Buddy was four weeks old when he arrived at Austin Farm Sanctuary.
He was blind. He was born on a goat meat farm, where blindness made him a liability. Buddy needed bottle feeding and couldn’t be easily used by the farm. His care would cost more than he was worth to the business. The farmer had developed more empathy towards him through that bottle feeding. This led him to surrender Buddy to a sanctuary.
Austin Farm Sanctuary says many animals who end up in their care came from situations where they needed extra support but were brought into the world without that support in mind.
The Early Days
Blind baby goats require extra time and closeness. Buddy got all of that. He spent much of his early weeks in the lap of Austin Farm Sanctuary’s founder, building a bond that has only deepened in the years since.
He was vulnerable and small. He was navigating a world he couldn’t see, in a place he didn’t yet know, with people he was only beginning to understand were safe. He cuddled his way through those early weeks and came out the other side of them changed. Through a safe environment, he was able to express himself and share with the world who he was.
Who He Is Now
Buddy is not a small, vulnerable baby anymore.
He is big. He is, in the sanctuary’s words, ‘rambunctious’. He knows his space with the confidence of someone who has mapped every inch of it. During feeding time, he runs around unapologetically, not affected by his beginnings.
And when visitors arrive at the animal spaces of Austin Farm Sanctuary, Buddy is usually the first one to greet them. He sniffs out those he’s grown with and the new visitors.
He decided he’d be the leader of his community of other animals. It seems none of his friends objected.
What He Has Changed
The founder of Austin Farm Sanctuary speaks about Buddy with a great deal of respect.
He claims that these animals have a beautiful spirit. They mainly live in harsh, sad conditions throughout the world, and what happens when you remove those conditions and replace them with love, safety, and a lap to sit in is something extraordinary. They push through the odds and blossom.
Buddy has changed how the sanctuary approaches the individuals in their care, given he was their first blind resident.
What Was Almost Lost
A goat meat farm looked at a blind baby and saw a liability, albeit they valued Buddy just enough to let him go somewhere he could actually live out his life.
They would have never known the strength of his spirit. He would not have been able to live out his life on his terms and to its full potential.
Buddy doesn’t have to face the alternative worlds where he didn’t get rescued. He just gets to be happy and unapologetically himself.
Buddy lives at Austin Farm Sanctuary alongside his Buddy’s Buds.
To follow his story and support the sanctuary’s work, visit austinfarmsanctuary.org
Watch our video on Buddy here:
