With this very hot weather and severe drought we’ve been having the wildlife need a little extra help! We’ve been putting out lots of extra water buckets and bowls and tossing out our melon rinds - the deer, squirrels, groundhogs and raccoons seem to really appreciate it! ❤️🦌🐿️🦝
Happy 4th of July! Nicola the groundhog was celebrating early when she nabbed a delicious leftover French fry from PLNT Burger this past weekend. We hope everyone enjoys their holiday as much as Nicola enjoyed her special treat!🙂🎆
Yesterday we sadly had to say goodbye to our sweet, wonderful turkey Wren.😢When Wren was just a few months old he was left behind on a commercial farm where they had rounded up all the other turkeys for slaughter. A kind person who worked there allowed him to come to Poplar Spring, and he had many months of running and playing at the sanctuary until his body began to fail him. White domestic turkeys are genetically bred to get very large very quickly, and this causes many problems for their skeletal system and hearts, even if they are rescued and given the best feed and care. Wren’s legs gave out when he was less than a year old and he has lived in a sling and wheelchair ever since. He still had a great quality of life, though, as evidenced by this lovely video by his main caregiver Abbie. Abbie would take him on “Joy Rides” where he could see the flowers blooming, interact with the other animals and people on the farm, and get a scenic tour when the weather was nice. Wren had so much personality, and he received a lot of love and special attention and treats from his many caregivers and friends. He was always so curious and interested in everything that was going on, even though he couldn’t walk. He loved blueberries and sunflower seeds, and sharing his lunch with Robin and Rae, the new rescued baby turkeys. Last week he had an especially great week where he went home with Abbie every night and hung out with her rescued animals @minnowandblossomsplace. He had such a fun time but then heartbreakingly this week he began to show symptoms of heart failure, which is very common in Broad Breasted turkeys, which is Wren’s breed. Despite all the special care and heart medications, Wren passed peacefully in his sleep on Monday morning. We were all so devastated to lose our special boy, who was so brave and strong, and never let his disabilities get him down. We love you so much, Wren, and we will never forget you. We hope you are flying free and going on etern
Don’t ever leave the feed room unlatched, even for a minute! The groundhogs know where the cookies are. 😂 This is Chompers, who lives strategically UNDER the feed room at the goat barn, and who decided to help herself while I was distracted with two fighting goats. I heard crashing inside the feed room and found her like this.🤣
Genevieve is one of our senior girls, rescued with her mom and siblings 10 years ago from a trash filled pen behind a trailer park in North Carolina. She and her family have lived here together happily ever since. She definitely knows how to take care of herself in this Summer heat, finding a private mud hole to cool off in! All the animals are doing well despite the very hot temperatures- every barn has fans and the pigs are being misted with water and cooling off in the mud. The cows are hanging out in the creeks and woods and the horses, chickens, turkeys, goats and sheep are resting in the shade or relaxing in the barns in front of their fans. So far, nobody has seemed stressed, despite the heat and humidity. We are all looking forward to cooler weather!🥵🐐🐖🐑🐄🐓🦃
It’s hay season again! And as always the goats were “helping” with loading the hay into the barn.😂🐐💕
The baby groundhogs finally came out with mom to sample some leftover goat feed - they are way too cute!🥰
Our first fawn of the season! The deer like to have their babies in our fenced two acre yard where it is safe from coyotes. Scout the turkey wasn’t sure what to think about the new little one, who was just born last night. ❤️🦌Thanks to Maureen McGowan for this sweet video!
