Good Sprout Rescue and Sanctuary

09/06/2026

On Thursday while doing the morning rounds I spotted a lone pigeon walking in the cows’ pasture, dragging their right wing on the ground. They seemed disoriented and didn’t try to run when I approached them, so it was abundantly clear that they needed help. After scooping them up, upon examining them we unfortunately discovered that their wing wasn’t their only issue – they were also extremely emaciated and weak. Thankfully our veterinarian was able to see them right away, and confirmed that our new friend was suffering from a wing fracture. Thankfully though, besides their low body score, nothing else seemed to be amiss with their physical exam. A broken wing is undoubtedly very painful, and most likely rendered them unable to keep up with their flock and find enough food. The veterinarian splinted their wing and instructed us to tube feed our new friend to help them gain their strength back.

Pigeons are in a unique class, and therefore are not accepted as patients at many wildlife rehabilitation centers. Though they are abundant in the wild, pigeons are actually domesticated animals (which is why they prefer to live near humans) and are not typically considered wildlife… but when they are, they are most often classified as invasive. While we are of course hopeful that our new pigeon friend will be able to make a full recovery and regain their ability to fly, based on where their fracture is, the chances of that aren’t great. If they can fly again, they will most likely be a clumsy, awkward flyer, and so releasing them back out into the wild would be a death sentence for them. Unfortunately, the few wildlife rehabilitation centers we spoke to all gave us the same answer – if this pigeon could not be safely released back into the wild, they would be euthanized.

As domestic animals, however, pigeons can live happy, healthy, fulfilled lives with human caretakers. It did not seem fair to pass this pigeon off to a situation in which they would most likely end up being euthanized, and so (even though we certainly weren’t planning on it 😅) we have welcomed our new friend as our newest sanctuary resident. Meet Qingxuan!

Qingxuan has a long road to recovery, but they have already gained a few grams since arriving here and, now that their pain is being properly managed with medication, are showing us their bright, busy personality. We are in love with them already and have been busying ourselves with learning everything there is to know about pigeon caretaking!

As an aside, I know that things have been quiet on our end as of late, and for that I deeply apologize. To be perfectly honest, the one year anniversary of the cockfighting case unearthed a tidal wave of emotions, and I have been struggling a bit with symptoms of PTSD as I work through them. I greatly appreciate everyone’s patience this summer as I took some time for myself to put on my own oxygen mask so to speak ❤ This work is very challenging, but we are very grateful to be here doing it and helping people like Qingxuan!

08/09/2026

One of the most exciting things we get to do is match rescued animals with their perfect forever families. Over the years we have had the pleasure of meeting hundreds of wonderful humans as they welcomed new furry or feathered friends into their lives, and watched as animals who were once discarded or neglected learned what it was like to experience true love and care 🥹 Facilitating these happy endings is by far the most rewarding aspect of the work that we do, and we are working to compile these stories to share them on our website! If you have adopted an animal from us and would like to have your story featured on our website, please email us at [email protected]! We would love to hear from you and celebrate your adoption success!

In the photo is Theo (left, standing up tall to show off his party hat!) along with his friend Baylee. Theo was adopted in July of 2021, and his mom sent us the most beautiful update a few weeks ago where she shared that Theo loves his greens, raspberries, and receiving kisses ❤

06/26/2026

These photos may not seem like much, but they show one of the most surreal, intense, and triumphant moments of the entire case.

Two weeks after we began working at the property, we arrived in the morning to find that many of the birds were missing. They were not taken by a predator; all evidence pointed to human interference. I cannot even begin to describe to you the devastation that we felt in that moment, when the realization hit us that these birds who we had come to know and love and had so much hope for, were once again back in the hands of people who meant to do them harm. Our rescue is small – we do not have a large facility here that can accommodate hundreds of birds, which is why the decision was made to keep them on the property while we worked to secure them safe placement vs. moving them to our sanctuary. Larger organizations with the facilities and resources to take on a large case like this were contacted by law enforcement, and unfortunately all of them declined to help for one reason or another. There was no one else coming to help these animals, and so we did the best we could in the face of that reality. We purchased locks, built doors, and moved as many of the animals as possible into buildings on the property that we could secure with lock and key.

