Sisters farm offers sanctuary to rescued farm animals

Harmony Farm Sanctuary saves farm animals from abuse, abandonment and slaughter.

Among its approximately 80 animals, a turkey originally meant to be Thanksgiving dinner struts around, following founder and director Robine Bots.

The goal of the farm is to provide the animals, which include, pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, cows and horses — with a safe and happy environment. And that includes everything from pigs and goats, chickens and ducks to cows and horses.

But Bots, who is a mental health therapist, has another goal: to provide animal therapy to humans who visit the farm.

“I think that humans really connect with animals that have shared experiences with them,” she said Friday.

“It resonates with the humans, so the beautiful thing is to see the animals helping the humans, but at the same time, the humans help the animals,” Bots said.

And it works, even for people who don’t love animals.

“This boy with autism came out here, said he didn’t like animals, was really averse to the smells of the farm, but would carry around this little chicken that we had, everywhere we went,” Bots said. “He didn’t want to be down doing therapy amongst the animals, so we would go in the office — and the chicken would go with us.”

The sanctuary hopes to leave visitors with a new attitude about farm animals.

“People who think that dogs and cats are sentient beings will come here and realize that all animals are sentient, and we should treat all animals with compassion and care,” Bots said.

For more information on how you can help the farm, which is wholly run on donations, you can check out this website: https://www.harmonyfarmsanctuary.com/