These two adorable baby turkeys came to us on Sunday from Montgomery County Animal Services. Someone purchased them from a feed store and didn’t initially understand that they would grow up into much larger adults! They then passed them off to another family member who took them to the shelter. We are so happy that the shelter reached out to us along with the many supporters who notified us that they needed a home! A big thanks to Tammy Mathis who transported these sweet angels to us- they are already making themselves at home exploring and dustbathing and enjoying their new life. They like to sit in our laps and be petted and especially love their new best friend and honorary “uncle” Wren, our sweet special needs turkey who can no longer walk and who uses a cart. He seems very happy to have the company, and loved it when the babies snuggled up to him in his bed. Thanks to Minnow and Blossom's Place and Evan McLeod for the cute videos!❤️🦃
Happy birthday to Justin! Six years ago today his mother Maisie, a former dairy cow who had all of her previous children taken from her, gave birth to this sweet boy. Maisie was allowed to come to Poplar Spring because the farmer was closing down his dairy operation, and Maisie had been one of his favorite cows (the other cows were sent to slaughter😢). We were surprised to find that the farmer had bred her, we did not know she was pregnant until right before she gave birth. From the moment Justin was born Maisie has been an attentive and loving mother, and these two are almost always together, even though he is now over 2,000 lbs. and larger than his mom! She likes to show her love by grooming him frequently, which he doesn’t always appreciate.😂 Justin is so lucky to have been born at a sanctuary, where he and his mom will get to live a long and happy life together. We wish all cows could live this way.❤️🐄
Spring is in the air and the animals are acting very silly! Chauncey and Scout the turkeys were playing Ring around the Rosie with poor Lester in the middle- I think by his expression he was thinking “What the heck is happening here?!” 😂😂😂
Baby Shelly is only six days old and she is already nibbling on hay and grain. She is very spunky and likes to hop around while we are cleaning her stall. Her mommy Freckles is very protective.💕🐑
Scout is a seven month old wild turkey who was found all alone when she was a tiny baby. This was her first time seeing snow falling! She was so surprised and excited, it was fun to see her reaction.💕🎥: @minnowandblossomsplace
No real snow for us today from this “Winter storm”- just lots of rain and a few tiny snowflakes. Griffin and Spencer the alpacas were the only ones who didn’t seem to mind the yucky weather.❄️🌧️🦙
Merry Christmas from all of us at Poplar Spring! A big thanks to all the wonderful staff and volunteers who came in to help take care of the animals today- everyone enjoyed lots of popcorn, apples, pumpkins, berries and special treats today for Christmas! We hope everyone who celebrates has a wonderful holiday!🎄❤️
Henry was rescued when he escaped from a slaughterhouse and was living on his own in the surrounding woods and pastures for many weeks. With much patience and compassion a kind woman was able to tame him and lure him into a fenced paddock where he could be caught and transported to Poplar Spring. He has spent months in quarantine to treat his many parasites during and had to take a trip to the hospital for his neuter surgery - which included a long recovery time to make sure he couldn’t get any of the girls pregnant. Henry has now finally been able to meet the other rescued sheep and he is so happy!! He is a very sweet boy who enjoys being petted and loves his cookie treats. And he only head butts us a little now that his testosterone level is coming down.😂He was so smart to run away to the right farm after he jumped out of a truck at the slaughterhouse and he is so lucky that he now gets to live a wonderful life with lots of sheepie friends. ❤️🐏
We are almost ready for our big event tomorrow! 🎉Come on out and join us for our Thanksgiving WITH the turkeys from 12-4 November 18! Link for tickets in bio or just pay at the gate! We will be having a huge vegan potluck where everyone brings a dish, tables for the turkeys, (who are the guests of honor), and pumpkin feeding to the pigs! The animals are getting very excited especially Dudley and his goat friends who are already sampling the decorations!😂A big thanks to our friends @physicianscommittee for all their hard work setting up all the tables and chairs yesterday! We are so looking forward to our first Thanksgiving event in four years!🦃
On Saturday we welcomed our newest resident - Chester, a huge and very handsome four year old Holstein steer! Chester was rescued when he was just a few days old from a cruelty case, by the Humane Society in Harrisburg. They had bottle raised him and lovingly cared for him at the shelter his entire life, not putting him up for adoption- worried that any potential adopter would kill him for meat. When they were closing down their farm area this year there was no longer any room for a 2000 pound cow. When we heard that Chester (previously named Cheeseburger!) had always been the only cow and had never seen one other than his mother the day he was born, we agreed to give him a wonderful home at Poplar Spring. When he first arrived we put him in our large barn and although he was nervous he soon settled down and started munching on hay. In the morning though, when he heard the other cows mooing he busted down the barn door and broke out! The cows were very excited to see a new friend but he was very scared and ran away from them initially. We then led him to the yard where he could safely meet them over the fence and it didn’t take long before he got his first cow kisses from Maple!💕After receiving lots of encouraging pets and scratches from the staff he was ready to try again, and this time he was much more relaxed. He happily fit right into the herd where he was warmly welcomed by our 14 other rescued cows. He will now have a great life grazing and strolling on the sanctuary’s 400 acres and he will finally for the first time in his life have a loving family of cow friends. 🐄❤️
Thank you so much @butlersorchard for donating so many wonderful pumpkins for the animals every year! The goats couldn’t wait for us to unload them! 🎃🐐🐷
