WATKINS GLEN, NY – On Tuesday night, the Emergency Rescue Team from Farm Sanctuary, America’s premier farm animal sanctuary and advocacy organization, were called to the horrifying scene of a small dairy farm-turned cruelty case in Union City, PA, where seven calves had already perished and four others were clinging to life.
Working in conjunction with Pennsylvania state police and humane police officers from Erie’s A.N.N.A. Shelter and Crawford County, Farm Sanctuary rescuers removed the four young survivors—just babies at no more than a few months old—who were chained inside a freezing, filthy barn, and made to stand in more than two feet of their own feces.
Farm Sanctuary rescuers drove through sleet and freezing rain to get to the rescue site and return back to New York. The survivors were taken straight to Cornell University’s Nemo Farm Animal Hospital, where they are receiving medical treatment for severe malnourishment, mange, possible fungal infection, and overgrown hooves.
“It’s going to be a special Valentine’s Day for these sweet calves,” said Farm Sanctuary’s National Shelter Director Susie Coston. “Time and time again we’ve witnessed how the power of love can transform traumatized survivors into happy, confident individuals. Watching their hearts open and their personalities blossom once they know they are safe is an amazing thing.”
