This is Maya. She has a freckle in the middle of her nose. She is affectionate, curious, playful and lanky. She is someone, not something.
She became an orphan, and by a great stroke of luck was found by a farmer who contacted the incredible team at Lamb Care Australia. I bottle fed Maya until she was 4 weeks old, when she developed a twisted intestine, and died in my arms. She left a hoof print on our hearts (and our coffee table) and will always be remembered with love.
Although her life was a shooting star, a puff of smoke, she will never know the horrors of the abattoir or the live export ship.
Behind every piece of meat on our plates, every drop of milk in our coffees, there is a someone with freckles, habits, quirks, fears.
We can tell ourselves stories about protein and humane slaughter. We can calculate carbon emissions associated with animal agriculture and get a different answer every time.
Or we can look into the eyes of an animal like Maya and find only one answer.
She became an orphan, and by a great stroke of luck was found by a farmer who contacted the incredible team at Lamb Care Australia. I bottle fed Maya until she was 4 weeks old, when she developed a twisted intestine, and died in my arms. She left a hoof print on our hearts (and our coffee table) and will always be remembered with love.
Although her life was a shooting star, a puff of smoke, she will never know the horrors of the abattoir or the live export ship.
Behind every piece of meat on our plates, every drop of milk in our coffees, there is a someone with freckles, habits, quirks, fears.
We can tell ourselves stories about protein and humane slaughter. We can calculate carbon emissions associated with animal agriculture and get a different answer every time.
Or we can look into the eyes of an animal like Maya and find only one answer.
My view of the world turned upside down in April 2018 when I watched the documentary Dominion, and realised I'd spent the first 35 years of my life asleep. In a trance. And that many people were still in this trance. Think this is over the top? I would have too! All I can say is: watch Dominion.
The film transformed me overnight from a vegan to an activist. Animal ecology and animal activism sound like similar sides of the same coin - and they are because animal agriculture is driving biodiversity loss. But working in both is akin to working in parallel universes.
The film transformed me overnight from a vegan to an activist. Animal ecology and animal activism sound like similar sides of the same coin - and they are because animal agriculture is driving biodiversity loss. But working in both is akin to working in parallel universes.
