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SAVE SOPHIE

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Help us raise money to cover legal expenses and get Sophie safely home to Life with Pigs Animal Sanctuary!!!

***Police Return Neglected Sick Calf to Farmer Who Threatened to Kill People and Pour Blood On Animal Sanctuary Property During Rant Filled with Racist and Homophobic Slurs.***

Sophie's Story

On April 22, 2019, a young calf was rescued and brought to Life With Pigs Sanctuary by someone who found her in a condition that appeared to be hours away from death.

She was thoroughly covered with lice, wounds and her body was so emaciated that it appeared to be little more than skin and bones. She was weak, coughing and her breathing was shallow. And her hooves were peeling suggesting malnourishment and poor shelter/grazing conditions.

After treatment, Sophie was completely lice-free and began regaining her strength, energy, and putting on the weight she so desperately needed. She went from just 67 pounds at 3 months of age (severely underweight for an Angus-Charolais cross calf) to 85 pounds just one week after her arrival (consistent with a normal rate of growth). This made clear that she needed care, treatment and nourishment to correct her health problems but had not been receiving it.

Love and attention quickly turned Sophie from a suffering calf ‘on death’s door’ to a lively, happy, and adventurous little girl who loved her new family of humans and non-human animals. Everything had turned around for her.

But on May 7, 2019, their home and sanctuary was raided by Baltimore County Police. They said they had a search warrant for a 3-month-old Angus calf. Sophie was taken away in a rope lasso by an officer and returned to where she had come from.

Why is it okay for police to take a rescued animal and return them to the very place they were neglected? In Maryland, it is against the law to cause cruelty to an animal, which is defined as “unnecessary or unjustifiable physical pain or suffering caused or allowed by an act, omission, or neglect.” This includes ‘privately owned’, ‘farm animals’, and ‘corporately or institutionally owned’ animals as well!

We wish we lived in a world where legal authorities enforced laws to protect people AND animals from situations of neglect and abuse… and we believe that is the way it should be! 

The sanctuary contacted the farmer via a phone call. In the documented conversation he stated that ‘those police’ and ‘detectives’ are his ‘dear friends’ and that he used his connections within the local police force to ‘coordinate the raid’ to take Sophie back.

Her condition upon arrival suggested she was not being cared for, so it was bafling to learn not only had Sophie come from a well-respected farm, but also that someone was willing to claim she had indeed come from their ‘care’ or rather, the lack thereof. The sanctuary's family was audibly threatened by the farmer that they are going to have ‘a whole lot more people’ coming to their house, threatened with a ‘bullet’ etched with their name from his ‘308’ ‘sniper rifle’, told that he kills cattle ‘every day’, has shoes made of ‘dead cows’ and is ‘going to dump blood’ all over their front porch and that he would, if given the opportunity, ‘kill every one’ of the animals on the farm sanctuary. He even threatened to make a ‘phone call’ to his ‘detective friends’ to falsely accuse them of made up charges. And added vilely that he hoped they would then be raped in jail by a "n*gger" and find out what it is like to be a wild animal.

No justification was ever given for how the farmer showed the calf belonged to him since she had no ear tag or markings. And no answer was given when asked if any proof would be obtained before she was returned. And no effort was made to ensure the abuse she clearly received at the hands of Braglio Farms would be prevented from happening again.

Please donate if you can to help Life With Pigs Sanctuary cover legal expenses to assist in rescuing Sophie, and bringing her back home where she will be loved and cared for properly!

Thank you all!!!

Organizer

Caroline Hurley
Organizer
Baltimore, MD

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