What is the mission of Hidden Acres Animal Sanctuary (HAAS)?
Hidden Acres Animal Sanctuary Therapy and Rescue is a non-profit with a mission to spread hope, healing and love to rescue farm animals and human hearts with a purpose to bring joy to all who cross our path. We pay forward the hope, healing and love we instill in our rescue animals to local seniors, memory care patients, hospice care patients, speak needs superheroes and individuals struggling with mental and emotional health through the natural and amazing benefits of animal therapy. We also have a Youth Empowerment program for middle and high school students. We believe animals are powerful healers making us both an animal rescue and human rescue.
How many animals do you have on the farm and what type are they?
We have 87 sanctuaried animals including goats, ducks, chicken, pigs, rabbits, birds, donkeys and a Holstein cow. Each of these animals is personally touched and inundated with tremendous love and care every day by teams of volunteers.
Your logo is a goat. Why did you choose that animal?
We have more rescue goats than other animals. We take our goats to senior centers and have a lot of goat related activities, for example goat yoga.
How do your animals come to you?
Mostly through large animal vets and Animal Controls across a number of counties. Harley the pig wandered homeless in Atlanta for two weeks. Bucky the donkey was 28 years old when he came to us. During all that time he had never been touched. His hooves were so overgrown he could barely walk. He also had a severely infected face as a result of being attacked by other animals. Rosie was the first pig in our therapy program. She was sold to college students by a breeder when she was just two days old. The kids tried but couldn’t keep up with her needs. I took her into sanctuary and the residents of Camellia Place in Woodstock bottle-fed her and she has brought lots of joy on her visits there.
Your farm animals provide a therapy animal role. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
We work with each and every animal on the farm providing them with exceptional care and love. We then help pay this forward by working with our rescues to provide animal therapy to those who need it most. We work with Cherokee County’s special needs residents and seniors. The transformations we have witnesses have been life changing. We work with a 14 ear old girl with cerebral palsy. When she first came to the farm her parents couldn’t believe how her muscles relaxed in the presence of the animals. Lying a bunny across her heart brought such calm. She feeds the animals with her feet and it is an incredibly therapeutic experience for her. Our Youth Empowerment program started by bringing families to the farm that had lost a child to suicide. The Core Community Empowerment School has realized how empowering animals are and brings 15-20 self-harming and troubled youth here to do a weekly service project and have animal immersion time. We take goats on leashes to senior centers. The farm has a designated Animal Rehabilitation and Care Team. This group of volunteers is assigned four animals each that they connect with every week and take out into the community to do good. Ask any of the volunteers and they will tell you that their own lives have also been completely transformed working with these animals.
Is there a story that you like to tell?
This farm was built to provide sanctuary to farm animals. I have always felt that animals are strong, powerful healers. The therapy program actually started during Covid. My grandmother was my most favorite person in the world. Covid was a terrible thing for the elderly people in our community. Senior facilities were completely locked down and families could not visit. The elderly lost so much interaction with the outside world and loved ones. When these lockdowns started happening I took one of my goats and trained him to walk on a leash. I sent him with a volunteer who works at one of the local memory care centers and the goat spent a large part of the day interacting with the old people. The feedback about the transformation among the memory care patients during the goat’s visits was incredible. The therapy program grew from there.
What opportunities do people have to visit the farm?
We do not have a paid staff and we are all volunteers here. There is no public access to HAAS. We do, however, have events. We have goat yoga and farm tours, and a private event space. You can sign up for these events on our website. All proceeds go straight into caring for the animals. We also have apartments on the farm, The Goat Inn and The Horse Inn which have been voted Atlanta’s Top Airbnb Experience.
How can people learn more about HAAS?
Please visit our website, www.hiddenacresanimalsanctuar.org. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram.
Your farm animals provide a therapy animal role. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
We work with each and every animal on the farm providing them with exceptional care and love. We then help pay this forward by working with our rescues to provide animal therapy to those who need it most. We work with Cherokee County’s special needs residents and seniors. The transformations we have witnesses have been life changing. We work with a 14 ear old girl with cerebral palsy. When she first came to the farm her parents couldn’t believe how her muscles relaxed in the presence of the animals. Lying a bunny across her heart brought such calm. She feeds the animals with her feet and it is an incredibly therapeutic experience for her. Our Youth Empowerment program started by bringing families to the farm that had lost a child to suicide. The Core Community Empowerment School has realized how empowering animals are and brings 15-20 self-harming and troubled youth here to do a weekly service project and have animal immersion time. We take goats on leashes to senior centers. The farm has a designated Animal Rehabilitation and Care Team. This group of volunteers is assigned four animals each that they connect with every week and take out into the community to do good. Ask any of the volunteers and they will tell you that their own lives have also been completely transformed working with these animals.
Is there a story that you like to tell?
This farm was built to provide sanctuary to farm animals. I have always felt that animals are strong, powerful healers. The therapy program actually started during Covid. My grandmother was my most favorite person in the world. Covid was a terrible thing for the elderly people in our community. Senior facilities were completely locked down and families could not visit. The elderly lost so much interaction with the outside world and loved ones. When these lockdowns started happening I took one of my goats and trained him to walk on a leash. I sent him with a volunteer who works at one of the local memory care centers and the goat spent a large part of the day interacting with the old people. The feedback about the transformation among the memory care patients during the goat’s visits was incredible. The therapy program grew from there.
What opportunities do people have to visit the farm?
We do not have a paid staff and we are all volunteers here. There is no public access to HAAS. We do, however, have events. We have goat yoga and farm tours, and a private event space. You can sign up for these events on our website. All proceeds go straight into caring for the animals. We also have apartments on the farm, The Goat Inn and The Horse Inn which have been voted Atlanta’s Top Airbnb Experience.
How can people learn more about HAAS?
Please visit our website, www.hiddenacresanimalsanctuar.org. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram.