Curious Cows, Calendars, and Sanctuaries

In case you're still not reading Invisible Voices yourself yet,  I'm going to send you in that direction today to check out two things: a gorgeous calendar that will support Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary and a look at the curiosity of cows.

First, briefly, the calendar. Deb, the author of Invisible Voices, is also a volunteer at Poplar Spring, and she has a 2009 calendar for sale featuring stunning photos of Poplar Spring residents. You can preview the calendar and its vivid photos at Lulu, and when you then follow through and purchase the calendar, you can do so knowing that the profits will go straight to helping animals at Poplar Spring.

And now the cows. One of my favorite posts from Invisible Voices in November was titled "curiosity of cows." It featured the beautiful photo you see at the top of this post, and it made me jealous once again of all the people who run and volunteer at animal sanctuaries, of what they get to witness firsthand on a regular basis, of the ways in which they get to know the individual animals whom most people think of collectively, rather than as individual, unique beings, when they think of them at all.

Granted, there's a lot of hard work, stress, and emotion in sanctuary work too. These are the people who see, day after day, the horrible things that humans do to their fellow animals, the physical and emotional damage we inflict. These are the people doing the exhausting work of trying to make up for injustices and cruelties that simply cannot be made up for. There are some physical and emotional wounds that never heal. Sanctuary volunteers get to see some animals thrive once they've arrived, as they finally get the opportunity to live full, rich, happy, natural lives. But there are other animals who forever carry the burdens of what happened to them before, the physical maladies and deformities that slow their movements or hamper their natural inclinations (maladies and deformities that we humans intentionally caused because of what we wanted from the animals) and the memories and the mental and emotional scars that sometimes keep them anxious, wary, distant, sad.

But "curiosity of cows" shows us a few content animals, playful young pigs and a clearly thinking, feeling, curious cow. And Deb is kind enough to share with us some of the experiences and observations that come with spending time with these gentle beings. Here is just a portion of that post:

When my cat is intensely interested in something, it is because she wants to capture it, and likely kill it and eat it. Even if it is a twist tie, that’s generally still her relationship to whatever is sparking her curiosity. Humans don’t seem to be much different, at least not the average human.

Cows are different, at least the cows I have gotten to know. They don’t have these hierarchies that exist in most other animals. They mostly stay together, but they don’t always. There’s no one leader, they are just somehow a group of individuals that have formed a community. They are a collective.

And something about that kind of social network makes them more focused on others than on self. Or that is my theory.

That’s what comes through when you see them watching, fascinated, as baby pigs run around outside for the first time, checking everything out and running with absolute glee through the inch of snow on the ground. That’s what you notice when you see a giant cow delicately following the antic-filled lead of a baby pig.

Cows aren’t stupid. They’re not placid. And though one of my coworkers claims that cows don’t want to live, he is wrong.

Read the rest of the post and see an additional photo here.

And remember to preview and purchase your calendar here.