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All of the animals at Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue are special.

Every one of them has been rescued for the sole purpose of providing him or her a safe place to live a long and happy life with others of their kind. They all have a story and a name… they each have their own unique personalities and preferences just like humans do. They receive individual loving care with food, water, play, space to run, walk, sleep and have all of their medical needs provided for without question.

  • Jimmy - Jimmy was the driving force behind Skylands Sanctuary. Before Jimmy, Mike had been rescuing animals for other sanctuaries. He did have a small piece of land that was fenced in with work trucks. This is where he kept three rescued goats, a bull and a couple of other rescued animals. Because he had begun to develop a reputation as a rescuer, Mike got a call from a woman and her daughter from Connecticut about a calf. The calf had been taken from his mother in Vermont on a dairy farm. He was less than an hour old and was placed in a plant nursery's dog run to attract people to…
  • Grover - The SPCA called to say that they needed help with a pig rescue. When he arrived at the location they gave him, Mike could see that this was a horrible neglect case. Sickened, his first thought was that he'd never seen so many piles of dead animals. There were ten large animals left and he took nine of them. The tenth was a bull that he had already found a home for. The property where the neglected animals were being kept was managed by someone with an auction. This person was getting animals for a low price,  was then putting them on this leased land, and was not feeding them.…
  • Freddie - Freddie escaped the slaughterhouse on January 21st of 2016. It was a small live market slaughterhouse in Queens New York. He escaped while being unloaded from a truck and was running the streets. A friend called Mike and said, "...did you see that a bull escaped and is running the streets of Queens?" Immediately, Mike grabbed the trailer and drove toward Queens. He was calling the police and everyone he could think of to find out where Freddie was and where he would be taken. While still in transit, Freddie was caught and was brought back to the slaughterhouse.
  • Fawn - A telephone call came in from the local SPCA which is only about 1/2 hour away. They said they needed help with a pig rescue. When he arrived at the location they gave him, Mike could see that this was a horrible neglect case. Sickened, his first thought was that he'd never seen so many piles of dead animals. There were ten large animals left and he took nine of them. The tenth was a bull that he had already found a home for. The property where the neglected animals were being kept was managed by someone with an auction. This person was getting animals for a low price,  was…
  • Emma & Jackson - Mike received a call from a dairy worker in Connecticut saying they had a bull calf they would let go if he was interested. When he arrived at the location, he saw a tiny 2-day old calf. They said, "he's with his mother because his mother is sick." She was down with him on the ground. They warned him saying, "the mother is beautiful but she doesn't like people". Amazed at this tiny little calf on the floor, he began talking to him & petting him. While he was doing this, the mom walked over and started chewing his beard. The farmer walked over to Mike and started to cry.…