The year of 2011 saw many heartwarming animal rescues, from a kitten rescued from a pipe on Thanksgiving day, to the oil-drenched penguins in New Zealand saved and set free.
Puppies arrived in Washington D.C. after being rescued from a puppy mill and a curious baby seal wandered into a woman's apartment in New Zealand to chill out for a bit before returning to the wild.
Unlike some pigs in China, most animals can't make their own escape, so there are organizations like Farm Sanctuary who have worked to add more rescue stories to the list this year.
Farm Sanctuary is a group that focuses on combating the abuses of factory farming, including fights to save battery hens stuffed in 16-inch-wide cages, sows kept in cages that are too small for them to turn around and cows that are artificially impregnated throughout their reproductive life.
The group has some great stories to tell from the past year about saving farm animals from similar fates. Check out some of these rescues in the slideshow below.
Photos and captions courtesy of Farm Sanctuary unless otherwise noted.
Animal Rescues
Tweed The Calf(01 of15)
This is Tweed, the tiniest of five recently rescued calves. Once pneumonia-stricken and emaciated, these former cast-offs of the dairy industry now live a healthy and happy life of grazing and frolicking with friends. Their fate could easily have been different. Cows, like all mammals, must be kept pregnant in order to continue lactating. The production of milk therefore also requires the regular production of calves. The many male calves born to the industry are regarded as useless and sell at auction for only a few dollars each. These rescued calves were among 11 purchased by a man looking to raise cheap beef. Also inexpensive is the treatment for pneumonia if administered early: For all 11 calves, it would have cost around 20 dollars. Their purchaser decided instead simply to kill the young bulls. By the time authorities intervened, he had already shot six of them. The man was arrested, but not for animal cruelty - he had violated his probation by discharging a firearm. Read more about how these five calves narrowly escaped death. (credit:Farm Sanctuary)
Eric The Piglet(02 of15)
Eric was found ailing with a joint infection, the result of a leg injury he had suffered in the overcrowded conditions of a local farmer's petting zoo. The "free-range" label that some farmers use to distinguish themselves from the widely acknowledged cruelty of factory farms notwithstanding, piglets and other animals raised for food in farms large and small are treated as commodities. When an animal's life has a price tag, a farmer may decide that price is not worth an investment in medical care needed to treat even a minor injury. Today, happy, healthy Eric is loved and appreciated for the individual he is, without regard for what he can give us in return. He spends his days playing and rooting with his best friends, two older piglets named Jane and Sebastian. Read more about little Eric. (credit:Farm Sanctuary)
Clarence The Rooster(03 of15)
Clarence still bears the scars of neglect. By the time animal control officers confiscated him from the property where he had been kept, he was already afflicted with severe frostbite from exposure to sub-zero temperatures. Though he immediately received treatment at our shelter, it was too late to save some parts of his body: He lost two toes and the tips of his comb. This setback has not, however, stopped Clarence from becoming healthy again nor from thoroughly enjoying his new life at Farm Sanctuary, where he spends his days with his best friend, a hen named Fiesta. (credit:Farm Sanctuary)
Baby Turkeys(04 of15)
Every year in the U.S., more than 46 million birds are slaughtered for Thanksgiving alone. This year 25 lucky poults, just 1 month old, were spared forever from that brutal end when they arrived on the doorstep of Farm Sanctuary's Animal Acres shelter in Acton, California. The young birds were dirty, weak and debeaked, an indication that they came from a factory farm. Debeaking is a standard industry practice in which the tip of the bird's sensitive, nerve-filled beak is amputated, either with a hot blade or by microwave; both procedures are performed on the baby birds without anesthetic. Though these babies had a rough start, with the gentle care and love of our shelter staff, they are improving daily. (credit:Farm Sanctuary)
Jane The Pig(05 of15)
Farm Sanctuary has a history of rescuing animals during natural disasters. Farm animals tend to be the largest population of victims affected by natural disasters, but their suffering and peril are typically ignored. As torrential rains drenched the Northeast this summer, a woman in the flooded town of Wellsburg, N.Y., spotted a tiny piglet who had somehow survived a trip down a swift, rain-swollen creek running through her backyard and managed to struggle up the bank to dry land. A wildlife rehabber of 20 years, the woman caught the shivering baby, whose skin had turned purple from cold, and brought her indoors. Despite her granddaughter's hopeful suggestion that they keep the survivor, Jane's rescuer decided it would be best for the little pig to come to Farm Sanctuary instead. Upon Jane's arrival at our shelter, staff promptly wrapped her in warm blankets, treated her pneumonia, and began to lavish her with all the TLC she would need to recover from her brush with death. (credit:Farm Sanctuary)
