 | This article contains promotional content .(January 2026) |
Lorri Houston (aka Lorri Bauston) co-founded the Farm Sanctuary in 1986 and founded Animal Acres in 2005.
| This article contains promotional content .(January 2026) |
Lorri Houston (aka Lorri Bauston) co-founded the Farm Sanctuary in 1986 and founded Animal Acres in 2005.
Houston was born May 11 in Madison, Wisconsin. She attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison where she obtained a Master of Public Policy & Administration (MPA) and a Master of Social Work, Public Administration and Social Service Professions. Houston graduated 1983. While working at Greenpeace in Chicago, Houston met her now ex-husband, Gene Baur. When they married, Lorri and Gene merged their last names to become Lorri and Gene Bauston (after their divorce, they went back to their original names).
Houston is a board member of Heartland Farm Sanctuary. [1]
The Farm Sanctuary [2] was the first shelter for farm animals; created to protect and advocate for the rights of farm animals against factory farming and mistreatment. While doing research and observation at a stockyard in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Houston came across a living sheep on a pile of dead carcasses. [3] She is now known as Hilda, and was immediately rescued by Houston and was taken to a veterinarian. It turned out that Hilda was perfectly healthy, but was discarded as a "downer" because she was unable to stand after enduring the brutal conditions of transportation from farm to factory. Unable to keep a sheep in her backyard forever, Houston started Farm Sanctuary with then-husband Gene Baur, and Hilda was their first rescued farm animal. Today, Farm Sanctuary houses over 400 rescued farm animals in three locations in the United States. [4] Houston left Farm Sanctuary in 2004 to begin the establishment of Animal Acres in 2005.
Animal Acres [5] was founded in May 2005 as an extension of Houston's work with the Farm Sanctuary. It provides a home for farm animals that have been abused, neglected, and/or mistreated. Located in Los Angeles County, California, Animal Acres also provides tours about factory farming, vegetarianism/veganism, and animal rights. [6] Houston left Animal acres in April 2011.