Here's Day 2 journal...

Day 2:

Arrived at 7 again today. Still carpooled, still woke up very early. We went straight to mucking staples this morning. Around 10 am a tour group of home schooled families (so children of various ages and their parents) arrived for a tour of the farm. What I learned from the tour (which Katherine and I were instructed to tag along on):

The farm has 2 areas, an 'upper' level made up of 2 horse barns, 1pig/goat barn, 1 poultry barn, and 5 paddocks. The rest, and majority, of the ranch consists of multiple outdoor pastures with shelters and other paddocks varying in size as well as 2 more horse barns. This 'lower' area is the quarantine area: the space delegated for recent intake animals. Usually volunteers are restricted from this area however Linda decided tagging along with this tour group would be a good way for Katherine and I to see this area and learn some more about the whole operation.

The animals on the farm are rescued from various horrible places. Many of the animals are classified as "seizures": animals taken from an abusive of neglectful home and others are "surrenders": animals surrendered to Long Meadow by the owner due to an inability to take care of the in some capacity.

In the case of seizures, Long Meadow staff and law enforcement come in to seize the animal and then the owner faces subsequent charges. However, before the seizure takes place, the Humane Society works with the owners to try and facilitate proper care of the animals, teaching the owner about animal care and what is needed. I found this to be a very good method, leaving seizure as the last resort and worst case scenario. After a seizure, the animal is taken to the quarantine barn, animals are brought back to weight, cured of all ailments, dewormed, and gelded (if a stallion). They then begin the slow process of recovery, training, and human exposure to become adoptable.

Sometimes frustrated owners come with trailers to the stables to retrieve their animals again. They may threaten violence and compromise the safety of the animal or staff. This is rare, and we have not seen this happen in our time there.

On a very separate note...I learned today that we have an alpaca and 2 massive cows saved from the slaughterhouse.

The tour helped us understand much more about Long Meadow. The end.

ps. Sorry this is kind of bland. This feels like homework, and, maybe it is just me, but I thought school was over...