A Day in the Life of a Surge Sanctuary Volunteer
Anji Chapman is a volunteer at the Surge Sanctuary. Anji lives in a house full of beautiful rescue animals and studies philosophy in her spare time. She is also a member of Lincolnshire Animal Save. Here, Anji takes us through what it’s like to be a volunteer, and what she has learned along the way.
I had heard about The Surge Sanctuary through social media and having moved to Nottingham, it was just around the corner from me. I never dared dream that I could be involved in it but, followed their growing family of rescue animals avidly. After a vigil with Derbyshire Animal Save, I was invited to visit the sanctuary and I was instantly hooked. I discovered that they needed volunteers and have been a volunteer ever since.
As soon as I arrive at the sanctuary, I am greeted by many happy inquisitive faces; always lots of noise and requests for attention. The pigs in particular are always keen to say hello and check if I have any treats for them. Daisy is the Queen of Treats and a very confident Queen at that.
The hardest thing for me has been that before the Avian flu, the turkeys were always the first to greet me. Harold, Berry and Frederick were the definite organisers of the whole sanctuary. Chatty and bossy, nothing that the volunteers did was unnoticed and unmonitored by this self-assured trio. Since the Avian flu they have had to be locked up and I am disheartened that even after being rescued to live freely, all of the birds at the sanctuary have had their lives limited by a disease caused by human selfishness and greed.
Although the main roles around the sanctuary are to clean the animals living and sleeping areas, it is equally important to spend time with each of them so that they know they are loved and safe. The winter is much harder physically than the summer, as many of the animals rely on hay as their main food rather than grass. The moving of hay and the sheer amount they need to eat takes up much of a volunteer’s time during the winter with the mud making that harder still. Whatever it is that I am doing, all the animals want to be involved. Matilda and her beautiful piglets are so full of mischief whilst their area is being cleaned. They love to steal the tools and knock the wheelbarrow over at every opportunity. Clean hay is an absolute delight to them and they enjoy playing with the hay and with me whilst I give it to them.
I have learned so much from the animals at Surge. The main thing that surprised me was that regardless of species, the only thing they will argue over is food. All of the animals accept each other as family with some preferring the company of a different species. Eric the sheep in particular is happiest when surrounded by pigs. Most of the turkeys, especially Rumpole, are very protective of their chicken friends.
All of the animals have such different personalities and preferences. Some are very confident whilst others take longer to trust a human. All of the pigs are very affectionate with Nigel enjoying a belly rub whenever it is offered. Kevyn can be grumpy but secretly loves to lie down for a belly rub too.
The herd of female cows have taken the longest for me to get close to. Patience and my sheer admiration for them has driven me to persevere. They are such beautiful and expressive personalities that you can almost feel their thoughts when you look into their eyes and when they rush to you for a nose boop. As I can only usually volunteer once a week, I actually miss them and cannot wait to see them when I arrive.
From as far back as I can remember, I disagreed with my parent’s teachings that eating animals was acceptable. I always believed that the life of every animal was just as valuable as my own. As a Londoner, I had only ever seen the animals that people commodify and ultimately murder for food when I had driven past them in fields. This had always made me very sad as I knew that they were suffering and that they were not valued as individuals with the potential to live happy lives.
Volunteering at The Surge sanctuary has changed my life and me as a person. I did not think it was possible for me to have any greater respect for animals than I already had but, watching these intelligent, sentient, emotional beings interact with each other and with me has given me the greatest pleasure I have ever experienced and has driven me to make the world see the capabilities, desires and family lives that these heavily abused species can have.
It does not take long as a volunteer to feel as though all the animals at The Surge Sanctuary are family. Family that deserve the best life we can give them and I am proud to be a part of what makes that possible.
Devon Docherty is a Surge Media intern and masters student in Human-Animal Interactions, working towards improving the lives of animals and humanity’s connection to them. Interested in psychology, rewilding and increasing the animal rights perspective in academia. Find Devon on LinkedIn.