Tractor for The Cow Sanctuary

Founded in 1993, The Cow Sanctuary is a 501(c)(3) located in Bridgeton, NJ. The Sanctuary provides lifelong care and rehabilitation to cows, emus, horses, goats, pigs, ducks, geese, and other animals, many rescued from cruelty and neglect.

The Sanctuary’s founder, Helga Tacreiter, is in desperate need of a tractor. The Sanctuary needs a tractor with a front-end loader and a bale spike, which runs between $25,0000 and $35,000. A tractor would serve two main purposes for the Sanctuary: moving thousand-pound bales of hay, and removing manure from barns. Currently, Helga is carrying fifty-pound bales of hay to animals as needed, by hand. As you can imagine, this is terribly tedious when tending to nearly 30 animals. To maintain the barns, Helga must periodically hire someone with a tractor. This is inefficient, and a tremendous burden on the Sanctuary’s limited resources.

A tractor will not only be a tremendous benefit for the animals at the Sanctuary, but will also allow Helga to provide refuge for even more animals! Please read below for a few stories of animals for whom Helga has provided homes. 



The Cow Sanctuary: Stories from founder Helga Tacreiter

Beatrice and Emmie

Although they came from radically different backgrounds, Beatrice and Emmie were the best of friends. Emmie endured unimaginable horrors before arriving here, while Beatrice had been dearly loved.

Beatrice was a 4-H beef cow. The child who raised her as a calf adored her. When the time came to auction Beatrice, little Kaeley, refused to follow the 4-H rules and send her friend off to slaughter. Instead, Kaeley hid her until a safe home could be found. Our Sanctuary ended up being that home.

Emmie was born in Mexico. Before being imported to the U.S., she was branded with an iron on both sides of her face: one brand a large "M," to indicate her country of origin, and the other a spade symbol, to indicate she had been spayed before entering the states. Her face caught fire during the branding. Even more painful was how she was spayed, without anesthesia. While inside a squeeze chute, her flank was cut open, and her ovaries were pulled out by hand and severed. The foot-long incision was closed by several "hog-rings," used like giant staples. The incision area was swollen and filled with pus when she arrived at the Sanctuary.

When Emmie arrived, she was so traumatized that she retreated to the furthest corner of the barn and cowered, shaking uncontrollably for almost a month. I put out food and water, and long after I left, she would eat. (She didn't know I was "spying" on her through a crack in the wall!) After a couple weeks, I spent as much time as I could, curled up in a ball on the floor, far enough away that Emmie could see me, but not feel intimidated. I could see her watching me. After a few days, she started to approach the "the ball" a little at a time, before retreating to her corner. On the tenth day, she came all the way over, and sniffed my boot, and scared herself, nearly jumping through the roof. But, that was the turning point. The following day, she sniffed me all over. A few days later, I sat up, and gradually, she explored me. Soon, she stopped shaking, and began to be curious about what—and who--else was around. Observing the comings and goings of the other cows, she approached the fence to sniff their noses. In time, Emmie joined them in the pasture, and quickly chose Beatrice as her new friend.


Victor

When Victor was just days old, he was purchased at auction by people who planned to use him for a sacrificial ritual. While he was being prepared for the sacrifice, neighbors heard him crying out, and called police. The police seized him, and took him to the SPCA, where someone knew me. The SPCA brought him to the Sanctuary, with his umbilical cord still attached. Since then, nothing bad has happened to Victor.
 

Eve

Eve is the latest cow to join us. Josh, a Pennsylvania postal worker, made a detour on his way to work one morning, around road construction. The detour took him past a farm with many calf hutches lined along the road. Josh liked animals, so he pulled over, wanting to visit the calves. When he approached, all of them ran away, except for one: a small brown calf with a yellow ear tag that read “EVE 12-12 #229.” She came to the fence and let him pet her. The farmer came out to see what was going on, saw that Josh meant no harm, and told him that this calf was born on Christmas Eve. That's why she had a name in addition to her number.

Josh began to drive the detour route every day, just so he could spend a few minutes petting Eve. One day, Eve was gone. Worried, Josh went to the farmhouse to ask what had happened. The farmer told him she’d been sent to auction, and that once sold, there was no way of knowing where Eve would end up.

Josh went to the yellow pages, looked under "Detective," and hired someone to find Eve. The yellow ear tag was the only clue. After four months, Josh’s detective located Eve at the New Holland Sales Stables, about to be auctioned again. While the detective was looking for Eve, Josh was looking for a safe, permanent home for her. He and his wife were both elderly, lived in town, and had no way of looking after Eve themselves. Josh found the Sanctuary. He and his wife came to visit, and asked if Eve was ever found, could she live with us. Something about their depth of love for this heifer made me say yes. So, when Eve was found, we welcomed her home.