Our girl Wiggles has been doing really well, it seems like each morning when I go out to the stable she has grown more overnight. 



Bullet the pig has finally started to accept Wiggles, they are not best friends yet but he has stopped nipping and growling at her.



She still thinks that it's all about her and I don't see that changing.  We love Wiggles, she is demanding and very vocal when she doesn't get her way but she makes us laugh everyday and I thinks that is what we love about her the most.

Shortman the cat, Ollie the pig and Barry the Dad, all take a nap together after a long day at work.

Meet Hamlet.  Hamlet came to us from the Newmarket SPCA.  He had originally been left at the doors of the SPCA where they took him in and were able to find a home for him.  Only weeks after he had been adopted the SPCA received a call from his owners asking them to take him back for his own safety.  He had been attacked by their female dog that was protecting her litter of pups.  In the attack Hamlet lost most of his tail and left with a couple of punture marks on his back side.



He is a real sweetheart, he loves to chase Ollie around the house and launch himself on and off the furniture.  He has a bad habit of rubbing his strong little snout into our ankle and calves and doing it until it hurts and even leaves bruises.  We are working on correcting that behaviour but now he just goes around the house pushing things over with his nose.



We had him house trained in one day and he loves going outside each day to play.  Because it's starting to get colder we bought him a little winter jacket so he can still go out and run around.

Smitty came to join the Painted Rock family after animal activist Lynne Smith saved this precious little pig from a horrible life in a research testing lab.  His origional owner had abandoned him when they moved to another province.  The next door neighbour found that he had been left behind and placed an ad for a "free pig" on the internet.  A research lab interested in "free animals" (to be used for testing) answered her ad and the little pig was headed for a terrible destination until Lynne found out about his story and intervened.  She took possession of the little guy and cared for him in her apartment until such time she could get in contact with us.



Lynne, her daughter Alice and her son in-law have gone above and beyond in helping this little guy.  Once we made arrangements to have Smitty brought up to the farm, Lynne and her son in-law snuggled him up in a blanket and made the two hour journey to our farm.

It took no time at all for him to settle in here.  Because pigs will often fight with eachother and with limited space in the stable, Smitty lives in the house with us.  Last year my husband and I began to convert the granny flat that is attached to our house, into kennel suites for the animals.  Smitty has his own 6x7 room as well as a larged fenced area where he spends his days out side (at least until the snow falls).

Smitty is the only pig I have ever seen that likes to be picked up and doesn't squeal when you do.  He has such a gentle and quiet personality and he is the sweetest little thing.



We named him "Smitty" after Lynne and Alice Smith, the two ladies that saved him from a horrible life of pain and suffering.  Every time I call his name I am reminded what a wonderful thing those ladies did for him.

Meet Olivia, Aka "Ollie".  Ollie is a six month old pygmy pot belly that came to live at our farm after her previous owner contacted us concerned about Ollie's safety.  They had a large dog that was very jealous of Ollie and became resentful of her joining "her" family.  As well, the next door neighbour also had two large dogs that desperately wanted to have pork for dinner too.  Ollie's previous owners contacted the SPCA and asked if they would be able to help her and they referred her to us.



Ollie lives in the house with us and enjoys spending her days lounging on the furniture and sniffing the floor in hopes of finding crumbs to eat.  She likes to park herself under the table where the cats eat in hopes that the odd kibble may fall down.  The day she figured out how to open the pantry door with her nose was the day we had to move all the cat & dog food to the back room, as well as move all the edibles up from the bottom shelves.



She is a smart little girl, she is litter trained and at first we were giving her treats when she would use the litter box but then each time she wanted a treat she would run into her litter and stand there for 10 seconds and then run over to us for a treat, what a little trickster.

The other day she knocked over a pail of dog kibble and pulled the lid off, my Husband Barry caught her in the act and scold her, she ran into her little soft crate because she knew she had been bad.  I came into the room and asked Barry what she had done and as we were talking about her and what she had done we were watching her and she was pretending to be asleep.  We knew she was faking and when we stopped talking for a minute she peeked one of her eyes open, we said her name again and she quickly closed her eye and pretended to be sleeping again.  This went on for about five minutes and what a laugh she gave us, little bugger!

