In the northern Minnesota city of Fergus Falls, the City Council held a public hearing last April to hear residents present social justice concerns impacting the community. A teacher at the local elementary school, Ophelia Trimble, 25, shared her opinion that meat raffles marginalize vegetarians, pescatarians, flexitarians, and vegans. In response to Trimble’s concern, Fergus Falls promised to investigate the situation and has temporarily banned all meat raffles within city limits. The city’s response aims to highlight the local government’s pursuit of equity and inclusion and avoids further conflict with the teacher union.

Meat raffles are common evening events, often hosted by fraternal organizations and drinking establishments throughout Minnesota and other midwestern states. During World War II, with the rationing of the American meat supply, communities would pool resources and raffle large portions of meat so that raffle winners could treat their families to the luxury of a full meal. Such raffles empowered neighbors to unite, raise money for charitable causes, and enjoy a friendly game of chance. The practice has continued since 1942.

Karl Pedersen, 47, has lived in Fergus Falls all his life. He has worked at Otter Tail Power Company, one of the area’s largest employers, for 25 years. Pedersen likes to keep his finger on the pulse of the local nightlife. One of Pedersen’s colleagues, Helga Eriksson, described Pedersen as the glue that holds the community together. “Karl always knows what’s going on,” she said. “If you are looking for a fun time on a Tuesday night, Karl’s the guy you want to call.”

After the city government announced the prohibition of meat raffles, Karl finds himself unofficially crowned with an entirely new role: community activist. “I have always supported our local government,” he explained. “But now they are threatening to disrupt a long-standing way of life up here and it is time for me to take a stand against government overreach. This is a hill I’m willing to die on.”

Proceeds from meat raffles generally benefit community organizations. “The VFW was able to support last year’s renovation of the high school gymnasium and the American Legion sponsored the installation of a sculpture near the Town Square gazebo depicting Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox,” Pedersen said. “It’s not all about the meat. It’s about getting together with friends, supporting local establishments, and contributing to a cause that makes Fergus Falls a better place to raise a wholesome family.”

However, meat raffles aren’t popular with younger folks who prefer prepared meatless meals delivered to their front door. “Look, I get it. Nobody under thirty knows how to grill a steak,” Pedersen said. “These hippies have been coming up from the Twin Cities to escape violent crime and the high cost of living. They have brought some interesting perspectives along with different expectations,” he said. “A few years ago, we were an older community set in our ways, but the pandemic popped the old timers right in the kisser. Culled the herd, so to speak. A lot of our watering holes have lost regulars who have moved on to the glorious golden barstool up above.”

Trimble, however, has been basking in her newfound fame and has become a veritable celebrity within the local public school system. Unsurprisingly, most of her students have come out as vegetarian or vegan in recent weeks. “Since I started showing my students YouTube videos of chickens, hogs, and cattle being ruthlessly slaughtered and processed, I have achieved a 90% conversion rate,” she said. She believes that meat will become a thing of the past over the coming decade as her students become adults. “The local government needs to force Fergus Falls to eliminate the meat from their raffles right now so that these pitiful old people have the next few years to think about what they will raffle when meat no longer exists. It’s the responsible thing to do.”

Trimble, who has never participated in a meat raffle, says she would consider attending if the raffle supported a cause aligned with her values. However, she specified that the meat options would have to be plant-based substitutes. “Meat isn’t healthy. I went to college at St. Cloud State and I know what I’m talking about. Ignorant residents need to follow the science,” she said. “Also, each of these establishments must publish a transparent set of core values to serve as a framework guiding how raffle proceeds are disbursed. We can’t have another Paul Bunyan fiasco.”

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox are well-known legends of Minnesotan folklore. However, Trimple objects to how raffle funds constructed the recent Paul Bunyan display in the Town Square. She notes that the city’s obsession with Paul Bunyan is ironically symbolic of the war she is waging against the community’s systemic oppression of marginalized voices. “Look at Paul. He’s a white lumberjack who exemplifies toxic masculinity. His unkempt beard, his exaggerated stature, and his passion for deforestation really sets the tone. You can imagine him wearing a red MAGA cap while using his axe to breach the United States Capitol. The whole display is horrific and traumatizing,” she said. “Now consider the androgynous Babe the Blue Ox. A castrated bull. A bovine of color. A gentle creature enslaved by an axe wielding man-beast.”

Trimble has now incorporated Minnesota folklore into her third-grade curriculum and teaches her students that Babe was likely a closeted member of the LGBTQIA+ community who was never truly accepted. She makes a point of using they/them pronouns when referring to the ox. “Clearly Babe had surgically transitioned. They did not have the opportunity to live authentically,” Trimble explained. “The legend says that Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes were originally Babe’s footprints. Well, if that’s the case, it’s safe to say the lakes took shape when Babe filled the footprints with tears.”

