Temple Grandin, ‘America’s Veterinarian’ swap tips of the trade at SpokAnimal fundraiser

Marty Becker and Temple Grandin are friends: with each other, and to man’s best friends.

Becker, a veterinarian from Bonners Ferry, earned his bona fides among the furry after appearing on “Good Morning America” segments for more than a decade. Grandin’s esteemed status was earned over decades of research and advocacy work for animal welfare and autism.

The two were supposed to get some respite together at Becker’s ranch north of Bonners Ferry this week, but Becker said Grandin forgot to add the vacation to her schedule. Instead, she booked some speaking appearances across the Inland Northwest.

“Temple doesn’t take a vacation,” Becker said.

On Tuesday, the two mind-melded in a 90-minute conversation held at Whitworth University to help raise funds for the local nonprofit rescue SpokAnimal. Grandin and Becker exchanged quips about animal behaviors, bonding with pets and humane, best practices for care, whether it’s pets or livestock.

Becker is the founder of the Fear Free movement, which seeks to reduce fear, anxiety and stress in pets through better care at home, in clinics and in rescues. SpokAnimal Director Dori Peck said the initiative has revolutionized how shelters operate, including SpokAnimal.

“There are now Fear Free-certified professionals in over 75 countries,” Peck said. “We actually use that for our volunteers at SpokAnimal for dog walking and handling the cats.”

Grandin, a Colorado State University professor, is renowned globally for her research that has advanced the understanding of cattle behavior, humane livestock handling and slaughter animal welfare. Grandin’s also advanced understanding of autism as a leading advocate, leading in part to her naming to the Time 100 list as one of the most influential people in the world in 2010.

Becker and Grandin have known each other for years. Attendees of the Tuesday talk heard tales of past escapades while getting a first-hand account of Grandin’s journey from Boston to cattle ranches across the West.

Grandin said she was first exposed to the cattle industry as a 15-year-old on a visit to her aunt’s ranch in Arizona. A science teacher gave her some encouragement to pursue her education, and she received additional support along the way from key players in the industry.

“I had some problems being a woman in a man’s industry,” Grandin said. “But some of the owners of the feed lots, they were actually really good to me.”

Getting through to the industry with their ideas took some work, Becker and Grandin said. Change comes about when owners, management and those profiting from a venture have buy-in, which extends to pets and livestock, they said. It also takes time.

“It’s gonna be a learning phase of several weeks, and it will be slower,” Grandin said. “But after you learn, it’s going to be so much better.”

Grandin’s experience with autism led her to want to help others, including passing on lessons in books and resource papers that she wished she had at a younger age, like how to make friends or interact professionally.

Grandin’s life was dramatized for the silver screen in the 2010 HBO film “Temple Grandin,” starring Claire Danes. Grandin said the film accurately captured exactly how visual thinking works. Instead of leading with language like most, Grandin thinks in images and patterns.

Danes did such a good job of portraying her in the film, Grandin said she herself had a hard time telling the two apart.

“Claire Danes so much duplicated my voice that during a radio interview, as I’m pulling into the parking lot of my building, I almost mixed us up,” she joked.

Those who think visually may not be the best at complex math equations, Grandin said, but they can fill crucial roles in healthcare, animal keeping, engineering and more.

That’s part of why Grandin felt it important to share her own experiences with autism, she said. Others deserve the opportunities she had to persevere to obtain, and too often are overlooked because of their differences.

“I’m a visual thinker, and so one of the things I’m good at understanding is animals, because animals are sensitive,” Grandin said. “Visual thinkers are also really good at mechanical, and I’ve worked with autistic people undiagnosed at big machine shops, and they built all kinds of mechanical equipment for the beef industry.

“These people aren’t being replaced now, and we need them,” she added.

A lot has changed since Grandin entered the field, due in no small part to her contributions. She recalled how in the 1990s, it was not commonly believed among researchers that animals had emotions, so instead of the word “fear,” Grandin had to describe the experiences of the livestock she was studying as “agitation.”

“The fact of the matter is that neuroscientists had been studying animal emotions for years; fear and other emotions were in the neuroscience literature, but there was some resistance to thinking that dogs or what have you actually had emotions,” Grandin said. “I thought that was stupid.”

The industry, and the public, are better educated and more attentive to quality of life for livestock. Becker, also a longtime advocate and industry leader, said he and Grandin share a dream of establishing a new food category that designates which animals had lives worth living before becoming livestock, not unlike the “organic” designation.

To highlight how even consumers care, Grandin shared that she once did a study asking strangers about their thoughts on how slaughter pigs are kept, while posing as a restaurant consultant.

“I showed them 1,000 station stalls, and then I showed them pictures of just some pigs in an indoor pen,” Grandin said. “Two thirds of the public, when they found out that it couldn’t turn around, two thirds of the public have real concerns with that. One guy in Texas said, ‘I wouldn’t even keep my hunting dogs in that.’”

Grandin’s accustomed to fielding questions, including from Becker, who’s learned from his expert friend that cattle pointing the same way in the field are demonstrating a behavior learned from its peers, while also being prepared to run in the case of a predator approaching. Grandin’s also taught him how to increase milk production and that cattle make friends, including best friends they can hang close to.

“Numbered sequentially, at the ranch you put these labeled, one to 100, ear tags in,” Grandin said, recalling a study that provided some insight into relationships between cattle. “And then when they came back the following year, going through the chute, they were almost in the same order.”

Becker said Grandin has always had an insatiable curiosity, whether it’s her work, or in life, like when the two visited the British Museum in London and spotted a few winged-bull statues while seeing the Rosetta Stone.

“All of a sudden, Temple goes, ‘Oh my God, look at the hoof confirmation on that bull,’” Becker said. “Temple goes over and gets her phone out and is talking about, ‘These have to be inbred, a royal herd that was inbred.’ ”

As the author of more than 30 books on both animal welfare and autism, Grandin wants to pass on her lessons learned through her curiosity and lived experiences.

Asked about ways to support young autistic children, Grandin said she’d want to impart the value of patience to the children and their caretakers, and encouraged finding opportunities to interact with the public, the natural world and potential new interests and hobbies.

“It’s extremely beneficial, just getting kids out, doing more things,” Grandin said. “Get off the devices, do ing more real items.”

There’s a balance between having high expectations and being mindful of how to best support an autistic child. Grandin said some parents can coddle too much, which can negatively impact development. Grandin pointed to examples from her own upbringing of what “high expectations with accommodations,” looks like.

“We’d go to Sunday dinner at my grandmother’s house, and I had a hallway I could run in; that’s the accommodation,” Grandin said. “We’re going to go on a ferry to go on vacation that has a horrible horn. ‘We’re going to go on this ferry, but you could ride in the cabin underneath, away from the horn.’

“Those high expectations with some accommodations,” Grandin said.