Last week we welcomed Anne-Marie and Sersha to sanctuary.
Anne-Marie was rescued by a wildlife carer who had found her emaciated and suffering at a farm where her grave had already been dug by a farmer as she was “no good”.
“No good” in the dairy industry means that she wasn’t producing enough milk. Dairy cows are forced through genetics, feed manipulation and other methods to produce between four and six times more milk than a calf can suckle.
Impregnated annually to keep the milk flowing, dairy cattle are almost always both pregnant and producing milk. This takes a heavy toll on the mother cow as all of the nutrition she receives is diverted to either milk production or the next baby, leaving little to nourish her own body. Anne-Marie at ten years old would have been pregnant nine times and her body could not handle the burden of another baby or the chill of that baby being dragged away soon after birth.
Anne-Marie was rescued at the eleventh hour and taken to a kindly home where she could slowly improve her condition.
After her rescue there was a mishap and Anne-Marie became pregnant one more time. While this was a burden for her, her joy when she realised she could keep baby Sersha was palpable and certain.
Anne-Marie comes to sanctuary to live out her senior years with our lovely senior girls Mary and Precious. She gets to live with Sersha and watch him
play with Arnold and Ferdinand, who are the same age.
Dairy cow mothers live lives of misery and discomfort. They love their babies madly but are forced to endure every one being dragged away so that people can steal their milk.
This Mothers Day, please do something good for mothers like Anne-Marie and say no to dairy.
Sersha is available for sponsorship. Please help us to rescue animals like Anne-Marie and Sersha by making a donation or by joining our Supporters Club.
