Sanctuary Tails

Reel Life Video Series: Episode 3

On episode three of our new video series, Reel Life at Farm Sanctuary, National Shelter Director Susie Coston talks a whole lot of turkey and introduces you to some special birds in our New York Shelter flock. Turkeys are fascinating animals, so watch now to learn more about them, and then visit adoptaturkey.org to find out how you can help save lives this Thanksgiving holiday season.

Didn’t see episodes one and two of Reel Life? No worries – you can catch up with them here:

Episode One: Pasture Rotation
Episode Two: Chicken Nutrition

Animal Photo of the Week: Harley

 
Could Harley’s smile be any more contagious? We certainly don’t think so! This friendly guy sure knows how to light up a barnyard and we are thrilled to have him as part of our flock at the California Shelter. Unfortunately, life wasn’t always so sunny for Harley. Before he was rescued, he lived on factory farm, where his life would have been cut brutally short so that he could become someone’s turkey dinner. Sadly, more than 46 million turkeys just like Harley are slaughtered annually for the Thanksgiving holiday alone. Luckily, we all have the chance to make this time of year a little brighter for the birds by taking part in Farm Sanctuary’s Adopt-A-Turkey Project. Since 1986, this campaign has been seeking to end the misery of commercially-raised turkeys by saving lives and promoting compassionate Thanksgiving alternatives. By signing up to sponsor Harley with a one-time $30 donation, you can join us in making a big difference for turkeys and other suffering farm animals today and throughout the year.

Animal Photo of the Week: Kima

 
It seems like only yesterday that Kima was discovered on the doorstep of our New York Shelter hospital along with 65 other baby turkeys. While they were just tiny balls of yellow fluff at the time, these sweet poults had already been debeaked and detoed: tell-tale signs that they had come from a factory farm. In the industry, turkeys like Kima are packed together so tightly in warehouses that they have very little room to move. Under such circumstances, these normally social, gentle birds become stressed and frustrated, causing them to become more aggressive. But instead of altering their surroundings to give the poor birds more space, and thus prevent potentially injurious behaviors, producers remove portions of the turkeys’ beaks and toes, disfiguring the animals for life. Fortunately for Kima, she has only been handled with care since she arrived at Farm Sanctuary in 2008. Now all grown up, this outgoing turkey is thankful for friends like you who helped create a different end to her story. As one of our 2010 Adopt-A-Turkey Project superstars, she would love the chance for an adoption certificate with her photo on it to grace your holiday table this year as a reminder that everyone can choose compassion and save a life. If you’d like to sponsor her today for a one-time donation of $30, you can do so right here!

Animal Photo of the Week: Reese

 

Reese’s snow white plumage and stunning baby blue eyes have turned plenty of heads since he showed up as a poult at Farm Sanctuary last year.  Arriving at our door with 10 other baby turkeys, he was likely rescued from a factory farm – a dark, crowded and terrifying place where only a miserable future would have awaited him. Thankfully, Reese now shines like the sun at our California Shelter, charming his way into the hearts of humans and turkeys alike with his inquisitive and sociable nature.  As the Thanksgiving season approaches, this grateful boy is looking for new friends like you to help sponsor his care and support Farm Sanctuary’s efforts to advocate for turkeys everywhere. Sign up to “adopt” Reese through our Adopt-A-Turkey Project with a one-time $30 donation today and you’ll surely experience the greatest of holiday delights!

Reel Life Video Series: Episode Two

Are you ready for some more Reel Life at Farm Sanctuary? In this second episode of our brand new “Sanctuary Tails” video series, National Shelter Director Susie Coston answers a commonly asked question: What do we do with our chicken residents’ eggs? Watch now to meet a few of the happy hens who reside at the New York Shelter and learn more about the nutritional needs of our feathered friends.

Animal Photo of the Week: Rachael

 

It’s hard to imagine that beautiful Rachael was once thrown out with the trash. In the foie gras industry, female Moulard ducks like her are often separated out from the males and killed – simply because their livers are said to be too veiny to yield an ideal pâté. Lucky for this sweet girl, she was discovered still alive during a 2007 investigation of a Canadian production facility and forever lifted out of despair. Now a happy a resident of our New York Shelter, this incredible duck is valued for her individuality and will never be seen as an inconvenient byproduct ever again. Here, Rachael is the absolute vision of serenity – spending one of the last hot days of summer resting in the shade of a tree.

Coming Home to the Roost

 
  
By Susie Coston

We are truly grateful to the members of our Farm Animal Adoption Network (FAAN), who provide loving, lifelong homes to rescued farm animals and make it possible for us to save even more lives. This summer, dedicated Farm Sanctuary member Denise Goodman, along with her husband Todd and son Merrick, adopted six hens from our New York Shelter, giving them an incredible new home in Pennsylvania. We recently asked Denise how everything was going with her new feathered friends and this is what she had to say:

Q: What inspired you to adopt farm animals?
A: Since we can't LIVE at Farm Sanctuary, we wanted to recreate a small piece of it in our own backyard. We have a great space and wanted to give a nice home to a few creatures. Seeing the animals brings us so much joy! We also thought it would be a great way to help our friends and family make a connection that could expand their "love of animals" beyond the pets that traditionally share their lives. Having the hens has been a great conversation starter. People are always intrigued, especially when they find out that we adopted the birds and did NOT get them for their eggs. It's a good chance to explain the lives of most layer hens who are not as lucky. 

 
The hens explore their yard.

