🗣️The way we talk about animals affects the way we treat them

Words matter.

The way we talk about animals—or the very fact that we avoid talking about them—reflects and reinforces how society treats them.

On farms, in supermarkets, in laws, and in everyday language, animals are often made invisible through words that create distance.

But sanctuaries like ours seek to reverse this trend—restoring not only freedom, but also identity.

Let’s explore how language shapes perception—and why changing it is a step towards justice.

📦 From “Livestock” to “Luce”

The Italian word bestiame (livestock) does not describe a living being.

It describes an economic unit. A commodity. An asset.

Yet, many of those we call “livestock” are sentient individuals, capable of feeling pain, joy, fear, and affection.

Take Luce.

She is not “a head of sheep” or “mutton.”

She is Luce—a little lamb who plays with flowers and follows the people she loves in the meadow.

👉 Symbolically adopt Luce and help us restore identity to those who were reduced to a number

💬 Words that make animals disappear

Here are some examples of how language tends to obscure reality:

• Slaughter becomes food processing
• Bodies become meat
• Killing becomes harvesting
• Animals become livestock, production units, heads

Expressions like head of cattle reduce a life to a figure.

It's not neutral language—it's designed to make us feel less involved.

As Carol J. Adams explains in The Sexual Politics of Meat, language separates the product (meat) from the individual (animal) to maintain consumer comfort.

👉 Read why factory farming must end

🧠 What science tells us

Cognitive linguistic studies show that euphemisms reduce empathy and moral engagement.

When people read expressions like poultry products instead of killed chickens, the emotional response drops drastically.

That’s why slaughterhouses are never called by their true name.

And that’s why milk is sold without mentioning the calf.

Even the FAO recognizes that terms like animal production promote industrial models and obscure the debate on welfare.

💚 What sanctuaries do differently

In sanctuaries, animals are not “types”—they have names.

• You don't feed “the pigs”—you feed Bruno and Nina
• You don't save “a goat”—you save Arturo, abandoned at 5 days old
• You don't mourn “a chicken”—you mourn Olivia, who waited for you every morning at the door

Giving a name is not sentimentality.

It is a revolutionary act.

👉 Read why animals in sanctuaries are not “saved meat” but individuals

✨ What you can do

Changing language changes mindsets.

Here are small, powerful gestures you can start today:

• Use personal pronouns (he, she) instead of “it” or “that”
• Say cow and not beef, chicken and not poultry
• Tell stories, not just statistics
• Talk about who animals are, not what they are for
• Gently correct those who use terms that create distance

Restoring an animal's name means beginning to restore their rights.