I was blessed with an opportunity to visit The Cow Sanctuary and meet the one woman who runs it all, Helga who cares for these farm animals. I believe I understood that she started by rescuing one cow. When I visited in the Spring of 2013, she cared for numerous cows, some pigs, geese, goats, and an emu. I'm sure I've missed some animals. She has dedicated her life to these animals. I have a great admiration for her. I wish I had the courage to dedicate myself to anything with half of her conviction. She seems happy and has so little of the things that I am accustom to having. I can't imagine doing all the work that she does every day, there is never a day off. We were walking to feed a pig who has to be hand fed and one of the goats ran up and butted me aside. I observed this happen anytime someone came between the goat and Helga. Otherwise, the goat would eat from my hand and didn't express aggression to me. I believe the animals have great affection for her. This is not a group with people on a payroll, all the money is dedicated to helping to the health of these animals. It is one woman with a passion for the well being and respect of animals. I have not nearly articulated how wonderful she is or how much I admire the work done for these animals. I will say, I often wonder about how well the money I contribute to non profit organizations is used towards the mission. I know that at The Cow Sanctuary, Inc. it is all used for the mission of "the sanctuary provides lifelong care and rehabilitation to cows, emus, horses, goats, pigs, ducks, geese and other animals, many rescued from cruelty and neglect."
Review from Guidestar