In America, over 40 million cows are murdered and butchered into hamburger and dog food every year. But this year that number will be minus six because on March 30th six cows in St. Louis broke out of a slaughterhouse and escaped.
Watch this astonishing video:
The Gentle Barn Foundation saved those six cows from being slaughtered and is announcing a fundraising campaign #StLouisSix (www.gentlebarn.org) to donate towards building a new Gentle Barn location in Missouri near St. Louis. One of The Gentle Barn’s major donors has added a $100,000 matching contribution to jumpstart the campaign.
The Gentle Barn was founded 18 years ago by Ellie Laks in her back yard in The San Fernando Valley. Its mission is to be a safe haven and place of recovery for severely abused animals. The Gentle Barn offers its unique philosophy of rehabilitating animals and connecting their stories of survival and healing to the personal experiences of inner city, at-risk and special needs children who have suffered physical, mental or emotional trauma.
Today The Gentle Barn is located on a much larger property in Santa Clarita just thirty minutes north of Los Angeles and they also have a location in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Gentle Barn gives shelter to unwanted animals - animals that are too old, sick, or lame to be adopted. They have horses, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, llamas, peacocks, dogs, cats, donkeys, and emus. Once the animals are healthy they are given sanctuary for the rest of their lives. And when the animals are ready, they help heal people with similar stories of abuse and neglect.
The lead cow in the amazing St. Louis escape was Chico. Since being rescued, his brothers and he have received medical attention and are enjoying their freedom at a temporary foster home where they are recovering. But they need a forever home.
Ellie told me, “It’s our goal to start a Gentle Barn in every state so that we can give sanctuary to more animals and hope to the children who visit them. Chico and his brothers clearly want to live. Now that they have been saved they need a home. St. Louis is the perfect place for the next Gentle Barn. With the help of generous people we can open the third Gentle Barn and give sanctuary to these special cows. So please help us, help them!”
Fans of Chico and his brothers and supporters of The Gentle Barn should visit the website www.gentlebarn.org and join the online campaign #StLouisSix and share it with friends.