Lyss Baumgartner with Trotter. Photo / David Haxton
Lyss Baumgartner with Trotter. Photo / David Haxton
Nestled away in the hills of rural Ōtaki, more than 200 animals are quietly living out their lives.
Those animals are residents of the Black Sheep Animal Sanctuary, an organisation that provides a refuge for abused, neglected, and mistreated animals - especially former farm animals.
The Black Sheep Animal Sancturary was started 13 years ago by Kate Waghorn, when she bought 10.5ha of land in Ōtaki Forks back in 2009.
At the time she was running several op shops in Wellington to raise money for animal rescues but decided to take it a step further and open her own animal rescue, the non-profit Animal Protection Society, which those op shops and the Black Sheep Animal Sanctuary are a part of.
While the op shops Waghorn runs help to operate the sanctuary, a few big expenses have come up so they need to raise more money.
They’ve set a goal of $30,000, which will cover the urgent bills that have popped up, such as replacing the outdated power system, buying winter feed, paying off vet bills, repairing a failing water pump, and other maintenance and repair jobs.
Toffee the goat. Photo / David Haxton
Animal caretaker Lyss Baumgartner said the outdated power system was the most expensive on the list, requiring half the money they’re raising.
She said the power went out every so often, and affected baby animals that need incubating, and various medications that need to be refrigerated.
“We have quite a few animals who are on arthritis medication.”
Baumgartner is also grateful for an anonymous donor who is matching every donation until they get to $30,000.
“They’ve done something incredibly nice for us.”
They have had just over $12,000 in donations, which has been matched, adding to more than $24,000.
They’ll have many ongoing costs too, including a cow who has been having eye issues, a rooster who has a broken wing, and regular medications for some of the animals.
The sanctuary has several animals in its care, including goats, sheep, pigs, cows, chickens, ducks, geese, and more, and many of them have unique, and often sad, stories to tell.
Fizzgig the pukeko. Photo / David Haxton
Baumgartner said one of those sad stories was Toffee the goat’s.
Toffee came to the sanctuary four years ago after he was found hanging upside down in a tree, with no blood flowing to his back legs.
He was only a kid goat, and when he was taken to the vet his fate was uncertain.
They weren’t sure if he would keep one of his hind legs, but after 24/7 physical therapy by volunteers at the sanctuary, he is thriving - with all four legs intact.
Unfortunately, Toffee’s ordeal has left him with lasting health problems, and he’s likely to develop arthritis eventually.
One of Toffee’s fellow goats, Marshmallow, also has a sad story.
Marshmallow the goat. Photo / David Haxton
She was found next to her deceased mother, who was decomposing and covered in maggots.
Baumgartner said Marshmallow’s fate could have been like that of her mother’s, but now she’s part of a herd of other goats.
There are so many more stories to tell too, including one of the sanctuary’s few pukeko, Fizzgig, who was brought to the Black Sheep Animal Sanctuary as a chick after a near miss with a lawnmower, and Trotter the pig, who had mouth cancer and quite a few surgeries.
Baumgartner said everyone who volunteered was there because they simply loved animals, but her favourite part of the job was watching the animals undergo change.
“Some of them have backgrounds of abuse or neglect, so to watch them learn to trust humans again, or to see them arrive in a really fragile, ill state and to recover... is really quite incredible to be a part of.”
If you want to donate to the Black Sheep Animal Sancturary fundraiser, there are a few ways you can do so.
You can donate to their Givealittle page here until June 12.
