Blue, a Yorkshire pig, enjoyed a warm sunny Thursday morning by taking a long nap and receiving belly scratches from Farm Sanctuary tour guide Rafaella Epalas.
Named after his bright blue eyes, the now fully grown hoofed mammal won over the heart of a child participating in a Future Farms of America program designed to teach children about animal agriculture. Participants of the program purchase young livestock, food, and the necessary equipment to raise the animals. The children culminate the program by selling the animals at auction for slaughter, said Epalas.
Blue, who had been destined to be slaughtered, was given a second chance at life and rehomed at Farm Sanctuary, a nonprofit organization that aims to “combat the abuses of factory farming, advocate for institutional reforms, and encourage a new awareness and understanding of farm animals,” states the organization’s website.
In the Acton 39-acre private facility, Farm Sanctuary houses approximately 100 farm animals such as cows, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens and turkeys, and welcomes visitors every weekend. The organization has a second location in the state of New York.
Visitors can learn more about Blue, Safran the cow, Biscuit the blind and deaf sheep, and others alike that were rescued from slaughter.
“Farm animals, just like cats and dogs, and other animals, have feelings and they deserve to be treated with respect and compassion,” said Gene Baur, president and cofounder of Farm Sanctuary.
But how was Farm Sanctuary created?
It all started in 1986 with a sheep named Hilda. Baur was documenting the conditions of factory farming to shed light on the abuse and poor care many of the animals encountered before slaughtered for human consumption.
“We started visiting farms and stockyards and slaughterhouses, and we would find animals discarded,” Baur said. “That was the case with Hilda. We found her on a pile of dead animals behind a stockyard in Pennsylvania.”
He believes Hilda was placed in an overcrowded livestock truck with other animals and transported hundreds of miles, causing her to pass out. When the truck driver unloaded the animals, those who would not walk off were then disposed of in the “dead pile,” he said.
“She lifted her head,” Baur recalled on the memory. “We thankfully came by at the right time and it had also rained the night before so that probably helped her cool off, because she was probably suffering from heat stress.”
Hilda, who Baur thought would be euthanized due to the condition she was found in, lived more than 10 years at Farm Sanctuary and became the driving force to continue to shed light on the industry’s conditions and a place for second chances.
Over the years the organization has rescued more than 10,000 animals and advocated for legislative change to protect livestock from being mistreated.
“We realized that it was not possible to rescue all of the animals, so we had to work on legislative and other advocacy efforts to prevent the problem in the first place … We advocated for laws to protect these animals.”
Legislative victories the organization has been a part of include the California Downed Animal Bill, which protects downed animals from cruelty and mistreatment, making such actions illegal in 1994; Florida outlawing gestation crates in 2002; and the United States Department of Agriculture banning the slaughter of downed cows in 2003.
Baur didn’t know what the future would look like for Farm Sanctuary, he just knew he wanted to make a change in something he strongly believed in.
“I followed my passion and I just didn’t want to be a cog in a wheel of a system doing things that I felt were so harmful … I’m kind of at my core an activist,” he said.
The No. 306 tag that belonged to Hilda the sheep to this day is kept in a safe place by Baur and serves as a reminder of how far the organization and its efforts have come.
“She was considered a thing, a commodity. She was a number,” he said. “When she was rescued she became somebody, she [was someone who was] recognized as deserving of our consideration. She was given a name.”
“That number is just a reminder of the past and what was. Hilda’s life is a reminder of what can be. We’re trying to create a world where everybody feels respected. Where everybody belongs.”
For more information on Farm Sanctuary, visit https://www.farmsanctuary.org/.
