Mamie and Montag were born at OMI in 2020 when their mother was surrendered from a 4H program. The program attempts to use animal care as a way to educate young people on wholesome values like strong work ethic, integrity, and responsibility. The difficult part to understand is that programs like 4H and FFA typically also include exploiting animals and selling them at auction to be slaughtered. Mamie and Montag’s mother was named Thumbelina, and she was a dairy goat. She was used for several years as a “breeder,” and she was discarded after being sick with her last goat kid. Animals who cost too much money in the world of animal agriculture are considered poor investments.
When Thumbelina came to OMI, she was already pregnant. We helped her get healthy enough to finish her pregnancy, and she delivered two bouncing baby goats in the safety of a sanctuary barn where they would never have to produce anything except laughter in the hearts of their caregivers. OMI is a sanctuary participant in the LEAP program, which helps young people learn the values of work ethic, integrity, and responsibility by way of learning to care for sanctuary animals…and no one needs to be sold at auction.
