This was on FB not my story—

Up until yesterday, I justified eating meat occasionally because I was compartmentalizing all of the awful things I know go on with factory farms as, "not something I contribute to." The reality though is that I did still go to the occasional fast food drive through, which means that I was directly contributing to this kind of evil. Well, that all changed yesterday when I was driving home from a business trip and there on the side of the road I saw a lone piglet laying on its back with its feet flailing up in the air. I couldn't believe my eyes, but what I couldn't believe more was that no one was stopping to help. I circled back on the highway and pulled off only to see this poor baby who had cuts all over his tiny defenseless body, who was bleeding out all alone and who was left there like he was "product spillage" during transit. His ear was tattooed and he was shaking with fear, all alone and trying depserately to stand up and run away. I picked him up and did what I could for his wounds while my wife and I called everyone we could think of to find someone who would help. Finally, after a long list of dead ends, we were directed to a wonderful veterinarian who agreed to take care of this guy. The fact that so few people would even give him the time of day was astounding, but the fact that we live in a world where animals can be left for dead on the side of the road because, "that's just how the system works," was even more blatantly evil. So, that's it for me, and hopefully maybe Otis' story will help more of you take the leap. I will never, ever, ever contribute to a system that allows this type of thing to happen ever again. As for Otis, yes we named him because a tattooed number on the ear is not enough for an innocent soul, we don't know if he will survive, but we will do everything we can to see that he does.... and from now on we will also do everything we can to make sure his brothers and sisters don't have to live in a world like this anymore.

UPDATE: Hi Everyone and thank you all so much for the support! My wife and I are overwhelmed by the amount of love people are showing here and my inbox has been filled with people asking about Otis so I want to add the answers to the same questions I keep getting PMd to me here.

1. Otis is recovering quite well. Dr. Chris Albert and Dr. Jessica Carnes saved his life! I am posting updates to the fundraiser page as are others.

2. Otis will live a long and happy life on Chris Albert's farm. She has another rescue pig named Anna who is 9 years old and super happy and healthy. They live on a beautiful property and have lots of rescued animals. They are not a formal 'sanctuary' but they have huge hearts and Otis seems very happy there.

3. We will keep visiting Otis and sending updates as often as we can. Between my wife and I, we run two businesses and I have a full time day job so we can't post updates every day, but Dr. Albert and Dr. Carnes are posting updates as well.

4. I do not know for certain where Otis came from. I found him on the side of the highway where there were fences on either side, he was covered in blood, he couldn't walk, he had flesh hanging wide open on his belly and he was covered in road rash. We believe he fell, or jumped out of, a transport truck. He had a tattoo on his ear which indicates likely some mega-farm, but either way he is safe now.

5. No one is going to eat Otis. He will be happy, safe, and well cared for thanks to the immense generosity shown by everyone who donated and shared this story!

Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement and love! I'm so glad Otis inspired a lot more people than I ever imagined he would. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart!

Link to the fundraiser page. [facebook.com]