Pedersen hopes to maintain tradition and wants to bring meat raffles back to their former glory. However, he recognizes he is likely fighting a losing battle. “Without the meat, we’d just have boring regular raffles. We might as well play bingo,” he said. “Where do we draw the line? At this rate we will be holding organic mashed potato raffles, and every ticket sold will be a guaranteed winner. But social media doesn’t really give a darn about anything I have to say.”

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Lundin Levine, 25, and her husband, Zeke, 26, moved to Denver in 2020. After COVID, as they gathered the courage to venture outdoors, the couple realized their evening walks around the Cherry Creek neighborhood weren’t meeting expectations. “Everyone else was pushing their baby in a stroller, or walking their dog, or pushing their dog in a baby stroller,” Lundin said. “I think we were confusing our neighbors,” she explained. “We weren’t accompanied by something depending on us for survival. We were just walking by ourselves. People probably thought we didn’t even live in Cherry Creek. I was like: ‘This is weird.’”

Lundin and Zeke, originally from Calabasas, California, were high school sweethearts and both attended the University of Colorado in Boulder. Immediately following graduation, the two married and decided to plant roots in Cherry Creek. The upscale Denver neighborhood is 80% white and the median sale price for a Cherry Creek home is $1.3 million. Although they are both straight, cisgender, and white, the couple has struggled to fit in. “We definitely wish that our neighborhood was more inclusive,” Lundin said. “Zeke has a darker complexion because his grandfather is Italian. Sometimes we wonder if this makes our neighbors less likely to accept our authentic selves.”

When they moved to Cherry Creek, Lundin thought neighbors would invite the couple over for dinner, help them shovel the driveway if their snowplow service failed to show up, or that folks might occasionally stop by to ask if Lundin needed an egg or a cup of sugar. “Clearly something is off,” Lundin said. “Literally, like, nobody stops by to offer assistance. If we weren’t regularly receiving Amazon packages, I’d wonder if the video doorbell worked.”

The Levines are younger than surrounding homeowners and Zeke believes ageism towards young people is a factor inhibiting inclusion. “Obviously, we couldn’t purchase our house in Cherry Creek right out of college without assistance from our parents,” Zeke explained. “But we pay [our parents] a reasonable rent that allows us to maintain the lifestyle we require. We will take over the mortgage payments down the road when we have real jobs and are appropriately compensated for doing work we are passionate about. We are doing our part.”

In an effort to fit in, the couple decided to improve optics by welcoming a loved one into their home. They found a nearby animal rescue so they could find an unfortunate pet needing to be saved from almost certain death. With any luck, adding a bundle of cuteness to the evening walks would encourage neighbors to initiate conversation and be more welcoming.

The couple initially hoped to rescue a shelter pet with a visible impairment or deformity. “We wanted a dog that was handi-capable. I saw something online where a puppy needed to drag itself around using a wheelchair harness thing and that seemed cool,” Lundin said. “After all, what’s the point of rescuing something if followers, friends, and family don’t recognize the nobility and sacrifice?”

“We knew we wanted to name our new family member ‘Freedom,’ so we were keeping our eyes peeled for something that embodied the desperate thirst implied by the name,” said Zeke. “Unfortunately, the shelter’s options were limited.”

According to Stray Pawsitive Rescue Shelter’s spokesperson, Melodia Harmon, the animal selection has been limited due to COVID-related supply chain challenges and Vladimir Putin’s price hikes. Additionally, the shelter continues to struggle since 90% of its volunteer staff stopped showing up for their scheduled shifts. “We are unable to offer volunteers a work-from-home option,” Harmon said. “This has really impacted operations. But we are working hard to identify a sustainable hybrid option that encourages our young animal lovers to volunteer and empowers them to focus on the self-care they tend to prioritize.”

Lundin and Zeke decided to push forward. “We figured we would settle for the most miserable looking furball immediately available,” Zeke said. He recalled being slightly disappointed upon learning all available animals were able-bodied. “Without a missing eye or leg, some pretty amazing pirate-themed Halloween costume options were off the table,” he said. “When you pick up your phone and see a dog of differing abilities fumbling around wearing an eye patch, a wooden peg leg, or even both, you just have to smash that like-button.”

They arrived bright and early on a Saturday morning as soon as Stray Pawsitive opened. Zeke was pleasantly surprised by the welcome they received. “The shelter gave Lundin a headband with some sort of pointy animal ears on it. That thoughtful gesture really put us in the right frame of mind,” Zeke recalled. “They also had a bowl full of Tootsie Rolls near the front desk which was awesome because it was 11 a.m. and it was breakfast time.”

It didn’t take long for them to find what they were looking for. The couple walked by some healthy, generic-looking labs, spaniels, and golden retrievers. Towards the end of the last row, Lundin spotted a hairy creature in the corner of a cage crumpled into a fetal position. “The cage floor was sopping wet. He was wearing one of those plastic cone things around his head, and he had cute little gym shorts on like one of those cartoon dogs on Paw Patrol or something,” Lundin described. Lundin and Zeke immediately knew they had found a dog that would meet their needs.

