Farmer Bringing Lambs To Slaughter Overcome With Emotion, Diverts to Animal Sanctuary Instead

Feb 18, 2019 by apost team

Sivalingam Vasanthakumar, a 60-year-old Sri Lanka farmer, grew up helping to raise cattle on the dairy farm owned by his parents. The cows he milked were treated more like pets than anything. The milk that they received from them became the main source of income for the family.

Vasanthakumar ended up moving to England and continuing to work as a farmer for 47 years. He raised livestock that would later be slaughtered for food.

However, a recent trip made Vasanthakumar change his mind. As he was driving lambs to the slaughterhouse, he looked back at them in his trailer. He decided that this line of work was just not right for him anymore.

Instead, Vasanthakumar forfeited about £10k in profit, which is about $13,000 United States dollars, and drove the sheep 200 miles to Goodheart Animal Sanctuaries instead. After he dropped off the lambs, satisfied that he made the right decision, he went home. Now, he only raises vegetables and has since become a vegetarian.

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Vasanthakumar told iNews that the main reason he changed his mind is that he was tired of watching the animals he raised line up to be killed for their meat. He said it was very emotional for him every time that it happened.

He said that while he has killed animals himself, it always stressed him out to do so. He said it also stressed the animals out, too. He believes that they know what is going to happen to them.

Vasanthakumar said that the last day with his animals was always extremely hard. He stated that they would try hiding in the corner of the trailer. He would end up going into the trailer himself and pushing them out, stressing everyone out in the process.

As the years wore on, the trips to the slaughterhouse became harder and harder for him. They weighed heavily on his heart and mind. Even though he grew up working on farms, it still bothered him to take the animals to be slaughtered for meat. He decided that it was just something he could no longer do.

Vasanthakumar did not make the decision lightly, as he had to say goodbye to a pretty steady income. But he has been happy with the decision ever since. He believes that while it was a difficult decision, it was the right one for him.

Learn more about Vasanthakumar’s heartfelt story below:

What do you think? Did this farmer do the right thing? Leave us a comment below and then pass this along to any animal-lovers you know!