Chris Mills worked on dairy farms for 20 years.Chris Mills spent more than 20 years working on dairy farms in Ontario before going vegan. A trapper and avid hunter, he wound up marrying a vegetarian in his early thirties, when he also began working highway construction. While conversations with his wife planted some seeds, Chris points to the defining moment as the day a truck hauling pigs to slaughter stalled by his work site on the highway. He writes: “There was a bad accident just up from our job site. It was -34c and the traffic was getting backed up. I was running a machine that day, had the heat cranked and was still bundled up. The traffic had come to a complete stop.
I looked beside me on the highway and there was a tractor trailer hauling pigs to Quebec. That was the day I made the connection. I looked these poor animals in the eyes and I knew they were being sent to their deaths. It was now -36 and they were freezing! Their skin was red and you could see ice on some of their faces. My heart sank. I felt so bad for them and I told myself that was it! I will never cause harm to another creature again! I never looked back.
After that, I never once thought if it would be hard to be a vegan and to give up all the meats and cheeses. I love to cook and I try to inspire and show people that vegan food is delicious and beautiful. My wife, daughter and I are vegan for life! We also have three dogs and, yes, they consume a plant-based diet as well.”
In 2015 Chris and his wife, Kim, adapted their modest property into a small animal sanctuary, The Grass Is Greener Farm Sanctuary. They currently have a special focus on rescuing rabbits from the meat industry.
