kim sturla

Kim Sturla co-founded Animal Place, a sanctuary for farmed animals, in 1989. Her long and active role in the animal rights movement includes writing the first law in the country that protects pre-university students unwilling to participate in animal dissections. For more than a decade she also served as director of the Peninsula Humane Society.

At Animal Place, Kim is known as the resident Pig Whisperer, and during two separate visits I saw those talents displayed firsthand. We sat down together in the pot bellied pig pasture for this interview, and enjoyed a visit from Frank, one of the residents, as we talked.