Have You Visited a Local(ish) Farm Animal Sanctuary This Summer?

by Deborah Diamant, Animal Welfare Committee

Are you looking for a unique day trip to flee the city with your friends or family in tow? The Animal Welfare Committee encourages you to visit one of the several farm animal sanctuaries located within a few hours of the Coop before the summer ends. Some are even reachable via mass transit!

Spending a day at a farm animal sanctuary is not just a humane alternative to visits to zoos and circuses--they enable us to interact with animals up close in an environment where they receive proper care. While stroking the radiant coat of a Holstein cow and standing among frolicking goats, we observe up close each animal’s unique personality. This simply is not possible through a cage in a zoo and from a seat in a circus.

The purpose of farm animal sanctuaries, though, is to provide a caring environment where animals mistreated as products in commercial farms can recover and live the remainder of their lives free of cages and substandard treatment. Jenny Brown, founder and executive director of Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary (WFAS) stresses that “farmed animals are easily reduced to mere statistics when talking about the 10 billion land animals slaughtered every year in the U.S., but to our visitors at the sanctuary they become tangible, self-aware individuals with names who behave very differently in an environment where they are treated with love and respect as opposed to as commodities.”

Ms. Brown has done such an effective job providing a home to rescued farm animals since she founded WFAS 10 years ago that her sanctuary is currently moving to a farm that is six times larger in High Falls, NY. Ms. Brown explains that WFAS “is a place where people connect with animals as individuals, and that helps people connect with themselves, with each other, and with the larger natural world.” WFAS holds special events throughout the year in addition to its regular tour schedule. On September 5, WFAS’s grand reopening event will feature sanctuary tours, food vendors, and live music.

Keep the below list of local(ish) farm animal sanctuaries handy. Perhaps you will find time to visit them all! The sanctuaries have been listed in order of proximity from the Coop, with the closest sanctuary listed first. (Be sure to double check that a sanctuary is offering tours the day you plan to visit.)

Skylands Animal Sanctuary & Rescue (66 miles from PSFC)

50 Compton Road

Wantage NJ 07461  

skylandssanctuary.org

973-721-4437

Tours given Saturday-Sunday, 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

For the Animals Sanctuary (69 miles from PSFC)

8 Cherokee Trail

Blairstown, NJ

fortheanimalssanctuary.org

Open to visitors on “visiting days.” Check the website for schedule.

Barnyard Sanctuary (70 miles from the PSFC)

Columbia, NJ (exact location provided once tour is scheduled)

barnyardsanctuary.org

Reservations required! Call 973-670-4477 to schedule a tour.

Tours given Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary (83 miles from the PSFC)

542 Gardner Hollow Road

Poughquag, NY

safehavenfarmsanctuary.org

Call 845-724-5138 to schedule a tour.

Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary (102 miles from the PSFC)

High Falls, NY

woodstocksanctuary.org

845-679-5955

Currently closed to visitors because the sanctuary is moving from Woodstock to its new home in High Falls, NY. Mark your calendars: the grand reopening is September 5!

Catskill Animal Sanctuary (112 miles from PSFC)

316 Old Stage Road

Saugerties, NY

casanctuary.org

845-336-8447

Tours given April through October: Saturday-Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Spring Farm CARES (250 miles from the PSFC)

3364 State Route 12

Clinton, NY

springfarmcares.org

Reservations required! Call 315-737-9339 to schedule a tour.

Tours given 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. every day of the year except on major holidays.

Farm Sanctuary (255 miles from PSFC)

3150 Aikens Rd

Watkins Glen, NY

farmsanctuary.org

Questions: 607-583-2225, ex. 221

June - August: Tours given 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Wednesday to Sunday. (No tours August 14-16); May, September, and October: Tours given 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Saturday & Sunday only.

This article appeared in the August 20, 2015 edition of the Linewaiter's Gazette.