Hello Eillie.
We were contacted by a lady from the SPCA asking if we had room for a lone emu.  Her other emu companions had been killed by coyotes and this lonely girl paced the fence lines all day.  The only shelter she had was a collapsed greenhouse that had a small narrow spot for her to seek cover away from the elements.  The dirt floor of the green house dipped down and all the rain water would flow down the hill right into her spot in the shelter and she stood in 6-8 inches of mud.



I went and spoke with her owner and made arrangements to pick her up and bring her to Painted Rock.  The owner told me that she could be very dangerous and he was concerned not only of our safety but hers too.  I assured him that I would take great care in relocating her to the farm and would come equiped with tools and a plan to move her safely. 
My husband, our friend Rich and myself went to pick her up a few days later and thankfully the biggest challenge we had was getting our trailer close enough to her pen to set up our fence panel runway.  Barry managed to guide her into the runway and swiftly came in from her side and swept her up into the trailer.  Then we all had a sigh of relief.

Once back at Painted Rock Animal Sanctuary she quickly settled in.  We gave her the name Eillie because it means beautiful bird.  Her feet look prehistoric, something you would see in dinosaur books and they can be used as a weapon for protection.  Not only can she kick out forwards but backwards as well, so you should always approach from the side. 



She has been doing really well and shows no signs of aggression towards us, however we are still cautious when in her pen.  I think she senses that we are to be trusted though because she comes right up to us and loves to take treats from our hands, just watch your fingers!

Chance, the newest addition to the Painted Rock Animal Sanctuary Farm, loves his cookies.  Here's a short video of Barry handing out treats and Chance wants them all for himself.



Cookies for kisses, Barry gets a big sloppy kiss from Chance!

Today we had a very special visitor to the farm, a young girl by the name of Sara who was celebating her 11th birthday.  Sara is an animal lover and she did something very special to help some of the animals in our care. She had made the decision herself that instead of having her friends purchase birthday gifts for her, that she would ask her friends to purchase items from our wish list so that she could help some of the animals here at the farm.  What a wonderful thing she did!

Little Buckwheat and the girls

Left to Right is; Sara (The Birthday Girl), Grace, Morgan, Zoe & Julia

Sara lives in Toronto, about an hour south of Painted Rock Animal Sanctuary.  Sara and her parents, along with her friends Zoe, Grace, Julia and Morgan drove up to the farm to drop off all the items Sara had colleted.  We took the girls around the farm to meet with some of the animals here and had a really nice visit with them.


Sid jumps through the fence to see what treats the girls are feeding the donkeys, hoping that maybe he'll get some

It take a pretty special person to do what Sara did and it's because of kind people like her that we are able to continue to do the work that we do.  We look forward to having Sara back to visit with the animals again and we are really glad we had a chance to meet her, along with her family and friends. 


From all of us here at Painted Rock Animal Sanctuary, we want to thank you Sara.  You did a really wonderful thing for the animals and we want everyone to know what a special girl you are! 


A big kiss for Sara from Little Buckwheat's Mom "Penny". xoxoxo

Special oxoxox from the cats:
Big man, Shortman, Scout, Harley, Hobbs, Charlie, Maddie, Fergus, Bones, Benny, George, Cosmo, Soot, Barney, BJ, Zac, Josephine, Edward, Fatzo, Snarley, Ginger, Katadan, Pops, Spook, Bobcat and Fraidy, as well as a few more that come by for a free meal here at the farm.

Happy 11th Birthday Sara!

For 6+ years our boy "Fred the steer" has been sharing his pasture with many different friends but never with one of his own kind. Each time Fred ran away from home he would eventually seek out a herd of cattle and sneak his way in, in hopes of going unnoticed.  Fortunately for us, the honest farmers in our area knew of Fred and his reputation and would call us to let us know that Fred was hiding out in their herd. 


Fred meets his new little brother Chance
 
Today Fred finally got his wish and now has a new friend by the name of Chance.  Chance got a second chance at life when he was saved by Lauren Ward.  Lauren knew that unless she took immediate action, Chance's life would be cut short and he would suffer a painful and cruel death.


Second chance "Chance"

Once Lauren managed to get possession of Chance, she called the Vet in immediately to have him treated and for the past two months Lauren has dedicated herself to saving his life and he is doing well now.  Because of Chance's rough start to life, Lauren wanted to make sure that she could find a safe and loving home where he could live out his natural life and contacted us to see if we could help.


It was love at first sight!

Chance will spend the next few of days in the pasture next to Fred allowing them time to get to know eachother as well as giving Fred time to calm his excitement.  They will then join eachother as pasture mates and live happily ever after.

