So many animals!
Lucky circled excitedly around the children as they entered the yard. In the centre there was a manure heap. Chickens walked around it.
„Yuck, what a stench!“ Maria complained.
"How can they stand it?“ Tom marvelled.
„This smells okay for the chickens,“ Katie said. „Certainly you don’t have a manure heap in town. But I promise that you will miss this smell, once you’re back home.“
Definitely not, Peter thought.
Lucky sat in front of the stable door and wagged his tail. Katie opened the door for him and he jumped inside. At first the children could not see anything. Their eyes had to get used to the darkness inside the stable.
„It’s empty!“ Jane was disappointed.
„Where are the animals?“ Sarah asked.
„They are out on the field,“ Katie explained. „But the stable is not empty. Go and look in the box at the very back!“
Lucky was already there. He stood up on his hind legs and tried to peek over the door. Maria caught up with him first.
„Awesome!“ she exclaimed.
Peter, however, took his time. What on earth could be of interest in a stable? He wondered, whether there was a computer somewhere on the farm. The others were delighted with what was in the box.
"Peter," shouted Tom, "lots of little pigs. You have to see this.“
"They are called piglets, Peter said.
Seven piglets scrambled on top of a huge sow.
„They were born yesterday,“ Katie explained.
„Can I stroke them?“ Tom asked.
„No, not yet!“ said a voice from behind them.
The children turned around. Lucky ran towards a man and jumped up to him.
„We better leave them alone for a few days. Then you can stroke them. By the way, I’m David Finch, Katie’s husband.“ He gave Katie a kiss.
„Are you the vet?“ Sarah asked. “Mum said that we were going to stay at a vet’s.”
„Yes, that’s me. And as a vet I prescribe strict rest to the piglets and her mum. You can come visit again later on.“
Katie opened a door at back of the stable. Bright sunlight flooded through the door, which led to a paddock.
„Look, a donkey!“ Maria said. „And sheeps.“
„It’s sheep, not sheeps,“ corrected Tom.
Katie stepped outside. „Come on, you don’t have to be afraid, the animals are friendly.“
Tom was not so sure about that and remained close to the stable. „Boy, cows are really big in real life.“
„You obviously only know them from TV,“ Daniel said.
„Or as a piece of meat on a plate,“ mocked Peter.
„That is not funny!“ Katie protested. „But let’s move on to the pond, so you can meet our guard-geese.“
The children crossed the field between the animals.
„The car is following us,“ Maria said.
Everybody turned their heads. Indeed, the jeep slowly moved across the track alongside the field.
„Pretend that you don’t notice,“ Daniel advised. „Continue to behave normally. They only want upset us.“
Already from afar they could hear the geese."
They make a lot of noise!“ Miguel was impressed. „How many are there?“
„Twelve,“ Peter said.
„That’s right. You can count very fast, that’s amazing,“ Katie said.
„Are they always that noisy?“ Maria asked.
„No, but now they are warning us, because the vehicle has come closer. They know, that it doesn’t belong here.“
The jeep stopped. Two men got out. They wore dark sunglasses.
„One of them is looking through binoculars,“ Miguel said.
„Don’t look.“ Daniel warned.
„But one has a gun,“ Tom said.
Daniel looked worriedly at Katie.
„Let’s not be disturbed by them,“ Katie said. „Sit down on the grass and I’ll tell you how the geese came to us.“
The children sat down. Lucky flung himself into the grass.
„These geese used to live on a geese farm. However, they were not as free and content as here. They were kept in narrow wooden crates. They could not go for a swim. Several times a day a farm worker came with a machine to stuff them.“
„To stuff like in stuffing a teddy bear?“ Tom asked.
„No, stuff as in stuffing food into their stomachs. The worker dragged the head of a goose out of the lid of the cage and put a hose in its throat. The hose was connected to a funnel on a machine. In the machine there was mash made from maize. This mash was simply stuffed into the geeses’ throats. You can image that the geese did not enjoy this.“
„Wouldn’t putting a hose down their throat make them want to be sick?“ Peter asked.
„Yes,“ Daniel said. „The geese suffer tremendously.“
„Why did they do this to them?“ Jane asked.
„To make their liver grow fast. On slaughtering the liver was processed into foi gras. This is considered a delicacy, something very tasty. Some people pay a lot of money for it. But it fattens the geese up so fast, that they can hardly move and then they get ill.“
„But your geese are not fat,“ Maria said.
„No, they are healthy, because they were rescued on time,“ Katie said. “One night, people who had heard about the suffering of the animals broke into the farm and videoed the conditions the geese were in. They took some of the smaller geese with them, that were not yet ill. Unfortunately there was no hope for the others. In their case slaughtering meant actually relief,“ Katie sighed.
„The burglars, where they not afraid to get caught?“ Sarah asked.
„ Yes of course, but they took the risk for the animals. The geese that they rescued they brought to us. You can see for yourselves, how well they are.“
„And the other geese? What happened to them?“ Miguel wanted to know.
„Well, the pictures were shown on television. We hope that the politicians and the police will close down the geese farm for good.“
„How can people do something like this?“ Tom shook his head.
„And only because of the money!“ Maria said.
„That is why it is important that farms like ours exist,“ Daniel said. „Here you can learn how to treat animals well. Later on you will be able to teach your own children. Maybe there will come a time, when this kind of suffering no longer exists.“
„That’s our dream,“ Katie said. „That’s why we live in this simple way and do without a lot of things, so we can pay for the animals’ food.“
She got up. „But now back to the present, the animals need to be cared for. Our cows and goats need to be milked as well. Who wants to try it?“
Everybody apart from Tom wanted to have a go. The cows still appeared so huge to him. He sat down with Lucky and watched from a safe distance. Peter actually enjoyed milking. If only there were not so many flies! One after the other took their turn. The cows were very patient. The goats, however, were not that easygoing with the inexperienced hands of the children and simply did not want to stand still. Maria was even pushed into the grass by one goat.
„Where are the goats from?“ Miguel asked.
„They’re from a small zoo. They were kept in filthy enclosures. The floor was made from concrete. They didn’t have much space and could not graze. They were very skinny and ill, because they were rarely fed.“
„Did you take those secretly at night as well?“ Sarah asked.
„No. We got in touch with the veterinary department. The zoo was eventually closed down. Most of the animals had died already anyway. We were allowed to take the goats.“
„Don’t you get sad, when you see such bad things?“ Jane wanted to know.
„Of course I’m sad and sometimes very angry. But when I think that I’m able to help the animals, I am pleased.“ Katie wiped her hands on her jeans. „So, that’s enough for today, you’ve done enough work. Let’s prepare supper. You must be hungry.“
The kids took the milk cans and the milking stool and returned to the house. They noticed, that the jeep started to move and slowly followed them along the fence.
„Don’t look!“ shouted the twins.
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