Sanctuary Under The Stars

12/10/2025

💛6 SHEEP NEEDING SPECIAL PERMANENT HOME💛

UPDATE- they had a home but unfortunately this fell through so they are now looking again for their forever family/families

6 sheep have been rescued under special circumstances — safe now, but urgently needing a permanent pet only home. They are currently in lower Northland but willing to travel to Auckland or Waikato for the right home.

There are 4 adult females and one is a mama to beautiful twin boys who are about a month old now. They’re super, resilient souls who’ve already been through more than most. They have survived but they are desperately needing a safe and loving home - or foster placement where they will be loved, cared for and given time to learn to trust humans.

They are all self shedding but will still need regular hoof trimming and general care. Since they dont yet trust people you would need to have or create a smaller area within their paddock or similar setup where they could be contained to have their feet trimmed etc.

The baby boys are desexed but it is possible the other 3 sheep could be pregnant so any foster or adopter would need to be open to having a few extras joining and desexing any boys (we will of course assist with this as needed).

We can provide support and guidance — we just need caring people with fencing, grass and shelter ready to open their gates and hearts.

We would prefer they go to one home but can also separate them (though the twins will be staying with their mum) so please enquire even if you cant committ to the whole group. The most important thing is finding someone who has the patience to love them and care for them as they learn to feel safe and slowly learn to love you too.

⭐️Message Sanctuary Under The Stars or text me on 02040280434 if you may be able to help

10/10/2025

Happy Birthday, Eilish and Louis 🥳
One year ago, we rescued Grace and she gave birth to her twins as soon as we got home.
Together with Remie and Twilight they now form the cutest little family, and I can't believe how fast Louis and Eilish are growing.
To many more years full of memories, cuddles and love ❤️🎉

10/10/2025

UPDATE - still needing a home!!
💛SHEEP NEEDING SPECIAL PERMANENT HOME💛

6 sheep have been rescued under special circumstances — safe now, but urgently needing a permanent pet only home. They are currently in lower Northland but willing to travel to Auckland or Waikato for the right home.

There are 4 adult females and one is a mama to beautiful twin boys who are about a month old now. They’re super, resilient souls who’ve already been through more than most. They have survived but they are desperately needing a safe and loving home - or foster placement where they will be loved, cared for and given time to learn to trust humans.

They are all self shedding but will still need regular hoof trimming and general care. Since they dont yet trust people you would need to have or create a smaller area within their paddock or similar setup where they could be contained to have their feet trimmed etc.

The baby boys are desexed but it is possible the other 3 sheep could be pregnant so any foster or adopter would need to be open to having a few extras joining and desexing any boys (we will of course assist with this as needed).

We can provide support and guidance — we just need caring people with fencing, grass and shelter ready to open their gates and hearts.

We would prefer they go to one home but can also separate them (though the twins will be staying with their mum) so please enquire even if you cant committ to the whole group. The most important thing is finding someone who has the patience to love them and care for them as they learn to feel safe and slowly learn to love you too.

⭐️Message Sanctuary Under The Stars or text me on 02040280434 if you may be able to help

07/10/2025

URGENT ** URGENT ** URGENT
TED & BIG BOY NEED SAFE HOME
These 2 beautiful boys are fully bonded, beloved pets. They were promised a forever home… but now their ‘dad’ has no choice but to move on. He’s been desperately trying to find a safe home for them. Ted (brown) and Big Boy (white), are friendly, and are neutered. They're older boys, not rambunctious young'uns. They come to your hand to have treats and pats. We’re urgently trying to save them by finding a loving safe home, with a roomy paddock, good fencing, and shelter. They’re currently north of Auckland (a bit beyond Kaiwaka). Transport within reason may be possible. Can you help? Can you share? This is breaking my heart…

07/10/2025

This is Bugy‘s world and we are all just living in his world. He can lie down anywhere in the paddock and the hooman will come find him at 6.15 to give him his morning treat before going to work 👑❤️

04/10/2025

Playing Hide and Seek With Aroha ❤️

30/09/2025

MAMMOTH
It's that time of year again and our fluffy littlest moo kid (he has decided he is part of the herd and wants nothing to do with sheep) was long due for a spring haircut.

I'm incredibly proud of Mammoth, the boy who used to bolt if he so much as saw a shadow of a human - and for good reason. Before his rescue he watched his family and friends be shot or killed by hunting dogs. He was one of only 2 survivors from a flock of hundreds. It has taken many years to earn his trust and he is still cautious (trauma runs deep) but he has learned to believe that we do love him and want to look after him. So much so that we were able to tip and shear him in the paddock with the assistance of some of his favourite multinuts.