Today we had some more visitors. 

After seeing the story Kevin Frankish did on Fred the steer and our farm, Cynthia Schilling contacted us to see if her and her daughter along with a couple of their friends could come for a visit.


Cindy gets to know Peter the donkey, Emma giving Wiggles a scratch, Stephanie looks on and Cynthia hands out treats to the goats.


Cindy loves pigs and this summer when she celebrated a special birthday, Cynthia contacted us to get an 8x10 photo from our "little buddy Bullet".  Today Cindy got to meet Bullet in person.  Bullet was a little jealous having to share the spotlight with his pasture mate Wiggles.


Emma and Stephanie handing out treats to the goats.

We had a nice visit with the girls and look forward to having them back for another visit.

Today at 3:45 pm, Penny the donkey gave birth to a healthy baby boy.  We have named him Buckwheat. 
Penny was rescued by us years ago.  Once the Vet had given Penny a clear bill of health, we made the decision to have her as part of our small breeding program. 
Penny still has a lot of trust issues which she is dealing with and even though she has come an incredible distance with those issues, she still has a ways to go. 
It's funny though because only when she is in the last few months of her pregnancy, she becomes very calm and even somewhat friendly and this behavior continues once she has given birth and as long as she has her little one at her side.  She even has complete trust in us when handling her little ones.  As crazy as it sounds the greatest progress we make with Penny is when she is a mom. 

Penny's little boy Buckwheat will eventually be a herd guardian/pet on a hobby farm.  Our small breeding program allows us to generate a small amount of income to help with the funding for our animal rescue and sanctuary farm. Animals helping animals!



Little baby Buckwheat (only 2 hours old) with his Mother Penny.

Today Mary Lee, a friend and supporter of Painted Rock Animal Sanctuary, came to visit with some of the animals she helps care for.  Mary brought with her a couple of other animal lovers, her sister in law Marlissa and her neice Tatyana.



Donkeys Peter and Hailey visit with Mary & Tatyana, watch your fingers ladies, they want those cookies.



Wiggles charms the ladies in hopes of getting treats.

We had a really nice visit with the girls and we look forward to having them up again.  Thanks again to Mary for her kindness and generousity, it's with help and encouragement like hers that allows us to continue to do the work we do.  From all the critters here, oxoxoxoxoxoxoxo!

Today we had a very special guest visit the farm, Erin Alvarez from CTS TV.  Erin was here with her camera man Jeff to film our girl Wiggles for a new show that will be airing on CTS TV called "Always Good News".  I love the idea of this show, all the stories are good news stories.



Wiggles' story to be featured on CTS TV's new show, "Always Good News".



Wiggles is a star!



After filming at the farm, Erin & Jeff came along with us for our visit with the Seniors at The Simcoe Manor in Beeton.  Wiggles is definitely enjoying all the attention she's getting, she's even starting to turn into a little bit of a diva.

Painted Rock Farm and Camilla (the Mom) is pleased to announce the birth of Kaleea the alpaca. 



Both Mom and baby girl are going great!



Kaleea, along with the other alpacas will produce a luxurious coat of fibre which we will shear each Spring.  We have the fibe proccessed into yarn which we sell in order to generate funding for the rescue farm & sanctuary.  Animals helping animals!

Karen Morris, a friend and supporter of Painted Rock Animal Farm & Animal Sanctuary brought her niece Samantha along with some other family members by to visit with some of the animals in our care.  Here Karen and Samantha make fast friend with the kid goats by feeding them some cookies.

Hanna, the little girl that we mentioned in our calendar last year, came back to visit the animals at Painted Rock Animal Farm & Animal Sanctuary again this year.  Each year over her summer holidays, Hanna comes to visit with her Grandparents, John and Ann Robbins.  We are thrilled that while visiting with her grandparents, Hanna sets time aside to come and see us here at the farm.


Hanna had saved some money that she had collected for her birthday this year and brought a donation to help the animals again.  The little girl with a big heart has grown a lot since last year, we were really pleased to have her back to meet some of the new animals and visit with the others again. 


Thanks again Hanna for helping the animals.

My niece Lilly came by to help us with the animals today at Painted Rock Animal Farm & Animal Sanctuary.  Lilly says she wants to have a farm just like Aunt Laura's when she gets bigger. 
After all the chores were done we saddled Pixie the pony up and went for a short little ride.  After the ride we climbed the hay bales in the barn and then spent the rest of the time playing with all the animals.

