Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary is a 400 acre non-profit refuge for farm animals and wildlife located
Bonnie and Betty the piglets had their first introduction into the big pig yard yesterday, and it went very well! They were very excited to meet some of the big pigs and to get to run around exploring the four acre pasture. After an hour they were back in their own area and took a long nap. We will gradually introduce them to the group by leaving them in for longer periods of time, so soon they will live with the 41 other rescued pigs full time. 🙂🐖❤️
Maggie and her babies went on their first outdoor outing today! They are now six days old, and we’ve named them Wendy, Sunny and Ollie. They are all very active and healthy and doing great!❤️🐐
This sweet little hen is our newest resident- meet Claire, who was found abandoned in a rural area in Shenandoah county Virginia. She is very thin and has a gimpy leg (she was probably born this way and maybe why she was thrown out and abandoned) but she gets around fairly well and seems to love people, despite what she has been through. A big thanks to Jen, who found her near her property, and drove her over two hours to bring her to Poplar. Claire will now have a wonderful life with lots of rescued chicken friends, where she will always be loved and cared for. ❤️🐓
https://www.lulu.com/shop/deb-durant/poplar-spring-animal-sanctuary-2023/paperback/product-q968d9.html?page=1&pageSize=4
Poplar Spring’s 2023 Calendars are now in and on sale today only- use code JOYFUL30 to get 30% off! These beautiful full color calendars feature a different rescued animal on each month- thanks to Poplar volunteer Deb Durant for photographing and creating these gorgeous calendars every year! These make great gifts for friends and family, and all proceeds benefit the rescued animals!
We have babies!!!! Mama goat Maggie is one of 5 survivors of a terrible cruelty case that we took in a couple months ago. We are unable to talk much about this ongoing case because it is still being investigated, but we now believe that at least 3 of the goats (all female) are pregnant! Maggie just gave birth this afternoon to three healthy triplets and she is being an excellent mother and doing a great job caring for these beautiful babies. Welcome to the world little ones, we love you so much already.💕🐐
Happy Thanksgiving!! After chores today we gathered with our small group of staff and volunteers and celebrated Thanksgiving with a lovely vegan feast catered by We of course let the rescued turkeys eat first although they were more interested in strutting and chasing each other, lol! The chickens took full advantage and enjoyed the chopped grapes, bread crumbs, corn, tofu and sunflowers seeds. We also used this occasion to honor our awesome caretaker and friend Carole Sutton, on her 15 year anniversary with Poplar! Thank you, Carole, for your hard work and dedication to all the animals for so many years, we love you!!💕💕The goats were unhappy that we fenced them out from the food, but Ed made sure to share some mashed potatoes with Dudley!😂 Next year we hope to have our annual Thanksgiving WITH the Turkeys once again! We hope everyone had a peaceful and compassionate holiday!🦃🍁❤️
Thank you so much to Second Story Books & Antiques - Rockville for selling their calendars and donating the proceeds to the animals!❤️🐴🐄🐏🦃🐐🐓🐖
This holiday season Second Story Books is donating to Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary! These quirky 2023 calendars, made by an appraisal client, are being sold for $10 net - 100% of the proceeds will be donated!
