Memorials
Dreamer died 27 January 2012 very suddenly. He was ~32 years old and had nasty melanomas, which is common in white horses, but he was up and running around with his two mares Amber and Ruby until he wasn't any more. We are grateful that he didn't suffer and that is was a warm and sunny winter day for him, but we are still in shock at the suddeness of his death. Dreamer, you lived up to your name and you will be missed dearly by all who knew you.
Image provided by Smyer Image Premier Utah Photography.
Pricilla - animal Control picked Pricilla up in January of 1999 in the 40th South and 40th West area in Salt Lake City. She was sick with pneumonia and needed lots of medical care from Faith after she arrived at Ching. She was about 3 years old and also severely overweight and had to be put on a diet before she lost enough weight to be spayed. She was one of the first 10 pigs at Ching and we're going to miss her. She died in her sleep on 24 January 2012 at 16 years old.
Image provided by Smyer Image Premier Utah Photography.
Big Foot came from a local boy who had hatched and raised him in their backyard. Big Foot was a broiler chicken, meaning he was bred to grow quickly in order to facilitate slaughter at a younger age. This is tragic and most broiler chickens do not live long even on their own because their bodies cannot handle the extra strain and weight brought on by breeding. He was not even a year old when he died on 17 January, 2012. We got him because his people could not keep a rooster in their backyard. Backyard chickens have become popular of late, but it is highly problematic because people want to use the hens for their eggs and have no use for roosters, yet roosters end up being 50% of the eggs hatched! Not to mention the hens that get discarded after they stop laying eggs. The ensueing epidemic of roosters has hit Ching hard and we cannot find homes fast enough for all the roosters we get calls for and are abandoned. This is also yet another reason why we advocate a vegan lifestyle.
Cockroach had a long history with Ching. In the first few years the sanctuary was running, Cockroach's person came to Faith asking if she could board Cockroach and her other pig here. They stayed for a year and their person showed up every week to take care of them. After a year she took them home, but then in 2006 Cockroach kept escaping from her yard and Animal Control threatened to put her down if something wasn't done. So Cockroach's person turned her over to Ching. The other pig companion had already passed away by then. She had been with us ever since passed away at the ripe old age of 16 on December 18, 2011. Cockroach's picture here was taken by Smyer Image Premier Utah Photography.
Rocky had the most amazing will to live this volunteer has ever seen in a rooster. He was such a fighter, his feet were severely crippled, he only had one eye, but he fought for life as fiercly as he fought me when I'd fill his food or water dishes up. Later in life his beak even split from old age but that didn't slow him down one bit. Age did finally catch up with him and he passed away in his sleep on the 2nd of December, 2011. I'll miss that guy! -Crystal
Baby Goat - There were four babies born at the sanctuary in 2006 when their pregnant moms were rescued, and they will always be babies to us. One of them passed away from an unknown disease on the 26th of November, 2011. Now his mother has her one surviving son, they can still be seen together at the sanctuary, the trio down to a duo. We get many goats at the sanctuary because, although shocking to some, goat is the number one meat eaten in the world. We disagree with eating animals and encourage everyone to go vegan.
Baby Baby - BabyBaby and Benny were the first two goats ever rescued by Ching Sanctuary back in 1998. They both came at 2 months of age from Thanksgiving Point, a local petting zoo. The zoo had too many male babies that year and had to "unload" their excess. Ching Sanctuary encourages people not to support petting zoos as animals are merely a commodity and once they outlive their usefulness, they are often sold or auctioned for meat or a life of breeding. The few lucky ones that come to the sanctuary aren't even a drop in the bucket for the number of animals killed from petting zoo industry.
When BabyBaby arrived at Ching, the petting zoo had used rubber bands to neuter him and his privates were hugely swollen and black. It took two months for him to recover from this barbarism. When the two baby goats arrived, Faith didn't even have fences up at the sanctuary but they never strayed. They would sleep on the back deck at night and Faith would carry them to their shelter which is now part of the special needs area.
Baby Baby had a stroke October 21, 2011 and although we hoped he could recover from it at least a little, he only got worse so was euthanized 24 October, 2011.
Sadie - sweet little "chicken-house chicken" died in her sleep October 18, 2011 at only 6 months old. She was born in a public classroom from an incubator and had a severely deformed leg and possibly other problems because of it. Deformities and health problems arrise in incubator babies because they are not turned enough and the fetus will rest on one side for too long, causing diminished blood flow to parts of their bodies or internal organs. This is what happened to Sadie. A mother hen will turn her eggs on average 30 times per day. They will also talk to their babies, who will respond for days before they hatch. Mothers also teach them how to eat and drink, something Faith had to do with Sadie because she was just a skelaton when she arrived and didn't quite know how to take care of herself. We will all miss our little soft Sadie.
