SELENA
Charlolais heifer
Selena’s Story
Rowdy Girl Sanctuary could not say no when we received the request for Selena to live out her days there. The letter below is from Vanessa, whose daughter Soraya raised this beautiful Charolais heifer named Selena. Soraya formed a deep bond with Selena, who knows the family well and exhibits no fear, unaware that her fate could have been at a slaughterhouse. Selena’s trust is remarkable, even as she bears the scars from being whipped with a show stick by another person in the program. Despite this, she has somehow retained her sweet personality.
Vanessa’s Story
“Hi, my name is Vanessa, the mother of Soraya, and we have a story to tell. Our kids have been part of the FFA program for many years. Each year, it became harder and harder to participate in the program because we didn’t believe these animals should be sent off to be slaughtered, or ‘processed’ as they call it in the AG world. We started feeling angry about the way these beautiful beings, with hearts and souls just like ours, were treated as if their lives didn’t matter.
One year, when chickens were a project for my oldest daughter, we attended the rodeo. My husband tried to take the chickens back with us because we didn’t want them to be killed. Unfortunately, we hadn’t read the organization’s rules, and once we entered the competition, the poor chickens became the rodeo’s property and were slaughtered. It breaks our hearts to this day. Since then, after every project, we have found homes for these helpless animals so they wouldn’t be processed for food, because by that point, they were family and pets to us.
This year, my daughter has formed a bond with Selena, a beautiful Charolais full of love and life. During her first year, another AG kid whipped our poor Selena with a show stick, leaving multiple whip marks on her neck, where she still bears scars today. We had witnesses and all, but the girl was never reprimanded for it. That’s how she controlled her animals—with that kind of discipline, which is not okay and never will be. That same girl would whip her own animals at the barn and had a history of doing so. That situation disconnected us even more from the program because no animal should ever be whipped like Selena was.
Sadly, we don’t have the space to keep Selena because we live in the city, and moving isn’t an option right now, as we want our daughter to complete her senior year and graduate with her friends. Selena has been such a sweetheart and knows us well. We truly believe she needs to live out her life somewhere beautiful, and after reading about your sanctuary, we feel it would be the perfect place for her. She has a beautiful personality and is just a sweetheart. We want to thank Rowdy Girl Sanctuary for taking her in. We know Selena will have a happy place to live out her life with other friends just like her. Visiting the sanctuary solidified our decision, as we saw firsthand how these animals are treated and knew it would be the perfect place for her.”
Selena arriving and settling in at Rowdy Girl Sanctuary.
