A jungle no more: How Temple Grandin’s designs have reformed the meat industry
Ms Grandin has played a big part in the change. She is a star in two seemingly separate firmaments: animal welfare and the understanding of autism. Half the cattle in America and Canada today are slaughtered in equipment for restraining cattle designed by Ms Grandin, and around 35% of all cattle in America are handled in her curved chute and stockyard design. She has trained workers in more than 200 slaughterhouses all over the world. Meanwhile, she has become a sought-after speaker and writer on autism, a condition she has herself. “I was severely autistic as a child,” says Ms Grandin, who credits her mother for pushing her to lead a life as normal as possible and make use of her talents, which include an unusual facility for reading drawings in three dimensions.