Summer 2003 | Contents

Finding Sanctuary Against All Odds

Alone and scared, little Lily waited in the dark stall at the livestock auction. All around her were the loud noises of the auction -- metal gates slamming, frightened cows mooing, pigs squealing, and men yelling and hitting the animals with sticks. Lily stood shivering, a four month old Holstein calf, unwanted because of her undersized body and the large umbilical hernia which caused a loop of intestines to hang from her belly. A dairy farmer had brought her in, not wanting to deal with her medical problems. Suddenly a woman and a worker appeared at her stall. "How much for the calf?" the woman asked. "She's worthless -- but you can have her for a dollar." replied the man. Lily was hopeful -- she was tired and so hungry. Maybe the woman had come to help her.

Lily before her surgery.

But this woman was no friend to animals. She was what is known to humane officers as a "collector", someone who takes in many more animals than they are able to care for. She had been given citations four times in the past few years for starving animals and confining them in deplorable conditions. The week prior to the auction, the situation was so bad that all of her animals were confiscated. The local animal control removed dozens of starving calves, goats, dogs and adult cows, and the woman was fined and charged with animal cruelty.

But nobody knew that she now had Lily.

The woman drove Lily to her home, an out of the way farm in rural Pennsylvania. There she was placed inside a round pen surrounded by metal bars which prevented her from running away, though she tried many times to escape her prison. There was no roof or shelter of any kind. It was cold and snowing, and she was forced to lie on the frozen, manure covered ground with no protection for her tiny body. Over the next few days she was not given the nourishing feed that she needed, only occasional buckets of cold milk and no hay or grain. As time went on, she became weaker and more depressed -- it seemed that her struggle for life would soon be over. Finally, in desperation, she tried again to squeeze through the bars of her metal cage -- this time she had lost so much weight that she could just get through. She was free! Lily ran, away from the woman and the metal pen, and stumbled straight into the road. A car was coming, and it swerved to miss hitting her. This time Lily was lucky -- it was a police car and the officer inside got out to help the little calf. Seeing that she had come from the collector's farm, he put Lily back, but reported the incident immediately to the Lawrence County Humane Society, who came out to rescue her the next day.

Our friends at OohMahNee Farm Sanctuary helped to transport and give initial care to Lily, and reported that her condition was very poor. Her entire body was completely covered in old crusted manure, and her hernia was infected and would require immediate surgery. We drove all night to pick her up, and after arriving at Poplar Spring she collapsed in exhaustion in a warm stall piled high with a soft straw bed. Lily was finally home.

Over the next week, Lily was thoroughly bathed, treated for parasites, and hospitalized for her hernia repair. The infection had spread to her bladder, which had to be partially removed. Due to malnutrition the growth plates on her leg bones were enlarged, and she had very poor muscle tone and body condition from her long-term confinement. She was given plenty of fresh hay and small amounts of grain, which she ate hungrily. It would be many months of recovery, but Lily's spirit was very strong.

Lily, now healthy and growing, gets groomed by Charlotte.

After a few weeks she was able to meet the fourteen other rescued cows for the first time. The adult cows were very excited, especially Charlotte, another Holstein who was rescued as a one day old calf when she was found injured on a highway after jumping from a truck. The cows mooed loudly and gathered at the fence to look at the new baby. Charlotte, now four years old, looked much like Lily's own mother would have, and Lily and Charlotte bonded immediately. Lily followed her everywhere, and Charlotte spent lots of time licking and grooming Lily and teaching her how to be a cow. The others accepted her completely as a new member of the herd.

Lily is now ten months old and is doing remarkably well. She runs and plays in the tall grassy fields and spends her days meandering around the farm with Charlotte and the other cows, taste testing the maple leaves, munching on locust blossoms in the woods, and drinking fresh water from the rain-filled creeks. The woman who neglected Lily spent time in jail, and was convicted of several counts of animal cruelty. She is not allowed to own any animals for several more years. And Lily, the brave little calf who managed to win her freedom against all odds, will now live happily ever after at Poplar Spring.