Meet Nicholas, a third grader with a gentle heart who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Nicholas loves all kinds of animals and does everything he can to save them from being abused or mistreated. A vegetarian since birth, Nicholas has already saved lots of animals, just by deciding not to eat them! Some people are vegetarian because they care about animals. Others are vegetarian because they want to stay healthy or protect the environment. Nicholas is vegetarian for all of those reasons, but mostly because he loves animals and just thinks it is wrong to kill them for food. And we agree. What better way to show animals that you love them than to stop eating them?

Nicholas and his family also visit Farm Sanctuary's California Shelter every year, where they get to meet many different types of farm animals. At Farm Sanctuary, Nicholas gets to give pigs belly rubs and scratch those tough-to-reach spots between goats' horns. And boy, do goats really like to get scratched between their horns! When Nicholas goes to Farm Sanctuary, he especially loves visiting Mario the steer (a steer is a boy cow). The first time he met Mario, Nicholas says the big, playful steer walked right over to him and was very friendly and funny. That's our Mario! If you're a Farm Sanctuary Kids fan, you may already know about Mario, and you can view his diary here.

But Mario isn't the only animal to win Nicholas's heart. Nicholas has also developed a very special bond with the turkeys at Farm Sanctuary. In fact, each year Nicholas' class adopts an animal at Farm Sanctuary, and the students vote for the type of animal they want to adopt. Last year his class voted to adopt a rabbit. This year, Nicholas voted for his class to adopt a turkey. But since Nicholas loves all farm animals, next year he says he is going to vote to adopt a cow or a pig. By adopting an animal at Farm Sanctuary, Nicholas's class donates money to help feed and take care of the animals who had been mistreated on farms. In return, Nicholas' class gets an adoption certificate, information about how the animal they adopted was rescued, and updates about how the animal is doing now that he or she is living at Farm Sanctuary.

Sadly, all of the animals at Farm Sanctuary's two shelters were treated very badly before they arrived - they were abused, neglected or just abandoned by the people who were supposed to care for them. But with the help of Outstanding Animal Friends like Nicholas and his classmates, the animals at Farm Sanctuary get a second chance to live happy, healthy lives.

Are you an Outstanding Animal Friend? Would you like to nominate a friend or relative? E-mail us and tell us about it! You or your friend may be featured as a future Outstanding Animal Friend!