Yesterday, we went to
Rikki's Refuge,
a 367 acre no-kill, all animal sanctuary
supported solely by donations of kind and loving individuals.
What a great place! We so would love to do what she has done
and help as many animals as we could. They have cats, dogs,
pigs, chickens, emus, ducks, guinea pigs, rabbits, doves, pigeons,
sheep, goats, guinea hens, peacocks and a couple of cows. They
told us that they have the largest cat community in the country -
over 600 cats!!!!! At any one time, there are about 1,000 animals
living in the sanctuary.
We got to feed all the animals treats
as we toured the place. The pigs love potatoes and bread and
the emus love bread, broccoli, red hair and anything shiny.
The goats liked Nilla Wafers.
It was so cold that my camera shutter
kept freezing up and not opening properly. Kind of a cool
picture though.
They had lots of hunting dogs that
hunters would send off hunting and then if they don't return the
hunters just don't bother looking for them. They're a dime a
dozen tot he hunters. So sad.
These funny chickens are called
Transylvanian Naked Necks.
This beautiful pheasant just showed
up one day and hung out with the chickens and decided to stay.
He now thinks he's a chicken.
My favorite place was the
rabbit/guinea pig/pheasant/dove/pigeon enclosure.
Guinea pigs are rather skittish and
so sometimes you've got to crawl right in to get ahold of one.
This is one section of the gigantic
cat community. The were all so wanting to be petted and loved
on. Such cuties!
For some reason, some of the cats
loved to jump up on people and sit on their shoulders.
These cats were over in a section for
cats with FIV (Feline HIV). There was also a section for cats
with Feline Leukemia. I'm so glad they have a place to live
and not just be put to sleep.
If you'd like to donate to this
wonderful animal sanctuary, please
click here.
They really, really need donations to keep doing what they are
doing.
The kids and I are going to take
their volunteer training class and volunteer at the sanctuary as
often as we can. If anyone reading this is anywhere local-ish,
you might want to check them out and see how you can help either
financially or physically.
toadhaven.com
