Christmas for Animals........what joy?

Christmas is supposed to be a time of goodwill, fellowship and peace on earth. It's also the time of year when more animals are slaughtered than at any other time.........so that humans can over-indulge.

When you are doing your Christmas grocery shopping please spare a thought for all the millions of pigs, cattle, sheep, veal calves and chickens whose short lives will end horribly in industrial slaughter plants.

Let that thought determine what you buy and prepare for your Christmas and New Year feasts.

If you can't bear to go without meat at Christmas, try to find meat products from animals who had a decent quality of life before they were processed?

These two dear little faces imprinted themselves on my aching heart and I can't erase their images. Crated veal calves longing to be out on lush pastures with their mothers.

Standing on slatted floors and underfed an iron free diet to make their meat pale.What's wrong with us? How can we deliberately inflict months of cruelty so that meat has a particular colour or flavour?

Plan your Christmas and New Year festivities with joy and love in your hearts........but most of all with compassion!

Thor 4 months after rescue.

It's such a joy to see his transformation.

He looks like burnished copper now and is fit and well enough to be castrated. But that will have to wait for another day!

Thor's progress.

Wild and anxious.











Thor, the little pony stallion that was rescued from a bush racing ring has made steady progress. He's gone from being a scraggy, ribby, scared little pony to a pony with attitude.

Like so many rescued equines, he started off scared but easy to handle. He was (and is) covered in scars. His ribs and hips showed and what got him through the first few weeks was his devotion to Chimmy, his little blind friend.

When Chimmy died,we all took a step backwards and Thor was devastated. I thought that we would loose him too. But fortunately, although he called and called, and mourned for Chimmy for weeks, he kept eating and drinking and healing.

With the healing, a whole new Thor has emerged, feisty and full of spirit. He's turned into a bit of a handful and I'm pleased, because it proves more than anything, that his spirit wasn't broken the way that little Chimmy's was.

He's more confident now ..........fat and shiny..........and he prances up for his feed bucket twice a day. He's made friends with all of the big horses and joins in herd activities.

I love watching him eat, looking at the gleam on his coat and the gutter on his fat little bottom where the bones used to show.

What a difference!