Saturnino

On Easter Day 2022, during a bicycle ride, a little girl named Gaia and her mom happened to come across a dairy cow farm.

When they approached, intrigued by the presence of so many animals, they were confronted by this newborn calf: affectionate, sociable, curious, and full of vitality.

It is thus that through mutual observation, listening, contact, and empathy, a friendship was born from this meeting that changed their lives forever.

Born as a male on a dairy farm, small and of puny build, Saturnino was not considered useful either for milk production or for being bred into an adult cow: after a few days, he would be taken to the slaughterhouse.

Here comes the beauty of this story: Gaia did not give in to this news and decided to fight for him by becoming an accomplice in his liberation! She visited him every day; and together with her mom, she asked again and again, without giving up, to have him in her care…until the breeder, impressed by her perseverance, agreed to release him!

At that point, Gaia’s mother organized a fundraiser on Facebook to cover the cost of transporting animals from Padua to Rome.

At the end of this long journey, the Sanctuary gate opened, accompanying this little white calf into his new life.

Not the one he should have lived, together with his mom…but undoubtedly the best possible one, together with our large and generous multispecies family of which he is now one of the youngest representatives!