The piggies very much enjoyed their pumpkins donated by too!🎃🙂🐖❤️
Happy Halloween! 🎃👻And a huge thanks to for donating over 300 beautiful pumpkins for the rescued animals! The goats were so excited they couldn’t wait for us to unload them!😃🎃🐐
The little piglets who were left at our front gate, and who we have named Bonnie and Betty, were finally healthy enough to come outside and play today! After a few weeks of treatments for respiratory infections and parasites, they are now feeling much better, and really enjoyed munching on grass and zooming around in the pasture on this beautiful sunny Fall day. ❤️🐖
Yesterday was a little crazy! It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, and we had a great tour of the sanctuary with over 30 people attending. At the end of the tour as the visitors were leaving, we found a large open crate with broken pumpkins inside and outside of the crate, just inside our entrance gate close to the road. We initially thought it was odd that someone had donated pumpkins in a crate and maybe the deer had found them? And maybe they were just donating the crate too? But then 30 minutes later volunteer Maureen McGowan spotted two little piglets running through the fields into the woods! With some strategizing and a great team effort sanctuary staff Brian, Abbie, Maureen and Dave were able to corner them in the woods with some fencing panels and get them safely into a crate. The little pigs were exhausted and cold and they immediately crashed in their stall with a warm heat lamp. A few hours later they were back up and happily noshing on pig pellets and milk replacer. We have no idea who dumped these poor animals and left them in such an unsafe situation near a road with cars whizzing by. They have many notches cut out of their ears so they are piglets born on a production farm somewhere. We took down our sanctuary sign at the entrance years ago because people were dumping puppies and kittens at the gate - but this is a first for piglets! It’s a miracle Maureen even saw them before they disappeared into the woods - the coyotes were howling last night from that same area where we captured them so they are so lucky to be safe and warm in their barn now. Nobody called us asking if we could take these piglets. Why they decided to simply abandon them without contacting us is definitely a mystery. But they are safe and happy now and they will have a wonderful life here- these are truly some very lucky piglets!
Yesterday we received a call that a rooster was abandoned at a Welcome Center on I-95 in MD. Staff were notified by a motorist that there was a bird in distress in the parking lot. When David, a kind man who works at the map section of the Center went out to investigate, he found this poor chicken out in the pouring rain, completely drenched and turning in circles with her head hanging all the way to the ground. She was very obviously sick with what may just be a vitamin deficiency but instead of taking her to a vet, some horrible person purposely chose to dump her in the tractor trailer area on a congested off ramp of a major highway. Where she surely would have been run over and had no hope of surviving. Thankfully David worked hard trying to find a place for her and after many calls he reached out to Poplar Spring. We really dont take roosters but we couldn’t leave this poor bird in a box at the Welcome Center, and there was nobody else who was able to help. When we arrived we were happy to see she was NOT a rooster and was thankfully a Polish crested hen! Stella is now safe and warm and eating and drinking well. We are treating her with Vitamin E and Selenium which will hopefully help her to make a full recovery. She will have a wonderful home here with lots of chicken friends. A big thanks to David, who didn’t know and who was a little fearful of chickens, but still went above and beyond to find help for this sweet girl.❤️🐓
Spencer and Griffin the alpacas are usually the best of friends. They don’t fight very often but when they do they sound like aliens.😂Thankfully they always get over it pretty quickly. 🥰
Five years ago our wonderful rooster Mason was rescued on the Appalachian trail- he still lives here happily today with his many girlfriend hens. ❤️Thanks to One Green Planet and the Dodo for sharing his story!
https://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/rooster-joins-woman-on-hike-through-appalachian-trail-video/
While hiking in the forest, there are quite a few animals you might expect to see - squirrels, deer, bears, birds, and so on. Well, what about a rooster?
Franklin the goose found a soft cushy spot to hang out, but I’m not sure how Lester feels about it!😂(Thanks to .and.blossom for this cute video!)❤️
We were so honored and excited to meet governor Larry Hogan when he visited Poplar Spring yesterday- and he presented us with a beautiful Governor’s Citation!🙂
Welcome home to our sweet sheep Lester, who has spent the last week in the hospital due to a bone infection in his leg. Lester came to us as a little lamb 3 years ago from a sheep farm that did not treat his leg when it was injured, and the bottom of his leg literally fell off! Amazingly it healed beautifully and he has been successfully wearing a prosthetic leg ever since, which we only take off at night. Last week we noticed that his leg was swollen and painful, and the wonderful vets at New Bolton took X-rays and discovered he had an infection that communicated with his bone at the tip of his stump. After several days of treatment at the vets we are now continuing his care at home with antibiotics and bandaging until it is completely healed. In the meantime he is learning to use Phoebe’s old cart to keep pressure off of the leg as it is mending. He is doing pretty well in it, he just needs to learn to navigate the wheels around obstacles a little better!😂❤️🐑
It’s so cool to see all the wildlife who come every afternoon to share the leftover chicken feed!
