About Rico

When I first met Rico the donkey, he was afraid to be touched. After enduring months of abuse and neglect, he would flinch and cower in fear when you approached him.

His hooves were overgrown and his entire body was covered with lice. He was suffering from such severe dehydration that he was urinating blood.

While others may have deemed Rico a “lost cause”, here at Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary I knew we had to help him.

Thanks to generous supporters like you, we were able to rescue Rico from a kill pen in Oklahoma and help him find a safe place to live out his life. He endured a 1000+ mile freedom ride to NY, where he was taken in by one of our board members.

We quickly worked around the clock to get him proper veterinary care, and address the scars and trauma of his abuse. Today, Rico is a completely different donkey. Just hear what our board member, Kathleen, who looks after him has to say.

“We’ve spent countless hours just hanging out with Rico, walking the paddock, talking to him, gardening, feeding him, cleaning up after him and giving him water. He has become quite the character and puts his head on top of the door of the barn when he wants a treat. He even approaches people who come to visit and loves to have his ears rubbed!”​

Funding from supporters like you changed Rico’s life and gave him a second chance. But, I know there will be other Ricos soon, which is why I am asking you for your support today. When you make a donation to Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary, you can help to save and rescue other farm animals like Rico.

Together, we can give animals like Rico a second chance.

Rico before

The before.

The After

Rico
Rico
Rico after
Rico Relaxing
Rico Barn
Rico saying hello

About Flora

Flora was brought to us with her sisters, Fauna and Merryweather.  They were purchased by their owner at a farm supply store.  They were all doing well until a few weeks later, Flora started having trouble walking. Her owner brought her to the veterinarian and was told it looks like a niacin deficiency.  This happens way too often to ducklings.

What happens is when they are ducklings in these stores with chicks, it is very common for the ducklings to be fed chick food.  Ducks need a large of amount of niacin in their diets and chick food just doesn’t have the amount they need so they develop a niacin deficiency.  If caught early enough and treated with supplements and physical therapy, they sometimes can recover.

Flora’s owner wasn’t seeing much of an improvement and she only wanted the best for her, so she contacted us to see if we could help.  She didn’t want her to be alone so she offered us to take in her sisters as well.  They are very much a bonded trio!

Flora
Floras Sisters

Flora’s Sisters

The ducks are a breed called Pekin which grow very quickly and can weigh up to 15 pounds when fully grown.

These ducks need to spend a lot of time in the water because their feet are not built strong enough to carry their body weight.

Not only does Flora have lameness, she also had gape worm, which we treated her for, but she also developed sores on her hocks and to top things off, she has a sinus infection.  But she is one strong girl and one heck of a fighter!

She loves her physical therapy in the pool, her bath time and she absolutely loves the blow dryer!

With not seeing much improvement, we decided to get Flora a wheelchair.  This will lift her body weight off of her feet and we are hopeful that  her legs and feet will get strong enough that she can waddle along.  When we first put her in the wheelchair, she was not able to push with her feet.  Another issue, is that Flora will not open her webbed feet.  They stay rolled up.

On a positive note, Flora is getting to be a stronger swimmer and she is paddling her little heart out when in the pool so I am hoping that when her legs gain some strength, she will be able to use the wheelchair.

💔  May our beloved Flora rest in peace. 💔