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Hello Friends,

I’m excited to share with you some beautiful photos of some of my beloved animal friends from the hen haven.

This week I am focusing on friendships.

I get to witness so many beautiful, enduring friendships. They may blossom, change, get stronger, or challenged by newcomers.

Animal friendships speak volumes to me, because as I watch Robyn the pigeon preen Eden, or Cookie the rooster snuggle up to Mrs Sharp, I see the capacity for empathy, pleasure, fun and yes… love.

I heard someone say recently that they don’t eat red meat but struggle to empathise with chickens. For anyone who feels the same way, I would say look at these friendships. Watch how these animals are enjoying their lives and how they care for one another. And whilst we do not show it in these photos, they also worry if their friend is stressed and they grieve if their friend passes away.

There are far more friendships here at the hen haven than I could fit in this newsletter. So today, I walked around, trying to stick to the shade since it was another hot day. I sat with the animals on the grass, letting them come to me if they wanted or to stay away if they preferred and I took some photos of the friendships I saw.

Wandering around and watching the goings on is actually one of my favourite things to do and so much more rewarding than going up and grabbing at animals, forcing them to cuddle or to spend time with humans.

When I lay on the grass earlier and Jasper the rooster chose to come and stand by me, it was a real privilege.

I’ll keep this short and sweet so you can get to enjoy the photos.

But if you would like to hear more about the animals in the photos please do listen to the audio by pressing play above.

A little puffball of a grey rooster and an isa brown hen sit side by side — Mrs Sharp was left reeling after her beloved friend, Amber, recently passed. To see her bond with Cookie grow has been a joy. They now sleep snuggled up together.

Mr Darcy, a rooster found dumped in Grafton, and Kel a hen liberated from a parent farm, spend all their time together.

Ollie with Elsie and Bramble the ex-battery hens. They have recently had their enclosure spruced up with lots of perches and plants. Ollie has been so much happier since his girls arrived.

Robyn and Eden in the birdbath having a lovely preen. You should have seen the splish splash after this. Water everywhere! They love a good soak.

Rosie and Diesel are so in love. Rosie was liberated from a meat farm and Diesel was adopted from the rabbit sanctuary. They are little and large, black and white and they adore each other.

Bryan with friends Rocky, Fraser, Kit and Bruce. Only Koda is just out of shot. This gang of teenagers was dumped by the river near me when they were still quite small and could have been attacked by a goanna. Fraser, who was dumped last year, decided to jump out of his enclosure and join the crew of teens. He is so much happier now because he got to choose his own friends.

Peter was dumped and then attacked by a dog. After coming to us he underwent a tail amputation and now lives with five beautiful ladies who were rescued from neglect and then surrendered to us. Kate (white), Blossom, Polly, Violet and Joan.

Jasper the rooster loves to follow me around everywhere and hop up on the windowsill to see what I am up to. If he had to choose a chicken best friend it would be Randy rooster, who he is happy to share grapes with.

3 white ducks waddling in a line in a field — Penny, Maisie and Ace the ducks are always together. Despite their names they are brothers and were saved from a hideous factory farm. Now they have an absolute ball, waddling around exploring every inch of the field, wrestling in the paddling pool and causing mischief.

Someone recently said to me that when we are facing such huge animal rights issues, saving one or two individuals makes no difference. They said (with kindness and good intentions) that we should focus on the big picture.

Whilst I agree that the big picture is so important and should be a part of our work, I think every one of these friendships speaks volumes as to why each of these animals deserved to be rescued.

They all do.

You all will have heard this requoted by me a million times before as it is our NSW Hen Rescue motto:

Saving one animal may not change the world, but it will change the world for that one animal.

I think everyone reading this will feel the same.

Love Catherine x

https://henrescue.org/donate

P.S I want to say welcome to our new subscribers and thank you to three new paid subscribers on Substack this week. Only one more to go until we reach twenty! And thank you to anyone who has made a donation recently. You are such an important part of keeping these animals happy and cared for.

Animal Friendships at the Hen Haven

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