On Friday we welcomed this sweet baby La Mancha cross goat, who we received from our wonderful vets at New Bolton. He had been brought to the hospital 3 weeks earlier because he was blocked, and needed surgery for bladder stones. The owners sadly were surrendering him because they couldn’t pay the bill, so the vets contacted us and we happily agreed to give him a wonderful home. We have named him Finn, and he is just adorable and the friendliest little guy. Once he has healed from his neuter surgery and is safe to put with the female goats, he will be able to go out with everyone and run and play and graze in the fields with lots of rescued friends. We love him so much already!💕Thanks to Maureen McGowan for these cute photos!❤️🐐
Beautiful sunset tonight!💕
Isaac, Oliver and Dani think it’s a good day to just hang out in the mud.🙂❤️🐖
Today’s tour had to be cancelled due to rain, but Clifford made good use of the umbrella at the registration area anyway! He is a very smart cow!❤️🐄
Watching the fireworks tonight across the river with the geese. Surprisingly, they weren’t scared, they actually seemed fascinated.
Moses is the sweetest cow! Rescued from a farm in PA where he was left to die out in a field because his mother had hid him from the veal truck, Moses has been at Poplar ever since he was a baby calf. He now weighs over 2,000 pounds but still acts like a big puppy! When we were picking up cow pies in his pasture he decided he really wanted to get in the truck and see if there were any treats in there!😂
Monty prefers to hang out at the pond with the geese, rather than the other pigs. ❤️🐖
Love watching our seventeen rescued cows strolling through the woods - they have many “cow paths” that they like to travel on to get from one field to another, pausing to munch on some tasty leaves on the way. It’s a wonderful life that we wish all cows could live.❤️🐄
The banana was just a little too heavy for Iggy the baby groundhog! She didn’t let that stop her though!😂
Momma raccoon comes early every morning for breakfast on the porch before she goes to bed for the day. She loves the walnuts we put out for the squirrels. Today for the first time she brought all her babies to join her, and is teaching them to eat walnuts too!🙂❤️🦝
This sweet little baby turkey was found all alone on a farm in Jefferson MD on Friday. She appeared out of the woods and started following the couple who live on the farm, and even let them pet her. They were rightfully very concerned for her welfare, since a young bird all alone in the wild with no adult to protect them would have a slim chance for survival. Thankfully they called Poplar Spring and we happily agreed to take her. We are assuming she is a domestic turkey or a wild one that someone hand raised, since she appears to be imprinted on people. She is very friendly, we love her already! Sound up to hear her sweet little peeps!❤️🦃
Welcome home to our sweet little triplet Charlie, who has been in the hospital for the last week! After a routine neuter surgery Charlie became very lethargic, stopped eating and spiked a high fever. His bloodwork and ultrasounds revealed he had problems with his kidneys, so he was put on IV fluids and tubed with rumen contents from a cow to jump start his digestion. Today he was finally well enough to come home, and we were all so relieved and happy to see him, especially his sister Gidget who was literally jumping for joy at his return. His mother Evangeline, who had cried constantly and searched for him for days after he left for the hospital, was initially unsure what to think when she saw her baby again. After a short time though, she called him over to nurse, and all was right with the world again.(Buster, the third triplet, was off grazing, but got together later to play with his brother.) They are a wonderful happy goat family, and hopefully they will never have to be separated again. 💕🐐
Our newest goose Cornelius is making himself right at home! He loves caretaker and follows him everywhere. Cornelius was found in a warehouse area in PA, abandoned with a bag of feed next to him.😢Thanks to for contacting us about this sweet goose and to for transporting him all the way to Poplar! He is fitting in well with the other domestic geese and sleeping in the big pond at night. He will have a great home here where he is always safe and loved.❤️
Marna (back) and Meadow (front) are two beautiful young hens who were recently found abandoned in a residential neighborhood in Laurel MD. They were rescued and brought to Poplar Spring by a kind woman who originally thought they were quail, as they have such interesting patterns on their feathers. They are still very young and peeping, and are very bonded to each other. They now spend their days happily scratching and pecking in the fields and woods, and sleep snuggled together safely in the barn at night. We are so happy to give them a wonderful place to live where they will always be loved and cared for. ❤️🐓
Apparently I wasn’t being fast enough with the treats! Walked into the feed room at the goat barn to find our resident groundhog had somehow let herself in, climbed onto the cabinet, and was helping herself to bread and animal crackers!😂
It was hard to get a photo of our newest lamb, Leonora, without her BFF Aurora in the frame! Leonora is a sweet 4 month old spotted Katahdin sheep who was rescued from a teaching program where she was destined to be sold for slaughter at the end of the school year. Thankfully she was saved from that fate by a kind student, and will now be able to live a wonderful life with her best friend Aurora ( who is the same age) by her side. They bonded immediately when they met a few weeks ago, and now spend their days running and playing in the tall grass, and sleeping side by side in the soft straw in the barn. It is so wonderful to see these two youngsters- who were both bred at their respective farms to be killed at only a few months, now living a safe and happy life, where they can always be together. ❤️🐏
As the winner of the race approached the finish line a spectator commented, "That guy is in a league of his own".
