A Camper’s Change of Heart

Meet Wil, a curious and compassionate 12-year-old who enrolled in Camp Kindness at Catskill Animal Sanctuary this past summer to have fun on a farm meeting a bevy of formerly abused and neglected, but currently loved and cared for, animals. As important as ensuring kids have loads of fun, Camp Kindness also strives to open … Read more

Draft Horse, Sioux, Comes to CAS

Welcome, Sioux! She’s a bruiser of a mare, and we’re delighted to welcome her. Sioux, a 22-year-old Clydesdale, arrived at Catskill Animal Sanctuary after the neighbors of her deceased owner worked feverishly to place her. Horribly foundered and scheduled for euthanasia, Sioux instead made the trip to CAS, where it took a full 30 minutes … Read more

You Can Influence Food Industry Giants!

You can and do help animals in a variety of ways, including volunteering, adopting, signing petitions, lobbying politicians, and boycotting companies that abuse animals. Gestation crates are one of the cruelest tools used on factory farms – female pigs are imprisoned for years in metal cages that are barely bigger than their bodies, deprived of … Read more

Saying Goodbye to Bobo

After a full and happy decade among friends, Bobo, our 32-year-old blind mare, died suddenly this past Tuesday. Bobo was one of the most traumatized animals Catskill Animal Sanctuary has ever rescued. We found her eleven years ago in a dark stall, standing on top of six feet of packed manure, where she had been … Read more

A Glorious Day: ASPCA Visits CAS for Annual Picnic

Saturday, September 9, wasn’t an ordinary visiting day (wonderful as they are!) at Catskill Animal Sanctuary. Rather than welcoming the public from 10 to 2pm, CAS welcomed 200 ASPCA staffers and friends, including President and CEO Ed Sayers, for the organization’s annual picnic.  I think I can speak for many of us in stating that … Read more

The Spared Sheep: Lambert

Lambert was raised by an Ohio woman as a 4H project. Part of the deal….sending Lambert to auction (and therefore slaughter) at the end of the project. It was something she’d done before; she and her husband are farmers who routinely sell their animals to slaughter, but Lambert “was different,” she said. She told us … Read more

Cricket Experiences Freedom After Life on a Chain

A year ago when I drove down the dirt road to check on Cricket, she was being eaten alive by flies. She had no water, no grass, no shade, no companionship, and no freedom of movement. There’s not much for a horse to do when she’s chained to a tree next to an animal hoarder’s … Read more

Seven New Hens in the CAS “Sorority House”

CAS recently welcomed seven layer hens from the home of a Saugerties man who passed away. His children inherited his house and his animals–two horses, a mule, and seven chickens–but weren’t interested in keeping the animals. We were alerted about the horses on the property, and when I stopped in to check on them, seven … Read more

Emergency Rescue: Veal Calves’ Lives Saved

[youtube]http://youtu.be/yHEnwb9Pd_s[/youtube] Just last Tuesday, I got a call about four 3-day-old calves. Unwanted by-products of a dairy farm, they were destined for a veal crate and slaughter at four months old. (Dairy cows must give birth to produce milk for human consumption; their baby boys are of little or no value to the dairy farmer … Read more

It’s Jangles’ Turn: Old Pig Joins The Underfoot Family!

If you’ve visited Catskill Animal Sanctuary, you likely have vivid memories of a few members of the Underfoot Family, that special crew of critters privileged to roam the barnyard all day. The animals who earn the right to join “the family” are typically elderly, but other factors, too, enter into our decisions regarding which privileged … Read more