Running With the Bull

Running With the Bull

At the beginning of June I had the opportunity to spend a weekend in Vegan Eden, that is, Farm Sanctuary. Nestled in the beautiful Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York, the rolling green pastures of Farm Sanctuary’s 175-acre New York shelter are home to more than 500 rescued farm animals. Farm Sanctuary rescues, rehabilitates, and provides lifelong care for hundreds of animals who have been saved from stockyards, factory farms, and slaughterhouses. Rescued residents are given the care and love they need to recover from abuse and neglect. All of the animals enjoy nourishing food, clean barns, and green pastures each and every day. When you visit Farm Sanctuary, you’ll see frolicking calves who once knew only pain and suffering in veal crates. You’ll see pigs slumbering in soft straw rather than filthy, crowded stockyard pens. You’ll see animals experiencing joy and freedom for the first time in their lives.

What amazes me about this experience (my second time here) is that farm animals exhibit many of the same emotions that we humans expect only from cats and dogs.  I sat in the barn surrounded by sheep, and they came to me wanting to be petted. While I was paying attention to one, another forced her head under my elbow in a demonstrated need of affection. Later on, another one climbed into my lap.

Why am I talking about this experience in a running blog, you might ask? First of all, it’s a vegan running blog (check the name again). Second, the most amazing experience came during an evening visit to the cow pasture. Bear with me here, it’s worth it, I swear. When I and my group of five other humans showed up at the pasture fence, a lively young bull named Valentino saw us and came running over to the fence from about 100 yards away. Valentino was rescued in 2015. He was only about a day old, one of many newborn calves brought to New Holland Auction in Pennsylvania that day. Since he was a male born into the dairy industry, he was destined to be sold for veal. But, small and hobbled by leg deformities, he was considered “defective” and thus unmarketable and would likely have been left to a slow death. He ended up in Cornell University Hospital for Animals, where he arrived with vagus indigestion syndrome and pneumonia in addition to his leg deformities.

So, here’s a two-year-old-bull, born hobbled by deformities, running over to us at the fence. But wait, it gets better. After we said hello to Valentino, we continued our walk around the pasture. Another of my group is a runner, and to encourage him to come with us, she did an exaggerated slow-motion run. Much to our surprise, Valentino leaped a few times like a stereotypical bucking bronco and then RAN WITH HER along the fence! Was this a fluke? When we were ending our visit, I decided to try again. This time I did the exaggerated slow-motion run, and to our delight, Valentino repeated his response. He and I ran together for about twenty yards or so until we came upon a matronly cow who looked at both of us unapprovingly and then literally butted heads with Valentino. Valentino did win the race, but it wasn’t really fair - he has twice as many legs as I do.

Thus, a bond was formed on Saturday June 3 2017. Valentino is the fourth different Family of mammals with which I have run (that I know of), those being: human, canine, capreoline (it’s a deer, look it up!), and now bovine. With many more to come, I hope.

Until next time,

The Plant-Based Plodder