Within a month, a family of seven cows and five chickens will arrive at their new home at the Eastern Shore Sanctuary and Education Center, joining the current group of six cows and hundreds of chickens who live here. We can’t wait to meet them.
And we need your help. Here’s the story.
This week, Wagner Farm Rescue Fund received some terrible news: the property which had been loaned to them had been foreclosed upon. That meant that the animals living there were in danger of being murdered one way or another.
Even when sanctuaries own property outright, as we are fortunate enough to do, the threat of forced expulsion is always present in our minds — and if it isn’t, it should be. One never knows what could happen. Therefore, we (and most sanctuaries) are prepared with backup plans to ensure that everyone is safe and healthy, even in tough times.
That is how we heard about the cows and chickens at Wagner Farm: as soon as trouble reared its ugly head, their caretakers put out the word for help. Among others, they needed to find new homes for seven cattle (steer and cows) and five chickens.
Luckily, we were able to respond.
The story of the cows in particular is amazing. Snowball was rescued in 2002, shortly after her two sons were taken from her (typical in the dairy industry). They were taken to Texas while she remained in Wisconsin. Luckily, Coco, a heifer, arrived soon after that, so Snowball was able to form another bond with a young one (and, in return, Coco had an adoptive mom).
Six years and a couple of moves later, Snowball was reunited with her sons in the kind of event that is extremely rare in the world of most farm animals. As soon as Snowball caught sight of her sons (who were in a herd of 19 other cows), she went right over to them and pushed them out of the group. She reclaimed them immediately, and soon integrated them into what eventually became a family of seven cows.
Now they are inseparable, and in fact Wagner Farm was clear that unless the alternative was truly unthinkable, they needed to be adopted together. We agree completely.
We also hope that you will help us feed these gentle giants. Hay is expensive, and winters are long in Vermont.
Click HERE to donate,
or else mail a tax-deductible check to us at this address:
Eastern Shore Sanctuary and Education Center
158 Massey Road
Springfield, VT 05156
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