Photos from Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary's post
Photos from Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary's post
Photos from Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary's post
Photos from Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary's post
15200 Mt. Nebo Road
Poolesville, MD
20837
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Spencer and Griffin the alpacas are usually the best of friends. They don’t fight very often but when they do they sound like aliens.😂Thankfully they always get over it pretty quickly. 🥰
Franklin the goose found a soft cushy spot to hang out, but I’m not sure how Lester feels about it!😂(Thanks to @minnow.and.blossom for this cute video!)❤️
Welcome home to our sweet sheep Lester, who has spent the last week in the hospital due to a bone infection in his leg. Lester came to us as a little lamb 3 years ago from a sheep farm that did not treat his leg when it was injured, and the bottom of his leg literally fell off! Amazingly it healed beautifully and he has been successfully wearing a prosthetic leg ever since, which we only take off at night. Last week we noticed that his leg was swollen and painful, and the wonderful vets at New Bolton took X-rays and discovered he had an infection that communicated with his bone at the tip of his stump. After several days of treatment at the vets we are now continuing his care at home with antibiotics and bandaging until it is completely healed. In the meantime he is learning to use Phoebe’s old cart to keep pressure off of the leg as it is mending. He is doing pretty well in it, he just needs to learn to navigate the wheels around obstacles a little better!😂❤️🐑
It’s so cool to see all the wildlife who come every afternoon to share the leftover chicken feed!
Moses is the sweetest cow! Rescued from a farm in PA where he was left to die out in a field because his mother had hid him from the veal truck, Moses has been at Poplar ever since he was a baby calf. He now weighs over 2,000 pounds but still acts like a big puppy! When we were picking up cow pies in his pasture he decided he really wanted to get in the truck and see if there were any treats in there!😂
Monty prefers to hang out at the pond with the geese, rather than the other pigs. ❤️🐖
Love watching our seventeen rescued cows strolling through the woods - they have many “cow paths” that they like to travel on to get from one field to another, pausing to munch on some tasty leaves on the way. It’s a wonderful life that we wish all cows could live.❤️🐄
The banana was just a little too heavy for Iggy the baby groundhog! She didn’t let that stop her though!😂
Momma raccoon comes early every morning for breakfast on the porch before she goes to bed for the day. She loves the walnuts we put out for the squirrels. Today for the first time she brought all her babies to join her, and is teaching them to eat walnuts too!🙂❤️🦝
This sweet little baby turkey was found all alone on a farm in Jefferson MD on Friday. She appeared out of the woods and started following the couple who live on the farm, and even let them pet her. They were rightfully very concerned for her welfare, since a young bird all alone in the wild with no adult to protect them would have a slim chance for survival. Thankfully they called Poplar Spring and we happily agreed to take her. We are assuming she is a domestic turkey or a wild one that someone hand raised, since she appears to be imprinted on people. She is very friendly, we love her already! Sound up to hear her sweet little peeps!❤️🦃
Welcome home to our sweet little triplet Charlie, who has been in the hospital for the last week! After a routine neuter surgery Charlie became very lethargic, stopped eating and spiked a high fever. His bloodwork and ultrasounds revealed he had problems with his kidneys, so he was put on IV fluids and tubed with rumen contents from a cow to jump start his digestion. Today he was finally well enough to come home, and we were all so relieved and happy to see him, especially his sister Gidget who was literally jumping for joy at his return. His mother Evangeline, who had cried constantly and searched for him for days after he left for the hospital, was initially unsure what to think when she saw her baby again. After a short time though, she called him over to nurse, and all was right with the world again.(Buster, the third triplet, was off grazing, but got together later to play with his brother.) They are a wonderful happy goat family, and hopefully they will never have to be separated again. 💕🐐
