Dr. Temple Grandin, the renowned author and advocate for farm animal welfare and persons afflicted with autism, will speak at Wilmington College March 30 during two sessions, 3 and 7:30 p.m., in Hugh G. Heiland Theatre.
The Wilmington College Agriculture Department and the Clinton County Farm Bureau are co-sponsoring the event, which is free of charge and open to the public. Grandin may be available to sign her books.
Grandin was diagnosed with autism at 2 years old. The anxiety she experienced provided her with insight into the stress experienced by livestock, which resulted in her inventing more humane methods for handling animals at meat plants.
Grandin will be inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, N.Y. this September. In 2010, TIME magazine selected her among its “100 Most Influential People in the World” and last year she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
A professor of animal science at Colorado State University, she is the author of 12 books, including “Animals in Translation” and “Animals Make Us Human.” She is an advocate for animal health and well-being and her writings on the flight zone and other principles of grazing animal behavior share strategies for reducing the stress experienced by livestock.
She designed livestock handling facilities located throughout the United States and on three other continents. Meat plants handling nearly half of the cattle in North America utilize the center track restrainer system she designed. Also, her curved chute and race systems for cattle are used worldwide.
Also, many corporations employ Grandin’s objective scoring system for assessing the handling of cattle and pigs at their meat plants as a means for improving animal welfare.
Her other areas of noted research are: cattle temperament, environmental enrichment for pigs, reducing dark cutters and bruises, bull fertility, training procedures and effective stunning methods for cattle and pigs at meat plants.
Submitted by Randall Sarvis, director, public relations, Wilmington College.
