Karen Davis's Final Wish Was Fulfilled

The persistent advocate for domestic birds got her ashes spread around the entire perimeter of her UPC bird sanctuary.

Chickens at United Poultry Concerns watch from behind the fence of their enclosure as the ashes of their previous main caretaker, Karen Davis, are spread along the perimeter of the sanctuary.

On November 25th I was in Machipongo, Virginia at United Poultry Concerns attending Karen Davis’s beautiful memorial service. I have a strong sense that she would have been elated with how well this event went. Her favorite part would have likely been the end when her ashes were spread along the edge of the sanctuary by many of the people who came to the sanctuary to honor her life, death, and legacy. Being cremated and having her ashes distributed around the sanctuary was her final wish. Prior to attending this memorial service I published a tribute to Karen that you can read here and I just uploaded a video of the scatter ceremony that you can watch here.

Wayne has been working at the UPC sanctuary for 15 years and finished the scatter ceremony off.

Karen Davis grew up in a family where unfortunately others didn’t share her same sensitivity and compassion for nonhuman animals. Her father was an avid hunter and in his ideal world Karen and her three brothers would have been pro-hunting as well. All three brothers grew up participating in the destruction of innocent animals by way of hunting, but Karen rejected this form of unnecessary violence. It wasn’t until after she passed away in early November that her siblings, especially two of the three, even began to know and understand what their sister was all about and what she had passionately, tirelessly, and brilliantly been advocating for over the past few decades. They were only able to begin to understand because Karen’s passing produced major press articles, which helped to highlight just how much of an impact she’s had. After she died the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and other publications published articles about her. As smart as she was, even Karen probably couldn’t have predicted the coverage her death would engender around the world. The video below is Karen’s brother Amos speaking at the memorial after traveling to be there with his son, Amos, from Louisiana.

Karen’s brother, Amos, distributes his sister’s ashes.

Karen’s nephew, Amos, spreads her ashes while the hens watch with curiosity.

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Kay Evans, Founder of Chocowinity Chicken Sanctuary, got up and spoke about what an inspiration Karen was to her and how Karen helped change the direction of her life in an extremely positive way. She first found out about Karen and taking compassionate action for chickens when she came across the story of Viva, the first chicken who Karen helped and the chicken who inspired the creation of the UPC sanctuary. When this woman read the story of Viva she realized that helping chickens and giving them sanctuary is what she wanted to do too, so she got in touch with Karen and got more than enough encouragement to carry through. This led to saving chickens who fell or jumped off slaughter trucks, chickens who were from battery caged egg “farms,” and more. She began taking chickens with her to work, which led some people to stop consuming them. It became clear what kind of a ripple effect Karen could have on people.

Kay Evans, spreading Karen’s ashes, was inspired and encouraged by Karen to save chickens and giving them sanctuary.

Lenore Braford, Founder of Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge, a sanctuary in Central North Carolina came out to pay respect to Karen. She spoke about how Karen hosted her at UPC years ago when she was visiting sanctuaries around the country in hopes of learning as much information as possible before starting her own safe haven for animals. She spoke highly of how encouraging Karen was and how excited Karen became when she mentioned that she planned on beginning sanctuary life by rescuing chickens and turkeys.

Lenore Braford, Founder of Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge, spreads Karen’s ashes at the same place she came to years ago to learn how to care for birds.

Mary Finelli, Founder of Fish Feel and a longtime friend of Karen, spoke about how laser focused Karen was with her advocacy for oppressed animals and how she truly fought until the end. She also acknowledged how quirky Karen was and that she held an amazing sense of humor, certainly an almost essential trait to have when living in such a dark world.

Mary Finelli, Founder of Fish Feel and a longtime friend of Karen, spreading Karen’s ashes. Mary was one of the very last people who ever got to talk to and see Karen.

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Taking photos of Karen and the birds at her sanctuary in May of 2019.

I hadn’t planned on speaking at the memorial service, but after a bunch of other people got up and spoke I realized there was something about Karen that needed to be said, which probably wasn’t going to be said unless I got up and expressed it myself. So that’s what I did. I found it challenging to speak at first as I was overcome by emotion from the moment I volunteered to speak, but after a short bit I was able to get the words to come out, albeit not as eloquently as I would have wished for. I let everyone in the room know that it should be acknowledged that throughout Karen’s career she did not have high hopes that humanity’s attitudes and behavior would change towards nonhuman animals who’ve been subjugated by our species on a systematic level for so long. Yet, despite the fact that she didn’t live in optimism and non-evidence-based hope for much better and brighter days for animals, she was still a resolute, consistent, and highly driven activist who never gave up and always did what she thought was right by principle. I share this sentiment with Karen as well. Except for my very early days as a vegan, I’ve been an activist for many years driven by principle, not by some unfounded hope that humans will adopt better ways of living and treating others on a grand scale. We both realize that every life that can saved, healed, protected, and cherished is worth it, even if these lives represent just a tiny grain of sand compared to their counterparts who go through life without any fate of luck.

