Meetup director working at the sanctuary

On twenty-five wooded acres in Forestburg, Texas is an animal rescue and sanctuary called Serenity Springs.  Forestburg is steeped in old west history; but there are lots of untold stories right in the sanctuary. Our vegan meetup goes out periodically to try to render some assistance, so I had perused their website prior to my first trip out to see the animals. Despite the website photos,  I was ill-prepared for all the animals (well over one hundred) and their amazing guardian, Terry DeGaw. Terry has been at this game of tending her flock for nearly twenty years now. She is a compassionate woman whose kindness has allowed many animals to survive and flourish in a peaceful setting when others tossed them aside. Many of the animals had been abused and neglected, or nearly slaughtered, prior to coming to Serenity Springs, so Terry truly offers them a second chance. It also means her days are long and hard, but you will never hear her complain. There are dozens of water troughs and bellies that need to be filled, and animals that need grooming, nursing, loving, spoiling.  Terry does it all.

Buddy abandoned

Behind the beautiful serene setting and the happy and healthy animals, lies tragedy and suffering.  This is a photo of Buddy, a beautiful little miniature horse that was left by the side of the road with no way to care for himself.  But once in the care of Terry, he quickly filled out and today is a sweet and feisty young gelding.  Some of the animals came to Serenity Springs because their people got tired of them, or had to move, or felt they could no longer afford their care.  For Terry, this is a lifetime commitment.  The only day off she has had in the past nearly twenty years was to take two days off for surgery.  She does not do just the bare minimum, either. When we joined her in feeding the animals, it was not a fast process, because Terry chats with each one and checks anything that seems amiss.  To sponsor Buddy or one of the other animals, go here.

Buddy today

Gyro

Terry DeGaw

The Sanctuary is a 503c non-profit organization, but Terry is not receiving much help.  She does offer sponsorship for the animals and a few do have sponsors. The sponsors send a monthly check to provide for their animal and often send treats to make that animal’s life extra special. When I arrived and approached the Keystone Klan, a group of farm pigs, they started nibbling on my shoes and chatting at me; I think they were scolding me for not bringing them the oatmeal cookies their sponsor usually provides. Next time I will know better than to come empty-handed!  Terry has a large family to feed, and the recession has not helped out much since, like most non-profits, donations are down. There are always vet bills as you might imagine, and the feed bills, and then the bills the rest of us have to pay just to keep a roof over our heads. Terry has to deal with those as well.  To make ends meet, she takes on another job in the evenings, at the local hospice organization. Comforting others til the very end of a very long day is typical of Terry.

Along with numerous farm and pot-belly pigs, there are cats, dogs (including a three-legged dog that can run and keep up with the others), a peacock, several chickens and roosters, cows, horses (including a blind horse), two miniature horses, donkeys, goats, and a variety of fowl that live at the sanctuary.  Some of the horses are in large paddocks, others roam around the property, always staying near other animals or humans.  After grooming the horses and delivering hay to animals staying on a nearby property, it was feeding time. This is a long process, because there are so many animals to feed.  Terry knows each and every one by name and will proudly tell you their personal history, no different than any proud parent.

Potbellies

Keystone Klan

Calypso

Chacka and Kia

Jazzy Joe

Pig barn

Bogart

The sanctuary is aptly named, for there is a sense of peacefulness that permeates the area. There is so much Tender Loving Care that you can tell just by walking about that the animals are loved. The pigs have igloos, barns, and shelters along with water troughs, feed troughs, and swimming pools.  There is an area looks like a pig spa where several pigs seemed to enjoy splashing about. One little character was walking around with his igloo on top, doing a good impression of a turtle. There are lots of trees and shade from the sun in each paddock and pen. It is very clean and well kept, despite the lack of help.  The dogs roam about freely and the cats own the back porch, where they have multi-level housing.  Some of the cats are not very sociable, so Terry just gives them their space.  All of them, though, as with all of the animals, were so lovable and deserving of their lives.  I think the only animal on the property that is not getting enough attention and care is Terry herself.  Let’s change that if we can!

Ways to help

Even if it is not possible to sponsor an animal, please consider giving what you can.  A $10 donation from several people will really help with vet and feed bills.

Click here to donate via Capital One:

To vote for Serenity Springs to receive part of a $25,000 grant, please go here.

To donate to the sanctuary using PayPal, go here.

For more information about donating or volunteering, contact Terry DeGaw:

email her at  serenitysprings@wisewb.com or call (940) 964-2318

]]> http://veganacious.com/2009/09/04/serenity-springs-sanctuary/feed/ 2 http://veganacious.com/2009/07/17/finding-sophia/ http://veganacious.com/2009/07/17/finding-sophia/#comments Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:05:34 +0000 veganacious http://veganacious.com/?p=1727

Feral Friends

I used to work in a two-story building built around a courtyard. It was a series of small businesses sharing the center, filled with umbrellaed tables and chairs.  It was pretty easy to become friendly with colleagues in other offices; in fact, I walked at lunch with a woman in an attorney’s office, and got to know the entire staff there. Surrounding the building were acres of open fields, surrounded by other business properties and many busy suburban streets. The fields were shrubby and barren, with no source of shade or water – not too hospitable to life.  But amid the brown grass and thorns, there was a struggle for life taking place.

One day my fellow office worker noticed a scraggly cat scratching around in the shrubs.  The cat looked dissipated and wan, as if it was starving and barely hanging onto life.  Nearby was a very young cat, possibly the daughter of the first one.  After a while, she also noticed another older cat, a male, also struggling in the inhospitable terrain, so she decided to intervene. She carefully set about trying to trap the cats by enticing them with food and water, using a professional-grade trap and a ton of patience.  The entire office was aware of the drama unfolding – all of us invested in saving these feral cats, and the cats just as invested in avoiding us.

Animal Control

Unbeknownst to us, there was an antagonist in all this: cat haters.  The older female cat had evidently been impregnated, probably by the roving Tom, and delivered her kittens here and there among the office shrubs.  The entire office (geologists, engineers, lawyers) were out on their hands and knees, peering about  in the bushes, trying to find the kittens as the mother cat moved them.  Just when we thought we knew where they were, she would move them again. Meanwhile, not content to allow us to rescue the bunch of them, the antagonists called the local animal control folks and they took the babies away – without the mother – to the pound and probable doom. All that left was the Tom, the Mom, and the little Daughter.

My colleague, Lana, was not one to give up. Bless her, she spent over $200 going to the pound and bailing out the babies, then continued to try to trap the scraggly Mom. She eventually caught the Daughter, and the Mom was not long behind her.  It was in time for her to care for the young ones and get the whole bunch of them off to good homes. One of the geologists agreed to take a few of the kittens but unfortunately, his daughter proved to be allergic, so they came back onto the market. Finally, Lana kept the Mom and the kids moved in with her next door neighbor, keeping the family intact – all save the Tom.  He was older, and wiser, and despite continual attempts, he alluded us.  We always tried to look out for him but he was no way going to be anything but feral.

A Happy Ending

Once the Mama Kitty, as she came to be known, was given vet care (she nearly died, so it was a good thing we found her when we did,) and food and TLC, her transformation was absolutely incredible.  It was like finding Sophia Loren underneath a bag lady’s layers of clothes – this was a gorgeous cat. She adapted to the indoor life and spoiling that Lana gave her and continued, as did her kids, to thrive. She never seemed to miss the outdoors – after all, it nearly spelled death for her. She was truly a princess awaiting her time to rule. Anyone that can get engineers and lawyers on their knees must have some special gift – Mama Kitty had that.  She was royalty, we were her subjects. Isn’t that what cats always seem to know?

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