Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary

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Poolesville, MD
Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary

Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary is a 400 acre non-profit refuge for farm animals and wildlife located in Poolesville, Maryland. Visit http://animalsanctuary.org/sponsor/index.html for information on sponsoring a rescued farm animal!

10/03/2022

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.❤️🐓

08/22/2022

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 ...

08/13/2022

Rooster Joins Woman on Hike Through Appalachian Trail [Video]

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?

08/10/2022

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!)❤️

08/06/2022

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!🙂

07/31/2022

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!😂❤️🐑

07/22/2022

It’s so cool to see all the wildlife who come every afternoon to share the leftover chicken feed!

07/17/2022

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!❤️🐐

07/14/2022

Beautiful sunset tonight!💕

07/10/2022

Isaac, Oliver and Dani think it’s a good day to just hang out in the mud.🙂❤️🐖

07/09/2022

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!❤️🐄

07/03/2022

Watching the fireworks tonight across the river with the geese. Surprisingly, they weren’t scared, they actually seemed fascinated.

06/26/2022

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!😂

06/22/2022

Monty prefers to hang out at the pond with the geese, rather than the other pigs. ❤️🐖

06/21/2022

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.❤️🐄

06/20/2022

The banana was just a little too heavy for Iggy the baby groundhog! She didn’t let that stop her though!😂

06/20/2022

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!🙂❤️🦝

06/19/2022

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!❤️🦃

06/10/2022

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. 💕🐐

06/05/2022

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.❤️

05/31/2022

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. ❤️🐓

05/30/2022

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!😂

05/29/2022

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. ❤️🐏

05/24/2022

As the winner of the race approached the finish line a spectator commented, "That guy is in a league of his own".