Farm Sanctuary recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ Day — a day honoring the first inhabitants and stewards of the land now known as the United States; their histories and cultures; and their ongoing fight for sovereignty, recognition, and the return of their ancestral homelands taken through broken treaties and acts of violence and genocide.

Indigenous-led communities, organizations, and movements are consistently taking action to defend Indigenous rights while countering climate catastrophe and the destruction of our shared ecosystem — exacerbated by industries with colonial roots, such as industrialized agriculture, which harms us all.

As an organization providing sanctuary for farm animals on ancestral Native land, it is important that we acknowledge the history of erasure and violence toward Indigenous peoples and the realities of our current food system as a legacy of colonization and settler colonial animal agriculture.

During European colonization, livestock-based agriculture was a driving force in expansion, and farm animals became instruments in the displacement of Native peoples from their home territories. We recognize this harm and commit to working toward affirming and honoring the realities of injustice and inequity experienced by tribal communities throughout this land through dialogue, education, relationship-building, and collaboration.

This Indigenous Peoples’ Day, join us in honoring Indigenous leadership and resistance and deepening our commitment to supporting the recognition of Indigenous rights.

At Farm Sanctuary, we share acknowledgments of various heritage and history months, awareness weeks, and days of recognition throughout the year to celebrate and honor the diverse cultures and lived experiences of our community and to show respect for and affirm the dignity of those who have been historically oppressed and marginalized. We do this in tandem with internal initiatives to foster an organizational culture that supports greater equity, social justice, and belonging.