They are sentient beings, just like us.

Toronto Cow Save

Louise Jorgensen has organized Toronto Cow Save vigils for ten years at the slaughterhouse St. Helen’s Meat Packers in Toronto. It was here, as a teen long ago, that she first witnessed a cow being executed during an undercover investigation.

Bearing witness to the victims at vigils is deeply transforming, she emphasizes. For many, it gives a profound understanding of the incredible injustice the system is built on. 

“We have been conditioned from childhood to have apathy towards the animals that we eat. It’s almost like we put up this wall, even if I think humans are very compassionate at the core. To put up this wall is very unhealthy. But when you look into the eyes of these desperate animals, it breaks down the wall of social conditioning, the apathy they we have been taught.”

Cows arriving for slaughter - Photo: Louise Jorgensen, Toronto Cow Save

Louise describes attending animal vigils as powerful. It is almost like being hypnotized and waking people up from their slumber. She compares this to being hypnotized and waking people up from their slumber.

“To come and just look into the eyes of the victims. It makes you feel the urgency, and it lights a fire to come and do more for them and speak up for them. We have been trained to see them as commodities, and when you are there, looking them into the eyes you see that they are sentient beings, just like ourselves.”

She has always been creative and loved photography, and she started using these skills to document the vigils as a photojournalist.

Photo: Louise Jorgensen, Toronto Cow Save

During these years, many have joined Toronto Cow Save to bear witness to all these sentient beings who endure unimaginable suffering. Louise has seen many go vegan after attending a vigil, including a catholic priest, a halal butcher and a steakhouse manager, who are all committed vegans today. 

Over the years, Louise has met thousands of animals going to slaughter, every one of them an individual innocently trapped in the cruel food system. But one animal is especially stuck with her. One day, she hopes to get a tattoo of that cow. The video with him went viral, with more than 4 million views.

Calf crying at Ontario Livestock Auction - Photo: Louise Jorgensen, Toronto Cow Save

“I spent 20 minutes standing in the truck outside the slaughterhouse with this cow. He was crying and wailing and mooing, so scared and sad. I started talking to him like I do with my beloved dog Dougy.  I just told him how beautiful he was, again and again. He looked at me, stopped vailing, and just put his head down and looked right into my eyes, exactly like my dog does. I was gently talking to him and communicating through our eyes, as with my dog. He was no different; he responded exactly like my dog does. I will never forget him. I have seen so many of them, thousands of cows over the years, but this cow has stuck with me. It broke my heart.”

Written by Anne Casparsson