Rescue & Adoptions

Goodwin, a 25-pound pygmy goat, may have been a little boy lost in a big city, but his was definitely not a face that got overlooked in the crowd. Discovered wandering the streets of the Bronx, the approximately four-month-old runaway was swiftly scooped up by authorities and escorted to the Animal Care & Control of New York City. A few days later, Goodwin would reach his new country home upstate: Farm Sanctuary.

One of more than 200 farm animals we have rescued from New York City over the past year, Goodwin was found just a few blocks from where Lucky Lady-one of our most famous New York Shelter residents-was on the lam last June. Both animals most likely escaped from one of the many live animal markets and slaughterhouses located throughout the city-a growing number of which "process" kids (baby goats) and lambs.

Often acquired by dealers or facility operators who buy from livestock auctions outside of the city, the young animals found at these live markets and slaughterhouses are typically hand selected by and custom slaughtered on site-some while fully conscious-under the direction of consumers. Animals may be held in pens for days, or longer, often enduring unsanitary, stressful and squalid conditions. Here, the terrified animals huddle together for security during their last hours of life.

By escaping from one of these metropolitan monstrosities, Goodwin avoided the fate awaiting countless defenseless young animals just like him-his escape shedding light on the horrors they face every day-but he was not unscathed by the ordeal. Like nearly all of the animals we have taken in from the city, Goodwin was very sickly.