The Vegan Who Bought Her Husband's Cattle Ranch

...and turned it into an animal sanctuary.

Photos by Marie De Jesús | Edited by Shawna Kenney

Renee King-Sonnen sits atop a blue barrel, strumming an acoustic guitar while cows graze lazily behind her. Stars and stripes cover her clothes, from her cowboy hat to her T-shirt and sleeveless vest, while her toes keep the beat inside cherry-red vegan-leather boots.

“There’s a big veg fest in Austin/there’s a new veg fest in Lubbock/and that cattle ranch in Angleton’s a sanctuary,” she twangs, as her husband, Tommy, lounges nearby in the grass. “Texas is going vegan/Texas is going vegan, baby/Texas is going vegan right now.”

The Angleton sanctuary she mentions is hers, and Renee, a 60-year-old vegan animal rights activist, has been singing and dancing for the herd here at Rowdy Girl Sanctuary since back when she was a carnivorous cattle rancher’s wife.