Welcome to the sanctuary

See most recent arrivals below

Merle after some TLC

This is Merle after a few months here and some good food, including ground flaxseed to help rebuild his feathers.

Dolly - the 3-footed goat

Dolly was picked up by animal control along a Northern California highway with a freshly amputated foot. She now wears a dog bootie to help her get around.

Pearl

Pearl is one of five hens who arrived here on the same day after being rescued from a person who planned to shoot them in the head because they'd stopped laying eggs in their old age.

Clara

Clara was picked up as a stray by animal control, and now shares a pen here with a rooster named Fritz.

Trapper John after being trapped

We decided to accept cats here after learning about Trapper John, who was caught in a steel leghold trap by a fur trapper in a city park here. This is him after he was pulled from the trap on the edge of the Truckee River.

The trap

This is the trap that caught Trapper John. The fur trapper was hoping to catch mink, which at the time were selling for about $4 a pelt. Instead, he caught a cat and a skunk.

New friends — Trapper and Haydee

This shows Trapper John. He couldn't be returned to the colony where he'd lived for 10 years or else he'd likely die, and as a feral cat, he couldn't be adopted into a typical home. The photo shows him with Haydee, who was severely burned and is missing most of one foot.

Who we are

CockadoodleMoo Farm Animal Sanctuary just north of Reno, Nevada is a small 501(c)3 operation that provides a lifetime home for abused and rescued farm animals, plus care and protection for wild animals who share our beautiful canyon. 501(c)3 just means that any donations you help us with are tax deductible.

Where we get the animals

We work with other rescue groups and animal control when they come across farm animals in need. There are currently no other rescue groups that take farm animals for miles in every direction. We've taken animals who were victims in criminal abuse cases, who were abandoned by the side of the road and picked up by animal control, who were dumped on the doorsteps of shelters, who were homeless and destined for euthanasia or slaughter, and who were found unadoptable by other groups. 

What happens when they get here

When an animal arrives, he or she gets a complete physical exam and is put in a temporary isolation pen to make sure they don't have any illnesses that could be spread to the other residents. If sick or injured (and they often are), they are cared for until healed as well as possible. Then they are slowly and cautiously introduced to the others of their species. If they can't live with others, we figure out something else, such as a solo pen. Finally, we try our best to give them a fulfilling life that fits who they are. If they're chickens, that means dirt to bathe in and trees to roost in. If they're goats, that means things to climb and head-butt. If they're donkeys, that means places to graze and run. If they're rabbits, that means tunnels to hide in and dirt to dig in. We are always working on new ways to improve their lives as time and money permits.

Who lives here — and who doesn't (yet!) 

Because we're a two-person operation that's relatively new (we started in 2007), we are limited in the numbers of animals we can take and the variety. Currently we have donkeys, goats, rabbits, chickens (hens and roosters), turkeys and cats. At this time, we are unable to take cows, pigs and sheep. (There are a number of area groups that help horses so we don't take them either.)

Volunteering 

There is no shortage of tasks we could use help. We have things that extra strong folks can help with and things that the not-so-physically-able would be great at. Just email us that you'd like to come out. 

View more details here. But Saturdays and Sundays are best. Wear clothes and shoes/boots that can get dirty. We can provide work gloves or bring your own. If you bring food, we ask that out of respect for the animals here, it be vegan.

Here are some of the things we can always use help with:

• fence and shelter maintenance and expansion

• prep for winter and summer

• refilling dirt in rabbit areas

• assisting with health checks

• cleaning food dishes and refilling water

• painting

• clearing fire dangers around pens (weeds, brush, downed limbs)

Visiting

The sanctuary's pens and layout aren't particularly visitor-friendly — and especially aren't during the muddy winters — but we love to share the place, especially with children. Most of the animals aren't human-friendly but they're usually happy to accept a treat.

Us visiting your school

We love to speak at schools about the lives of farm animals, and we can bring either a rooster named Fritz or a hen named Ginger, both of whom love to travel and meet new people.

Our philosophy

We believe animals — human and nonhuman — are individuals whose lives have value to themselves and who have their own preferences, desires and unique personalities. We don't think they should be hurt or killed unnecessarily. The first step toward living this belief is to go vegan. There's an abundance of wonderful food and clothes for which no animals were intentionally hurt or killed. You have the power to save animals from pain and death by the simple task of going vegan today.

The stuff you see below

 The text below this section contains links to different sections on this site plus some of the headlines (and sub-pages) found on them. Click around, there's lots to see.

CockadoodleMoo Blog

Here's a combination of news reports and diary entries of what's going on at CockadoodleMoo. (For our blog on vegan and animal rights issues, click here.)

Meet the Animals

The animals at CockadoodleMoo are special to us. Take a look at their photos to see why. More photos will be posted soon.

Animal care tips

Get tips on caring for burros/donkeys, chickens and goats. We are expanding the care information all the time. All care pages allow comments. Please share your experiences.

Go Vegan

We believe that not only the best way but really the only way we can live our values is to be vegan. We want to minimize the harm we cause in the world. We want to decrease the number of thinking, feeling beings who are hurt and killed needlessly. We want to see less violence in the world. By being vegan, we can realize these values at every meal and every time we put on clothes. If this weren't enough, being vegan is healthy, it's good for the environment and it's estimated that going vegan spares 95 animals each year from being hurt and killed. Plus it's really easy -- in the industrialized world, there's an embarrassment of foods and clothing items for which animals weren't intentionally harmed. Go vegan now. The animals — and your own mind and body — will thank you!


Below you'll find these topics addressed in more detail. And, to get you more inspired, click here for some thought-provoking quotes about veganism.

Resources

Here are some links and books that we've found useful, organized by topic.

Miscellaneous

Here's our repository for stuff we couldn't think of where else to put, such as favorite quotes and information on barn cats.