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Farmed Animals Are People Too


I decided to write and illustrate Farmed Animals Are People Too during a time when I felt I needed to do more as an animal welfare advocate. COVID restrictions were lifting, life was getting back to normal (for most), but I fully transitioned to working from home, and I was rarely social. I felt disconnected from the “real” world, in general, but what I missed most was helping animals. I always wanted to write a children’s book about appreciating farmed animals, since there are virtually none available, but illustration has never been one of my talents.


I was wandering around the arts’ store near my apartment in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and I saw rubber blocks next to oil paints used for printing. The paints that initially caught my attention were vibrant primary colours, and I was trying to figure out why I would ever need these in my life. It was an impulse that I so often get when in any stationary or arts supply store.


Then, it came to me. The answer to my inept abilities as any proficient type of painter within the fine arts; I could make prints of the illustrations I could not draw. So, I bought a few rubber blocks, a carving tool, some paint, and thick white paper for my experiments.

The first three “stamps” I made are on the cover of the book using the colours that initially attracted me. The pig and cow hoofs as well as the chicken foot became my inspiration for the entire book. Over the coming weeks, I carved many different types of animals between teaching online courses and wrote simple prose to accompany some of the vignettes on the pages. Eventually, the book came together (with some animals set aside for future projects), and my goal had finally been realized; I finished writing and illustrating a children’s

book about farmed animals.


I reached out to farmed animal sanctuaries in the US and Canada, and began selling the books and donating the proceeds to each of the sanctuaries that wanted to participate. Since that time, I have also created Wild Animals Are People Too, as just another way to teach children about animals and the important place they hold on the planet.


I am now in law school, and my intent is to do all that I can for animals with the force of the law behind me. Educating children of the importance of animals, especially those we commodify for human use, is important to creating the shift in thought away from their exploitation. Eventually, my hope is that every human will realize that our planet needs both human and non-human life to survive.



Mark Snydr Jr. is generously donating all proceeds of book sales to AEL Advocacy. If you’re interested in purchasing a paperback copy of Farmed Animals are People Too, or Wild Animals are People Too, please e-transfer admin@aeladvocacy.ca and indicate which book(s) you wish to purchase.


  The prices are as follows:

  • Farm Animals Are People Too → $10.00

  • Wild Animals Are People Too → $10.00

  • Bundle Option (both books) → $15.00 

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