The large, metal livestock trailers rale across our paths frequently, but do we really see them, or do they just melt in with other semi-truck trailers and trac, or worse, do we choose to ignore them? Semi-truck trailers often have eye-catching colorful photos splashed down their seemingly endless sides and words of advertisement – or sometimes nothing at all on the aluminum and steel that encloses the lifeless cargo being transported, but we can all say that we see them. Livestock trailers, on the other hand, are full of life, and yet they o!en go by “unseen”

There are holes, slats and opening throughout the trailers, making it easy to see what is inside. And while there are no fancy pictures or swirling letters, there are pig noses poking through holes, with panic-stricken eyes looking about; pink and multi-colored cow noses pressed to the metal; abused chickens and turkeys, with feathers batting in the 65+ mph wind, crouched down in their cages, fearfully watching the world passing by – sometimes even making eye contact with us -- their soulful eyes telling the heartbreaking tale of their short existence.

This is their one “adventure” in life – seeing the world for the first time on the terrifying ride to the slaughterhouse, departing the cruelty of the world they were born into, oftentimes for hours suffering in extreme temperatures and weather, without food or water, in what can only be described as possibly the most torturous step in a farmed animal’s journey on their way to be delivered to the horrors of their own death. How can we so easily miss or dismiss these gentle, innocent animals who have never known kindness a day in their lives, passing by us on the roads and highways? Animals who have never been viewed as the intelligent, feeling creatures they are, but instead labeled “livestock”, effectively making them less than the lifeless materials being hauled inside of the cargo trailers covered in fancy pictures that we notice, but somehow, we don’t see animals in livestock trailers.

Don’t look away. We owe it to these animals to “see them”, say a blessing for them, and consider taking them off our plates.