Q: What is a typical day for the hens like?
A: Because we (my husband and I) tend not to be early birds, we have an automatic door on their coop that gives the girls their freedom at a far earlier hour than we would. At sunrise their door opens and they run out into the fenced-in yard, which is probably a little under an acre (every inch of which they investigate). Sometimes when they hear me getting ready in the morning, they climb up the porch steps and look into the bathroom window! They basically peck and scratch and roam around all day. Seems like they enjoy a dustbath/shady nap midday. I was amazed at how much they eat, constantly nibbling! They come running whenever they see us. I like to imagine it is because they love us already, but honestly it is because they know they'll get a treat (some red beet greens, rice cake crumbs, chicken scratch). I think they have an almost ideal chicken life. Sometimes they look longingly into the forest and I feel a little bad, like they would have some serious fun in there, but for their safety, we keep them in the fenced yard which has lots of trees and gardens and porches for them to hide under and explore. They go into the coop on their own at bedtime.

 
Merrick with his new chicken friends.
  
Q: How has adopting the hens changed your life? 
A: I love being out weeding and harvesting goodies from the garden and having the hens come running to see what's going on. They are great companions! It is really fun having them around. Our son says almost daily how "cute" and "adorable" the chickens are! At dinner last night, three of the girls took turns jumping up on top of our compost bin so they could look in our glass door at eye level and check out what we were doing! They really crack us up!

Q: Any cute stories or anything you'd like to share?
A: I love it when one of the chickens snatches a prize possession, like a bright red strawberry, then runs off, carrying it as high in the air as she can with her outstretched neck, followed closely by a few of her jealous friends!

Well, it sounds like these happy chickens are truly living a charmed life! Want to adopt some farm animal companions of your own? We are always looking for compassionate new FAAN members to provide homes to animals in need. Learn more about our network today!

Top photo: One of the girls explores the garden.

Animal Photo of the Week: Kim Gordon

 

We couldn’t finish out the week without sharing this adorable photo of the newest addition to our New York Shelter family: Kim Gordon the piglet! Rescued by compassionate rock ‘n rollers on a concert tour, this little sweetie is already stealing hearts like nobody’s business and making some noise of her own. Freed from the factory farming industry that would have kept her down, this tiny, unfettered rockstar now runs wildly through our pastures and sleeps late into the afternoon. Read her incredible story here.

Animal Photo of the Week: Joan

 

With those chocolate brown eyes and adorable black splotches, it is hard to imagine how anyone could see Joan as a piece of pork instead of what she is: a lively and friendly pig worthy of a long, happy life. When she was just a tiny piglet, her tail was cruelly docked and she was forced to spend her days in a crowded and dark warehouse, separated from her mother. Fortunately, Joan (named for rock legend and Farm Sanctuary supporter Joan Jett) was brought to safety at our New York Shelter, where she has been given a second chance that most pigs in the industry don’t get. All grown up now, but still highly energetic, she spends most of her days enjoying time outdoors in the fresh air and exploring the grounds with childhood friend Sprinkles, also pictured here.

Cal-Cruz Hatchery Survivors Get Second Chance

 

by Leanne

Early yesterday afternoon, Compassion Over Killing (COK) released an undercover video of the atrocious mistreatment of newly-hatched ducklings and chicks at Cal-Cruz Hatchery in California. Equipped with a hidden camera early last year, an undercover investigator working with COK documented the heartbreaking cruelty that the baby animals endured from the moment they hatched. The barbarity of the abuse in the clip cannot be overstated. Video evidence showed a number of disturbing images of abuse including decapitated and mangled hatchlings caught in machinery, sick and gravely injured hatchlings left to suffer for hours, one duckling drowning in a bucket of liquid waste, unwanted hatchlings treated like trash, and baby birds being tossed into buckets up to six feet across a room.

Thankfully, Farm Sanctuary was able to step up and help rescue some of these innocent baby animals when we learned of their plight. After COK handed their disturbing video over to the Santa Cruz Animal Services Authority for further investigation, 88 birds were seized. Many had to be euthanized because they were in such bad shape, but 38 found refuge at our California Shelter. No longer faced with a life of agonizing mistreatment, the majority of ducks have since been adopted out to loving forever homes in California, Oregon and Arizona through our Farm Animal Adoption Network while eight others remain in our care.

 
The Cal-Cruz survivors happily splash in pools of water.
 
Those eight tiny survivors have grown into beautiful and healthy adult ducks, a feat tragically not possible for thousands of their fellow ducklings in hatcheries around the country. Like all ducks, they are incredibly social and spend their days close together in the sun or swimming in the nearest pond. Their liveliness and friendliness conceals their gruesome past, but highlights how resilient animals can be and how important second chances are.

Daisy and Gordy are two particularly stand-out members of the flock. Daisy’s beak may be disfigured, but she has dealt really well with her disability and gets along just fine. When it's time to eat, she skillfully digs her bill into the food bowl and scoops out as much as possible. She spends most of her time in our main pond with fellow hatchery escapees, Matt and Lenny. Because of her misshapen beak, Daisy makes nasal sounds when breathing which make her easy to find in a crowd! Because of minor health concerns, Gordy isn’t currently able to hang out with Daisy and the others so she spends her days with another survivor named Otis in a neighboring location. Incredibly boisterous, she always fluffs up her feathers and talks (loudly!) to every passerby.

 
The adorable Daisy duck.

The remaining three, Atlas, Aurora and Hendrix, also hang out with Daisy, Matt and Lenny in the main pond. Atlas and Aurora used to lived separately from our main group of ducks due to an initial health concern. But since then, they have been integrated into the flock and made friends with Hendrix. The three are inseparable.

Though their lives now are full of sunshine, big ponds and friends, the tragedy they escaped should not be forgotten. Similar abuse occurs every day in hatcheries, and we must keep in mind that, like the Conklin dairy incident, this type of cruelty is widespread.