Posts by Deb Durant
Chuckles and Arabelle: Who They Are, Not How They "Taste"
Published August 03, 2009 @ 07:15AM PT
Chuckles came to Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary in 2001; he was around 1 year old, and had been found wandering the streets in Northeast DC.
When Arabelle arrived at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary last summer, she was a tiny baby, small enough that it took a few days before Terry and Dave were certain that she was a guinea hen, rather than a turkey. Yet the guineas weren't interested in hanging out with her, and so it was a gentle turkey named Gertrude who took her under her wing and raised Arabelle.
Though in those early days she seemed to move and act like her surrogate mother, and we wondered if she thought of herself as a turkey, Arabelle now spends all of her time with one of the other guineas, Chuckles. They roam their part of the sanctuary, always together.
Petey and the Rake: The Curiosity of Playful Pigs
Published May 06, 2009 @ 06:44AM PT
Those of you who've been lucky enough to catch Deb Durant's previous guest posts on this blog (or who are familiar with her blog, Invisible Voices) know that her stories about the animals at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary and her gorgeous accompanying photos are a treat. The following post and photos are no exception. Make sure to click through for the whole story and all the photos. -S. Ernst
Petey came to the sanctuary over a year ago, rescued with his brother, Otis. In this picture of them running through the snow last year, they are expressing such obvious joy that even people who don't know pigs at all can't help but to remark on it. Maybe because they were little piglets in that picture, and piglets are remarkably similar to dogs, which most of us are familiar with.
Their current happiness makes a sharp contrast from the situation they were rescued from. They were victims of extreme neglect, extreme enough to be prosecutable under various laws. If you are familiar with the status of farm animals' meager protection under the law, you will recognize just how extreme the neglect would have to be for the law to come into play. These are animals whose brutal deaths are protected by the law, after all. Their lives have far less protection. In this particular neglect case, when the county stepped in, a momma pig and her eight piglets were living on a trash heap. They were rescued, and two of the babies came to Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary.
Petey and Otis are about half grown now. As with adult dogs, adult pigs retain their curiosity about life, though without that exuberance and excessive energy that we associate with the babies. Sometimes that means it is expressed more subtly.
Sometimes it is even more blatant.
Jeremy and Lenny: Rescued from Death at a Small Local Dairy
Published March 03, 2009 @ 06:13AM PT
Jeremy and Lenny came to the sanctuary when they were just a few days old, rescued from a goat dairy. At the small local dairy, they were considered garbage. That's true of babies at all dairies. It is the way of business.
A woman visiting the dairy, a believer in buying local and from small operations, witnessed the treatment of the babies born in front of her eyes and was horrified. The baby goats had value to her - not as an investment, not as commodities, not as food, but because they were alive, and she believed they should be allowed to live free of harm, free to be themselves. Simply because they were alive, because they were individuals, because they wanted to live, as we all do. This realization opened her eyes in an instant.
-Continue reading after the jump-
Turkeys at Poplar Spring: The Luckier Ones
Published November 19, 2008 @ 07:19AM PT
In the following post, shutterbug Deb Durant introduces us to the turkeys who reside at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary, where she volunteers; included are lovely photos she has taken of the birds. Deb is the author of the blog Invisible Voices. I refer to these turkeys as the luckier ones rather than just lucky because they all still suffered before finding sanctuary at Poplar Spring. But they are certainly, absolutely luckier than most other turkeys, including the ones I told you about late yesterday; once you are finished reading Deb's beautiful guest post, please see the previous post about what happens to many other turkeys, if you haven't already, and watch the video there. -SE
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As Thanksgiving approaches, turkeys are being killed by the millions. I could discuss those numbers, and what those numbers mean, but instead I am going to tell you the stories of a few individuals. These are turkeys who slipped through the hands of the people intent on killing them and landed in a safe zone at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary, in Poolesville, MD, run by Terry Cummings and Dave Hoerauf.
If you came with me to the sanctuary, walked down the hill from the Civil War–era farmhouse to the weathered old chicken barn, and stepped inside, you'd be greeted by Victor. He would be displaying, proud bird that he is, and he would follow you with his distinctive turkey strut — step, step, pause, *poof* of air, step step, pause, *poof* of air. You'd likely be charmed and perhaps a little intimidated at first.
Turkeys are big birds, and the domesticated turkeys are abnormally large, genetically manipulated to become that abnormally large size. It is usually their primary health concern as they age.
