Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal rescue and advocacy organization, has launched an innovative and educational Virtual Experience to educate the public about factory farms, and to offer alternatives. Combining digital design, interactive gaming components, photography and video on an Adobe Flash platform, the Farm Sanctuary Virtual Experience engages the participant to investigate and explore two very different worlds: the factory farm and the sanctuary.

Every year from May through October, Farm Sanctuary invites the public to visit its shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y. and Orland, Calif., where hundreds of cows, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys, and other rescued farm animals live out their lives in peace. The “Explore” section of the Virtual Experience lends inspiration from a sanctuary visit by enabling participants to meet some of the rescued animal ambassadors who have found a lifelong home at sanctuary. Heartwarming stories and fascinating facts about Farm Sanctuary's animal residents conveyed in text, photographs and videos that pop up on the screen make the Virtual Experience both fun and informative.

Many of the animals living at Farm Sanctuary's shelters were rescued from deprivation and abuse on factory farms and would have ended their lives in slaughterhouses, as depicted in the “Investigate” section of the Virtual Experience. Here, visitors become intrepid investigators who uncover the hidden cruelty behind industrial meat, milk and egg production — from the moment they are born to when they are confined so tightly in cages, crates and factory-like buildings that they can barely move, to the slaughter line where their lives end. The graphic scenes portrayed in this segment of the Virtual Experience are based on Farm Sanctuary's more than two decades worth of experience documenting the horrific suffering animals are subjected to in factory farms and slaughterhouses, and include photos and videos from investigations conducted throughout the U.S. and Canada.

“Recognizing the unsettling reality on factory farms and exploring alternatives are necessary to lead us toward a more compassionate world,” said Gene Baur, president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary. “Integrating the textual and visual elements that comprise the Virtual Experience moves people to investigate and explore for themselves, helping them understand what animals endure on today’s factory farms and why change is necessary.”

The Farm Sanctuary Virtual Experience was designed and programmed by digital media specialist and Farm Sanctuary intern, Stephanie Gelish using Adobe Flash, allowing for the use of an avatar that the user can control to interface with the animated aspects of the environment's 14 distinct levels. Offering a new dimension to online animal advocacy, the Farm Sanctuary Virtual Experience aims to draw people in and pique their interest so they'll better understand how farm animals experience life, and that it matters how these animals are treated. Baur added, “We hope this project will empower people to make more humane food choices.”

The Farm Sanctuary Virtual Experience can be accessed at http://action.farmsanctuary.org/site/PageServer?pagename=VirtualExperience.

About Farm Sanctuary

Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the "food animal" industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif., provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming. Additional information can be found at farmsanctuary.org or by calling 607-583-2225.