The Audacity of Love
Kathy Stevens, Founder of Catskill Animal Sanctuary
The fact that Hannah the sheep is in love with Rambo the sheep is no secret. Indeed, this is obvious even to our first-time volunteers, as Hannah bolts from her stall each morning in search of her Romeo. If she finds him immediately, all is well. But if Rambo is out of sight, she is initially disturbed, then worried, and finally panic-stricken. Once she locates him, all is right again in her world. She settles into her sheepness, content to roam the barnyard, graze, and plot feed-room break-ins…that is, as long as Rambo is no more than a foot or two from her. It is a relationship that she needs desperately, and one that Rambo mostly tolerates.
Enter the other woman.
Barbie is a “broiler,” a term used by the poultry industry to describe chickens intended for meat. Broiler, meaning to exist solely for being broiled, baked, or barbecued. She’s one of hundreds who’ve arrived at Catskill Animal Sanctuary from New York’s five boroughs as escapees from live poultry markets, slaughterhouses, transport trucks, and the ritual sacrifices of Santeria. We’ve taken chickens from dumpsters, chickens stuffed in mailboxes, and chickens who were drowning in crates left in flooding streets. Our latest, Barbie, was found hiding under a Honda.
Like many of our animals, Barbie free-ranges during the day. While she is young, the exercise is good for a body that could quickly grow morbidly obese. There’s also no outdoor home for Barbie, as our ratio of roosters to hens is hundreds to one. So Barbie snuggles into her home in the main barn each night. In the morning, she is lifted out to explore the barnyard and cozy up to whomever she chooses.
Unfortunately, like the girls who’ve come before her, Barbie has chosen Rambo.
For several weeks, Barbie has been napping right next to Rambo. Sometimes she climbs on top of his back, the patient Rambo motionless, and falls sound asleep. Rambo takes her overtures in good stride.
For a while, Hannah tolerated the new friendship. After all, Barbie was merely a hen; Hannah could still rest side by side with her love, or stalk him (her favorite pastime next to breaking into the hay room) as he traveled through the barnyard to ensure all was in order.
Rambo, however, had other things in mind.
A few weeks ago, I watched as Rambo walked up to Barbie and pawed the ground. Pawing is Rambo’s signal to humans that he wants a massage—something he receives, oh, forty or fifty times a day. Clearly he thought that if human beings could discern his wishes, a chicken could, too. I stood there, gaping, as our extraordinary friend tried to teach his bird pal to do his bidding. A few days later, Rambo was lying in a pile of hay. Next to him was Barbie, pulling bits of hay from his woolly coat.
The deepening of this relationship was too much for Hannah. One recent afternoon, she was nowhere to be found as I entered the barn to set up feed.
“Where’s Hannah?” I asked animal caretaker, Walt Batycki.
“She’s in time out.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“She head-butted Barbie halfway across the aisle.”
Tension mounted when Barbie routinely began using Rambo as a sofa. For weeks I’d heard about but not witnessed this new development in the relationship between the great sheep and the presumptuous chicken. And then one crisp morning I exited the feed room, and there, in the middle of the aisle, were Rambo and Barbie. Barbie was one happy hen plopped dead center on Rambo’s back. Rambo was completely unfazed. I dashed back inside for a camera—people had to see this—then moved slowly toward them.
“Rambo, you are a prince,” I praised him as I sat down just feet from them to snap the best shot.
And then I heard it: the rapid click-click-click of sheep hooves moving toward us. It was Hannah. She had spotted them.
The ball of brown wool pushed past me, strode within inches of the offending pair, neither of whom budged. She glared at them and she looked at me. She looked back at them, she looked at me. There was no need for words here, as “WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?” and “ARE YOU GOING TO HELP ME HERE, OR WHAT??” were etched into every gesture.
“I’m sorry, Hannah,” I whispered, approaching her. But Hannah pooped and marched outside, wanting nothing more of Rambo, the interloper, or me.
