Catherine Kelaher recollects trying to save spiders and adoring bottle feeding lambs as a young girl. Catherine wishes she made the connection to animal exploitation earlier, having been a vegetarian that ditched dairy for a number of years.
In 2008 Catherine finally aligned her actions with how she felt about animals and went vegan. She was active in animal rights organisations and in 2010, Catherine became aware of a local hen farm during an Animal Liberation meeting. After seeing rescue footage in the documentary Peaceable Kingdom, Catherine and her friend contacted the local hen farm and organised to take six hens from the farmer. This was the start of Catherine's journey into animal rescue, and shortly after their first visit, Catherine had rescued 350 hens from this farm.
Catherine founded NSW Hen Rescue in 2010 and has since saved thousands of hens and farm animals. NSW Hen Rescue recently moved to their new premises, now fondly known as Hen Haven.
Catherine is also the author of two books, "Amanda The Teen Activist" a fictional tale about a young girl saving animals for 8-12 year olds, and her most recent book "Saving Animals: A Future Activists Guide" which launches on 4th May 2021.
In this episode, Catherine also speaks about taking part in disruptions and lockdowns, her brushes with law enforcement and implementing self care practices for sustainable activism.
http://instagram.com/nswhenrescue
http://instagram.com/veganhen
http://facebook.com/nswhenrescue
http://henrescue.org
