Sanctuary Tails

Animal Photo of the Week: Turkeys' Best Friend

 
When Joshua Harkness’ mom Vicki adopted eight turkeys from Farm Sanctuary through our Farm Animal Adoption Network in 2008, both the birds and the boy experienced love at first sight, developing the sweet bond of friendship so clearly displayed here. At only seven years old, this compassionate youngster lovingly tends to his best friends every day – providing them with food and water in addition to lavishing them with attention. Rescued as poults from a factory farm, Urkey Turkey, Buboo, Silky, Sweetheart, and the rest of this little flock weren’t always treated with such kindness; but thanks to the Harkness’ willingness to open their hearts and home to these birds in their greatest time of need, they will only know peace for the rest of their lives. So, along with sharing this photo, we are also sending out a word of thanks to all of you for helping us build the kind of world where images like this one abound. We are truly grateful for your support, and wish you a happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Farm Sanctuary!

New Video: Take a Ride on the Turkey Express!

Follow along as Farm Sanctuary makes a stop on our Turkey Express to deliver two rescued turkeys to the Connecticut home of adopter Joan Poster. Since 1986, this annual adoption event, held as part of our Adopt-A-Turkey Project, has been pairing turkeys in need of permanent refuge with loving adoptive families nationwide, giving hundreds of these sensitive, social birds a precious second chance at life.

“Turkeys are wonderful birds to live with,” says Poster, a veterinarian who has been adopting turkeys from Farm Sanctuary since 1996. “I always tell people who visit my farm that turkeys are too wonderful to eat and should be able to live out their lives in peace. We always make stuffed squash to feed our turkeys on Thanksgiving Day to say thanks for the few who can live with us.”

If you too are interested in home adoption, and can provide sanctuary to two or more turkeys, please contact Farm Sanctuary and apply to join our Farm Animal Adoption Network. If you can’t physically adopt a feathered friend, you can still help a turkey in need by sponsoring one of the incredible birds who live at our shelters. For a one-time gift of $30, you will receive an “adoption” certificate with a color photo of and fun facts about your new friend, so sign up to be a sponsor today!

Animal Photo of the Week: Bubbles

 
 
Ah, now that’s the life! In this sweet photo, Bubbles turkey brings new meaning to the word “relaxation” as she basks in the warm sunlight that shines on her pasture. Sunbathing, a favorite pastime of lots of birds, is just one of the many natural behaviors that turkeys at Farm Sanctuary get to engage in that those on factory farms do not. Packed by the thousands inside large warehouses and denied even a quiet place to rest, let alone the chance to go outside, these birds lead frustrated lives as their innate desires are thwarted by the unnatural conditions they endure. Had Bubbles not been rescued, she certainly would have never known the contentment she experiences at our New York Shelter today.

Fortunately, this time of year, we can all do our part to help raise awareness about the plight of turkeys and work toward bringing an end to their misery. With the help of our new Thanksgiving’s Toll on Turkeys video, which exposes the truth behind commercial turkey production and explores why these sensitive and social birds deserve our protection, outreach can be as simple as sharing this link with family and friends. We know this video can make a big impact, so we ask you, for the sake of feathered friends like Bubbles, to help us make it viral and encourage everyone to make this holiday a compassionate one for all. And, if you haven’t yet adopted your turkey for Thanksgiving, it’s not too late! Learn how you can make a big difference by becoming a sponsor now.

Animal Photo of the Week: Velma

 

When we met little Velma for the first time, she was barely clinging to life. Severely ill with pneumonia and so full of infection that her eyes were swollen shut and she could hardly breathe, the baby turkey was found lying helplessly in the middle of a busy road. Fortunately, a compassionate passerby spotted her in time and took her straight to Farm Sanctuary, where we administered emergency treatments. Thankfully, Velma has since made a complete turnaround and is now healthy enough to spend her days exploring green pastures with her new best friend, Daphne. We can’t think of anything to be more thankful for this Thanksgiving than happy endings like this one!

Won’t you join us in celebrating Velma’s second chance by becoming her sponsor through our Adopt-A-Turkey Project? A one-time donation of $30 will get you a special adoption certificate and the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing that your gift will make a difference for turkeys like Velma and farm animals everywhere. And now, thanks to Ady Gil, an incredible Farm Sanctuary supporter who has offered to match every sponsorship from friends like you with another adoption now through November 25, your contribution will go twice as far! Sponsor today to take advantage of this special matching gift opportunity, and help more turkeys this holiday season.

Caring for Special Needs Chickens

 

By Leanne

When you work with animals, it seems there’s always something going on that keeps you on your toes! We’ve certainly had an active summer and fall at the California Shelter – and just when we thought it couldn’t get any busier around here, we welcomed 40 special needs hens from a large “free range” egg facility to the sanctuary. These hens had been slated for slaughter, but were rescued in the nick of time and brought to us to receive rehabilitative care for a range of serious health problems.

When they were just tiny chicks, the hens were fitted with leg bands at the farm where they were raised. These bands were supposed to expand as the birds grew, but in this case that didn’t happen so they started to cut into the hens’ legs, leaving many with open wounds down to the bone. As a result, a lot of these poor girls have developed permanent limps that will require ongoing treatment. Some even walk on their knuckles, or place their weight on their toes instead of on their foot pads like chickens normally would.

Fifteen of the hens have such severe limps that we have moved them into the barn where our easy-going turkey hens reside, so they can enjoy a slower pace of life and don’t have as much competition for food. Here, they will have a very good quality of life and start to thrive with continued special care.

Other birds arrived with a condition called “vent gleet.” Because today’s egg-laying hens are selectively bred to lay more than 260 eggs a year, their vents begin to stretch over time, causing urates (the bird equivalent of urine), to drip onto their abdomens and irritate their skin. When this liquid waste builds up, it can cause sores to form on the chickens’ vents and tissue in the surrounding areas to become necrotic. In order to prevent this from happening, we regularly clean the girls’ abdomens and vents with warm water and treat these areas with a triple antibiotic ointment. 

Sadly, reproductive issues are also all too common among modern chickens who are pushed to their biological limits to produce such a large number of eggs, and they can often be quite severe. One of the hens from this rescue, a sweet girl named Georgia, required surgery when we detected a large mass in her abdomen. We immediately took her to the veterinary hospital, where radiographs revealed that she had several eggs stuck in her oviduct. Without surgery, she had little chance of survival, so we decided to proceed to try to save her. Luckily, all the eggs were successfully removed and she came back to the shelter a completely different chicken: she was active and talkative rather than lethargic and quiet. Many hens, however, are not as lucky and countless birds die from similar conditions every year.

The state that these animals arrived in is likely very contrary to what many people envision when they think about “free range” facilities. But while animals raised on these kinds of farms may suffer less than their cousins on factory farms, a hard look at “humane” facilities reveals that conditions can often be very far from ideal. Besides the fact that labels like “free range” refer to a wide range of living conditions that may not be consistent with consumers’ expectations, animals raised for eggs, milk and meat – no matter what kind of facility they are raised at – usually endure the same mutilations (such as debeaking), suffer from the same health conditions due to their breeding, and meet the same horrific end at the slaughterhouse. 

Thankfully, the hens are doing very well overall and already their future is looking brighter. Curious and friendly, they are coming out of their shells more and more each day and taking full advantage of their second chance at life. We couldn’t be happier to give them the care they need to live the rest of their lives in comfort and peace, and are doing everything we can to keep them on the track to better health.