Farm Sanctuaries change the way we see animals

[Catherine]

We all love the idea of farm sanctuaries, those wonderful places where rescued animals can live out their lives in peace.
We know the lives of the animals are changed. Another effect of farm sanctuaries is the way we see animals. People who are actually encountering animals and interacting with them are seeing them as real living beings for the first time.
Attitudes are changing. We know that the meat in the store comes from somewhere, someone. It is becoming less acceptable that they be treated badly and deprived of any chance of happiness or even comfort.

http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0


It will take a long time to change everyone. The important thing is that change is happening at all.
Sanctuaries rescue animals, but maybe on some level they are rescuing us.

[Tobi]

(06-01-2017, 03:25 PM)Catherine Wrote: People who are actually encountering animals and interacting with them are seeing them as real living beings for the first time.

Yes this is the secret, so long as there is nothing else in the way such as a hardened heart, or the wish to make money or a living. It's true that personal relationship with any Being creates a situation where they are not just viewed as an 'object' (or a food source?) but as a character.
Those sanctuaries are wonderful places.
When I see the cows in the fields near my house, all looking pretty happy and content, I wish they could end their days in the same situation, which of course they can do in an animal sanctuary.

[Catherine]

Animal sanctuaries give us a chance to believe in happy endings. Animals end up there because of something bad happening to them. Because of that they do not end up dead and eaten like most animals. Once someone has formed a bond with a sanctuary animal it is harder to be objective and distant from what happens to the unrescued farm animals.

People who live in cities need to see farm animals the most.
High-rise buildings can leave you cut off from life.  The sanctuary reconnects us to life again.