Birds and more birds-many from the five boroughs of
Manhattan-are among the residents of CAS. Thanks to the intervention of
kind-hearted humans, all escaped certain death and are enjoying, for the
first time in their lives, life on a farm.
Consuela, a broiler hen, was found wandering in the
meatpacking district of lower Manhattan. Like the billions of hens bred
for meat, Consuela was fed massive quantities of growth hormones and
antibiotics, and suffers a variety of maladies due to this treatment. Her
obesity makes mere walking a challenge. She is unable to perch, she
overheats and is constantly short of breath. Due to genetic manipulation,
her life expectancy is just a single year. Yet she delights in human
companionship, waddling up in hopes of being carried around in our arms.
Once we pick her up, she coos and slowly blinks her eyes. We are happy to
help her enjoy her limited time here.
Henny, meanwhile, was bought from a city slaughterhouse
for $3.00 and left inside a Bronx mailbox as a joke. Neither amused nor
concerned about the animal, the mailbox owner threw Henny into the street,
where she was rescued by a young couple who cared for her in their
apartment.
Flicker, a feisty duckling, came all the way from Staten
Island. An unwanted gift, Flicker was surrendered to CAS, then adopted,
along with Quackers, another homeless duck, by a wonderful family.
Little Chico, meanwhile, is a bantam rooster who escaped
from a Brooklyn-based Santeria group. Fated to be a live sacrifice, Chico
was spared by good karma and a good neighbor. TooCoo, a second rooster,
survived New York's "mean streets" for three years! His rescuers, Gloria
and Ernest Kuhn of Queens, admired the gorgeous boy as he perched on
rooftops, stoops, trees, and trashcans. Not everyone in the neighborhood
felt similarly, however. Annoyed by his early morning wake up calls, they
tried to kill him. "I was desperate to help him," explained Gloria. "He's
such a courageous boy." Luckily, Gloria managed to catch TooCoo before he
was squashed beneath a tire, and the city boy is certainly enjoying the
country life!
Next came Brooklyn. "My son saw her hovering beside a
loading dock," explained Christine Huck. "The truck had broken down on the
side of the road� somehow she got out." Assisted by his friends, who
blocked him from the driver's view, Christine's son snuck her on a bus and
came home, and puzzled but proud Mom called CAS.
Our culture does not consider the chicken deserving of
human consideration. Each year, billions of these animals know only misery
and terror from birth to death. We encourage members and friends to
research the lives of broiler and egg-laying chickens, to consider how
small changes in your one's life can impact many of these animals, and to
visit Catskill Animal Sanctuary in upstate New York
www.casanctuary.org ,
where a visit with Chico, Consuela, Brooklyn and many others might just
have you uttering what one teary-eyed visitor recently did: "Oh� I get it
now�"
Catskill Animal Sanctuary
www.casanctuary.org
Go on to Taking Action
for Animals
Return to 15 May 2005 Issue
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