Farmer gives £9,000 flock of sheep to animal sanctuary after 47 years of being upset at their distress
The farmer of 47 years, who drove his flock to Goodheart Animal Sanctuaries, said: 'The emotional toll became too much'
A FARMER who got upset taking his lambs to the abattoir gave a £9,000 flock to an animal sanctuary.
Sivalingam Vasanthakumar, 60, said he could no longer stand seeing the stress the animals suffered as they headed for slaughter.
He added: “I couldn’t cope any more and I had to say no. Taking them to the slaughterhouse was stressing me a lot — watching them huddle in terror in the back of the lorry.
“The emotional toll became too much.”
So Sivalingam, who has been a farmer for 47 years, drove his flock to Goodheart Animal Sanctuaries, near Kidderminster, Worcs — almost 200 miles from his farm in Totnes, Devon.
The sanctuary claimed the male lambs would have fetched about £9,000 if sold.
Sivalingam, who has also become vegetarian, said he previously worked as a dairy farmer in Sri Lanka but had kept a flock in the UK for “many years”.
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He now plans to sell vegetables and his home-cooked Indian dishes at a Totnes street market.
He added: “I will still be in the farming world — just not livestock farming.”
The sanctuary, which has 220 animals, said it had never received lambs from a farmer before.
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