It all began with Hilda, our first rescue—and continues with every life that shapes our mission.

As Farm Sanctuary begins to celebrate our 40th anniversary this year, read on for some of the most inspiring rescues in our four decades of hope and healing.

Discarded like trash, Hilda was seen as disposable by the animal agriculture industry, but this brave sheep inspired a movement. As we investigated a stockyard, we walked past a pile of dead animals. Amid the horrors, Hilda raised her head. She lived at Farm Sanctuary for 11 years, changing countless hearts and minds for all farm animals.

When Frank escaped a transport truck and ran through the streets of Queens, NY, he captured hearts and headlines nationwide. Amid public pleas for Frank to be spared, authorities released him into the forever care of Farm Sanctuary, where he lived for nine years. Frank became a beloved ambassador for farm animals everywhere.

Julia was pregnant when she was brutally beaten to force her into a farrowing crate on a factory farm. Thankfully, a concerned worker recorded Julia’s heartbreaking screams of pain, alerting authorities, who turned to us. In the safety of Farm Sanctuary, this courageous mother pig gave birth to 16 piglets who would never know suffering.

Born on a dairy farm, Safran was considered useless because males can’t produce milk. The next day, he would have been brought to a calf ranch to be raised for meat, but our President & Co-founder, Gene Baur, found him, and everything changed. Safran was so loved at Farm Sanctuary that when he passed away, current and former caregivers gathered at his side.

Sandy was named after the sand fire that forced us to evacuate our California shelter—an event that ultimately saved her life. While off-site, we found a backyard flock that had been saved from meat production but desperately needed care. Sandy was once injured and in terrible pain, but love heals all wounds. With regular care, Sandy was thriving.

When Yoda’s guardian listed him as free on Craigslist, a Farm Sanctuary volunteer knew he needed a safe home—and that’s how Yoda became our first (and only) llama resident. Yoda always puzzled and delighted us with his quirky behavior, and melted our hearts when he befriended Felicity, helping an anxious sheep adjust to life after rescue.

Maria was always smiling, despite the horrors she survived. We found her at an animal shelter, after authorities had seized her from an illegal backyard farm where she likely saw her babies being killed. But Maria showed the love and forgiveness we should all aspire to, and her peaceful nature won her a spot in the sheep herd.

The day Opie was born, he was sent to a stockyard in the freezing cold. Still wet from birth, he was left to die of hypothermia, but Gene Baur brought him for emergency care. Veterinarians said Opie had a 5% chance of survival, but he grew to weigh over a ton and lived a long, happy life at Farm Sanctuary.

Monet and Matisse were left in a box outside our New York shelter in the middle of the night, and it soon became clear that the ducks had likely survived being cruelly force-fed on a foie gras factory farm. While their past left them terrified of humans, they found solace in their friendship. Sometimes, sanctuary is someone you love.