Today was my first day back at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary since January 24, when we helped rescue Patches, a pig, from a muddy mess. When I got there my friend, Deb, informed me that Norman had died recently. (You can read her post about Norman on her blog Invisible Voices.)
Norman is the first cow I ever met when I started volunteering at Poplar Spring. He’s enormous. I mean, at least 6 feet at his shoulder. He walked past me in the horse barn and my mouth fell open and I probably said something inappropriate such as, “Holy shit.”
He was not only tall, but Norman was quite a nice cow. You could walk up and pet him and he enjoyed the attention. Most cows do, but they all have different personalities so you have to get to know them a little.
Norman was 12 years old, which is really old for a cow because they’re slaughtered so young. He was intended to be a veal calf, tied with a rope by his neck in a stall so tiny that he couldn’t turn around or lay down, then killed when he was just a few months old. He was saved from that fate and lived a happy, peaceful life at the sanctuary until kidney failure and arthritis took him away from us.
I’ll miss you, Norman. I’ll never forget the site of you, so tall and so curious, that day in the barn.
s.
Filed under: animal rights, factory farming Tagged: | enormous norman, poplar spring animal sanctuary
