Every year 29 million cows die in the dairy and meat industry world wide.
“Always keep in mind why you started, remind yourself why you wanted to change the world,” Nina Andersson, Animal Home Care.
“If you want to change the world, start with yourself,” stated the pacifist political leader and thinker Mohandas Gandhi, and it is true. Changing the world seems like an impossible task, yet changing ourselves will allow us to transform our surroundings and the lives of those around us.
Nina Andersson was born as the twin sister of Linda Andersson in Vastra Karaby, Skåne, Sweden, a small town of less than 300 habitants. At the age of eleven she began to get involved in animal welfare issues being worried about the use of animal fur in clothing and animal cruelty. Nina also organized campaigns against zoos and fur stores, as well as edited an animal rights youth magazine.“Whenever I saw pictures about animal cruelty, that reminded me of why I wanted to advocate for animal rights,” recalls Nina. “Animal suffering and animals being eaten made me feel sad and hopeless.”
Veganism: A Practical Way to Protect Animals
At the age of 17, Nina decided to become vegan. She knew this was a practical way to contribute to save the lives of animals. By 19 she had already decided she wanted to be a vegan chef and help contribute to show people that you don’t have to eat meat or dairy to have a delicious and nutritious meal. And in 2015, along with three other friends, she opened her own vegan restaurant bar in Gothenburg, Sweden, called Blackbird.
“I am a self taught chef. I have read many cookbooks and tried many vegan dishes in order to create my own recipes,” explains Nina, who also published her own vegan cookbook in 2001. “People are now more curious about trying vegan food. We have a lot of people who come to the restaurant and are not vegan because we have traditional Swedish dishes made animal free and we even make our own vegan cheese”.
The Tragic Life of Farm Animals
The lives of animals bred for human consumption are always short and more than often deplorable. More than 29 million cows die every year worldwide to satisfy the meat and dairy industries, sometimes slaughtered painfully while still conscious, according to PETA. And Humane Society International states that around 250,000 bulls are killed yearly in bullfights.
For this reason, in November 2020, Nina along with ten other people started the organization Djurens Hemtjänst or Animal Home Care in English in order to help farm animals in need.
“There was an animal sanctuary called Gotlands djurfristad, which got an animal ban from the authorities because the animals were in bad shape, so we came in to help as many as we could. We saved 64 animals including sheep, pigs and bulls,” Nina remembers.
They were able to relocate most of the animals in optimal homes, but having the bulls adopted was the hardest due to their size and needs.
Animal Empathy
The bull’s names are Birk, Lucky, Samuel, Harry, Ferdinand, Elliot and Melvin, and sadly one of them passed away; he was called Mattis. Being part of their rescue has been the most enlightening experience for Nina. It has helped her to see these big farm animals differently and she wishes people would be more empathetic towards them.
“I wish people could see that these animals are very unique. They each have different personalities. I want people to know that they are worth being saved because often people show no compassion towards them,” says Nina.
Help Came on Time
The remaining bulls live in three different homes in the middle of Sweden. Home Care for Animals is still in charge of helping the foster homes of these gentle giants with food and other needed supplies, a difficult and expensive task. Unfortunately, only three members from the original 10 remain in the organization and have been able to work on saving the bulls. Since the winter in Sweden is very harsh, they also needed to provide hay and a thermobar so they could have drinking water, that’s when Nina looked for help.
“We were looking for funds on the Internet and we found TPP. We are very big fans of what you do, helping people around the world when they need it the most,” expresses Nina. “We applied for the seed grant to help care for the bulls during the winter and we were really happy and relieved to have your support. It represents the validation of our work, that what we do is really important. Hopefully, in the near future, we will have more people engaging in Djurens hemjänst.”
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