And a Precious Few Find Sanctuary, Joy, Friendship, and Love

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Animal Emotions, Animal Profiles, Farm Animals, Sanctuaries

Published August 25, 2009 @ 03:27PM PT

Photo of Hannah the goat by Deb Durant of Invisible Voices

I need some good news. I can't bring myself to write about any of the less-than-pleasant things rumbling around in my head. So I'm not going to. Instead, I'm going to ask you to read two stories elsewhere (or actually, multiple stories, but at two different blogs). I'm going to ask you to celebrate with me a few of the oh-so-rare victories--lives saved, second chances given, our fellow animals provided a chance to experience joy, peace, love, and friendship, after pain and suffering they did nothing to deserve, just as they didn't deserve the slaughter for which they were slated, the same suffering and slaughter that the millions who were slaughtered today didn't deserve either.

First, a story about Patty and Susie from "A Lesson on Friendship" from Animal Place Sanctuary (I included this in the last roundup, but I want to make sure you read it):

You could see her look at Patty and take it in, see her tense and relax and then she stood right in front of Patty. . . . She waited thirty seconds, then slowly moved forward, giving Patty another 10 feet to move forward. Then she would come up behind Patty and nudge her ever so gently ahead. After Patty moved another 15 feet, Susie raced ahead and forced Patty to stop. They repeated that until they were about 20 feet from the barn. The whole time Susie alternated between encouraging grunts to these odd, screechy cries of concern.

Curious? Read the rest here. Then (or first, whichever you choose, I suppose) read Deb's latest updates on the progress of rescued animals at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary in "Happy Milestones at the Sanctuary." On Hannah the goat, who escaped slaughter:

So Saturday she was out and about, mostly away from the other goats. It was neat watching her explore her new world. Terry says she’s comfortable with the other animals, and has laid down with the cows, apparently not concerned with the difference in species. Or size.

As I watched her, I got the feeling that she was filled with wonder, that life was a happy adventure now. I reflected on Terry’s assessment of her when she first had arrived, and how she seemed like she’d given up, didn’t lift her head or complain no matter what they did as they treated her for all the parasites and infections she had. Compare her early attitude to her current curiosity and comfort and happiness, and it makes me want to cry a little, in that happy way. I can’t help it, the change is just that beautiful. . . .

The basics are clear – she was likely a nanny goat, and her purpose was to bear babies who would be killed. For meat, or for other purposes, we don’t know. She’s not of the typical dairy goat breed, but at the small farms there are less distinctions, and any animal will be used for any purpose. She was likely sent to auction once she was “spent”, whatever that meant to the people who were profiting from her.

Once in a while, animals like her get lucky, and get to live out their lives at a sanctuary. I think Hannah knows just how lucky she is.

This is not all of Hannah's story, and in this post Deb provided stories and updates on two of the sanctuary pigs as well, the (respectively) recovering and aging Wilbur and Penelope, so make sure to go read it.