Eeshan’s Story
Eeshan was just one goat among many, trapped inside a Houston halal slaughterhouse, moments from being killed.
None of the others made it out. But he did. And now he’s a living symbol of what’s possible when people give a piece of themselves to another.
Activists and filmmakers Eesha Gulatti and Richard Hughes were at the slaughterhouse to document the horror. They described three holding pens:
The first, where animals stood, silent.
The second, packed with animals huddled together, heads resting on each other like it was the last comfort they’d ever know.
And the third… where wide-eyed animals stood frozen in terror, seconds from being dragged to their deaths.
Beyond that?
A scene too brutal to forget. Severed limbs on the floor. A sheep, freshly cut, thrashing for their life.
No animal should ever experience this kind of fear and violence.
But in the middle of all that suffering…
A goat with a white coat and a soft tan-topped head, as curious as they come, found a way to be seen. He walked straight up to Eesha and Richard… but their time was up and they had to leave.
When Eesha and Richard came back another day, the friendly goat was still there. And again, he approached them, like he knew this was his last shot. And maybe, just maybe, he did.
This time, they couldn’t leave without him.
What followed was nothing short of a miracle. A village of activists and kind-hearted strangers came together to give the goat the one thing every animal deserves: the right to life and liberty.
Eesha and Richard negotiated the beautiful white goat’s freedom from the slaughterhouse. They first brought him to a local sanctuary, where he earned his name, Eeshan, in tribute to the woman who helped snatch him from death’s door.
In this early photo, the spray paint markings on his coat are still clear.
Eeshan’s pictured here with Eesha at the first sanctuary where he stayed before making the jump to Rowdy Girl (thanks in no small part to our friends and fierce allies Nili and her husband Ron, who also helped make this happen).
Slaughterhouse workers often spray-paint animals as part of the cold, transactional process of the market.
And now? Eeshan is finally home at Rowdy Girl Sanctuary, surrounded by his nine new brothers and sisters who will never again face a fate like the one he escaped.
