About
Located in the New York’s Hudson Valley, Catskill Animal Sanctuary (CAS) is a 110-acre haven for horses and farm animals rescued from cruelty and neglect. In addition to emergency rescue, CAS provides innovative programs that educate the public about the sentience of farm animals, and the devastating impacts of agribusiness and institutionalized cruelty on animals, people, and the planet.
CAS offers weekend and special group tours, vegan cooking classes, speaking engagements, a summer day camp for kids, and a host of compassionate programming year round at its primarily solar-powered Sanctuary. Lodging and meeting space are available on site at The Homestead, a beautifully-renovated pre-Revolutionary farmhouse.
Since 2001, CAS has rescued over 2,000 animals, and has worked in tandem with law enforcement to bring animal abusers to justice. Founder/Director Kathy Stevens blogs for the Huffington Post and is the author of the highly-acclaimed books, Where the Blind Horse Sings and Animal Camp.
Our Mission
In short, the mission of CAS is:
- to provide a safe haven for abused, abandoned, and neglected horses and farm animals
- to heighten public awareness of the treatment of these animals and its impact on humans, animals, and the planet we share through innovative on and off-site programming
- to serve as an educational resource to schools and youth organizations by providing innovative on-site and school-based programming
Our History
Catskill Animal Sanctuary opened in January of 2001, the culmination of many months’ research, travel, and internships at successful farm sanctuaries by founders Kathy Stevens and Jesse Moore. Our mission: to provide a safe and loving home for abused and abandoned horses and farm animals, and to raise public awareness of agribusiness and its impact on all of us.
Dino, the survivor of a Brooklyn arson that killed 23 horses, was our first resident on a property. Since then, CAS has provided a safe haven for over 2,000 desperately needy farm animals and has found loving homes for 3/4 of those creatures.
In addition to direct animal aid, CAS offers a wide variety of workshops and school programs designed to help people experience farm animals as the unique individuals they truly are. Other programs raise awareness of the institutionalized suffering of food animals on factory farms, and of the environmental havoc wrought by agribusiness. Director Kathy Stevens visits schools, colleges, and community organizations each year, and students from dozens of regional schools spend a memorable day here each spring.
In 2003 CAS moved the Sanctuary to 316 Old Stage Road in Saugerties, New York. It took a lot of time to turn the 80-acre junk yard into the beautiful farm that it is today! In early 2010, CAS completed its conversion to solar energy, and may be the only sanctuary in the country to be 100% solar-powered.
Our director’s first book, Where the Blind Horse Sings: Love and Healing at an Animal Sanctuary, was released in the Summer of 2007 to wide acclaim. Kathy’s second book, Animal Camp, was released in winter 2010. Both books are full of stories of animals that have lived at the Sanctuary.
In November 2011, CAS purchased an additional 32 acres on Route 32 just five minutes away from the Old Stage location. The new property needs a lot of work before it will be able to house animals and host educational programs, but we are up to the challenge. Anything for the animals, as we always say!