After I went up and spoke, one last person got up to speak and she seemed to have tried to positivity wash what I had just said. She talked about how around twenty years ago she couldn’t find anything in the store that represented meat other than tofu, but now herself and others have all kinds of options, thanks partly to the work of Karen Davis. I wasn’t going to have an argument with anyone on this day, but the truth is that these plant-based options aren’t necessarily driven by any individual activists and the existence of these options doesn’t mean there are less animals being bred and killed for human appetites.

More plant-based options that mimic their animal-based counterparts are a win for us food lovers, but they aren’t a win per se for the animals. For example, the number of plant-based chicken-like products that have come out since I became vegan over 12 years ago is phenomenal, but with that being said the number of chickens being exploited, killed, and consumed has gone up extraordinarily too, plus the line speeds of the slaughterhouses have sky-rocked to incomprehensible levels. At any given time more irresponsible people are getting baby chickens shipped to them in the mail and raising their own chickens to use them for food, more industrial sheds are being built to house millions of tortured souls, and more fast food chains are successfully opening new locations around the world. Each day there are far more chickens and other birds killed than there is even demand for. The pre-made hot chicken products you see at grocery stores, convenience stores, and fast food restaurants only sit out on the heated trays for a little while and then they are tossed away and replaced. Millions and millions of chickens and turkeys have been killed due to avian flu concerns over the last couple years alone and then they are thrown away and replaced like it’s no big deal. Suffice it to say, more plant-based options for us humans has not brought about a better world for nonhuman animals, nor has it helped to dismantle our rigged food system.

It’s undoubtable that Karen has made invaluable contributions to this world and has been the catalyst for all kinds of wonderful ripple effects. Although she is no longer alive with us, her advocacy will live on and for once she will be making lasting impacts without any effort required. It sure was an amazing experience to be at her memorial event and be surrounded by others who, like myself, considered her such a gift in human form.

Exactly one week after Karen Davis’s memorial I went to a public live market and slaughterhouse in Maryland that sells and kills chickens, turkeys, ducks, and numerous other species of birds and other animals. It was completely the opposite of the previous Saturday; now I was surrounded by people who valued animals only as a means to an end for profit and consumption, now I was surrounded by animals who were living in highly unnatural and unhealthy conditions and constantly surrounded by predators rather than protectors, now I was surrounded by animals living in pain, fear, stress, and terror. I witnessed chickens and other birds being pulled out of cages and weighed in front of customers to determine how much it would cost to buy their lifeless and chopped up bodies. I saw two chickens, just a few feet in front of me in a pen that was marked “Slow Growth and Organic Chickens” being cannibalized. How much longer they’d have to endure such unbearable-to-imagine levels of pain and misery before finally dying was a total mystery. I told one worker that there were two chickens being eaten alive, but he didn’t care and ended up walking away. I told another worker who then picked each of these cannibalized birds up by their fragile wings, birds who’d been victimized by humans and by members of their own kind (who were driven to cannibalism by living under highly unnatural and degrading conditions). Each bird was taken to the back room where the animals are killed, unseeable to the public.

The live market and slaughterhouse I went to exactly one week after Karen’s memorial promoting “delicious” birds. The cannibalized birds I saw were “organic” and “slow grown” as well.

Although each of these birds was in awful condition, I believe with the right kind of pain management, veterinary care, and human kindness they could have been saved, recovered, and went on to live a worthwhile life. We need a world where far more people take the words, actions, and insights of people like Karen Davis seriously and decide to implement having tangible and consistent empathy and compassion for animals into their life. I dream of a day where I can’t go into these places anymore because they simply don’t exist or that if I do go in it’s more practical to save animals and get them to health providers and safe havens where they all deserve to be. Whatever the case, I wish these animals could know that not all humans are monsters and that people like Karen Davis and others who share her sense of kindness, justice, and purpose do exist and would do more if they could.

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Karen wearing a shirt that says Too Neat To Eat. The overwhelming vast majority of humans are completely fine with not eating peacocks, like the individual pictured here…if only they could extend that to other birds and the rest of the animals we exploit and kill without adequate justifications.

Rest In Peace Karen.

Thank you to Franklin and Liqin from UPC for doing such a great job with organizing and putting the memorial service together.

-Unparalleled Suffering