Today Painted Rock Animal Farm & Animal Sanctuary took some of the animals over to visit with the Seniors at the Simcoe Manor in Beeton.  We took Pixie the pony, Hailey and Bailey the two baby donkeys, Levi the llama, Chile the Chinchilla, Marisol & Monti, Zoe & Zeb the baby goats and last but not least Wiggles the pig.


We had a wonderful time visiting with the Seniors, all the animals were so well behaved and the folks there loved to see and visit with the animals.  Everyone was really pleased to see Wiggles and she didn't disappoint.  After the Seniors finished a snack of watermelon, Wiggles went around hitting everyone up for their watermelon rinds.

Wiggles and her buddy Bilbo love to play and chase eachother around!

Today we met a lovely family that drove up from Brantford to visit with Wiggles and see some of the other animals here in our care.

Carolyn Reed & her husband Bish Lipinski brought their two grandaughters Selaira, age 11 and Victoria, age 5, up to visit with Wiggles and get some pictures with her.  The girls brought some beautiful drawing up that they had done for Wiggles along with some special gifts of sweet potato puree, Wiggles favourite!


Selaira, Victoria, Grandma Carolyn with Pixie the pony and my Husband Barry off to the side.  This was Victoria's first time up on a pony!

Today my niece Lilly and Grandma Roseanne came to visit with Wiggles and the other animals.  Lilly and Bilbo took some time to give Wiggles a workout.



Wiggles had worked up such an appetite from all the running around she stopped and snacked on some grass while Lilly gave her a gentle massage.

The goat that was recently dropped off at our farm by the OSPCA, that had been found by them anchored with a chain that had cut through her neck because it was way too tight, is now on the mend here at Painted Rock Farm.  We have named "Roe" and she has been making great progress.  Her wounds around her neck are almost completely healed and she is settling in quite well.

Within a matter of days, we had her taking treats from our hands.  Still guarded she would inch her way towards us knowing that her reward would be a tasty treat that she just couldn't resist.  Being able to get her to come to us has allowed us to treat her in order to give her the best chance for a full recovery.

Roe is a funny looking girl as she is missing the top halves of her ears, we are not sure why they are missing but believe that perhaps they had become frozen during the winter and had fallen off due to not having blood flow to them.  It's just a guess but most likely that is what has happened.

We have her on a healthy diet which will allow her to start putting on some much needed weight and with her wounds on the mend we can now turn our attention to rebuilding her trust with humans.

Today we worked on digging out a hole to install a pond liner in order to catch some of the rain water off the barn and provide a small watering hole for the smaller animals.


My husband Barry has experience operating the equipment so the job took no time at all.  We were fortunate enough to have loan of the equipment, donated by the generous owner, Richard Hitchman who owns and operates Stan Hitchman Haulage of Schomberg.  Having the right equipment to do the job makes things so much easier!

We want to thank everyone that has emailed us.  We are responding to each and every one.  We do ask for your patience and understanding as we have been overwhelmed with emails for help; kind words of encouragement; people interested in visiting as well as some generous and caring supporters with some much needed donations.

Again, we would like to thank each and every one of you for your emails and we want to let you all know that we will be responding to every single one.  We feel terrible that we haven't been able to reply to everyone yet, but we want you all to know that we are greatful and we will get there.  We only wish there were more hours in the day!



This little hen "Gert" thinks that she belongs to this family of goats, each evening at bed time you can find her snuggling in with them for the night.

This afternoon I received a call from a couple of OSPCA agents asking me if I could take in a goat that they had possession of.  Within an hour they arrived with this frightened little creature.  It's previous owner had her attached to a short chain with a collar so tight that it cut into her flesh, so deep in some spots it started to bleed.

The poor thing was so scared when we put her in one of our pens, she jumped over the 4 foot bars and continued jumping from pen to pen.  We left for a couple of hours just to allow her to calm down and when we returned she had settled somewhat but still not allowing us to get close.


By evening chores she was laying down quietly in her pen, the grain I left for her was gone and I could tell she had been eating some hay.  I managed to get close enough to her for a second, just enough time to spray her open wound with some wound spray.  Tomorrow morning with the help of my husband we will get a chance to better assess her injuries and deworm her.  She is also underweight so with deworming her and getting her on a proper diet we can start putting some weight back on her.