About ACF

Mission

The Animal Compassion Foundation serves as a dynamic hub for ranchers, meat producers and researchers to learn and share practices and methodologies that support the animals' physical needs, behaviors and well-being by incorporating wisdom from the past, enhanced by present and future innovations.

Vision

The quest for cheap food has created an industrialized model of meat production in which animals are bred and raised in conditions focused on efficiency rather than the basic needs of the animals. The abilities and skills necessary to raise farm animals with their welfare and well-being as the top priority have become lost in this model.

The Foundation will act as an interactive center for knowledge collected from research and farm animal producers that can be used to achieve the Animal Compassionate Standards and improve the lives of animals on farms.

History

The Animal Compassion Foundation was established by Whole Foods Market as a natural progression of the Company's efforts to help producers evolve their practices for raising farm animals naturally and humanely. The launch of the Animal Compassion Foundation parallels the development of Whole Foods Market's enhanced species-specific Animal Compassionate Standards.

People

Executive Director, Anne Malleau
The Animal Compassion Foundation is led by Executive Director Anne Malleau. A graduate of The University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario, Anne earned both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Agriculture and an MBA in Agribusiness, providing her with comprehensive training in animal production as well as all aspects of animal welfare and on-farm food safety programs. Prior to her employment with the Animal Compassion Foundation, Anne served as the Communications Coordinator for the Colonel K.L. Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare in Guelph, Ontario. As a former member of the Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare Steering Committee (1995–1997), she was also a presenter at the International Society for Applied Ethology in Prague, Czech Republic (1997) and a spokesperson for the Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (1997).

In her current role as Executive Director for the Animal Compassion Foundation, Anne travels extensively throughout the world. She visits farms and attends meetings and conferences to observe, learn and share information and ideas on animal husbandry.

Her role also includes discovering areas needed for research and approving grants to producers and researchers that fulfill those needs.

Animal Compassion Foundation Board of Directors
As an independent, non-profit 501c(3) organization, the Animal Compassion Foundation has its own Board of Directors which includes the following Whole Foods Market Team Members: Margaret Wittenberg (Chair), Steve Keville (Vice Chair), John Mackey, A.C. Gallo, Michael Besancon, Elizabeth Fry, Roberta Lang, Theo Weening, John Nicholson, and Dan Neuerberg.

Contact Information

Whole Foods Market covers the administrative expenses for the Foundation, including supplying office space and general administrative support at their headquarters in Austin. You can contact the ACF Foundation at:

Animal Compassion Foundation
550 Bowie St.
Austin, Texas 78703-4677
512.477.4455
mail@animalcompassionfoundation.org