​A beautiful evening visit to BC Horse Angels
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As the evening sun shone down on 60 horses grazing in the fields, Belinda checked off each one of them (by name!) to make sure they were all safe & accounted for. This is her morning and evening routine - one of the many tasks of running a rescue organization that saves horses from slaughter and neglect.

Closer to the barn, the newest addition, Prince Charming, was full of beans! Funny & playful and trying to nibble my boots.
 
Many of the horses are from a wild horse roundup and were intercepted before being sold and slaughtered for meat.

BC Horse Angels continues to advocate against the inhumane slaughter of horses in Canada, as well as the live horse export to slaughter industry, to create a kinder future for all horses in Canada.
 

​Eden’s Way Farm Sanctuary

This amazing vegan sanctuary provides a safe, loving, permanent home to rescued farm animals. The setting is spectacular, and even with all the animals & their sounds, it felt tranquil, calm, and peaceful.
I had a beautiful experience here, and met the most compassionate founders, Jaye & Murray, and their sanctuary family.

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Miriam, Ari, & Mo - These guys are hilarious! They are Indian Runner Ducks that were rescued after a classroom hatching project. They wobble around together talking up a storm!

Maggie has the most beautiful, intense eyes! She was rescued from a lamb production factory and now gets to live out her life with her daughter, Luna (a little surprise birth after being rescued) surrounded by love at the sanctuary.

Prince is a stunning peacock with bright colours who loves to rustle his feathers and show off his plumage. Peacock calls can be very loud, but I found their unique sounds so beautiful! Priscilla the peahen slept on the deck at night sharing the job of ‘protector of the sanctuary’ with Sammy.

Myself & lovely Lila.

Special Helper Blue - Little Blue was rejected by his mother and ended up living in the sanctuary founder’s home for his first few months. He is super sweet, friendly & affectionate. He loves cuddles and is very clever – he immediately found my purple laces and pulled at the frayed ends to untie my sneakers!

Sammy - one of my highlights was relaxing & reading with Sammy.

Ezekiel & Jaye – Ezekiel was rescued from the dairy industry when he was only 3 weeks old. Instead of being discarded & killed as a waste product, he has grown up with his friends at the sanctuary. He is very friendly and likes to lick! Look at that cute, cheeky face!
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Skye Blue & Midnight Moon - Special visitor Skye Blue was rescued from the Dawson Creek Auction. She and her foal, Midnight Moon, are staying at the sanctuary for a while. All sentient beings deserve to bond with, love & nurture their offspring, and it is so lovely that these two can be together.

​I loved everything about my visit to Eden’s Way Farm Sanctuary, and I can’t wait to visit again. If you are in the Kamloops area, check their social media for upcoming farm tours, vegan potlucks, & educational events.

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Next Stop: Wilderness Cabin & Rescue Friends

I was invited to meet these special rescue friends at Marjorie’s home. They are all loved and well cared for and each one has their own story. Pictured above: Pèpè (adorable black sheep with white cap and tail), Ned (cuddly white mottled sheep), Niska (sweet Icelandic sheep dog), and Babe (majestic black Percheron horse).

There were many other friends including Filbert and Sugar (two former racehorses). I was super sad to see a series of white dots (scars) running down one of Sugar’s back legs. Apparently, electronic prongs were used to inflict pain in order to off-set a more serious injury so she would still race! ☹ I am so glad these sentient beings now get to live out the rest of their lives surrounded by Marjorie’s love and kindness.

I met Marjorie by booking her Airbnb wilderness cabin, mainly because it was close to the donkey refuge, but also as a challenge to myself (it was off grid!).  Nestled in the forest (say mosquitoes 😊) it was a truly unique rustic but cozy experience complete with solar lighting, gravity fed water, propane cook stove, and an outhouse. No electricity = crazy hair & unplugged no tech days!
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My favourite spot was sitting on the upper deck listening to nature! So many beautiful bird calls and busy squirrels chattering away.
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If you’re interested in a wilderness experience like this, you can find Marjorie’s Airbnb listing titled: Ptarmigan Hills Lookout Cabin, Chase, BC, Canada.

This past week I’ve been visiting, touring, learning, and volunteering at some incredible animal rescues & farm sanctuaries in British Columbia. I’ve met so many amazing sentient beings: both human and non-human. I’ve complemented these visits with peaceful quiet times to continue writing Roxi’s next humane education story.

​First Stop: Turtle Valley Donkey Refuge

This was an experience! I was honoured to visit & witness these smart, gently, loyal beings enjoying life in their forever home at Turtle Valley Donkey Refuge. Founders Shirley & Rob have run the refuge for 24 years and are doing an amazing job caring for 100+ neglected, abused, and unwanted senior donkeys. Donkeys can live up to 50 years and Turtle Valley Donkey Refuge provides a safe, forever home full of love & compassion.
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I spent the day participating in a donkey health care class, learning about proper nutrition & special diets, medicine, shelter, grooming, and hoof care (Kiki was very patient with this!). At one point there was a sudden downpour, and everyone ran into the barn. We are talking 100 donkeys! With so many of them, I can’t remember everyone’s name, but I was happy to meet and share some love with Kiki, Cotton, Murphy, Steve, Rosie & many of their friends including sweet Sara, the canine supervisor.
Thank you, Shirley, Rob and the entire team at Turtle Valley Donkey Refuge for everything you do for these beautiful sentient beings. 

My curiosity and empathy towards the chickens led me to research egg labels, egg-laying chicken conditions, and factory farming in general. Oh dear! Not only was I appalled at the horrendous conditions and animal abuse, I couldn’t believe that the egg industry sent male baby chicks down a conveyor belt to be ground-up alive. In today’s internet world you can see videos of this actually happening.

There are many awesome animal advocacy organizations  promoting shocking (but true!) graphical information and images on social media. I decided to focus on the folks that would scroll by those all-too-painful images. To try and attract the attention of mainstream families, and get them to stop and think about their choices, I started writing my humane education children’s book series as a subtle but powerful age-appropriate way to get the animal compassion message out there.

My first book, “ROXI the Rescue Dog Helps the Chickens”, raises awareness of factory egg-farming. It is a cute, fun story about happy chickens and sad egg-laying chickens, and a superhero rescue dog that flies around the world spreading the message about the sad chicken’s lives.

I have since researched and written the following children’s books in hopes of raising awareness of specific animal welfare issues.

ROXI the Rescue Dog Helps the Elephants – raising awareness of animals used for entertainment, specifically, elephant riding and elephant performing.
ROXI the Rescue Dog Helps the Tigers – raising awareness of animals used for entertainment, specifically, tiger selfies, tiger cub feeding, tiger tricks.
ROXI the Rescue Dog Helps the Bunnies – raising awareness of animals used for testing, specifically, bunnies used for testing cosmetics and household products.

I’ll continue to write as long as I can. There is no end to the animal issues out there, and I hope I am able to help in some small way.  

#rescuechickens #freechickens #earthfriendlyfood #regenerativefarming #sustainableliving #cagefree #kidlit #roxibooks #indieauthor #booksforkids #humaneeducation