How bald chickens help troubled kids

          At Cobble Hills Sanctuary near Stratford, 43 battery chickens have been saved from the slaughterhouse. These battery chickens are very ugly looking- they have no feathers, they are weak, and they have never even seen sunshine in their lives. Christen Shepherd, the proprietor of the rescue farm, has saved only 43 of thousands of these chickens. Her goal is to nurse them back to good health. The way that she is doing this is by letting the chickens run around, exposing them to sunlight and grass, and most importantly- she has four boys who look after the chickens. These boys are aged from 8 to 12, and they have special needs. They visit the chicken coop once a week, to clean it, feed the chickens sometimes, and to interact with the chickens. The boys look forward to this every week, as they have grown a relationship with the chickens and think of them as their own pets. Shepherd has been taking in animals for a couple of years now- some of them she can't really afford to take in. The farm is a non-profit organization and it is slowly losing money. The farm survives on a few donations and the income of Shepherd's husband to keep running. Yesterday, Shepherd and her 16 year old son Michael coaxed the chickens out of their coop and into the sunlight for their first time ever. They watched the chickens peck at grass- their first grass ever. During the event, Shepherd said, "When you see a chicken in the sunshine ... stretching its wings out, it's hard to deny a chicken that."

         I think that the actions of Christen Shepherd and the Cobble Hills Sanctuary have been unbelievable. Not only have they saved tons of animals that were going to be killed, but they also did it without enough money to spend on the animals. I think that the government should lend this sanctuary some money because the sanctuary is slowly losing money, and eventually it will have to close. Right now, the Shepherd family is running this sanctuary because they feel it is the right thing to do. I definitely think that the Shepherd family should be rewarded for their effort and determination to save these animals. I would also like to thank the boys who look after the chickens every weekend as they are doing a great job feeding them and interacting with them. I think that every province in Canada should have at least 10 animal shelters like this one to save animals from the slaughterhouse. The government should make this a law and fund for the shelters to be built. I think that every animal should have a decent life- not one spent inside without any sunlight or fresh grass. Hopefully more non-profit sanctuaries like this are built in the future to save more animals.