As I'm preparing for my 2-week trip through Vietnam tomorrow, I wanted to share my trip to Farm Sanctuary in Orland, CA, as promised from my previous Bay Area post. I've been a member of the Farm Sanctuary for years and have wanted to visit all the rescued animals at one of their three sanctuaries. So on a brisk sunny day after Christmas in 2015, my family and I took a scenic drive from San Francisco north to Orland, CA near the Mendocino mountains.
We arrived late afternoon as the sun was starting to set on the peaceful, beautifully vast 300-acre sanctuary, and we were the only visitors. We called the office on a hand radio at the entrance and someone came to greet us. The admission is free for members or you can make a donation.
My heart fluttered to see the golden glow of cows grazing in open fields of grass and chickens frolicking freely across rolling hills.
I immediately fell in love with Mario and his faux hawk when I met him. He was left for dead as a calf in a pile at a dairy farm but a kind truck driver realized Mario was still alive with an broken leg and got him to Farm Sanctuary!
We visited one of the cleanest barn I've ever seen, where rescued farm factory pigs like Mia were snoring peaceful in their beds of hay or making their bed. Seeing them and learning about their past lives brought me tears of joy and sadness. They are the lucky few to be rescued out of billions of pigs being slaughtered worldwide each year.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, we said hello and goodbye to the cutest BFFs, Marcia (left) and Maurice (right). Marcia was born blind but that hasn't stopped her from running around and playing with her seeing-eye friend Maurice. When they both came up to me, I had no idea that Marcia is blind.
It was a bitter sweet goodbye to the animals and the volunteers at the sanctuary, but I know the volunteers are taking such great care of the animals so that they're able to live the rest of their lives in peace. Their stories of struggles and survival inspired me to continue to speak up and fight for all abused and exploited animals in factory farms/labs/circuses/zoos.
Each of us have the power to save about 100 animals a year by simply not eating animals. A plant-based diet and vegan lifestyle is the most effective way we can help save the most animals. 100 animals X 1M people = 100M animals saved in a year ! Secondly, remove all animal products from our clothing and accessories will also save animals, because leather is a co-product of the meat industry. Buying animal leather directly supports the killing of cows/sheep/lamb/etc.
This was such a profound trip and I highly encourage you to support the life-saving work Farm Sanctuary is doing and visit one of their sanctuaries if you can.
No Comments