Meet the Humans
Kathy Stevens, Founder and Director
Kathy left the south for graduate school in Boston, MA, where she spent eleven years as a high school English teacher. She received widespread recognition for her novel approaches to education, and in 2000 was asked to head a charter school in Boston. Instead, one year later, she opened Catskill Animal Sanctuary, one of the country’s leading havens for farm animals and a center for raising public awareness of their sentience and their suffering. Kathy’s first book, Where the Blind Horse Sings, shares the life-changing lessons learned from a blind horse, a sheep, a pig, and a rooster, and received much critical and popular acclaim. It has just been released in paperback after three hardcover printings. Her second book, Animal Camp, will be released in late 2010. Kathy lives behind the barn with her dog Murphy, CAS's Director of Canine Pursuits, and her cats Fat Boy and Mouse. She's an avid reader, loves to hike, swim, and bike, and spends rare quiet time with her partner David and her close friends. |
Julie Barone, Assistant to the Director
When she’s not on the farm, Julie can be found hitting the heavy bag at the local muay thai kickboxing gym, studying aromatherapy, expanding her private practice as a holistic health counselor, and taking long walks with her beautiful dog, Gabriella. |
April Harrison, Farm Manager
In her spare time, April is an avid reader, and is a huge fan of historical novels. |
Alex Spacey
Outside of CAS, Alex can be found roasting beans at Catskill Mountain Coffee, listening to the Beatles, and working on his novels, which he hopes to get published someday. |
Allan Landes
When he’s not at CAS, Allan works as a microbiologist for a prominent medical center, and enjoys hiking and photography. |
Troy Gangle, Farm Manager
Troy studied Buddhism for many years at a monastery, where he met his wife, and remains a practicing and devout Buddhist to this day. He loves hanging out with his children, Juno and Wycke, and also enjoys wood sculpting, and sharpening his homestead skills, including cider and maple syrup making. |
Abbie Rogers, Animal Care Director
After closing down the farm for the evening, Abbie can be found hanging out and making dinner with Beacon, her roommate and favorite pot belly pig. |
Anthony Desimone, Technology Coordinator
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Michelle Alvarez, Director of Outreach
When she’s not at the farm, Michelle can be found in New York City with her partner and their four rescued cats, where she obsessively practices samurai sword fighting and kickboxing. |
Caleb Fieser, Woodworker and Carpenter
Caleb has renovated old farmhouses, and loves to kayak and craft Shaker style furniture. |
Karen Wilson, Animal Care Staff
With degrees in Biology and Forestry, Karen served in the Peace Corps in Malawi, where she worked closely with the residents on sustainable land use, forest preservation, and building economically viable communities. It was in Malawi where Karen met her beloved dog, Chipulikano, who returned to the United States with her in 2007. Karen has worked with over 300 horses over the past 15 years; her experience includes teaching riding, horse medical care, and training. In her free time, Karen enjoys horseback riding, hiking with Chipulikano, scuba diving, camping and drawing. |
Kathy Stevens, Founder and Director of Catskill Animal Sanctuary, spent her childhood on a Virginia farm. It was in many ways an idyllic childhood, one that instilled in her a deep love of and respect for all animals. Little did she know how such a childhood would shape her future!
Julie was born and raised in Ulster County, New York, and holds degrees in Mathematics, Interactive Multi-Media Technology, and Nutrition. Her formal training serves her well, as she runs the main office and handles everything from database administration, online and printed communications, financial book keeping, the volunteer program, and animal intake and adoptions.
April is a native of Saugerties, New York, and has been with CAS since 2003. She manages a wide range of activities, including the feeding and turn out of all CAS animals, the daily cleaning of our barns and shelters, the twice daily feeding routine, ordering equipment and supplies, and training volunteers.
Before settling down in New York's Hudson Valley over 20 years ago, Alex Spaey traveled the world and spent significant periods of his life in Europe and Africa. At CAS, Alex enjoys what he calls “the grunt work,” which includes everything from routine maintenance of the barns and grounds, animal care, and carpentry work. He feels privileged and honored to work so closely with the animals, and hopes that more people will discover that they are sentient beings and stop eating them!
With an extensive background in dog and cat rescue, Allan originally hails from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and now lives in the Albany, New York, area. Since joining CAS in 2005, Allan has done it all, from implementing animal health care regimens, cleaning shelter areas and feeding the animals, training volunteers, and maintaining the facilities and grounds.
A native of Ohio, Troy oversees the day-to-day operations of the farm, including supervising the general care and feeding of the animals, maintaining the shelter buildings and property, coordinating volunteers, and managing feed, machinery, and equipment supplies.
Born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Abbie is CAS’s Animal Care Director. She is the main liaison with local veterinarians, and is responsible for implementing health care regimens, monitoring the well-being of the animals, and managing diets. A former CAS intern, she moved to Saugerties, New York, in May of 2009 after graduating from college with degrees in History and Environmental Studies. 
Originally from New Jersey, Anthony is pursuing a Bachelors of Computer Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and is responsible for keeping CAS’s website and online communications dynamic and current. When he’s not in front of a computer, Anthony leads tours for visitors, and is also a regular in the barn, where he tends to the feeding and cleaning needs of our animal friends. 
Born and raised in New York City, Michelle joined the staff in 2009, after volunteering for over a year. Her responsibilities include handling media relations, managing CAS's online and printed communications, recruiting new supporters, building alliances with animal-friendly businesses, increasing public awareness of CAS, and planning special events. Prior to CAS, Michelle spent over a decade as a public interest lawyer, with a focus on environmental justice litigation and policy initiatives. 
A native of Germantown, New York, Caleb is CAS’s buildings and grounds manager. He grew up learning and perfecting carpentry from his father, who has done restoration work with Historic Hudson Valley for many years. In addition to his primary work building new barns and shelters, Caleb is also responsible for the overall maintenance of our fences, buildings, and grounds.
Karen joined the CAS staff in 2009. In addition to helping with the daily routine, Karen works with horses in need of handling and fills in for Abbie doing animal care on Abbie's days off.
