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COCKADOODLEMOO
Sanctuary offers haven for farm animals.
WRITTEN BY SUE EDMONDSON
PHOTOS COURTESY OF COCKADOODLEMOO
W hen Mark and Dianne Robison bought their Palomino Valley home, rescuing farm animals hadn’t crossed their minds.
“We just needed a place where our dog could bark without bothering neighbors,” Mark says.
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Not that saving lives was foreign to the couple. The longtime vegans and animal lovers already rescued dogs and cats. Still, when Dianne suggested they use their acreage to help larger animals, Mark resisted.
“He’s the sensible one,” she says.
That changed after he read The Pig Who Sang to the Moon.
“It was about the lives that farm animals wouldn’t have,” he says. “We decided to give them the lives they should have.”
There was one problem. They’d never had so much as a pet rabbit. Undeterred, they read the available literature, then spent three weeks at Farm Sanctuary in California for hands-on experience.
Chickens seemed a safe place to start. The coop was almost ready when the Nevada Humane Society called.
“They said they had a goat near death and asked if we’d take him,” Mark says.
CockadoodleMoo’s first rescue proved a challenge. Festus the goat wasn’t as near death as reported. In fact, he was a stinky bully.
“I got really beat up by him,” Mark admits.
More animals followed, each the victim of abuse, neglect, or illness, often coupled with old age — Al the rooster with deformed feet, Molly the de-beaked chicken, Artemisia and other semi-feral rabbits whose owner passed away, malnourished turkey brothers Garcia and Marquez, a burro and her foal caught in a roundup. Three abused goats joined a thriving Festus (whose personality and hygiene improved after neutering). All live in settings that mimic their natural habitat. The burros graze on a hillside, chickens roam in sprawling yards, rabbits hide in dens.
The folks at Farm Sanctuary had warned about the hardships involved in rescuing farm animals. Those cautions proved true.
“We work from dawn until past dark,” Mark says.
That includes their paying jobs, which help fund CockadoodleMoo. Each day requires an hour of food prep, another for feeding. Medication is administered, pens cleaned, health checks performed, often interrupted for a back scratch or ear rub.
It’s all worth it to the couple who are smitten with their brood.
“I knew you could love dogs, but I didn’t know you could love a turkey,” he says, with a laugh. “That’s only because I’d never had one before.”
To visit, volunteer, or donate, go to http://www.Cockadoodlemoo.org.
Sue Edmondson writes for various publications in Nevada and Northern California. After spending time at the sanctuary, she’s quite sure that the animals who live there sing to the moon.
