Sponsor a Precious UPC Sanctuary Resident

JEWEL



Photo by Rich Cundari

Jewel, our white Pekin duck, enjoys quiet time with his friend, Reginald. They were rescued together with Daryl from a hoarding situation in Charlottesville, VA February 19, 2018. These three male ducks are constantly together. They especially like sitting next to Jamaica, who came from the same hoarding situation but has to live in a separate yard to avoid excessive mating by the three males, who communicate with her through the wire fence. Our ducks and chickens and peafowl enjoy one another’s company, and we enjoy their company.

MYRNA



Photo by Rich Cundari

Myrna is one of 50 hens and roosters we adopted from a cockfighting raid in Virginia Beach in July 2018. She lives very happily in our predator-proof sanctuary with her sister hens, and Rowdy the rooster is a constant companion of hers. Myrna dashes about the yard during the day, and she loves dustbathing and sunshine. She sleeps in a tree each night with Rowdy and the other hens who share their area together. She's a very happy and healthy hen, and we love having her with us.

REGINALD



Photo by Karen Davis

We adopted Reginald, Daryl, Jewel, and Jamaica on February 19, 2018 from a hoarding situation in Virginia. A University of Virginia student rescued these ducks and brought them to our sanctuary where they are thriving. This photo shows Reginald in the foreground, with Jewel and Daryl behind him. We had to place the female duck, Jamaica, in her own yard due to the three male ducks’ eagerness to mate with her nonstop. Now, they all converse through the wire fence and are in constant contact with each other and Jamaica is safe.

LALO



Photo by Davida G. Breier

Lalo the rooster lives with 4 brown hens: Jasmine, Rosemary, Maggie, and Lily. He is pictured here with sweet Rosemary, the smallest hen. We adopted Lalo on January 15, 2017 from a family who adored him but could not keep him because roosters are banned from their neighborhood. He’s a wonderful rooster, but as soon as he met his new hens, he became very protective toward them so we have to tread lightly in order to clean their house and yard each day – but we manage. When the photographer Davida Breier visited in April 2017 to photograph our birds, amazingly he allowed her to enter and take pictures of him and his hens without incident. He posed for the camera.

FRANKINCENSE



Photo by Davida G. Breier

On a dark afternoon in November 2002, Frankincense the peacock appeared voluntarily at our sanctuary, and he’s lived here ever since, meowing like a Cat of the Baskervilles, doing his amazing horn calls, and displaying his fabulous feathers to the unfazed chickens. Until September 2014, Frankincense perched high in our front-yard cedar trees each night, but during that summer, we enclosed our entire sanctuary yard inside a gigantic predator-proof aviary and, not wanting to exclude Frankincense and also wanting to protect him and have him with us, we lured him into the aviary with a trail of peanuts through the gate. He’s been a happy “prisoner” ever since, with plenty of room to roam all day, and he can still perch high at night but instead of a tree, it’s at the top of a tall coop next to our backdoor.

LORENZO, THE ROOSTER



Photo by Richard Cundari, May 21, 2014

Our adorable rooster, Lorenzo, was brought to our sanctuary in 2013 by caring people who said neighbors complained that he crowed too loud in their Raleigh, NC suburb. Living with us, Lorenzo can crow as loud and as often as he pleases! We love his exuberance and his sweet personality.

ANGELICA, THE HEN



Photo by Karen Davis

Angelica is one of the 5 Sentinel Angelica hens whom we adopted from a laboratory in Norfolk, Virginia in September 2013. Angelica and her sisters are frisky, friendly hens who love visitors and whose shyness quickly vanished once they arrived at our sanctuary and, for the first time in their lives, were let out of cages to walk on the ground, fly up to perches, and run around to their hearts’ content. They live with Marilyn the “game” hen, who welcomed them immediately, and Nicholas, the rooster, who adores them all.

MARILYN THE "COCKFIGHTING" HEN



Photo by Davida G. Breier

Marilyn is one of 56 lucky chickens whom we welcomed into our sanctuary in January 2009. They were rescued from a cockfighting operation in Olive Branch, Mississippi and trucked in individual boxes to our Virginia sanctuary over a two-day period. On Sunday morning, January 25, the truck pulled into our yard, and we carefully unloaded 54 hens and two roosters. They were wild with excitement, hunger and thirst as they ate and drank greedily, and met their new friends. We quickly built a spacious new enclosure – yard and house – especially for Marilyn and her “cockfighting” flock mates. They have lived happily together at UPC ever since, our Misses-sippi and Mr-sippi friends.

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