The tours allow people to interact with animals and get to know them as individuals. We are able to teach visitors about the truth of where their food comes from in a environment where they are meeting the animals themselves. Most won't feel the sun on their backs or breathe fresh air until the day they are loaded onto trucks bound for slaughter.
On today's factory farms, animals are crammed by the thousands into filthy, windowless sheds and confined to wire cages, gestation crates, barren dirt lots, and other cruel confinement systems. The bucolic images of green pastures and picturesque barnyard scenes as depicted in ad campaigns do not reveal the reality of today's farming practices. Our visitors and volunteers meet the animal “ambassadors" and learn about the billions of animals who are being born, living, and dying on factory farms. Currently we moved to a larger facility in High Falls, NY. In the spring of 2006 we officially opened our doors to the visiting public and the Sanctuary quickly became a popular destination for local residents and tourists alike. At the sanctuary, animals who have only known fear and suffering now enjoy warm, clean barns, nourishing food, and care.
A significant number of our residents have severe medical conditions because of past mistreatment, neglect or the reckless way that they were bred-genetically altered to grow faster or to produce much more milk or eggs than they naturally would. We have helped rescue and relocate thousands of animals and are currently home to over 350 rescues. Woodstock Sanctuary is one of the leading farm animal sanctuaries in the United States.