Get Involved

Former Farm Sanctuary Interns Share Their Stories

Johnstown Teen Helps Animals During Internship
By Megan Johnson

"Unconditional love." I thought this to myself as my mother and I started the long journey home to Johnstown on the afternoon of Aug. 31. I had spent the month of August interning at Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen. Farm Sanctuary is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to changing the way society views and treats farm animals. I lived with six other people in Vegan House, and five days a week we contributed to this organization by cleaning barns, helping with health care checks and caring for a lot of animals. I have been vegan - person who does not consume animal products or animal byproducts - for more than 5 years now and I'm a member of P.E.T.A (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). However my experiences in my past did not prepare me for the transformation I underwent during and after my internship.

Being vegan one learns a lot about the meat and dairy industry as well as the reality of how cruel we are to the animals we eat.
Many don't realize that by drinking milk, we directly contribute to the veal industry. A female cow must give birth to a calf in order to produce milk, the sex of the calf determines if it is veal or not. Male calves are taken from their mothers before they are 24 hours old and sold at stockyards where they suffer rough handling and transporting stresses. To produce veal, the calf is placed in a wooden crate no more then two-feet wide. The calf is then chained by the neck so he cannot move or stand up properly. The calf is fed an all-liquid milk substitute that is deficient in iron and fiber causing several medical problems, which lead to him needing antibiotics and other drugs. Between the ages of only 18 to 20 weeks they are brought to slaughter many times being dragged by their hooves and ears because they are too weak to even stand.

As I stated, I knew this before my internship. However, one experience I had changed my perception completely. The second week of the internship, I along with the six other interns went to a stockyard in the region. We went in and received dirty looks from people who knew we were from Farm Sanctuary. We entered the area where the animals were being held before auction. There were several veal calves being sold that day in the back part of the stockyard. By the time I had made my way back there the hot feeling behind my eyes began to burn. I pulled my hood up not making eye contact with anyone but the animals. Every pair of eyes I looked into screamed for help, they begged me to open the locks and let them escape. A helpless feeling grew very strong in the pit of my stomach. I reached the gated ring where the veal calves were. Many still had their umbilical cords attached. I kneeled down on the ground near the slatted fence and I reached my hand in and began to stroke the nose of a lovely black and white calf that was mooing for its mother. It sniffed my hand and began suckling on my fingers thirsty for milk, I saw the same plea in its eyes that I saw in the others.

Too soon was the tender calf torn from my loving grasp crying as the large gruff man dragged him to be auctioned off. A large lump was in my throat, I forced myself to keep eye contact with him mentally telling him and myself it would be all right. I then turned away and looked behind me to see a pen of pigs. They were next in line to be auctioned off and I saw terror in their eyes. I turned my attention back to the baby calves the number was growing low and two were cuddled together in the corner closest to me. I knelt back down and began petting the two exhausted calves, they radiated an emotion that clutched at my heart, and it felt as if they were silently sobbing but I was the only one actually listening. Again the gruff man came over and tore them from my grasp leaving me cold and terrified. I again looked them in the eye but this time I could say nothing. Terror and anger rose in me and I wanted to scream for them, I wanted to drop to my knees and sob uncontrollably at the injustice of it all.

That along with several other moments caused me to see something many don't even realize is there. I experienced unconditional love in the five days a week I cleaned barns and spent hours around pigs, ducks, geese, chickens, sheep goats, cows, rabbits, cats and dogs. And after a month's worth of cleaning, caring for and living with farm animals I can say that there is no better feeling than the feeling you get when an animal says thank you. A pig will smile and snort at you when you rub its belly, a sheep will nudge against you when you scratch its back, but the best thank you is when a cow will bump their head against your chest and you are able to wrap your arms around their neck and hug them.

There is no reason to place these beautiful, loving, feeling creatures through the cruel process that is factory farming. We have taken living beings and exploited them, using them as if they were merely tools on a shelf with no feeling or breath within. If it is wrong to treat cats and dogs in this way then what right do we have to treat farm animals this way? I have seen compassion and love in the eyes of animals, my eyes have become open along with my heart to see the pain these animals suffer everyday. I already knew the facts but the faces behind the animals were never there until now. Now as I go to the market and see cartons of milk or slabs of meat in the deli, faces of animals appear in my mind, the faces of the veal calves crying for their mothers or the screams of the pigs in the pen. Some may say I am haunted by these vivid memories, but there are pictures of happiness in my mind as well: stroking a turkey as it looks at you curiously wondering if it should peck at your hair or not, giving crab apples to my favorite pig Dale or sneaking over to the sheep barn to find Thelma and Louise who love human attention. I will always remember my time at farm sanctuary as a learning experience that changed my outlook on life forever.