Jerry was lucky.
The emaciated, crippled steer was teeming with parasites and was nearly blind from pinkeye, a common infection in the close confines of slaughterhouses.
The 5-month-old calf was rescued by a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) investigator and transferred to a sanctuary, according to a PETA file.
Other calves aren't as lucky as Jerry.
By the millions, cattle are castrated, branded and have their horns sliced off all without anesthesia in the United States every year. After enduring almost a year of confinement in feedlots and crates so small they often are unable to turn around or lie down, they are given salvation with slaughter.
Their throats are sliced open like envelopes, blood cascading out like a macabre red waterfall.
Some are skinned while still fully conscious.
And Bruce Friedrich wants you to meet them.
Friedrich, vice president of policy and government affairs for PETA and producer of PETA's video "Meet Your Meat," spoke to a crowd of about 65 at the Florida Gym on Saturday about the abuse factory farm animals face and the social and environmental benefits of a vegan diet.
A vegan does not eat animal products, including dairy, eggs, meat and often honey.
Sponsored by UF's enVeg, an environmental vegetarian group, the event kicked off World Go Vegan Week, Friedrich began his presentation as he discussed playing football in Oklahoma, where he joked the two main food groups were Dairy Queen and McDonald's.
"The idea of not eating meat was like the idea of not breathing oxygen," Friedrich said of his past.
Now a vegan for 22 years and one of the leading figures in the largest animal rights organization in the world, Friedrich's views are somewhat different.
"I came to work at PETA because my heart brought me there," Friedrich said.
Throughout the course of his near 70-minute presentation, Friedrich quoted Gandhi, Socrates and Sir Paul McCartney to help convey his message on the benefits of a plant-based diet.
Friedrich diverged from speaking for a few minutes to show the opening three minutes of "Meet Your Meat," the video he produced.
"What you are about to see is beyond your worst nightmares," Alec Baldwin narrated, as an image of a slaughterhouse worker clubbing a pig flashed across the screen.
Friedrich spoke for free Saturday.
"We think the message is too important [to require payment]. Any time there is an audience we will go," Friedrich said. "I just like speaking to college campuses."
Katie Black, a vegan and a UF freshman who attended Friedrich's presentation, said she doesn't remember the last time she ate meat.
"I always hated the smell of it, the taste of it, the sight of it," Black said. "I always knew it was wrong."
Although Black said she learned a lot from Friedrich's lecture, she said she would have liked to hear more information about alternatives for those who are less familiar with a plant-based diet.
Katie Fricker, a UF economics sophomore who also attended the presentation, said she especially liked how Friedrich compared eating meat to eating a household pet.
"You're eating someone if you're eating an animal, you're not eating something," Friedrich reminded the audience as his presentation came to a close and he winded through audience questions with the precision and eloquence of a seasoned debater.
For more information on PETA or vegetarianism, go to Meetyourmeat.com.
