Lily’s Place Animal Sanctuary began in Appin, Ontario, in the fall of 2019 with the adoption of 5 ex-battery hens from a local rescue initiative hosted by Cedar Row Farm Sanctuary.
2019
Our Story
That fall we also gave a home to Sid, a lamb who had broken his leg and had received medical care for approximately 6 months at Cedar Row Farm Sanctuary. Due to the break, and the leg that was compensating (requiring a brace), Sid needed a special home due to his mobility.
We also welcomed Betty, a pregnant sheep to the sanctuary that fall. She was one of the survivors from case of neglect, and after finding immediate shelter and medical care at Whispering Hearts Horse Rescue, Betty came to live at Lily's Place.
how it all began
Lillian
Tim's late mom, Lillian, affectionately nicknamed Lily by Tim's late father, always opened up her home to those in need. This included animals and numerous foster children. Lillian was an avid animal lover, and she always had a dog cuddling on her lap, whether it was one of her dogs or a grandpuppy. On one occasion, after hearing about an unwanted dog being left alone in a muffler shop overnight, she marched right over to give Buster a proper home. Her compassionate spirit and willingness to provide a safe place to displaced souls is work we'd like to continue through Lily's Place.
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Chili
Chili was a puppy born to homeless dogs living on the streets after Hurricane Katrina. Her name was originally Lily but was changed to reflect her New Orlene's origins. Chili arrived in Canada as an (estimated to be) 2 years old who still didn't have a family of her own. Tim met her within hours of her arrival at the Hamilton/Burlington SPCA. She was exhausted from her travels, curled up in a tiny ball in her dog run, but something about her sweet presence grabbed Tim's heart. Over her lifetime Chili helped timid little Flea (another rescue dog) come out of her shell, reassured numerous foster dogs, and remained a calm, stable leader until her passing in February of 2019 at the age of 13 after a long battle with diabetes.
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Betty gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Gracie.
2020
Milo and Daisy, two ducklings that had been given as an unexpected mother's day gift to a family who wasn't prepared for them. They found a forever home at the sanctuary
The same weekend that Milo and Daisy came to Lily's Place, another pair of babies arrived. Punky Brewster and Orphan Annie, two 8-10 week old lambs needed refuge and found it at Lily's Place.
the year of babies
A young stray rooster, named Watson, an adventurous stray hen named Emma, and a sweet hen named Amelia (neglect case) all arrived at Lily's Place.
A stray duck named Annabelle joined us at Lily's Place
2021
We've always wanted to improve the lives of farmed animals (no matter what part of the country we found ourselves in), and we started to consider where we could do the most good.
Tim left for NB a month before we moved the animals to prepare the barn by building stalls and having fencing put in.
the big move to nb
We packed up all the animals and moved the sanctuary 1600+ km and two provinces over to Codys, NB.
Several homeless chickens came to live with us including Dora, Minty, and Little Miss.
Requests to place farm animals at the sanctuary came in quickly!
Tardy (a senior horse) and the goats she was bonded with (Dazy, a retired dairy goat, and her son Teddy), were taken in from Nova Scotia.
After thinking about the impact we want to have as an organization, and we decided to move the sanctuary to New Brunswick. There are so few sanctuaries for farmed animals in Canada, and NB is largely underserved so the choice to move east was clear.
We provided refuge to Levi, a sweet senior turkey in January.
2022
3 senior quail named Delia, Lydia, and Barbara, found a home with us.
Celeste, Dorthy, Rose, and Unicorn (hens) seeking warmth from the harsh winter conditions joined us.
a year of firsts amongst heartaches
We officially became a federally registered nonprofit organization.
Larry, a two day old chick with special needs arrived at the sanctuary just before Christmas.
Attended our first vegfest which included participating in our first farm sanctuary discussion panel as a guest speaker.
Provided palliative care and humane passage over the rainbow bridge to Tardy, Levi, Delia, Lydia, and Barabara.
We hosted events at the sanctuary for the first time including a spring clean up day, a summer open house, and a thanksLIVING event.
Infrastructure projects were a major focus including winterizing the water at the barn, putting in more fence posts, improving the safety of the barn flooring for slippery hooves, and completing the first stage of a 3 stall row barn build.
Obtained our first lottery license and partnered with RaffleBox to host monthly 50/50 fundraisers
2023
Prepared our charitable status application and submitted it in mid-March.
