Kindness is For the Birds

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog about Santa Fe Chicken, a broiler hen that I rescued from the side of the road.  She had fallen off of a slaughterhouse-bound truck on her namesake boulevard, the Santa Fe in Fayetteville, North Carolina.  I took her home and cared for her until she went to the Chocowinity Chicken Sanctuary (http://www.chocochickensanctuary.org) in Eastern North Carolina the following week.  After sharing her story on my blog, I was pleasantly surprised with the comments and emails that you all sent.  I have never seen such an outpouring of support for a chicken, and I’m happy to hear that her story touched so many of you.  I’m sad to report that Santa Fe died the week after she was moved to the sanctuary.  Her caregivers there did everything that they could to help her, but unfortunately she wasn’t able to pull through and recover from her injuries.  It broke my heart, as I had become quite attached to her.  I hoped and prayed that she had found peace, and wondered if there was a heaven for chickens. I did find comfort in knowing that she was pampered and loved for the last two weeks of her life.  And I was deeply touched by the kindness of Kay and Jim, the couple that own and run the sanctuary. I made some time last week to go visit them.

The sanctuary consists of several handbuilt chicken coops in Kay and Jim’s yard.  The area is heavily wooded and overlooks the water on the Outer Banks of NC.  It’s peaceful and lovely.  I asked Kay how the sanctuary began, and she explained that their interest in chickens started the same way mine did.  They too found a broiler hen that had fallen off of a truck, and they took her in to care for her.  The rest was history. 

Now they have 53 birds that have come from all over the country. All of them have names.  Kay introduced me to each one, and described with affection their unique personalities and quirks.  Some are chickens that were removed from cockfighting rings after police made a bust and took the birds in as evidence.  If not for the sanctuary, they would have been euthanized.  There are also 15 hens that came from an animal testing facility.  Their tests were done and the facility had no more use for them.  They too would have been put to sleep if not for Jim and Kay’s efforts and willingness to provide the alternative of the sanctuary.

There’s a fiesty little rooster with the most amazing black and white feathers – even feathers on his legs – who runs around keeping everyone in check on the sanctuary grounds.  He came from a breeder who didn’t want him because he was born with a crossed beak.  He too would have been put to sleep. I next met a handsome young rooster named Doodle. Like Santa Fe, he fell from a slaughterhouse-bound truck, and was rescued at the roadside.  Then I met a lucky group of hens that had been kept in a backyard coop by an owner who moved away and abandoned them to starve. 

There was also a huge, beautiful turkey named Timmy at the sanctuary.  As you may have already guessed, he would have been a Thanksgiving dinner had he not found his way there.  He has arthritis, and struggles to move around.  He hopped from one foot to another when we came into his coop.  Kay says he only dances for special guests.  I was honored.  

Circling the perimeter of the chicken sanctuary were three big yellow dogs.  Most dogs would chase chickens and eat them, but not these.  They walked among the birds as their protectors.  I didn’t realize that the chickens needed such protection until a squirrel wandered into the yard.  The dogs snapped into action and chased it off to a safe distance.  It was hysterical and beautiful.  They chase off bigger things, too. Foxes, cats and sometimes even bears.  Those three adorable mutts were rescued from neglect and abuse as well.

I sat down with Kay and Jim and had coffee for a few minutes before it was time to leave.  Then they showed me yet another one of their recent rescues.  Jim brought out a little terra cotta dish with a newly hatched turtle, barely bigger than a thumbnail, sitting on a thin layer of water.  I asked him where he found the turtle.  He said that when he sees turtles on the side of the road, he stops.  If they’re alive, he moves them to safety.  Sometimes they’re alive but they have broken shells.  He’ll take those back home and use epoxy glue and 30 minutes in a vise grip to repair their shells.  And if the turtles are dead and beyond hope?  He brings them home and cuts their shells open to remove their eggs, which he buries in the ground.  And sometimes, if he has found the dead turtle early enough, and if the eggs are kept just in the right position (since they polarize), and if they’re buried about two inches underground, in just the right soil with just the right amount of moisture, the eggs will survive and hatch into baby turtles.  The turtle he showed me was one that had been “born” under just those perfect circumstances.  I was absolutely speechless.  Who knew?  That from an animal carcass on the side of the highway, which few people in the world would notice or care about, there is still the capacity for life to spring forth.

Though their life stories are different, the common thread among the sanctuary residents is that they were pardoned from imminent death, and were granted the opportunity to live out the rest of their lives in peace.  I was touched by these two amazing people, Kay and Jim, and their family of animals that the rest of the world had forgotten, discarded, or simply deemed useless and undeserving of life.  On that sanctuary, each of those animals was more precious than gold.  Each life had worth and meaning. I felt like I was standing on holy ground. 

And I no longer had to wonder if there was a heaven for chickens, and if Santa Fe had made it.

She was already there.