Brownie And Fudgy The Goats(06 of15)
When rescuers arrived to the aid of 11 neglected pygmy goats, they found a grim scene. Clearly deprived of food, water and any human kindness, the parasite-ridden goats cowered in fear. Soon after they arrived at our New York Shelter, we discovered that, on top of the health issues resulting from their neglect, two of the tiny goats were pregnant. Our staff raced against the clock to nurse these expectant mothers, whom we named Brownie and Fairy, back to health before their babies were due. Because of the small size of the mothers, theirs were among the riskiest deliveries we have handled at our sanctuaries. To our great relief, however, both successfully gave birth to beautiful babies, who are now thriving. Read more on their rescue and our plans to seek loving, lifelong homes for the families through our Farm Animal Adoption Network. (credit:Farm Sanctuary)
Fiesta The Chicken(07 of15)
On May 15, 2011, an exuberant throng of vegetarians marched through New York City in its fourth annual Veggie Pride Parade. Proud proponents of compassionate eating from near and far hit the streets, excited to convene with their veggie brethren. Farm Sanctuary's placement coordinator, who had traveled from our New York Shelter in Watkins Glen for the event, had an especially important rendezvous on his agenda - not with a farm animal advocate but with a farm animal. Shortly before the parade day, he had been contacted by a Bronx woman who had come across a lone hen in the park across the street from her house. Having in years past discovered dead chickens and other items associated with Santeria in her neighborhood, the woman believed that this chicken had likely escaped from people who intended to kill her in a ritual sacrifice. The devoted animal lover gathered up her new feathered friend, Fiesta, and brought her to safety. And on the day of the parade, Fiesta departed the big city to begin her new life as a sanctuary bird. (credit:Farm Sanctuary)
Phoebus And Sixer The Cows(08 of15)
Phoebus and Sixer were skin and bones when they were confiscated from cruel neglect. These two were byproducts of the dairy industry, which must breed cows in order to keep them in milk production but has no use for the male calves whose births inevitably result. Calves are taken from their mothers as newborns, and those not sold at auction, for either cheap dairy beef or "bob veal," are simply abandoned to a slow death from illness and starvation. The industry measures their worth only by their price, which is meager. We at Farm Sanctuary, however, know that these animals are priceless and that their happiness is worth all the hard work it takes to rehabilitate and care for them. Now healed and full of life, Phoebus and Sixer remind us of this every day. Read more about their rescue. (credit:Farm Sanctuary)
Eileen And Shannon The Turkeys(09 of15)
Eileen and Shannon came to Farm Sanctuary bearing the scars common to turkeys raised for meat. Both birds were debeaked and detoed, standard industry procedures in which the tips of birds' sensitive beaks and the ends of their toes are amputated, without anesthetic, to curb injuries among stressed turkeys driven to fighting in overcrowded warehouses. These painful mutilations are just the beginning of a traumatic life that ends at the slaughterhouse for hundreds of millions of turkeys every year in the U.S., with 46 million killed for Thanksgiving alone. Thanks to the intervention of a compassionate person, Eileen and Shannon escaped that fate and were brought to our New York Shelter instead. (credit:Farm Sanctuary)
Scooter The Pig(10 of15)
Like most runts born on farms, Scooter faced a cruel and early death. He was spared this end by a concerned family, which offered to take in the tiny piglet. When it became clear that he suffered from health problems beyond their resources to treat, the family reached out Farm Sanctuary, and we welcomed Scooter to our New York Shelter, ready to give him the best care and medical attention available. Surgery ameliorated the esophagus stricture that had prevented Scooter from keeping down solid food, but as an unavoidable side effect of the operation, he no longer has a working sphincter muscle at his stomach opening. He must be fed small meals of mashed food throughout the day and must eat elevated. Undaunted, Scooter eagerly climbs the special set of stairs we built for him and eats with gusto at every feeding time. Scooter's zest for life, in the face of the adversity it has offered him, inspires all who meet him. He has befriended Emily, an adult pig who has coped with health problems of her own. She adores him, and the two sleep side by side every night. (credit:Farm Sanctuary)