For a few weeks, that worked. Until one day in August when we pulled up to the property and once again found that many of our birds had been stolen by humans.

I screamed. I cried. The veterinarian had just been out to the property a few days before, and he had drawn blood from and disease tested a few of the birds who were now missing. They had homes waiting for them, and were just waiting on their USDA paperwork to clear before they could be transported away from this hell forever. It just wasn’t fair. We had been working so hard for them, and between one heartbeat and the next it was like all of our hopes and dreams for them had been crushed… and if that was how we were feeling, we couldn’t even begin to imagine how the birds were feeling, wherever they were. If they were even alive. I remember sitting in my car, gripping the steering wheel, and smothering that thought the second it popped into my head. It was simply too much to bear. They were alive. They had to be. And we were going to stop at nothing to get them back.

Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long. Only two days later, I received a call from the detective, asking if I could meet him at an apartment complex not far from the property. I immediately jumped in the car and headed over, and there they were. Tethered to a chain link fence in the parking lot.

The police were interviewing someone at the complex as I walked along the fenceline, looking to make sure that all of the birds were here. I counted all of them – not just the ones who had been stolen most recently, but the others as well, who had been stolen almost a month before. All but one.

And there, at the end of the fence, I saw him. He was strung up by his legs, dangling upside down on the fence. All of the joy and relief I was feeling at seeing our birds again instantly twisted into horror and grief. We were too late. Dustin was gone.

I approached him, and was stunned to see him open his eyes. I remember screaming at the top of my lungs for help and an officer rushed over to cut him down. Dustin was limp in my arms, but he was breathing, and I took him to my car and collapsed down onto the seat with him. The detective came over and cut away the rope around his foot completely, and Dustin beak smacked his appreciation. I asked how long he had been like that, and the detective said that he didn’t know, but he had been that way when they arrived earlier that morning. They, too, thought that he was deceased. Dustin had already been fought at least once before, which was clear from the scar he had in one of his eyes. We think that is why he was stolen – he had already proven himself in the ring, and therefore was valuable to the cockfighters. We aren’t sure why they had strung him upside down, or what would have happened to him had the police arrived even just a few minutes later. I don’t want to know.

As I held Dustin in my arms, one by one our birds were cut from their tethers and loaded into crates. Despite the fact that all of our foster homes were full to the point of bursting, we all agreed that moving these birds back to the property was not safe for them. After the last bird had been recovered, we drove them to a safe location where they stayed until they ultimately traveled to their forever homes.

There are a lot of things that happened during the 244 days it took to work this case that will stay with me forever, but pulling up to that apartment complex and seeing the faces of the birds who I was so sure had been lost to us forever was by far the most impactful and profound moment of my life. I remember the birds greeting me as I approached them, straining on their tethers to get closer. They remembered us, and knew that we were here to help them. Knew that we wouldn’t hurt them. It was a stark contrast to how they thrashed and struggled to get away from their captors, who were tasked with removing them from their tethers before returning them to our custody.

I spent the majority of the case lost in the haze that was “the big picture”. When hundreds of animals are clamoring at you, begging to have their most basic needs met, it is difficult to spend more than a few moments with them at a time. Life for those 244 days was just putting one foot in front of the other, going from step A to B and back to A again. I think that was some sort of subconscious defense mechanism my brain was using in a desperate attempt to shield me from the terrible reality that was all around us, day in and day out. “Don’t think about it too hard”. “Just keep going”.

