'It was love at first sight': How this 11-year-old girl saved a calf slated for the slaughterhouse
CBC
If John Serrati had been told 10 years ago he would someday be the proud owner of a cow, he says you could have knocked him over with a feather.
But that day came this summer after his 11-year-old daughter, Zoe Serrati, came face-to-face with a six-month-old calf named Olive.
"It was love at first sight for her," said the proud father from Ontario.
You could also call it a fated encounter. Olive was a surplus of the dairy industry at her farm and was set to be slaughtered for meat earlier this year. But when Zoe became involved with the youth organization and calf club 4-H Ontario, the farm loaned the young girl the calf to use in the organization's cow shows.
Uninterested in showing off Olive in a show ring and teaching her tricks, Zoe instead spent her summer forming an intimate bond and true friendship with the calf.
"She's my best friend, I love her so much," said Zoe, who wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up
After the summer program came to an end, Olive was set to be returned to the farm. Fearing the worst for her, the father-daughter duo became determined to find Olive a forever home. The pair negotiated a price with the farm, adopted the calf as their own and began searching for a place that would take her in.
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