LFS Centennial Session | Temple Grandin: maintaining high standards in animal welfare
Feb 26, 2016
On February 25, the Animal Welfare Program at the Faculty of Land and Food Systems in partnership with The Animal Welfare Foundation of Canada and alumni UBC were pleased to welcome world renowned animal welfare expert Dr. Temple Grandin to UBC. Held in the Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre, Dr. Grandin gave a talk on developing high standards of animal welfare in the agriculture industry, and how they can be maintained.
Dr. Grandin has revolutionized livestock handling facilities all over the globe and has dedicated much of her life to improving the lives of animals. She is also widely known for advancing the cause of people with autism.
Listen to a recording of Dr. Grandin’s talk here:
About Temple Grandin
Temple Grandin is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University and she has been a pioneer in improving the handling and welfare of farm animals.
She was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Temple’s achievements are remarkable because she was an autistic child. At age two she had no speech and all the signs of severe autism. Fortunately, her mother defied the advice of the doctors and kept her out of an institution. Many hours of speech therapy, and intensive teaching enabled Temple to learn speech. As a teenager, life was hard with constant teasing. Mentoring by her high school science teacher and her aunt on her ranch in Arizona motivated Temple to study and pursue a career as a scientist and livestock equipment designer.
Dr. Temple Grandin obtained her B.A. at Franklin Pierce College in 1970. In 1974 she was employed as Livestock Editor for the Arizona Farmer Ranchman and also worked for Corral Industries on equipment design. In 1975 she earned her M.S. in Animal Science at Arizona State University for her work on the behavior of cattle in different squeeze chutes. Dr. Grandin was awarded her Ph.D in Animal Science from the University of Illinois in 1989 and is currently a Professor at Colorado State University.
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