But seeing those birds’ faces light up when they saw us, when they realized that we were there to help them, cleared the haze I had grown so comfortable in and reminded me of what was truly at stake. Each and every one of these birds was an individual, with a story all their own. A story that is so much more than how many fights they can win, how much money they can make their abusers, how many babies they can produce to continue the torturous cycle. A story that didn’t deserve to end here. Watching Dustin beak smack, his eyes closed in contentment as he laid against my chest, was why we were here. This was it, nestled in my arms. The big picture.

If you haven’t already, please consider donating towards our campaign celebrating the one year anniversary of this rescue. We are so very close to our goal, and it would mean so much to us if we could reach it so that we can continue to give our survivors from this case the very best lives possible! You can find a link here: https://www.facebook.com/donate/27589310297367554/10164085305559818/

06/23/2026

Today marks the one year anniversary of the first day of a journey that would save hundreds of lives 🩷

We are SO CLOSE to our goal of raising $2444 in honor of the 244 days it took to empty out the cockfighting property and get all of the birds into their forever homes! It would mean so much to us if we could reach that goal today 🥹 These animals are only alive today thanks to the love and dedication of so many people — donors, adopters, fosters, veterinarians, transporters, volunteers, networkers. Thank you for coming together for the animals and changing their lives for the better!

https://www.facebook.com/571939817/posts/10164085305559818/?mibextid=wwXIfr

06/22/2026

When we first saw baby Creamsicle, he was running around loose at the cockfighting property, picking up crumbs that had fallen out of other birds’ bowls. He was just a baby then, and a fast baby at that! It took us nearly a week to catch him, and once we did we immediately got him into a foster home with our friends at Little Creek Farm Sanctuary. Little Creek took spectacular care of him, and there he grew from a scared and scraggly chick into a strikingly handsome young man 🥹

One by one, every bird from the cockfighting ring found their forever home. Until February, when only Creamsicle remained. Our friends at Farm Sanctuary were instrumental in helping to transport so many of our survivors to their forever homes on the west coast, and so we were beyond ecstatic when they offered to give Creamsicle a forever home as well! I had the immense pleasure of delivering Creamsicle to their New York sanctuary myself, where he now has a flock of ladies all his own to love, care for, and attend to the way that every rooster dreams of!

Tomorrow is June 23rd, which marks the one year anniversary of the first day we stepped foot on the cockfighting property and this journey began. To commemorate the occasion, we are trying to raise $2444, to symbolize the 244 days it took for us to successfully rescue and place the hundreds of survivors from this case. We are SO CLOSE to our goal, and a very generous donor has offered to match up to $500 in donations to help us get there! So far we have raised $320 towards our match, which leaves us with only $180 to go! Can we get there today, in honor of little Creamsicle? Your support is what makes it possible for us to do this work and help animals like Creamsicle. Thank you for being here and helping us help them!

Link to donate via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donate/27589310297367554/10164085305559818/

A rooster named Creamsicle has been showing off his feathers and dancing after being rescued from a Pennsylvania cockfighting ring by a sanctuary

06/19/2026

This beautiful girl was Emeline. At the cockfighting property, Emeline was living in an enclosure tucked away behind several others. She was living with one other hen, her twin sister Amelia. Where Amelia was bright and spunky, however, Emeline was pale and gaunt. Her face was hollow and her eyes were glassy. When we picked her up, it astonished us that she was even alive – we had never seen a chicken so terrifyingly thin before. We rushed her to the veterinarian, where she weighed in at merely 0.57 pounds. The doctor was just as amazed as we were that she was even alive, much less standing and alert. She spent several days in the hospital where she received treatment for both her internal and external parasitic infestations, and began a refeeding program. We thought that most likely Emeline’s emaciation was due to her simply not being fed, or at least not being fed anything nutritionally appropriate. The suspect told us himself that he was feeding the birds a combination of dog food, canned vegetables, and bird seed, and so it made sense that Emeline’s body was not receiving what it needed to properly function. We were hopeful that after Emeline’s parasites were treated and she was eating a proper diet, she would begin to gain weight and feel better.