These kids amaze me every day with their pure hearts, their intelligence, the depth and complexity of their emotions and their willingness to fight for life and love - even against seemingly insurmountable odds.

P.S. Thank you to everyone sending love and strength to our Matariki girl .She is still with us and still fighting. She's having a hard time because her cancer makes her recovery much rougher but she isn't giving up and neither are we.

29/09/2025

28/09/2025

MATARIKI FIGHTING
One of the most heartbreaking things about rescuing hens from the egg industry is that the girls escape a horrible life but cant escape the damage done to their bodies in the name of production.

Had they not been bred to produce an egg a day, they would only lay a couple clusters each year maybe 12 eggs. Breeding them to have this cycle every single day ravages their body with insane levels of hormonal cycling and drains their nutrients. By the time we rescue at just 18 months 10% are already dead and at least 50% already have large palpable tumors not to mention often- fatal reproductive disorders.

Because her reproductive system is too tired out to work properly and because she has an aggressive cancer, Matariki, like all our hens, lives on an implant to stop her from laying. The implant stops yolks from going into her abdomen and also dramatically slows tumor growth by stopping the intense cycle of hormones.

Unfortunately, her latest implant lapsed sooner than we had expected and a yolk dropped into her abdomen causing a raging peritoneal infection.

We rushed her to the vets to get an emergency implant and weve started treatment but shes still having to fight really hard and isnt out of the woods yet.

Matariki is a sweet girl who is obsessed with oats, sunshine and loves being with her friends. Praying she has a better day tomorrow and that she can pull through this and go back to enjoying life again.

Kia kaha e te tau, stay strong my sweet girl we love you so much.

27/09/2025

So much gratitude to Good Wood and our incredible sister sanctuary for the beautiful load of carrots.... they are already being enjoyed by all the rescue moos and baas ❤️❤️❤️

CARROTS GALORE
Yesterday we were asked if we wanted 360kgs (792 lbs) of carrots. !!!!! I hopped straight into the ute and headed out. You can only see a few of the bags in the photo. A company called Good Wood donated 18 x 20kgs bags of beautiful fresh carrots. I got them home and divided them up. Luckily, Michael, Sam & John were travelling up to Sanctuary Under The Stars today for a working bee, so they took heaps of carrots up to them. I left at 6:30a.m. to rendezvous with the owner of Cow Care, to transfer an even bigger load of carrots. The 124 cows and steers there are in for a huge treat today. We’ll also be sharing with another cow refuge that’s starting up, and a woman with rescued horses. And of course, some carrots stayed here at The Animal Sanctuary. It’s safe to say that every one of those carrots will be enjoyed immensely by a wide variety of animals, and VERY much appreciated by a lot of animal rescuers.

16/09/2025

GRATEFUL WEEK - DRIVE EV AND THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS
Today I want to say a massive thank you to Steve from EV as well as Rivah and Yates !!!

When I saw this quad cover on facebook Marketplace, I knew it could be a total gamechanger for us. Without proper road access to the house, we have a 1km quad drive through the property to get in and out. It is a beautiful ride but often involves getting completely drenched even in full raingear. We've literally started keeping a change of clothes in the cars so we can get into dry clothes in the car. The only catch was that the quad pod was all the way in invercargill and too bulky to post.

I thought it might be impossible but people from all across Aotearoa offered to help and, together, got the cover all the way up to auckland for us to pick up. And it is here!! Huge thank you to everyone who made this possible and a special shout out to Steve from EV who took it on their back loads all the way from Ōtautahi to Papakura.
This will be absolutely huge for keeping us warm and dry for the rest of the rainy season and hopefully for years to come.

I've been truly touched by the response from the community. Thank you so so sooo much everyone.
Ngaa mihi maioha

15/09/2025

GRATEFUL WEEK
This week is all about the incredible people in and around the community who have been supporting us and who I have been wanting to acknowledge for a long time! For today, that is a company called CONTAINERS LTD who sell and deliver shipping containers around the motu. This incredibe company agreed to efffectively donate a container to us for storing our hay and this immensly generous gift is something that I am truly grateful for each day. The shipping container can store almost 150 bales of hay at a time and keeps it totally dry so that it stays in perfect condition to feed the kiddos through winter. Not only did they give us a long term free lease, but their delivery drivers Transport Solutions also went out of their way to keep the delivery costs down for us, even donating some of the cost themselves. These guys are also such kind and generous humans and we are so grateful to them.

Off to get another 90 bales in a few days which will be the second load this week!

If you are ever in need of a container, or need something transported, please consider supporting these awesome companies and thank you a million times to CONTAINERS LTD and TRANSPORT SOLUTIONS!!!