This Is What It's Like To Live On A Factory Farm vs. A Sanctuary

Happy Use Your Common Sense Day! Never heard of it before? Well, me either, honestly. But, when I recently found out November 4 was Use Your Common Sense Day I thought, "move over Thanksgiving!", this might be my new favorite "holiday." Okay, maybe I'll always like Christmas the most, but Use Your Common Sense Day is definitely special. Why? Whether you want to call it a "gut feeling" or "intuition," we all have that something that tells us what is "right" and what is "wrong." When it comes to how we treat farmed animals, common sense is, really, all that we need.

Simply, ask yourself where would you rather live - on a factory farm or at Catskill Animal Sanctuary?

Mother pigs, called "sows," in gestation crates so small that they can never turn around or lie down comfortably

OR Franklin sharing a kiss with Kathy Stevens, Founder and Director of Catskill Animal Sanctuary

Hens kept in tiny "battery cages" with not enough room to ever stretch their wings

OR Two hens at CAS enjoying each other's company, with the freedom to roam

A cow raised for dairy with mastitis, a common and painful infection for cows on factory farms

OR Betty taking in a beautiful fall day at CAS

"Broiler" chickens, bred to grow large in a short period of time, too heavy to even stand

OR Hank, cuddling up to his favorite human, Jenn, Catskill Animal Sanctuary's Animal Care Coordinator.

All animals, humans and nonhumans, would choose freedom over torture and death, if given the opportunity. It's just common sense. Unfortunately, 4 billion factory farmed animals in the United States are not given any options to chose from. But there's hope. You can chose freedom for them.

At Catskill Animal Sanctuary, our 110 acre haven for farmed animals, we are able to give a fortunate few the freedom they deserve. However, our mission is bigger than that - the goal is to create more vegans. One person can save 400 farmed animals a year by switching to a vegan diet, and if everyone reading this article made the switch... well, we'd be saving a heck of a lot of animals!

This Use Your Common Sense Day, go with your gut - literally and figuratively! The simple choice of keeping meat, dairy, and eggs off your plate (and out of your gut!), makes the world of a difference. No one's intuition tells them to chose harm over peace, so chose peace today and everyday. When people ask you why you went vegan say, "I used my common sense!"