for the Animals sanctuary Winter Newsletter

Amy's story begins in New Freedom, PA (about 30 miles north of Baltimore) where a ten year old girl was working with an animal rescue group (Animal Rescue Inc.) near a dairy farm. Amy was born infertile, and therefore useless to the dairy farmer. So along with all the male calves who are also useless to the farmer since they cannot produce milk, she was sentenced to be sold to the veal industry where she would spend her short life chained in a small crate, too small for her to even turn around in.

But the farmer decided to let the ten-year old girl pick one lucky calf to save among the hundreds that were born on the farm at that time. Animal Rescue Inc. knew that For the Animals sanctuary was looking to add a calf to their family, and Amy was the lucky one that was chosen by the little girl who liked that she has a big white heart-shaped marking on her forehead.

It would be a few days before Amy would be transported to For the Animals sanctuary, but she was taken from her mother and set aside for the rescue. The farmer needed her mother's milk to sell to humans, so he couldn't let Amy spend any more time with her mother or have her milk. The fact that Amy was starving and becoming dehydrated by the minute was not the farmer's concern. Nor was the fact that Amy's mother suffers great distress from having the baby that she carried for nine months (just like humans) taken away and is left with a natural inclination to feed and nurture her baby, but is forced to feed an unnatural suction machine instead.

There was nothing the rescuers could do for the mother, or the millions of other cows and calves in the dairy industry, but they had the opportunity to rescue this one small animal and were not going to let a blizzard stand in the way. With no time to lose, after working a full day at work, and taking a short nap, Steve drove down to New Freedom, PA in the middle of the night, in a snowstorm the whole way, to get the little calf. When Steve arrived, Amy was already so dehydrated that you could see her bones protruding from her hips and she was caked with mud and filth. She needed proper nutrition and medical attention right away. But she was even more desperate for the nurturing and warmth she lost by being taken away from her mother and during the entire drive back home in the SUV, Amy tried to suckle and nuzzle on Steve's ear as he drove!

I met Amy after she was all settled into her new home at for the Animals sanctuary and I can only describe the experience of seeing this calf being well fed, cared for, and loved as... healing. Being a mother myself, I have a special place in my heart for dairy cows and calves. I find it very illogical that we take the milk of one species to give to our own. I breast-fed my child my milk and I think how enraged I would be if someone were to steal that milk from me, or worse, take me away from my child to do so. It is a basic fundamental right of nature that is being denied animals that are considered livestock and it is done to millions of them every single day.

These animals have natural instincts and longings and the bond between a baby calf and their mother is as strong as any mammalian bond. A mother cow would nurse her calf for a full year if it weren't for humans' interference. Many well-intentioned people, even vegetarians, do not think of this when they unnecessarily consume dairy products. I've spoken to some who do not even realize that a cow is forced to become pregnant over and over again in order to produce milk for humans. A typical dairy cow will give birth ten times in her life, and all those babies are viewed as either an inconvenience or a product to the industry. And the dairy cows themselves are pushed to produce an unnatural amount of milk and once they are no longer viable producers, often because of common diseases of milk cows including mastitis, a bacterial udder infection, foot rot, from standing long periods of time in manure, an inability to stand due to calcium depletion from years of intensive milking, and Johne's disease, a disease that may be transmissible to humans as Crohn's disease, they are sold to slaughter.

But one afternoon spent with Amy, feeding her from a bottle and hugging her and knowing that she will have a good, natural life with the other cows at the sanctuary offered me some solace. She is an ambassador, as are all the animals at the sanctuary. They are living beings with personalities, fears, and desires just like any other animal...including ourselves. Come visit Amy and see this animal that the dairy industry considers waste. I know you will disagree.

-Jennifer Chaky

Sanctuary Board Member

Please consider sponsoring Amy to help us feed and care for her they way she deserves. Any amount donated is gratefully appreciated. SPONSOR AMY