Marna (back) and Meadow (front) are two beautiful young hens who were recently found abandoned in a residential neighborhood in Laurel MD. They were rescued and brought to Poplar Spring by a kind woman who originally thought they were quail, as they have such interesting patterns on their feathers. They are still very young and peeping, and are very bonded to each other. They now spend their days happily scratching and pecking in the fields and woods, and sleep snuggled together safely in the barn at night. We are so happy to give them a wonderful place to live where they will always be loved and cared for. ❤️🐓
Apparently I wasn’t being fast enough with the treats! Walked into the feed room at the goat barn to find our resident groundhog had somehow let herself in, climbed onto the cabinet, and was helping herself to bread and animal crackers!😂
Chompers the groundhog loves bananas.❤️
Buster the baby goat was hanging out in the woods with the chickens on this beautiful Spring day. It’s the perfect weather for scratching and pecking (and nibbling on leaves if you are a goat!).The chickens love free ranging, but they are never out without a human “chicken-sitter” watching over them to protect them from the numerous predators (hawks, eagles, foxes, coyotes) that we have here. We are always looking for more volunteer chicken-sitters so the birds can have more time to enjoy their beautiful fields and forest- just send an email to [email protected] if you are interested in hanging out with some really cool animals!🙂❤️🐓
Happy goats getting some grazing time after the rain finally stopped!🙂❤️🐐
You never know who will show up for our Monday morning staff meetings!😂❤️
It was really warm today, and Randall was hogging the fan, his snood just blowing in the wind!😂🦃❤️
Dexter is happy that Spring is finally here! 📷: @showflightfilms
Little baby Aurora is part of the sheep herd now.💕Everyone was grazing peacefully together on a beautiful sunny day.❤️🐑
Our elderly rooster Miguel has a new wheelchair!! A huge thanks to @minnow.and.blossom for loaning this awesome chair to Miguel, who has been recently unable to stand and walk on his own due to arthritis. Now he can happily hang out with his new friends Maya (who he doesn’t mind sharing with!) and Willow the Turkey. Thank you, Abbie, for improving Miguel’s life so much with this great wheelchair!💕🦽🐓
Breakfast time for Evangeline and her babies💕
Grayson and his cow friends have a nice big barn to go into, but even on a crazy windy and snowy day like today they sometimes prefer to hang out under the cedar trees instead. The extra fuzzy coats they grow every Winter keep them nice and warm, even on this very cold day! ❤️❄️🐄
A sure sign that Spring is coming- the friendly groundhogs are emerging from their holes after their Winter hibernation. Chompers (so named because of the way she lunges at our treats) was the first to emerge from under the goat barn this weekend. We are so happy to see nicer weather AND our wild friends again!🌱🌻☀️
Mama goats make the best playground for baby goats! Evangeline is the most patient mom. 💕🐐
Dexter and Bella getting called in to their barn for dinner.❤️ Hard to imagine that Dexter ( the Thoroughbred taking the lead) just appeared in our pasture one morning 10 years ago- he was a terrified yearling who had a broken back and a punctured eye with lots of sores and missing hair all over his body. We have never solved the mystery of where he came from, but he healed beautifully and has lived happily at the sanctuary ever since. 💕
Elliot likes to play with his food!😂
Izaak Walton League of America Bethesda-Chevy
Izaak Walton Way
Izaak Walton League of America Bethesda-Chevy
Izaak Walton Way