Day 154: It All Started With Hilda – Farm Sanctuary

I want to tell you a story about a girl whose strength and will overcame the worst suffering and brutal treatment imaginable.  Her name was Hilda.

She was destined to be nothing more than a slave and commodity.  Taken from her family at birth she lived a life where suffering and being treated as an object were the only two things she knew.  Once she was deemed unproductive Hilda was tossed out with the garbage.  Yes, they knew she was still alive when they quite literally threw her away.  And the garbage pile they tossed her onto was a pile of other dead.  There were no laws against treating her this way, in fact it is just standard procedure.  Left to die a painful lonely death, this is the rest of her story:

“Twenty-five years ago, while investigating the Lancaster Stockyards, I came upon a pile of dead animals. They were covered in feces and crawling with maggots. 

As I stepped back in horror, one sheep raised her head and looked at me.   

I lifted her off the pile of rotting carcasses and rushed her to a veterinarian. There was nothing seriously wrong with her — she had collapsed from the trauma of being transported to the stockyard in a packed and sweltering truck. Yet she had been thrown away like garbage. Within an hour she was up, drinking thirstily and nosing around for a little grass. 

I named her Hilda.  

And with her rescue, I knew I had to do something to stop the terrible mistreatment of animals on factory farms. That’s when Farm Sanctuary was born.” ~ Gene Baur -President and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary

Hilda lived for another ten years.  Her will to survive helped to create one of the greatest places on this planet, the Farm Sanctuary.  After what people did to her she never held a bitterness in her heart.  She was a happy girl who loved people unconditionally.  How many of us could be the same way?  My friends, there is something special about these animals and so much we can learn from them.  Please take a moment to remember Hilda and give praise to all living things who have the will to survive the harshest of the harsh and are yet able to keep strong their heart and love regardless.  Please, remember Hilda.

Rest in Peace Hilda – you will never be forgotten!

You can read more about Farm Sanctuary in my post “My Trip to Farm Sanctuary” here.