Animal Sanctuary needs community help!

Hello! My name is Cinzia, I run an animal sanctuary of now 26 animals in the Sacred Valley of Peru. I have 3 cows, Milka, Daisy & Petunia, respectively. One bull, Milky. Two lambs, Sol Brün & Anita, better known as Thelma & Louise. Eight ducks! Six cats & 6 dogs! All rescues. I have been doing this on my own for the past 5 years & have been hesitant to ask for help. However, I know the importance of asking for help & here we are.

With your help, we have reached and surpassed our original goal of $600 to prepare for the dry season here in Peru. We continue to enjoy our rainy season (which started super late! Typically in October but this year we didn't get rain till the beginning of December) now but need to take advantage of the rain & plant now.

With your support and donations, we plowed 3000m2 of land in the sanctuary and have planted Timothy grass, corn, barley and alfalfa for the cows, lambs and ducks. In addition, we purchased a ton (a literal ton), 1000m2 of corn stalks for the cows to help get us through the dry season. We also purchased the neighbor's harvest of alfalfa next door to have more food on reserve for the animals.

We were encouraged by friends and family to raise our goal and keep our fundraising efforts going! This additional money will help us stock up on food for everyone, 6 cats, 6 dogs, 4 cows, 8 ducks, and 2 lambs! Due to the current civil unrest in Peru we have run out of propane gas which we use for cooking (our food as well as the dogs food) and purchased 220lbs of firewood to use for cooking. These kinds of unexpected expenses do have an impact on our budget here at the farm. We hope with your help to make the farm/sanctuary as self-sufficient as possible so we can weather anything that might come up!

Upcoming Projects: A Frame for animals, solar panels, stocking up on more firewood as we do not know how long supply chains for propane gas will be affected, fencing project to separate our planting area from the ravenous mouths of ducks & lambs. Repairing the roof in the kitchen, this is the original roof on the property and we have noticed mold growing which is not good for us or the animals. Purchasing the neighbor's harvest of corn stalks, dry season in the Andean highlands can be very extreme, where typical commodities (especially for farm animals) triple in price. We also rent the 5000m2 of land for the farm/sanctuary, this is a yearly bill of $550.

Every little bit helps this multifaceted operation!

Our Story:

Milka & Petunia's Animal Sanctuary started in a way quite unintentionally. First with the dogs, stray & abandoned dogs is unfortunately not uncommon here in rural Peru. Then came Milka, my 1st cow.

Having grown up in Miami for 25 years, I was pretty clueless as to what having a pet cow would entail but being herd animals it was made quite clear that she needed a friend at which point Petunia entered the picture.

Petunia & Milka became the best of friends.

A fun fact of bovines not many people may know, I sure didnt, their heat period is from 8 to 32hours, during which they are restless, hyper focused & have a one track mind to find a mate! This is where on a seemingly normal morning Milka escaped found a boyfriend and 9 months later Milky the bull was born on September 22nd the Spring Equinox for the Southern Hemisphere.

A year later, Milka proved to have wanted a set, a boy & girl to complete her family. Sure enough on another fateful day she got loose found a boyfriend once more and produced Daisy on a rainy morning at the end of November 2021.

I never thought I'd have a cow let alone 4!

This past year the sanctuary has had several additions, 6 cats, 8 ducks and two baby lambs.

Two lambs weren't in the plan either. We (my partner & I) rescued Anita & Sol Brün from the animal market. We got them separately but under similar circumstances, each had been rejected by their mom (not uncommon when the Ewe is malnourished & cannot milk sufficiently for her lambs) at just 5 days old.

I never expected to have lambs but they have brought so much play and joy to the farm that I cant imagine them not being here.

Having an animal sanctuary was a dream of mine that frankly I never anticipated having but having left Miami & moving to rural Peru, my world, my life opened up in ways I couldn't have imagined.

I do this for selfish reasons, the animals make me better, because they remind me that the world is vast, that every being matters makes an impact & is part of the whole & so am I.