Unfortunately, Emeline did not gain weight like we hoped. She went back to the veterinarian a few more times and received lots of testing, but we never were able to pinpoint why she wasn’t gaining weight, despite her voracious appetite and the high calorie supplements we were giving her. She put up an admirable fight, but ultimately, wrapped in a blanket and snuggled up in a soft bed, Emeline passed away.

I was so angry after Emeline passed. She had been with us for nearly two months by the time she died, and it just did not seem fair at all that she could survive so much, try so hard, and still not make it in the end. And my God Emeline tried. She wanted to live so badly, which is why she continued to eat and allowed us to give her medications, even when she wasn’t feeling well or obviously was annoyed with us. It just wasn’t fair that all of that effort and hope did not result in her body being healthy and whole again.

We submitted Emeline’s body for necropsy. When Dr. Davison at New Bolton Center called me to relay her initial findings, she was stunned. Emeline’s spleen, an organ responsible for much of the body’s immune system, was full of nodules and inflammation. Dr. Davison speculated that Emeline had been fighting an infection for quite some time, and that her spleen had literally given out with the effort it took to keep up that fight for so long. Further testing confirmed this hypothesis, and determined that the ultimate culprit behind Emeline’s illness was an E. Coli infection. None of the enclosures at the property were clean or sanitary by any means, and Emeline being forced to live in such a tiny, cramped, dirty space meant that she was constantly reinfecting herself with E. Coli bacteria from her own droppings. By the time she was liberated from that awful environment, the damage had already been done. It was simply too late to save her.

Emeline’s suffering and death was preventable, if only she had been given basic care. A sanitary space. Clean water. Food. But Emeline – none of the hundreds of animals on this property – had even those most basic of needs met. It is often said that cockfighters love their birds, that they take care of them far better than most chicken keepers care for their flocks. But what we saw at this game farm wasn’t care. It was torture.

We are heartbroken that Emeline did not survive the torture she endured at the hands of her abusers, but we are grateful that she did not die there and was able to know true love and care, at least for a little while. While testifying at this case’s preliminary hearing I got to talk a bit about Emeline, which was a cathartic, emotional experience. She isn’t here anymore, but she helped bring justice to her friends. What an amazing, special person she was ❤

Emeline shared her enclosure with one other hen, who we named Amelia. Amelia lives in sanctuary with us now, which I like to think Emeline would have wanted. The two girls couldn’t possibly have more wildly different personalities, but I feel Emeline in Amelia. It is a great honor to love and care for her, and give her the life that Emeline should have had the chance to experience for herself.

We are $134 into our $500 match! That means that the next $366 in donations will be DOUBLED! Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far – we are so close to achieving our goal! If you would like to donate to our campaign in honor of the one year anniversary of the largest, most impactful rescue in our history, you may do so via Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/donate/27589310297367554/1323436609913104/

06/08/2026

Happy Pride 🌈

Q***r love transcends species. We care for so many animals here who share beautiful romantic relationships with their same-sex partners – Neil and Tieria, Leto and Randy, Henry and Leon, and more! Here in sanctuary these individuals have the opportunity to be their truest, fullest, most authentic selves, and are free to love whomever they wish ❤

At a time when our LGBTQIA+ community is being threatened more than ever, we feel it is vital that we loudly express our unequivocal support for our q***r friends and neighbors, both human and nonhuman alike. At its core Pride is a protest, a riot, a joyous celebration of love and identity in all of its forms. We are proud to celebrate q***r love every day, but especially during Pride 🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜

06/07/2026

We received the results of Clovis’ bloodwork, and sadly they confirmed our suspicions. Clovis has cancer. Lymphocytic leukemia.

