Ever since #urban #farming became popular, there’s been a boom in the number of #abandoned #animals. The idea of keeping #chickens, #turkeys, or #goats in a tiny backyard is often more appealing in theory than in practice. Cute #piglets and #rabbits become larger, demanding creatures, and many people don’t know what to do with these #animals once the novelty of caring for them has worn off. Roosters are sometimes sold accidentally as hens (if they haven’t been used for meat), which is problematic, since they’re banned by many cities.
The lucky ones get sent to the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, located in the Catskill Mountains, three hours north of New York City. It’s an animal orphanage, where these abandoned #farm #animals can go to live out the rest of their days in peace and comfort. Director Jenny Brown, described as a “militant vegan” in this article from narratively, says, “We’re up to our eyebrows in chickens. We’ve seen more chickens come through here than I can count.” The Sanctuary has had to build another barn just to accommodate former backyard and slaughterhouse #chickens.
The Sanctuary also strives to educate people about the horrors of factory #farming and how most animals are raised under awful circumstances to be eaten. “Those childhood images of happy animals living on sunny, idyllic #farms couldn’t be further from reality,” its website reads. Ironically, many of the enthusiastic urbanites who launch backyard farming projects do so in reaction to the same. They want to escape the factory farming cycle, and so buy chickens that can provide fresh, local, and traceable #eggs. Unfortunately, it’s a bigger job than many anticipate.
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