One of the outback roadtrains approaches us from the distance.
Such vehicles are used to transport innocent animals to the slaughterhouse.
The roadtrains pull over along the highway, so that the drivers are given a break.
I hear the stamping and movement of terrified animals.
I catch glimpses of these gentle cows from between the dusty slats. Even from this distance, I can sense their fear and distress.
She has brown lashed eyes as deep as a forest wood.
A tag has been cruelly stapled into her ear.
Hot breath is expelled from her soft velvet nostrils. She moans in despair.
Her head hangs low from exhaustion. Mud is splattered across her face.
Her frightened eyes reach into our hearts.
Who will love these beautiful beings if not us?
The meat (corpse) industry attempts to hide them, to make them faceless. But we find her imprisoned soul behind the bars and we see through the lies.
Her terror will reach into us. Sooner or later we will have to be accountable for the pain and suffering we inflict upon the innocent.
We will have to look her into her gentle brown lashed eye,
the cruel mutilations, her bruised joints and her aching thirst, and her head hung low in weariness.
We will acknowledge her soft weeping and her dismal sighs.
We will see her terror and despair and we will say, 'because some people enjoy the taste of your burnt corpse, you will suffer and you will be murdered.'
But even faced with these barbaric acts committed by members of our own species, for this moment at least, you are not alone.
Because today we have witnessed your suffering and you will not be forgotten.
We will love each and every one of you, as you are driven to your deaths across thousands of kilometres.
Even after you are gone and your hoof prints blow away in the dust, we will remember your lives and how special you are in our eyes.
One day our own species will become civilised. Until then we remain witnesses to these inhuman crimes, and your gentle souls will continue to inspire us.
