Kelmarna farm: Three steers live to see another day
Tuesday, 11 June 2019
Three steers from a city farm will be moved to a sanctuary after outraged visitors learned they were going to be slaughtered.
The animals had been living at Kelmarna Gardens, a city farm and organic garden based in the Auckland suburb of Ponsonby.
However, the community had learned the trio would be sold and killed for meat.
The decision caused outrage in the community and on Tuesday morning, the Kelmarna board of trustees said the cattle had been returned to the garden alive.
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On Facebook, the board said it was working with a sanctuary who offered to look after the trio permanently.
Til the Cows Come Home Farm Sanctuary, along with Te Paranui Farm Sanctuary and Helping You Help Animals (HUHA) rallied together on Monday, when they learned the steers were at the meat processor store.
A petition was created and more than 1500 people had signed it.
HUHA founder, Carolyn Press-McKenzie, said the person who made the most change in this situation was the employee at the meat processor who 'identified the pet steers as being important to the community'.
'He made the choice to put his tools down and step aside,' Press-McKenzie said.
'It was an extraordinarily insightful stance to take and we are grateful to him for ultimately saving those cows lives.'
Jasmine Hubber, founder of Til the Cows Come Home Farm Sanctuary, said the three steers would be moving to North Canterbury to stay at her sanctuary.
'It was a life or death situation and it was great to have a big support system that came together,' she said.
On their Facebook pages, the organisations said the animals began their lives at Mt Albert Grammar School's farm and were gifted to Kelmarna Gardens in 2017.
The steers were described as 'gentle giants' and 'pets, loved and enjoyed by so many visiting families', the organisations said.
In a statement last Friday, Kelmarna Community Garden Trust Board chair, Phillippa Wilkie, said the garden was a way to promote organic food growing and self-sufficiency in the community.
'For decades this has involved grazing livestock in our paddocks that have all ended up in the food system,' Wilkie said.
'We consider that those who choose to eat meat should be able to know where it has come from and how it has been raised, in order to make an informed decision about it.
'This is why we have chosen to involve the community in this process.'
Wilkie said this was not a financial decision and thanked people who offered money to re-home the cattle.
The steers are expected to move to North Canterbury within the next two weeks.
Kelmarna Gardens has been contacted for comment.