The fifth Animal Conference will be bookended by two notable speakers, both of whom have dedicated their lives to the protection of animals: biologist Jeff Corwin, whose shows have appeared on Disney, ABC, and Animal Planet, and Dr. Temple Grandin, professor, activist, advisor to the ranching indus try, and subject of the eponymous film starring Claire Danes in the title role. Kelley Barnes, Executive Director, Kirkpatrick Foundation. The Gazette spoke with Kirkpatrick Foundation Executive Director Kelley Barnes and Dr. Grandin about this year’s event, which will be at Oklahoma Contemporary on September 18 and 19. Corwin will open the event, and Grandin will give the keynote address to close the conference. Barnes said the big idea running through the conference this year is that “animal wellbeing is not a single issue, and it isn’t the responsibility of a single group of people.” The vision is to make Oklahoma the safest and most humane place to be an animal by 2032. “When the  Kirkpatrick Foundation launched its Safe Humane initiative in 2012, we set a deliberately ambitious goal: to make Oklahoma the safest and most humane place for an animal to be by 2032,” Barnes said. Fourteen years later, we know that getting there requires much more than supporting animal shelters. It involves how we design buildings, produce food, conserve land, practice veterinary medicine, make laws, report stories, and think about wildlife and the environment.” For Barnes, different stakeholders have different lenses, so ranchers think about animal husbandry and land stewardship, while a shelter director may focus on pet overpopulation, and attorneys may want to consider legal protections. All interested parties need to be in the conversation, and the different lenses should be respected, appreciated, and heard, so for Barnes interconnectedness is the theme of the fifth conference. Barnes said because of that approach, “One of the strengths of ANIMAL is that it isn’t a conference exclusively for people who call themselves animal advocates. We have veterinarians, shelter professionals, wildlife rehabilitators, conservationists, farmers and ranchers, attorneys, policymakers, researchers, educators, nonprofit leaders, philanthropists, and members of the public…Animals don’t experience the world in the silos we’ve created. We want people who might not ordinarily find themselves at the same conference to meet one another.” Dr. Temple Grandin of CSU Named One of the Top 10 College Professors in the Country In that respect, Grandin functions as the perfect keynote speaker. “I talk to everyone,’ Grandin said. “When I first started this in the 1960s, everyone was listening to (behavioral psychologist) B.F. Skinner, who said animals don’t have emotions. That’s ridiculous of course. I believe we ought to give animals a life worth living.” Grandin’s visualization skills – she’s an autistic savant – have led to her inventing equipment for the ranching industry that improves the lives, and yes, the humane slaughter, of animals. That she participates in the beef industry at any level rankles many animal activists, but in this regard she is a pragmatist.“I eat meat,” she said. Many of her statements are offered directly, without adornment, a practice that is well documented in the autistic community, where often clear, honest speech is preferred to euphemistic or metaphorical language. A statement about meat eating isn’t necessarily expected at a conference on animal welfare, but when the overwhelming majority of humans eat meat, it’s probably best to focus on the mechanisms and practices of slaughter, even if activists insist on working for abolition as a noble side quest. Barnes also notes: “Oklahoma is an agricultural state, and we don’t think meaningful progress comes from pretending agriculture doesn’t exist or treating farmers and animal advocates as opposing camps.” Jeff Corwin, Biologist. Grandin’s keynote speech will focus on industrial scale animal breeding, a practice that militates against her ethos of giving animals a life worth living. “Targeted breeding tends to have two purposes,” she said. “Either production or aesthetics. In farm animals, they breed for specific traits related to (meat) consumption and increased production, and for pets, they breed for specific traits, which can lead to problems like dogs with snouts too short to breathe well. If you overdue targeted breeding, you’re going to have problems.” An animal conference with space for ranchers and activists, vegans and omnivores, pet owners and breeders, etc., seems atypical, and that’s by design. Barnes said, “Someone working in animal rescue may believe the most urgent issue is pet overpopulation. A veterinarian may agree with the goal but be concerned about workforce shortages and the economics of providing accessible care. A farmer may care deeply about animal welfare while having a very different perspective from an animal-rights advocate about the use of animals in agriculture. The point is to create a place where people can disagree intelligently, learn from evidence, and still identify areas where progress is possible. The shared premise is fairly simple: whatever our relationship with animals—whether they live in our homes, on farms, or in the wild—we have a responsibility to consider their wellbeing.” This year the Kirkpatric Foundation is also introducing the ANIMAL Awards, which will recognize people in five fields, not just animal welfare: veterinary medicine, journalism, architecture and design, farming and ranching, and restaurants and grocers. Each recipient receives $5,000. Barnes added, “That’s an important evolution because it says something about where we believe animal welfare is headed: everyone has a role.” In keeping with the theme of interconnectedness of the issues and the goal of real solutions the conference includes a plenary session called “Breaking the Cycle: The Future of Farmed Animal Welfare,” and Barnes said that phrase gets to the heart of the issue. “What constitutes humane treatment? Where should industry standards end and public policy begin? How do economics, consumer demand, and animal welfare intersect? Can we improve the lives of animals within agricultural systems while respecting the people whose livelihoods depend upon those systems? Those aren’t easy conversations. But foundations can provide a table where people who disagree can still talk to one another—and perhaps find the places where they do agree.” The full conference is sold out, but interested parties can still register for Saturday only. Information is here ANIMAL CONFERENCE. Barnes said, “We don’t want people simply to leave ANIMAL saying, “That was a great conference. If ANIMAL does its job, the conference doesn’t really end on September 19. That’s when the work begins.” The post Animal Conference 2026: We All Have a Role in Animal Welfare appeared first on Oklahoma Gazette. ...read more read less