We were lucky to catch up with Ellie Laks recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ellie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.

The Gentle Barn has been my dream since I was seven years old. I always loved animals and noticed that the people around me did not, so I would yell at my poor parents as often as I could, “You’ll see, when I grow up I’ll have a big place full of animals, and I’ll show the world how beautiful they are!” It was the only thing I could think about. But I didn’t know how to start The Gentle Barn, so for years I procrastinated, until I drove by an abusive petting zoo and went in to be nosy. I found so much abuse and neglect there that I ended up bringing home sick and injured animals from there, healing them, and partnering them to ultimately start my dream. That was twenty-four years ago. I thought my dream then was big, but The Gentle Barn has now surpassed my vision. I am so ecstatic how it has grown, and I look forward to even more expansion in the future!

Ellie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I live in Santa Clarita, California and travel to Tennessee and Missouri frequently, I am the Founder of The Gentle Barn and author of My Gentle Barn, creating a sanctuary where animals heal and children learn to hope.

The mission of The Gentle Barn is to inspire kindness to animals, each other, and our planet. We want to help animals recover from abuse, help people fall in love with animals, and help our world be more peaceful. We are home to horses, donkeys, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, llamas, emus, peacocks, dogs, and a parrot. We currently have approximately 200 animals.

The purpose of The Gentle Barn is to make the most significant social impact on as many people as possible. Most people don’t know about the intelligence, affection, and personalities of farmed animals. They also don’t know about the negative impact we are having on our own health and on the environment by supporting animal agriculture. By highlighting individual animal stories and helping people around the world fall in love with them, we are opening people’s hearts and minds to who animals really are and how we are all connected. This helps people feel inspired, uplifted, and encouraged to get through their own stories, and be gentler to animals and nature at the same time. When we shine the example of kindness and compassion towards animals, we allow people to be kinder to other people and to themselves, as well. This lesson of compassion is omnipresent throughout our social media, live feeds, private tours, field trips, and we are open to the public Sundays.

We are open to visitors on Sundays, and offer private tours, field trips, and cow hug therapy sessions during the week. Across our three locations, California, Tennessee, and Missouri, we have had over 750,000 guests to date. We host folks from all over the world of all ages. Guests hug cows, cuddle turkeys, give pigs tummy rubs, hold chickens, hear the animals’ stories of resilience, look them in the eyes, and realize that we are all the same. I think they find love, compassion, empathy, unity, and ultimately find their own humanity! I’m hoping that through the experience, they realize that we are more alike than we are different, and animals and humans alike deserve the same safety, freedom, and respect.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Back in the day when I was doing dog and cat rescue, I would forge relationships with all of the volunteers in the shelters within driving distance in L.A. I would bring them gifts, I would hang out with them and ask how they’re doing, and I would become friends with them. When I went to the shelters, I would go and find my friends and say, “Okay, what dogs do you have that are being euthanized today?” And I became known as the person that would take those dogs.

One day, a friend came running and said, “There’s a dog back there, she’s 11 years old, she was just owner-surrendered because the owner is going in for open-heart surgery and they’re going to put her down in a couple of hours. Will you take her?” I said, “Yes, I’ll take her,” and the director of the shelter said, “No, you can’t have her.” I asked why and he said, “This is an open and shut case, ma’am and she’s owner-surrendered. She’s already a senior dog. We have young, adoptable dogs out front. We are putting her down, and if you have room in your facility, you should be taking a younger, placeable dog.”

I looked him in the eye. I found common ground. I talked to him with compassion and respect. I explained to him that my specialty was taking dogs that nobody else would take, and pairing them for people that were looking specifically for them, and I said, “Look, with all the love and respect in my body, I don’t tell you how to do your job. Please don’t tell me how to do mine. I really want to take that dog.” He said, “I’m not going to give it to you.” I said, “Well then I’ll stay here until you say yes,” and I stayed until he finally gave in and let me take the dog.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

Yes. I would. As I mentioned, The Gentle Barn had been a dream of mine since I was seven years old. I loved animals as a child and noticed that the people around me didn’t see animals the way I did. I vowed at seven that when I grew up, I would have a prominent place full of animals and show the world how beautiful they are. I didn’t know exactly how to start The Gentle Barn or what would be the first step to creating a nonprofit organization, so I procrastinated for a long time. It wasn’t until I was a young adult living in a little house with a half-acre backyard that I discovered an abusive petting zoo and started taking the animals suffering there home with me. A few months later, I realized that my backyard was full of animals, and I had started my dream.
I want to open more sanctuaries worldwide so more people can meet these incredible beings and learn how to be their voices. I want to find more ways to tell their stories through writing more books and a Television show. I want to save more animals, heal more children, and open more hearts to love!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gentlebarn.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegentlebarn/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegentlebarn/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/gentlebarn
• Other: www.ellielaks.com

Image Credits
The Gentle Barn