EAST GARAFRAXA – At a farm just outside of Belwood, you may be welcomed by a group of vocal seniors at their retirement home.
At this place however, you won’t be greeted by friendly seniors of the two-legged variety, but instead ones sporting hooves and tails and four legs.
The Green Living Organic (GLO) Farm Sanctuary is a place where farm animals get a privilege they are rarely afforded — to live out a full natural life.
“Our more specific mission is to provide our current residents the highest quality of life that can be afforded to them until the day they die,” said Allison Bisram, owner and operator of GLO Farm Sanctuary.
Bisram said she had previously worked in long-term care before starting this sanctuary.
“I do have strong views on how we should be treated with love and dignity until the very end and we carry that compassion right through for all of these guys,” Bisram said.
For example, the sanctuary had recently lost a geriatric sheep who had favourite volunteers who did 24 hour shifts to stay with her as she passed.
“I actually slept in the barn so she was never alone,” Bisram said. “She had all of her favourite animal companions and she went peacefully surrounded by all of her favourite people.”
The sanctuary is a mixed herd home to many cows, sheep, pigs, horses and roosters who have been taken in for various reasons, some from worse situations than others.
For example, Bisram explained the sheep they have come from a lamb operation where the father’s daughter would regularly grow attached to one and refuse to allow her parents to slaughter it.
When that collection of sheep eventually grew to seven, the daughter moved to university and was asked to take them or find a place for them. They ended up under the care of Bisram and volunteers.
Gary the potbelly pig was abandoned by his owners at a rental property where he was found starving to the point he was eating drywall.
GLO Farm Sanctuary isn’t a large farm but is divided into quadrants which each have a different landscape and topography to them.
This gives the animals some variety in their lives to mingle about with the others in the herd.
“That’s part of our mission is meeting not only their physical needs but also their social needs as well,” Bisram said.
It takes a lot of effort to run this place and Bisram credits 60 monthly volunteers as making it possible.
She explained a big focus at the sanctuary is education as there isn’t as much known about farm animals as they age.
“If you loved animals and wanted to become a veterinarian and you went to school to be a large animal vet, the entire curriculum is written on how to get them healthy enough to slaughter,” Bisram said.
Like others, the sanctuary has had to adjust to a pandemic world by shifting their fundraising methods from vegetarian festivals to launching a patreon with various tiers of support.
For the holidays, those who wish to support can do a symbolic adoption for one of the residents that gets you a stuffed animal and printed certificate.
A more luxurious offering this season is a Christmas box with custom handmade jewellery, vegan soap and merchandise featuring some GLO animals among others.
GLO Farm Sanctuary is unapologetically vegan but Bisram stressed they aren't a single-issue place.
They are working to protect vulnerable people by being in talks with a vegan food bank and highlighting the human toll the animal industry has.
Ultimately, Bisram said she wants people to view farm animals in a different light and understand they are intelligent with unique personalities.
“If people got to know these guys as individuals then maybe we can change some hearts and minds,” Bisram said.
