Cow Saved From Short Life as a Veal Calf Shares an Epic Kiss With His Caregiver (PHOTO)

If you’ve never been in close proximity to a cow, it’s likely that you have a skewed perception of their personalities. On dairy and meat farms these animals appear bored or worse, fearful. However, the truth is cows are much more than just a milk-producing machine or a vessel for meat. They are actually extremely intelligent, curious, and are able to solve critical problems. They make long-lasting friendships with their cow peers and they grieve when these friends pass away or when their babies are taken away from them.  When treated with compassion, these animals are capable of forming truly amazing personas!

Take Safran, a cow rescued from the dairy industry, for instance.  Now residing at Farm Sanctuary, Safran is described as a fearless, curious, lovable, and incredibly goofy little fella. However, Safran didn’t always have such a playful personality. Even though the young cow only had to spend one day on a dairy farm, considering how brutishly treated the animals at these places are, every hour on a dairy farm is a painful feat of its own. After birth, Safran was immediately taken away from his mother, as all male calves are, and was moved to a holding pen where he would wait uncomfortably until getting shipped off to the meat industry. Luckily for Safran, founder of Farm Sanctuary, Gene Baur stepped in and saved the young calf before he even made it onto the loading truck.

Safran has had some health problems over the years from not getting adequate nutrition from his mother, but now he is doing better than ever! His current caregiver is Daniel, who understands that farm animals possess far more emotional depth than they are given credit for.

How does he know? Well just look at this epic kiss they shared and you’ll get an idea! 

While the dairy industry would like us to believe that animals like cows are non-feeling beings that don’t mind being subjected to terrible conditions, a photo like the one above is undeniable evidence that this is clearly not the case. Male calves, and all animals, in general, deserve to be raised by their mothers, given the proper nutrition they were supposed to receive, and most importantly be treated with love and respect.

While there are many hands still at work trying to make this a reality, at havens like Farm Sanctuary, you can see tiny slices of what life would be like if this were the norm. One day we hope everyone can be as perceptive to animals as the caregivers there are. Until then, we will appreciate from afar the kindness they give to these animals who genuinely deserve it. 

Image Source: Farm Sanctuary/Facebook