Farm Animal Refuge and Roberta Russo (vegan): Loving “Grandma” to Rescued Animal-People, Part 2 of 2

“We have a lot of enrichment for the animals because we just want to make their life the best it could possibly be. We have a ball that the cows like to play with and bounce around. It’s just fun for them.” “We had a shy pig named Cashew. She’s a black and white polka dot girl, and she was super shy when she came in. And we had a volunteer that was a dog trainer, so we thought if he took her one-on-one and worked with her and taught her some tricks that maybe would build her self-confidence. She actually picks up the brush in her mouth, and she has paintings.” Aside from enrichment, Farm Animal Refuge also provides various medical treatments for their residents and even has a vegan veterinarian. “One of our medical treatments is a cold laser therapy that we use on the animals that have arthritis. Then I wanted to mention Dora. She is the first pig that underwent radiation in the United States, and she had five treatments. She beat cancer.”

“We do a vegan bake sale. The last one we had, we had about 500 people here, which was a lot.” Jordan Russo and Matt Lieurance (both vegan), co-founders of Farm Animal Refuge, share what inspires them and their passion for creating meaningful connections with animal-people to raise awareness about exploitation. “I think most people don’t know that cows are loving and pigs sit for treats.” Before we conclude our show, Ms. Russo expresses what her hopes for our planet are. “By going vegan, one person can save about 200 animals a year. You can make a big difference.”