Help The Cooks Garden Venice raise money to rebuild and relocate our small animal sanctuary to Westminster Elementary School, adjacent to their school garden when a hotel begins construction on our block. Groundbreaking is expected to begin in early 2027.

Our coop is home to over thirty birds, including 6 ducks and our bunny bungalow that houses 5 bunnies - all are rescued or adopted from our community. Each day the flock brings joy to guests as they discover a flock of birds in an urban farm nestled in the busy shopping district of Abbot Kinney. We love witnessing the joy on people's faces as they hear a cluck of a chicken or a rooster's crow and turn their heads to discover our birds and bunnies.

The animals all live happily in our urban garden that has been home to rescued birds for over a dozen years. We take on rescues and adoptions when we can - from flock owners who can no longer support their flock and neighborhood rescues brought in by mindful neighbors. We also serve as an evacuation and foster resource for communities under fire evacuation orders during wildfires.

Once adopted or rescued, this is our animals’ forever home meaning they live their entire natural life with us. At the moment, only about a third of our flock is laying eggs; the rest are living happily in our urban oasis.

The sanctuary needs to build new home in anticipation of the ground-breaking of the planned hotel project in the summer of 2026. This is an expense that we simply cannot afford without our community’s support as the garden is still struggling to recover from the loss of restaurant business that the pandemic brought.

Here are some of the exciting features of our new design:

- * We’re increasing our current capacity by two-thirds and adding separate temporary emergency housing for up to 5 backyard flocks.

- * We’re expanding our bunny rescue and adoption capacity with a larger main bungalow and a smaller bunny bungalow for temporary housing for fosters and evacuees.

- * We’re creating a dedicated Learning Area in front of the sanctuary where classes can visit, learn about the animals, and participate in some Life Science activities.

- * The run will be divided into a flock area and a bunny area, each with its own “play spaces” (like separate play platforms and skyways that the chickens and bunnies can climb and play on, visible to the students).

These upgrades are a significant undertaking for us and we appreciate any support you can offer. We know that the animals bring such joy to the community and we hope to keep the flock here in Venice and remain a resource for rescues and adoptions for animals in need for years to come.