Farm animals — and people — find healing at this New York sanctuary
Two decades ago, Kathy Stevens followed her heart, leaving behind a career in education to start an animal sanctuary.
Since opening in 2001, her Catskill Animal Sanctuary in Saugerties, New York, has directly rescued over 5,000 farm animals. Animals are "in my DNA," Stevens told Hudson Valley 360. "I grew up on a farm and I've known since I came out of the womb practically that there's more to them than most people have the opportunity to understand."
The 150-acre sanctuary is home to pigs, cows, goats, horses, chickens, and other animals. While Stevens might not be teaching in a classroom, she is educating people at the sanctuary, whether it's members of the public on weekend tours or kids making virtual visits to the farm. She has also started a pilot program to help people who need assistance taking care of their farm animals at home, and guides people interested in becoming vegan.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Stevens doesn't work alone; there are volunteers who feed the animals and clean their living spaces. Donna Albright and Dawn Freedman both started volunteering in 2008 after retiring, and said the experience has been life changing. "I feel at peace when I'm around the animals and it's very healing to be at the sanctuary," Freedman said in a statement. "There is something that draws us there that fills us up, and it has touched me in a very compelling way. Deep in my heart I know that while I'm helping the animals, they are helping me, too."
-
What to know before filing your own taxes for the first timethe explainer Tackle this financial milestone with confidence
-
The biggest box office flops of the 21st centuryin depth Unnecessary remakes and turgid, expensive CGI-fests highlight this list of these most notorious box-office losers
-
What are the best investments for beginners?The Explainer Stocks and ETFs and bonds, oh my
-
‘One Battle After Another’ wins Critics Choice honorsSpeed Read Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, won best picture at the 31st Critics Choice Awards
-
The strangely resilient phenomenon of stowaways on planesThe Explainer Lapses in security are still allowing passengers to board flights without tickets or passports
-
Son arrested over killing of Rob and Michele ReinerSpeed Read Nick, the 32-year-old son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner, has been booked for the murder of his parents
-
Rob Reiner, wife dead in ‘apparent homicide’speed read The Reiners, found in their Los Angeles home, ‘had injuries consistent with being stabbed’
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Why photo booths are enjoying a revivalIn The Spotlight It’s 100 years since it first appeared, but the photo booth is far from an analogue relic
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Black Rabbit: slick crime thriller set in a high-end New York restaurantThe Week Recommends Two Manhattan brothers resort to ‘ever-more high-stakes’ schemes to tackle ‘huge’ gambling debts in the ‘glossy’ series
