bound truck and saved her own life. Bill contributes to her well being every day by providing ongoing donations for her care, even offering a little extra when she's been under the weather.

It's clear that animals can count on Bill Schramm to come to their aid in any and all issues. If that weren't enough to give you warm and fuzzy feelings about Bill, consider this: he and his vegetarian wife have raised a compassionate family, with his 28-year-old daughter a lifelong vegetarian. With folks like Bill Schramm on the side of the animals, it's clear that we're making a difference.

Thank you, Bill, for your tireless dedication to all animals. Everyone at Farm Sanctuary-especially Lily-is inspired by your efforts!

Together, we ARE making a difference. If you would like to find out more about volunteering your time to educate others about factory farming and vegetarianism, please contact us at activist@farmsanctuary.org, or call 607-583-2225 ext. 229. Click here to find out what YOU can do to help!