I think this little girl, again pictured with Sebastian, represents how everybody on the tour felt after meeting the farm animals at Poplar Spring. It was heartwarming to see how well cared for and loved the animals are, and heartbreaking to hear their stories yet wonderful to know they’d been rescued and given a forever home. We ended up sponsoring Billy Bob the goat, seen at the beginning of this gallery, and I’m sure we’ll be back to visit him and all his friends.

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The Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary is a 400-acre nonprofit refuge in Poolesville, Maryland, that offers care, rehabilitation and permanent sanctuary for neglected, abused or abandoned farm animals as well as providing a protected habitat for wildlife. They promote compassion and the humane treatment of all animals by educating the public on farm animal and wildlife issues.

A husband and wife team along with 100 volunteers and 8 staff care for more than 300 rescued farm animals, each with a name and a story of their rescue, and most of them quite friendly to humans. They’ve been in operation for 21 years, receive no public funding and survive only on donations.

For more information on the refuge, go to http://www.animalsanctuary.org

The goose pond, posted earlier: