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Sanctuary Stories
Amelia, the Chicken Who Barely Survived the Australian Bushfires
Amelia lost her eye and her flock to the fires, but now she has another chance for a life of her own
Emerging from the ashes in Australia have so many been heartbreaking stories of animal loss, as well as heroic tales of rescue. This, of brave little Amelia, is one of the latter, as told by Catherine Kelaher, founder of New South Wales Hen Rescue.
The sanctuary was founded in 2010; Kelahar says she was moved to start helping animals after watching the 2004 documentary, Peaceable Kingdom, and feeling compelled by the scenes of animals being rescued. “After I watched that I just felt, oh my gosh, I’m vegan, but now I have to do some action, I have to help.” She then read a local news story: “A local battery hen farmer who had a big puff piece in the local paper about he was going ‘free-range.’ It made him look so good, but I was just thinking, what’s going to happen to hens in cages now?” The next day she contacted the farmer, who told her that the caged hens would all be slaughtered. Kelaher, to the farmer’s confusion, inquired about rescuing some of them. “He thought I was mad,” she told me. But after quickly finding homes for them, she was able to rescue six hens. The next day, she saved…
