A safe place for farm animals and more!

Welcome to the Sanctuary! We are a small sanctuary with big hearts. Our goal is to provide a safe place for at risk farm animals to live out their lives, or provide a safe place for some to stay until they find forever homes.

Most are unwanted farm animals, generally cast-offs of commercial farming, or from the general public who can no longer care for “pet” farm animals that require more care, work and room than they expected.

We provide the medical care they need for their bodies to heal, but most of all, we provide the love, patience and kindness they need for their minds to heal and learn to trust again! Most have been through some pretty traumatic times.

We do rescue some and new loving homes are found, but as a sanctuary, many of the animals that come here to heal are loved and live here for their lifetime!

OUR STORY

Hello there! My name is Deanna and I have been rescuing animals for as long as I can remember. As a vet tech and Animal Control Officer, I took in the dogs and cats that were problematic or unwanted. As a wildlife rehabilitator, I rescue, rehabilitate and release those wild animals that have become orphaned or injured, generally directly or indirectly due to human intervention. Then I moved out to central MA where I had so much more room to help even more animals!

I had always wanted goats, and in my search I discovered so many being culled from herds and sold on Craigs List for meat. I could save a couple from that fate. From there I went down the rabbit hole! I moved onto pigs, then dairy calves, some donkeys from a kill pen......and, well, I know this job will be never ending. There is always something that will need help! I may not be able to save them all from a horrible fate, but I sure can save some and provide them the love, happiness and care that they deserve. It's no less than they give back to me, after all.

MINI PIGS

Mini pigs are small breeds of domestic pigs and generally range in weight from 70 pounds to 300 pounds.

Teacup pigs do not exist....PERIOD! Teacup or micro-mini pigs are actually one of the mini pig breeds who are either underfed so that their growth is stunted or pigs sold under false pretenses. Mini pig just means the grown pig may only be up 300 pounds, as opposed the large farm pigs raised on farms that can be around 600-800 pounds.

DAIRY CALVES

In the diary industry, cows are impregnated every year. When they have their babies, females are removed from the mom after a couple days and raised away from them. They will eventually go into the same life their mothers are living, baby after baby taken away from them so their milk can be used by us instead.

Male calves are usually just shot. They are useless byproducts for dairy farms and it's just the cheapest way to get rid of them.

GOATS

Baby goats are adorable! Many are very expensive and registered because they are used for milk or meat. Those that are not up to quality as a breeder or just not needed are often culled from the herd and sold. Compared to the dog world, basically a pet quality animal that would not be good for showing or breeding.

The animals being culled are generally sold pretty cheap to anyone that wants to buy them, usually to end up on the dinner plate.

Donkeys

Horses and donkeys end up in the horse transit system for a variety of reasons: old age, financial stress, behavioral or health issues and sometimes, the animal has simply served its human purpose.

The reality is that many equine owners have no idea about the actual fate that awaits their horse/donkey in the transit system. The transit system includes kill pens, which hold masses of animals in cramped, unhealthy and under-kept conditions until they can be auctioned for slaughter. The animal's last moments are filled with terror and pain and abandonment.

Kill pen buyers are the people who purchase equines from kill pens. They look for healthy animals to sell them for meat. Kill buyers are usually paid by the pound, that’s why such people buy horses in a bulk. They’re often in it for the money and don’t really care where the animals come from or what happens to them after they’ve been purchased.

Enrichment

Enrichment is an important part of keeping animals happy and healthy. Everyone has access to various types of enrichment beneficial to their particular species and preferences.

BATHING

Contrary to the definition their name represents, pigs are actually very clean animals and love to bathe!

SCRATCHING

There is noting a cow loves more than a giant scratching post! As a matter of fact, the pigs and goats are also quite fond of it!

JUMPING AND CLIMBING

Goats climb....on everything!! There isn't much they will not jump onto, from structures built in their pen, to the cart full of dirty bedding you are trying to haul out of there, to your back when you bend over to try to do something. Good luck getting anything done while they're around.