Tobias And Buster The Goats(11 of15)
Like all mammals, goats lactate only if they have been impregnated. On goat dairies, just as on cow dairies, females are subjected to a continuous and exhausting cycle of insemination, pregnancy and milking that ends only when declining production consigns them to the slaughterhouse. Mothers and newborns are separated almost immediately, and the milk that the mothers' bodies produce as nourishment for their kids becomes instead a liquid asset of the business that has bred them. Tobias and Buster, two male kids, were of no value to the dairy where they were born and were to be taken to a slaughter house. But a family member of the farm owner could not bear to see these two sent to their deaths. When this person reached out to Farm Sanctuary, we agreed to welcome Tobias and Buster to our New York Shelter. Both have since been adopted together to a loving home through our Farm Animal Adoption Network. (credit:Farm Sanctuary)
Ducklings(12 of15)
Every year, shortly after Easter, we start to get the calls: Chicks, ducklings and baby rabbits bought as Easter novelties are found abandoned. This time of year, establishments all over the country sell or give away baby animals as a holiday promotion, and hundreds of these creatures end up in the Easter baskets of customers who find them too cute to resist. Quickly, the adorable little impulse purchase turns out to be a real animal who needs care and space and who will eventually grow into an adult rabbit, duck, hen, or rooster. Upon this realization, the animals are dumped at already overcrowded shelters or released into the wild - the latter almost invariably a death sentence for these vulnerable youngsters, who end up starving or being killed by predators. Such easily could have been the fate of six Pekin ducklings dumped in Elmira, N.Y., this spring. Instead, a local woman found them huddled together in her yard. We were contacted, and the ducks were quickly brought to safety at our New York Shelter. Here they will be cherished and protected all their days, and through their vitality and obvious joy in life, these ambassadors will refute the perception that any creature is disposable. (credit:Farm Sanctuary)
Francis The Lamb(13 of15)
Dashing Francis experienced a moment in the spotlight most unusual for a lamb, but had kind friends not intervened, an all too common fate would have met him when the curtains fell. Brought to Syracuse to appear in a university theater production, Francis, accompanied by his sister Pamela, was boarded at a local veterinary clinic. All it took was one bottle-feeding for the clinic staff to fall for the "little balls of sweetness." Tiny Francis and Pamela enjoyed playing with the staff of the clinic and visiting the cats and dogs boarded there. A compassionate veterinary technician soon discovered that the lambs, on loan from an area farm, were slated to be auctioned off after the play ended, and she contacted Farm Sanctuary. At the request of the student actors, who had also grown fond of Francis, the farmer relinquished custody of the lambs to us. On the day Francis was originally scheduled to be sold at auction, he and Pamela arrived safe and sound at our New York Shelter. These precious twins now happily romp in their pasture, as carefree sanctuary stars. (credit:Farm Sanctuary)
Blitzen The Cow(14 of15)
There is no question that some of the most dismal scenes unfold at livestock auctions across the U.S. Truck after truck filled with baby animals drives up to the auction yard. The newborns, some not even a day old, are frenzied and bawling for their mothers, and some are very ill. Blitzen was so small that the bidders called him "trash." He failed to sell for even $1 and likely would have been left to die slowly. But Farm Sanctuary workers were there to scoop him up and rush him to safety. Read more about his rescue. (credit:Farm Sanctuary)
Noel The Goat(15 of15)
Noel was discovered hog-tied in the trunk of a car by a police officer. The tiny goat had been there for two days without any food and water, let alone adequate air to breathe. While the goat was taken to a facility in Santa Clara, Calif., the driver of the car, as well as the passengers, were charged with cruelty to animals and booked into the county jail. As soon as we heard about this horrific ordeal, we reached out with an offer to give the survivor a new home where he'd be certain to never end up in the wrong hands again. Days later, little Noel arrived at our Northern California Shelter, and we were delighted to learn that, despite all he had been through, he was still very fond of humans. Greeting us with more warmth and friendliness than we ever would have expected, he became instantly attached to his caregivers, and even cries out when they leave his sight. Read more on Noel's rescue. (credit:Connie Pugh)
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