Even though this wasn’t at all the answer that we were hoping for, the good news is that Clovis is still active, spunky, and enjoying his time. His appetite is robust (to say the least!) and he is showing us every indication that he is not in pain or experiencing discomfort. Lymphocytic leukemia is not well studied in birds, and, from what Clovis’ doctor was able to find in her research, has never been studied in Coturnix quails. However, in humans, this type of leukemia progresses quite slowly, and so there is a real chance that Clovis might be able to enjoy quite a bit more time with us. Clovis started a steroid medication to slow the cancer’s progression and keep him feeling his best, and our plan is to just take things day by day for now. Clovis is a very expressive, communicative person, and we have no doubt that he will let us know when it’s time to say goodbye. But he’s not telling us that yet, and we’re hoping that day is a long, long way off!

We are so proud to provide our residents with high quality, individualized medical care, and see it as one of our greatest purposes here. It is almost unheard of for farmed animals (and particularly farmed birds) to receive the kind of medical care our residents receive. On farms, even idealistic homestead/backyard farming situations, animals are seen as products. Running critical diagnostic tests like bloodwork and X-Rays are expensive to say the least, and we hear all too often that farmers would “never spend that kind of money on a two dollar chicken/duck”. While this line of thinking is horrific when you consider the individual animal who suffers as a result, it has a much more extensive effect in that we know practically nothing about farmed animal health. Clovis’ veterinarian could not find any literature pertaining to lymphocytic leukemia in his species, and so unfortunately there was no road map for how best to treat him. We are figuring it out as we go, which is simultaneously both exciting and terrifying. Exciting, because Clovis is a pioneer! As his doctor learns more about his cancer and follows along with his experience, she can apply that knowledge to future patients and use it to help untold numbers of birds even after Clovis himself is already gone. And terrifying, because every decision we make for Clovis is nothing more than an educated guess. We hope it will give us the results we are wanting for our boy, but we can’t ever be 100% sure. After all, this has never been done before.

Sanctuaries around the world are doing such vital work, not only for their individual residents but for farmed animals everywhere. It is sanctuaries that are pushing the boundaries of what is possible for farmed animals, by prioritizing their health and wellbeing over profits. Clovis is one of the lucky ones, and we are so beyond lucky to know him, love him, and walk with him on this journey – one that we hope will continue to help people like him for years to come ❤

06/01/2026

Thank you so much to everyone who came out for our volunteer day on Saturday! In total, volunteers moved six yards (over 12,000 pounds!) of dirt into the mixed flock aviary, filling in all the muddy low areas! The aviary looks absolutely incredible and the birds are much happier now, too!

Besides the aviary getting a fresh new look, the volunteer day was eventful for another reason, too. During the event, one of our peahen residents, Rathian, slipped out of the aviary. She immediately started booking it across the yard and hopped into a tree, which she used as a launching pad to fly all the way across the sheep pasture and into the woods. Rathian is a very independent, agile, and intelligent girl – and proved it to us over the next four hours as we worked to bring her home again. Thankfully, after quite the adventure, we were able to catch our thrill seeker and deliver her back to her aviary safe and sound 😮‍💨

Having Rathian slip out of the aviary was a terrifying experience, and one we never want to repeat again. We certainly aren’t perfect, and are always trying to improve our infrastructure, caretaking, etc. to keep our residents safe and make their lives better! Our cockfighting survivors and chukar partridges have an antechamber in their aviary that we built in order to prevent anyone from slipping out, so we could ensure that there was always a second, closed door between our flightiest residents and the outside. We plan to build an antechamber for our mixed flock and pheasant aviaries as well, so we can keep our residents safe and protected – especially our more mischievous friends who might see an open door as a fun challenge!

While the day certainly did not go according to plan, we are so grateful to have had help from so many wonderful people! Special thanks are in order for our dear friend and board member Sarah, who held down the fort while we worked to bring Rathian home. We hope to put together another event soon, albeit one that is a bit more boring this time around 😅 If you are interested in attending a future volunteer day event, just shoot us an email!