Zeke immediately tried out the name they had chosen. “As soon as we started shouting ‘Freedom’ at him using high-pitched baby voices, he kind of perked up and started to shuffle and lurch towards us,” he said. “Freedom responded to his name and the shelter person who had just hosed down the cage said Freedom hadn’t done much of anything over the past several days. So we were super proud of ourselves.”

Lundin and Zeke had worked hard to get their home ready for Freedom’s arrival. Crate training was going to be a priority since Zeke didn’t want Freedom to roam the house unsupervised. Research on YouTube taught him that dogs feel safe and cozy when confined in a cage. The couple had also researched dog food and decided to go with a sustainably sourced, organic, grain-free option that closely resembled what wolves eat out in the wilderness. Lundin knew there might be an occasional mess in the house, so Lundin used a TikTok hack to stack the cards in their favor. She rigged a Christmas sleigh bell she ordered online to the handle of the patio door so that Freedom could hit the bell with his nose when he needed to do his business outside.

Things went differently than planned. “Almost immediately, we noticed that Freedom hated his crate. It was literally the most expensive crate Amazon offered to deliver same day, but Freedom kept wiggling the latch like he was trying to escape,” Zeke said. “He wouldn’t eat his food even when I spooned it into his gullet, held his mouth shut, and jiggled his throat up and down like a Shake Weight.”

Lundin also encountered challenges. “He refused to let me hook him up to his leash and he even ran around on his hind legs and tried to kick me with his paws,” she said. “Thankfully, we always have a couple magazines out on our coffee table. I rolled up this month’s issue of The Advocate and smacked Freedom right on the snout.”

Freedom exhibited some other concerning behaviors during the first week. “Our mail was no longer being delivered because the mail carrier felt threatened by Freedom’s tendency to charge the door or slam his face into the living room window,” Lundin said. “We also came home after a long day at a local craft beer festival and discovered Freedom had somehow ordered multiple adult-oriented Pay-Per-View movies.”

While it’s not unusual for rescue pets to act out as they acclimate to new surroundings, Zeke said all the clues came together when Freedom started speaking English. “I was spritzing him with water from a spray bottle to scare him out of the kitchen. All of a sudden, he asked for dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets,” he said. That’s when Zeke realized Freedom was a living, breathing boy. “It was like something out of Pinocchio when I learned Freedom is a real boy. I mean, he was always grumbling and grunting a lot, so thank the stars he didn’t try to speak Spanish or Japanese or something weird like that because I probably wouldn’t have even noticed he was talking to me,” he said. “I immediately called my dad to explain the situation and let him know that Freedom wasn’t working out.”

It is still unclear how the boy, who is likely 16 or 17 years old, found himself in Stray Pawsitive’s care. The facility says it is taking the incident very seriously and is attributing the oversight to short staffing and referenced Denver’s unpredictable labor market.

Stray Pawsitive’s legal counsel, Veronica Von Dorf, released a public statement earlier this week and noted that the City of Denver’s inability to prioritize mandates focused on the humane treatment of needy animals likely contributed to the mistreatment of this child. Furthermore, Von Dorf noted that, contrary to Stray Pawsitive standard procedures, Freedom was not neutered before he was released to the Levine family and that the community should focus on this silver lining, move past the negativity, and join hands to help Freedom find a forever home.

Stray Pawsitive’s return policy does indeed allow pet parents to bring back “adopted children” within four weeks, no questions asked, if re-homing is not successful. However, in Freedom’s case, the shelter says it is unable to honor the policy since Freedom is an actual child and falls outside the scope of their contractual obligations.

Lundin and Zeke say the situation has completely disrupted their lives. “We have never dealt with something so completely overwhelming,” Lundin said. “We thought we were rescuing a shelter dog. Now we are legally responsible for a child’s welfare. Like, what? I’m not sure what the paperwork said exactly, but I remember I literally signed a contract, on actual paper with a real pen.”

Zeke and Lundin are now on a wine tour in Napa Valley, struggling to recover from this traumatic experience. Zeke’s mother is now caring for Freedom. At the same time, Lundin’s father is working to place Freedom in an appropriate living situation. “Thankfully our parents were willing to step up and shoulder this responsibility,” Lundin said. “The whole experience has been horrific and, thankfully, Zeke and I had a planned trip to Napa and it’s the perfect opportunity to relax and reflect on what’s really important.”

Those interested in supporting Lundin and Zeke’s recovery may donate to a GoFundMe account that Lundin’s sorority sisters created. More information about Freedom can be found by visiting the Denver metro Craigslist page and searching “Freedom” within the “For Sale – By Owner” section.

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