Animal Place Photo Flashback - Zarriah

Zarriah turkey wants me to go away

Zarriah is a royal palm turkey. This is a "heritage breed" of turkey. Zarriah came from a meat-farm where "heritage" turkeys are raised for slaughter. She wandered away from the farm and was found loose in the streets of Napa. Her rescuer couldn't bear the thought of the turkey being killed, so she contacted Animal Place. That was in 2000 - Zarriah turns 10 this month!

Animal Place Photo Flashback - Iris Rabbit

Iris spotted rabbit
Photo: July 13, 2009

Iris is a hoppity-bunny rabbit with soft fur and a gentle disposition. She was rescued from a neglect case in 2007, where she lived in a small, wire cage with 10 other rabbits. With barely any room to move, Iris and her bunny friends would probably not survive long. Thankfully, animal control confiscated her and the other rabbits. They found homes, while Iris came to live out her life at the sanctuary.

Animal Welfare Victories

This week, the California Governor signed into law a bill that would require all eggs sold in California to comply with the standards approved by voters in 2008. Proposition 2 requires that hens in the egg industry, male calves in the veal industry, and pregnant sows have enough room to stand up, lie down, turn around, and stretch their limbs without touching the sides of their enclosure. An extremely modest proposal, really.

Egg producers opined that all egg production would go out of state where housing standards may be more lax. That loop-hole has now been closed - if producers in other states wish to sell their eggs in California, they must comply with the state's "welfare" standards.

This should not be construed as a complete and resounding victory for hens in the egg industry. The only true victory is when there are no hens being raised and slaughtered for their eggs. We will work toward that goal on multiple fronts, including supporting legislation like the one signed by the Governor and heavily promoting the transition to a vegan diet.

Meanwhile in Ohio, the signature gathering process to put farmed animal welfare issues on the ballot has stopped. Animal welfare agencies and agribusiness sat down and hashed out a compromise including a phase-out on veal crates, gestation crates, a moratorium on new battery-cage operations, a ban on transporting downed animals, and a prohibition on certain methods of killing farmed animals (including strangulation).

While these are definitive animal welfare victories, the best and easiest way you can help animals is adopting a vegan diet. A vegan diet significantly reduces our negative impact on the non human animals, environment and our health. It's a win-win for all involved!

Hens Available for Adoption


Last month, 200 hens arrived safe and sound from a small egg farm. They are the very first residents of Animal Place's Rescue Ranch, a 60-acre farmed animal adoption and placement center located on the former site of the Animal Place sanctuary.
The hens arrived with leg trauma. When they were young, the farm manager attempted a new identification system- plastic-coated, wire leg bands. Unfortunately, while the legs of the hens grew, the bands did not. More than 90% of the hens had deeply embedded leg bands, some to the bone.

It has taken almost two weeks of intensive care for the first group of birds to be ready for placement.

The manager will not be using these identification bands anymore.

We are placing the hens into permanent homes. Check out the adoption information below.

How to Adopt Hens

These hens are all commercial brown layer crosses. They have been bred to produce an amazing 250-300 eggs a year - 5 times more than normal. When their production decreases, they are generally sent to slaughter. They are 1.5 years old and can live another 6-7 years.

All the animals received by Rescue Ranch will be placed into permanent homes. Those who cannot be placed will be sent to the 600-acre sanctuary in Grass Valley, CA.

All of the rescued hens are available for adoption. If you are interested in adopting, please contact Marji Beach at marji@animalplace.org or 530-798-5114. You will be requested to fill out an adoption form and, if approved, pick-up of birds will be arranged. Adoption fees are to be paid upon pick-up of birds. The fees cover the care of the birds and allow us to continue our life-saving work. Any additional donations are greatly appreciated!



The adoption fees are as follows:
1-4 hens: $10/each
5-11 hens: $7/each
12+ hens: $5/each

About the Farms
Animal Place's Rescue Ranch is unique in that we work directly with farmers to provide an alternative to slaughter for a small percentage of hens in the egg laying industry. There are more than 15 million hens raised for eggs in California. Most will never find true sanctuary. The farms we work with range from small, pasture-based operations to larger facilities.



Animal Place is honest - we are a vegan organization promoting compassion to all life. We may never see eye to eye with farmers on some issues, but we hope to find common ground in order to save as many lives as possible. Toward that end, we keep all information about cooperating farmers private, and they reciprocate by not using Rescue Ranch as a tool to promote the consumption of their eggs. We do not bring cameras or recording equipment into the farm and both parties sign confidentiality agreements. Again, Rescue Ranch's goal is save as many lives as possible without compromising the integrity of our organization.