Away from rural farms and an accurate depiction of the animals who live on them, regular
people can find it very difficult to empathize with animals likecows, chickens, and pigs. With only the media to guide us, it’s very easy for people to start believing that cows have no feelings, pigs are filthy, and chickens are bird-brained and useless. None of these things are true. However, consumed with our own individualistic goals, many of us can go our whole lives without truly knowing what these animals are like and how important their lives are. The only way we would possibly learn about these animals and be able to effectively extend empathy to them is to reach out for them ourselves.
Back in Ohio, Mike Cogliano was a typical, driven, U.S. worker – he had a job, a house, and big dreams for a bright future. He was working within the Ohio court system and had high hopes to one day enter law enforcement and help serve justice in his community. At one point or another though, Cogliano realized that a legal career was not actually the path he wanted to embark on and headed to Utah to regroup. Having always been an animal lover, Cogliano decided to volunteer at Best Friends Animal Society and help dogs in need.
What Cogliano hadn’t realized that these dogs would change his life as much as he changed theirs. After seeing the complex and fascinating lives of these dogs, he realized that, as much as media would like him to believe otherwise, cows, pigs, and chickens were also incredibly unique. He became vegetarian, then vegan, and then began working at Farm Sanctuary.
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