I never imagined I’d work at a place where a sheep and a hen would vie for the attention of a second sheep’s affection. But then again, I never imagined that a dying cow would lick my face over and over until he took his final breath, or that a former cockfighting rooster would evolve into a being who ate lunch with us, took car rides with me, and happily climbed onto my dog Murphy’s bed to share a nap.
These are the things that love elicits. Many of us know the joy of drawing the best out of a child, or the rewards of saying to a rescued dog, “You’re safe with me,” and then participating in the transformation of that broken spirit. At Catskill Animal Sanctuary, we do this with pigs and cows, with blind horses and chickens, and the results have changed my life. I invite you to check out my book, Where the Blind Horse Sings: Love and Healing at an Animal Sanctuary and to share a little of my world. When you know them as we do, being vegan is an easy choice, indeed.
- Posted by Guest Blogger on October 26, 2009 at 6:00 am
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Tagged as: Animal Rights, animal sanctuary, vegan
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Well it just goes to show for all those who judge the love of others.. Love knows no bounds.. I am grateful for that. Poor Hannah but you never know she may find a way to make room for more than one kind of love in her life. I love that you shared this story with us. Daily as I watch a pack of huskies mourn, bond, play, work and help one another when sick or hurt.. I realize we have only scratched the surface of thier communication skills and ability to love. All souls are valuable. Thanks for the wonderful blog and the work you are doing. Much love. Callie
Kathy- You have two extraordinary gifts. You are a wonderful writer-I couldn’t put your first book down and can’t wait for the second. I feel I am right there with you the way you describe everything. Second-you are a saint to these animals to give them a loving home (farm). When you put both of these gifts together, the rescued animals clearly win!! I admire all the work you do.
What a lovely, sweet, special person you are. It is such a pleasure to help out a kindred spirit even though we are miles away. Everything you do is accompanied by us a hundred fold in spirit. Thank you so much for sharing, you’re a real dame
God Bless.
Guess we’ll have to change that famous quotation to ” hell hath no fury like a sheep scorned”.
=^..^= i am so buying this book! Now.
Thank you so much, Kathy, for writing about Rambo and Hannah. I met them a few weeks ago when I visited CAS. I haven’t been able to get them out of my head since. I gave Rambo a few massages that day and I feel for Barbie, because I too was very nervous about the way Hannah was keeping her eye on me. I am glad she didn’t head-butt me! Spending time with the animals on your farm made my life more complete somehow. Being vegan is a very easy choice.
I admire all of the hard work you do.
I am not vegan, but reading stories like this one wants me to learn more about veganism and what it stands for. This story reminds me that all animals, not just dogs and cats, have feelings, personalities, and the ability to feel both physical and emotional pain. Thank you for sharing!
What a touching and heartwarming story. I am a newbie almost vegan i.e. i am mostly vegan in diet but not in lifestyle. your story encourages me to reconsider veganism in its totality. i am a supporter of CAS already.
Bravo you and the wonderful work you do.
What a lovely tribute to a wonderful friendship! I sometimes wish the chickens at the sanctuary here were more free-roaming – they’d probably team up with the pigs and wreak havoc. It would be beautiful.
I just loved this! Thanks!
I have learned so much since Kathy and her wonderful animals at CAS entered my life – to see their distinct personalities shine through in this loving environment has totally transformed my views of our responsibility to do the right thing by animals. Thank you for this gift of awareness!
thank you for this amazing story…it’s so clear that animals have an emotional life that we often discount or ignore….but we should pay attention…we can learn so much from these animals…
amazing story…just walked out for lunch and told three others this tale of love, despair and life…
Read your book and have been vegan for almost 2 years now. Along with the Oprah expose of the treatment of factory farmed animals, it opened my eyes to what I was consuming and I have never eaten meat since. I love my delicious plant-based diet and it’s fun to have friends over for one of my vegan meals.Of course, I pass the book along to them!!