Kathok Shedrup Ling

Last year we purchased 318 goats from a livestock auction near Stockton, California. Except for one family who purchased one goat, all of the other bidders were ranchers and meat farmers who were looking to purchase animals for slaughter. 

(Goats at the livestock auction.)

We released these goats to a small family-owned business called Goats R Us. Terri and Aegon are the founders of Goats R Us and they have spent their whole lives saving and taking care of animals. Their family owns multiple ranches and over 10,000 goats! These goats "work" by clearing vegetation around the Bay Area to prevent wildfires.

In 2017, a total of 9,133 fires burned 1,381,405 acres in California. The goats that we rescue will spend their lives grazing on the beautiful Californian hillsides, working to to prevent more deadly fires in the future.
 

(Goats R Us goats, happily grazing in Hercules, California. Photo by Selena Hao)

Terri and Aegon so kindly agreed to give these goats a good home, to provide them with experienced care and regular medical attention. Goat R Us transports their goats to different areas around the San Francisco Bay Area to clear brush on the Californian hillsides.

Later when the goats "retire," they will roam and graze on Terri, Aegon, and their family's beautiful land. When these goats become elderly, they will not be sold and killed for their meat. They will be given the best of medical care and allowed to live out their natural lives. Terri and Aegon's ranch is also home to Tibetan yaks, a camel, llamas, ducks, sheep, chickens, rabbits, cats, pigs, as well as specially trained dogs that protect these animals from wild predators.

Last year we were able to save 318 goats! 

Together we were able to raise over $34,000 to save these goats!

This year we want to save as many goats as we can!

Goats R Us has kindly offered us the use of their livestock trucks so that we can safely transport as many animals as we need.

Please give whatever you can to support this worthy cause. These goats will certainly be killed otherwise.

Last year we paid an average of $150 for each goat. We will be purchasing the goats from auction where they are sold by the pound, so the price may vary from to goat to goat. 

Please give whatever you are able to. 

Your donations will be tax-deductible. 

Also you can help by sharing our fundraising page and spreading the word!

With the funds that we collect, we will save as many goats as we are able to purchase. If there is any money left over, we will save it for next year's release and we will also make a small donation to Goats R Us to help with the goats' vaccinations and medicines.

This year’s goat release is tentatively planned for the beginning of September.

If you would like to contribute, please consider donating well before that date to give us time for the funds to be cleared and collected from GoFundMe.

(Last year's goat release with Venerable Lingtrul Rinpoche leading prayers for the rescued animals and all sentient beings.

Last year's release would not have been possible without the blessings and support of His Holiness Kathok Getse Rinpoche, who also contributed a large amount of his own funds to our cause. Venerable Lingtrul Rinpoche initiated this campaign and thanks to his blessings, constant support and tireless effort we were able to save these animals from certain death. Of course, these releases would not have been possible without the kindness and hard work of Terri and Aegon’s family and the folks at Goats R Us, who gave these rescued goats a wonderful home and loving care and helped us at every step of the way. Terri and Aegon also contributed their own funds to this cause. A heartfelt thank you to Lynda Isenberg for her deep generosity and kindess . A very deep thank you to our many kind donors and supporters, together we were able to save 318 goats by raising $34,000.!

Please consider donating this year so that we may save many more lives from slaughter. 

Your donation will save innocent animals from being slaughtered and allow them to live out their lives with excellent care and medical attention. These goats will "work" to prevent deadly wildfires in California by grazing the hillsides, reducing brush and overgrowth of vegetation. 

Thank you so much and may all beings benefit.
<3

(Some of the happy goats that were saved last year!)

A video of last year's release.


 

Last year, under the direction and blessings of Venerable Lingtrul Rinpoche, we were able to release eight six-month-year-old baby goats who had been marked for slaughter.

 We purchased the goats at a meat farm in Northern California where the owner gave us special permission to bring them back with us alive. We were lucky to find a wonderful home for these freed goats with a very kind woman named Terri and her family. The goats were incorporated into a herd of over ten thousand other goat friends! This year we plan to purchase and release more goats in early September.

These goats will "work" to help prevent wildfires by clearing brush and grass from the Bay Area's hills and will receive regular medical treatment. Later, they will be "retired" and allowed to roam and graze on Terri and her family's beautiful ranch. Terri has spent much of her life saving the lives of animals. The ranch is also home to Tibetan yaks, a camel, llamas, ducks, sheep, chickens, rabbits, cats, pigs, as well as specially trained dogs that protect these animals from wild predators.

Last year, we only asked a few close dharma friends and we raised $1800 in a very short time and we were able to save eight goats. This year we hope to do much more fundraising so that we can save many more lives. Terri has also kindly offered us the use of a truck so that we may easily transport more animals to her ranch.

Please give whatever you can to support this worthy cause. These goats will certainly be killed if we do not rescue them from the meat farm.

We expect that the price this year will be around the same as last year, roughly $200 or so for each baby goat.

Please give whatever you are able. Your donations will be tax-deductible. Also you can help by sharing our fundraising page.

With the funds that we collect, we will save as many goats as we are able to purchase. If we need more trucks, Terri will provide them. If there is any money left over, we will save it for next year's release and we will also try to make a small donation to Terri to help with the goats vaccinations and medicines.

Thank you so much! May all beings benefit! 

(Photos by Joyce Tang)