The Seeds We Plant

Tuesday night was a booked appointment with a group of 4H kids visiting the Sanctuary. I had a really good time and they were more then generous and the pigs of course were awesome. One little girls big smile is remembered and it is no doubt when she went home she would be asking her Mom if she could have a pig.

One of the kids asked me how I taught the pigs the tricks they do. I told them unlike dogs who we are more accustomed to see spinning around, or shaking a paw i told them i simply talked to the pigs. That the pigs understand everything we say. The little girl looked at me with disbelief written all over her face. I had just opened the gate to let Winnie and Casanova out and the pigs were surrounded by the crowd. Casa had straw all over his face and i called out to him "Casa, shake it off" and within seconds of saying it Casanova did indeed shake the straw from his face. This was not a trick but the response of a sentient being who understands everything we are saying and then acknowledged it.

As a little girl growing up in the city the PNE every year's high light for me was the barns. I remember Mom talking about the girls sobbing over the cow they had named, brushed , loved and cared for would now be entering a ring to be priced and valued by the beef industry by its weight . They would never see there cherished pet again and one day they would in fact end up on someones plate.
This form of education really bothers me. That we teach the young to care for , name and love with the end result being betrayal , fear and then slaughter for the animals.

Mom and i attended a flea market out here and we came into the fair ground barns and i saw two rabbits in a cage who huddled as close together as they could. The sign above them had a price on there little heads if i remember it was 15.00 each. Saddened that these animals who clung to each other who's world went from some pen to cages surrounded by noise and confusion were now being marketed with out a care and i called out to one of the girls and said" how can you separate them they are bonded to each other"? Her reply was " oh ,they aren't' that bonded" .. she did not see because her education lacked in this regard. I felt bad for the rabbits and I shook my head in disappointment as this is what the 4h is teaching these kids. Or rather , not teaching them. Of course i am generalizing here as there are exceptions to the rule and the club that visited just may be one of them.

Love is a powerful thing and if we are teaching kids to care for , name and love an animal and then it is okay to sell for profit, breed or slaughter how does this cross over to relationships they will have with there counterparts one day ?

The picture is from a friend in the States who also does rescue. It is one taken just after the hatch on her truck opened mysteriously
and then was closed by her. The pigs responsible for its opening are standing by.