by Lorri Bauston

About the author: Lorri Bauston is the president of Farm Sanctuary, the first and largest sanctuary for animals abandoned by factory farms.

Hilda was loaded onto a truck with hundreds of other sheep. The sheep were severely overcrowded in accordance with standard livestock marketing strategy to get more dollars per load, even though some animals inevitably die from the stress. After discovering an ailing Hilda on a pile of dead animals behind the Lancaster (Pennsylvania) Stockyards, investigators from Farm Sanctuary rushed her to the nearest veterinarian. Twenty minutes later she stood up and started eating and drinking.

While Hilda regained her strength, Farm Sanctuary launched an investigation to determine who had abandoned her. The stockyard records revealed that she had been on the deadpile for 16 hours. The trucker who was responsible admitted that...