Months later, most animals at IFS are ‘thriving’

A follow-up with Iowa Farm Sanctuary, based in Oxford, reveals that most of the animals sent there have adapted to their new lives in the months since being rescued. IFS Assistant Director of Operations Katie Valentine said every animal on the site had tested negative for brucellosis several times, before finally leaving quarantine in May.

The sanctuary currently has 11 livestock animals linked to the Washington County case, three of which were born after the rescue. In addition, it transferred 15 from the Escher farm to similar groups across the country, according to Valentine, who said at least six had died in IFS care due to conditions they’d acquired in Washington County.

“They are finally thriving,” Valentine said. “It definitely took some of them a lot longer than others to gain the trust of humans, put on some healthy weight, get their parasite load down … Now we’re in August and they’re all doing really well. The three babies that were born here are really thriving, they’ve known nothing else.”

Animals at IFS are at the sanctuary for life; the group does not adopt them out or sell them. The organization’s mission statement says that animals are “assured a lifetime of happiness and safety in their forever home with us.”

Valentine said that policy was part of the reason IFS took such a small portion of the animals from Washington County.

“The ARL was more well-equipped on-scene, they had more trailers on-site, bigger facility, just a bigger organization in general (with) more funding,” she said. “We kind of triaged which animals were more critical. And those are the ones that IFS took … from there we assessed them, and sent them out to other sanctuaries.”

While Valentine said she was aware of the ARL’s large scale euthanasia of its rescues from the farm, and said the outcome was disappointing. She also cited the recent death of Roger Farmer, who had charges pending for allegedly neglecting the animals, as an injustice in the case.

“The suspect is deceased and the case is closed, it’s just completely wiped away, no legal action will take place,” she said. “It was kind of some mixed emotions from us, regarding that news. We are happy that no more animals will suffer under his care, but we also, in a way, wanted justice to be served.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com