The Rescue Rooster Next Door

A vacation at an animal sanctuary was to be a peaceful retreat for me, my husband, and our young son… but the rooster had other ideas

Melissa Petro
Tenderly
Published in
7 min readAug 6, 2019

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Illustration: Kōno Bairei (1844–1895)/Rawpixel

Most anyone who’s traveled can relate to the struggle to accommodate others while also hoping to be accommodated yourself. Usually the offending party is another human; thin walls and a couple on their honeymoon, for example, can make for considerable awkwardness at the complimentary breakfast buffet. As parents of a small child, my husband and I are naturally wary of how our family takes up space, conscious that Oscar still sometimes wakes up at night crying, and that his table manners leave a lot to be desired.

But he’s a little human being, a part of our family. What of when the offender is another animal species? Should they be afforded the same regard?

Encounters with other species were exactly what we signed up when we booked our room at the Catskills Animal Sanctuary. Two hours north of New York City in Saugerties, NY, the sanctuary is a 148-acre property that over 300 rescued farm animals call home. Overnight guests stay at the sanctuary’s vegan guesthouse, The Homestead, a renovated pre-civil war residence that offers three guest rooms that share a bathroom, as well as a suite. Book a room and you’ll enjoy a…

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Melissa Petro
Tenderly

Writer, teacher. PEN/Fusion Emerging Writer Prize Finalist. Former Little Miss Walton Hills. Follow me on Twitter @melissapetro