It’s a privilege not only to know these remarkable individuals, but also to share their stories. Each one serves as a reminder of the resilience of farm animals and the profound impact of compassion in action.

Join us as we look back at six of our most uplifting rescue stories from 2025.

The year started off on a joyful note when the bright personality that inspired Happy’s name caused a change of heart that saved her life.

Despite her name, Happy’s early life was defined by trauma and sadness. Raised in the meat industry, she experienced the heartbreaking loss of her piglets to meat production. Yet, even through immense suffering, Happy’s joy shone through and touched the heart of the farm’s owner. Realizing he couldn’t bear to send her to slaughter, he contacted Farm Sanctuary instead. 

We brought Happy to our Watkins Glen sanctuary, where she spent a couple of months receiving care while we found a permanent home for her. Just as she had done with the farm owner, she quickly won over her caretakers at the sanctuary—with her big, floppy ears and even bigger heart.

Through our Farm Animal Adoption Network (FAAN), we shared Happy’s story with our friends at Dominion Farm Animal Sanctuary, who were able to offer her refuge alongside fellow Farm Sanctuary rescue pigs, Minnah and Todd. Since then, Happy has been living her best life and fully living up to her name!

Originally rescued in November 2024, Olive cow’s transformation over the last year has been nothing short of inspiring.

After likely enduring multiple heartbreaking losses on a dairy farm, Olive escaped to the woods. As a fearful Olive slowly came close enough for us to rescue her, our team brought her to Farm Sanctuary, but the real work had only just begun. Traumatized by her past, Olive would back away from people and hide in the corner of the barn, trembling with fear.

With patience and care—especially from sanctuary team member Sarah Rappleye, known as the “Cow Whisperer”—Olive began to open up. She stopped hiding, started taking food from her caregivers’ hands, and even welcomed gentle pets.

Today, Olive feels truly at home with her human caregivers and cow companions at Farm Sanctuary. She even does a little “dance” each morning when greeted. Her triumphant story inspired a video by The Dodo, which has been viewed nearly 1 million times!

Sammy’s story is one of survival against all odds. It began on a sheep dairy farm, where Sammy’s pregnant mother had fallen gravely ill. The farm’s veterinarian performed what’s called a euthanasia C-section, hoping to save Sammy and their siblings. 

Sadly, of the three lambs delivered that day, only one survived—Sammy. A friend of the dairy farmer stepped in to raise the tiny orphan, bottle-feeding them around the clock and quickly falling in love with the sweet, resilient lamb.

As Sammy grew, they began displaying behaviors that the farmer mistook for aggression. That would be a death sentence for most sheep living on farms, but Sammy’s caregiver couldn’t bear that fate and surrendered them to Farm Sanctuary.

In April, our team drove from Los Angeles to Yosemite to bring Sammy to safety. We quickly discovered that Sammy is a freemartin sheep—meaning they cannot reproduce. This explained their behavior on the farm—what some saw as “aggression” was actually fear and confusion. Sammy has flourished at the sanctuary and is known for their trusting and affectionate nature, leaning in for hugs and scratches from anyone lucky enough to meet this special sheep.

Sammy sheep enjoys scratches from caregiver Sabrina

In May, guests of an Airbnb left Los Angeles without their rooster—and without explanation. Community members soon began spotting the bright-feathered Wooster wandering the Pico-Robertson neighborhood. Concerned for his safety out on the streets, they rallied to help—alerting Farm Sanctuary and stepping in to feed and protect Wooster until our team could arrive.

Birds often need time with a new person before offering their trust, but when caregiver Taylor Flannagan arrived, Wooster seemed to sense that help had come. Taylor greeted him with patience and care and brought him home to the sanctuary. 

Wooster may have once been abandoned, but caring individuals have been looking out for him ever since—from the heroes of Pico-Robertson to our sanctuary team. Wooster is now safe and happy, enjoying life with a flock of hens who have become his chosen family.

Oscar came to Farm Sanctuary in September, after spending his first four years of life being shuffled around, from a 4-H program to a veterinary college. When he grew too large to handle, the college staff reached out to us, hoping to save Oscar from slaughter.

Oscar settled in surprisingly quickly at our California sanctuary. Like all new residents, he was supposed to spend a couple of weeks in quarantine before joining the herd—but Oscar had other plans. On his first day, he broke out of his isolation area and trotted right over to meet his new bovine buddies!

Fortunately, Oscar had arrived with a clean bill of health from the veterinary college, so his escapade didn’t put anyone at risk. In fact, this outgoing steer was simply eager to make new friends—and he did so immediately, integrating seamlessly into the herd.

Back in October 2023, nine severely malnourished cows were rescued from a Pennsylvania dairy farm. The Montgomery County SPCA (MCSPCA) described the situation as one of the worst cruelty and neglect cases they had ever seen.

While legal proceedings unfolded, the MCSPCA was awarded custody, and the cows received care in foster homes. The case has since closed, resulting in aggravated animal cruelty charges against the farm’s owners—and happy new homes for the cows. Seven were transported to Longleaf Animal Sanctuary in Alabama, and two found refuge at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary in Maryland—thanks to a collaboration between the MCSPCA, Farm Sanctuary, and partners in our Farm Animal Adoption Network (FAAN).

Not only are all nine cows safe at sanctuary, their rescue marks a rare victory in livestock cruelty cases, showing what’s possible when people who care work together to give farm animals the lives they deserve.