29 Facts About Gene Baur

Gene Baur is vegan and has been involved with animal rights since he co-founded Farm Sanctuary in 1986.

Gene Baur was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Hollywood, California, the oldest of six siblings.

Gene Baur attended Cal State Northridge where he obtained a bachelor's degree in sociology.

Gene Baur paid for college, in part, by doing background work in television and movies which included commercials for McDonald's and KFC.

Gene Baur believed the conditions he observed were unacceptable, and these experiences helped motivate the creation of Farm Sanctuary, which created the sanctuary movement in North America.

Gene Baur has expressed concern about the impact factory farming has on the environment, on workers and consumers, and on rural communities.

Gene Baur has visited communities and witnessed the impact of large scale animal agriculture.

Gene Baur has testified before local, state and federal legislative bodies and spoken to farming and policy organizations in efforts to reform the industry and improve farm animal welfare.

In 2004, Gene Baur gave a talk entitled "Animal Rights and Human Responsibility" at the United States Department of Agriculture headquarters in Washington, DC, and in 2007, he was called to testify before the US House agriculture subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry about the inhumane conditions common on factory farms.

Gene Baur played a role in passing the first US laws to restrict industrial animal farming systems.

In 2002, Gene Baur led a campaign in Florida to pass a ballot initiative banning gestation crates for pigs.

Farm Sanctuary and Gene Baur consented to pay a fine of $50,000.

In 2006, Gene Baur was involved in getting a ballot measure introduced and passed in Arizona which banned gestation crates and veal crates.

Gene Baur played a role in a California law that went into effect in 2012, banning the production and sale of foie gras, which is made by force feeding ducks and geese and causing their livers to expand up to ten times their normal size.

Gene Baur was involved in passing a 2006 Chicago ordinance banning the sale of foie gras.

In 2012, Gene Baur started competing in marathons and triathlons to demonstrate how plant foods can fuel athletic performance.

In July 2013, Gene Baur participated in his first full Ironman Triathlon in Lake Placid, New York.

Gene Baur was interviewed on Tony Robbins' Blog and was regarded as "The Change Cultivator" which featured him as a man on a mission to change cultural norms about the way society views animals and as someone who is influential in promoting a plant-based lifestyle.

Gene Baur's investigative exposes and advocacy activities have been covered by ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Time magazine, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Gene Baur has been featured in documentaries, including Forks Over Knives and A Cow at My Table.

Gene Baur was an associate producer of the 2011 documentary, Vegucated.

Also in 2011, Gene Baur appeared on The Martha Stewart Show hour-long episode on veganism.

In 2002, Gene Baur wrote a chapter for A Primer on Animal Rights: Leading Experts Write about Animal Cruelty and Exploitation, edited by Kim Stallwood.

Gene Baur was cited in the book, The Longest Struggle: From Pythagoras to PETA by Norm Phelps, published in 2007.

In 2011, Gene Baur was included as a contributor in Forks Over Knives, a documentary film about plant-based eating and health.

In Voices of the Food Revolution, a book about healing through food which was published in 2013, Gene Baur was interviewed by author, John Robbins.

Gene Baur wrote a chapter for Running, Eating, Thinking - A Vegan Anthology, edited by Martin Rowe, which delves into the mindset and dietary choices of vegan athletic runners.

In 2016, Gene Baur wrote the foreword for the book, Vegan 1 Day: Stories of Living the Good Life by John and Carol Merryfield.

Gene Baur was inducted into the United States Animal Rights Hall of Fame in 2001.