Carla Heras, a volunteer at the Gaia animal sanctuary in Spain, carries a goose before a scheduled deworming treatment.

These rescued farm animals are getting a second chance at life

Photographs by Ana Palacios
Story by Kyle Almond, CNN
Published October 21, 2023

Carla Heras, a volunteer at the Gaia animal sanctuary in Spain, carries a goose before a scheduled deworming treatment.

Just a few days after she was born, Armonia the lamb was gravely injured.

Her mother had accidentally fallen on top of her, breaking the tibia on one of her hind legs. They lived in northern Spain, at an equestrian center that keeps sheep to help maintain the grounds.

Armonia’s owners weren’t able to care for her. But instead of giving up on the little one, euthanizing her or giving her to a slaughterhouse, they reached out to the Gaia animal sanctuary, which has been rescuing farm animals in the Catalonia region since 2012.

Armonia, a lamb rescued by the Gaia sanctuary, wears a cast on her broken leg.

A Gaia team led by co-founder Coque Fernandez Abellá made the two-hour drive to pick up Armonia, whose name means “harmony” in English. Fernandez Abellá insisted that they also adopt Armonia’s mother, to keep the family together. Then they went to get X-rays.

Ana Palacios, a photojournalist from Madrid, traveled with the Gaia team and watched the scene unfold. She remembers how Armonia’s mother would shout in the van while Armonia got her X-rays — and then immediately become quiet again once Armonia returned.

Palacios was also there when Fernandez Abellá made Armonia a cast and they began teaching her how to walk again. It wasn’t easy.

“She kept falling,” Palacios recalled. “She was only 5 days old. She couldn’t walk very well.”

Gaia workers tend to goats and sheep at the sanctuary in northern Spain.

Jessica Badosa de la Torre, a Gaia volunteer, pets Javi the pig.

But before long, Armonia would become another success story for Gaia, one of several Spanish sanctuaries that Palacios has been able to document over the past couple of years.

Gaia was the largest sanctuary Palacios visited, with around 500 animals that also include pigs, cows, chickens, goats and donkeys. She also visited El Hogar Animal (The Animal Home), another large sanctuary in Catalonia that has about 250 farm animals.

These sanctuaries take in animals that have been abused, abandoned or about to be sacrificed, giving them medical care, food, shelter and a chance to live out their natural lives.

“Some of them had never seen life outside of a cage. Or factories,” Palacios said. “When they get to (the sanctuaries), it’s crazy. They play with balls and toys. They interact with people so much. When I was there, they would come to me to pet them. It’s amazing how you can see they enjoy their freedom.”

Olivia Gomez, a worker at the Gaia sanctuary, treats Paola, a pig that was abandoned outside a farm when the rest of the pigs were taken to the slaughterhouse. Paola had a broken vertebra and was unable to move her hind legs, so it was impossible to get her in the truck. Gaia rescued her and rehabilitated her.

Ester Roca, a volunteer at the Eden Sanctuary in Mallorca, hugs Isabella the rabbit. Sanctuary founder Nicole Eden found Isabella in what she called a “house of horrors” where animals were squashed together in one place. She was able to rescue Isabella, two other rabbits and a pig.

Patri, a turkey suffering from a serious joint infection, rests in his crib at El Hogar Animal. The workers put special pillows, cushions and blankets around him to prevent bed sores. Because he couldn’t walk, they also made him a special swing so he could hang and stretch his legs.

Fernandez Abellá, a veterinarian, started Gaia along with Ismael López Dobarganes. They have the same tattoo on their arms, a cow and its calf, which became the sanctuary’s logo and symbolizes their commitment to veganism.

“In my opinion, being a vegan is not a lifestyle or a philosophy; it is simply a question of morality,” Fernandez Abellá told Palacios. “From an ethical perspective, we have a duty to become vegans. I’m from León, and when I was little I used to take part in the pig slaughter, which is a deeply rooted custom in that region. Now, when I’m with pigs, I can’t imagine how I could possibly have done that and I feel like I need to make up for it and devote my life to helping them.”

It’s a philosophy shared by many of the sanctuary workers that Palacios met, and she was struck by their love and devotion — the way they would relate to the animals and care for them, forming a strong bond.

Armonia, the lamb with a broken hind leg, is checked out at a veterinary clinic after she was rescued by the Gaia sanctuary.

Paola the pig arrived at Gaia with a broken vertebra and was unable to move her hind legs. Every day, sanctuary worker Olivia Gomez would treat Paola with physiotherapy and electrotherapy. Slowly but surely, Paola began to heal and regain mobility.

Patri the turkey had an incurable disease that left him unable to walk. But at El Hogar Animal, they were committed to giving him the best life possible. They put pregnancy pillows and blankets in his crib, and they made him a special swing so they could put him there and he could at least stretch his legs.

Gaia worker Marta Sampaio worked closely with hens after forming a bond with one named Estrela.

“I took her up to my room and looked after her every day,” Sampaio said. “She liked cuddling up to me in her sleep. … I didn’t realize this, but (hens) are very affectionate. Eventually, Estrela died. But, from that moment on, I was motivated to keep taking care of the hens. They get sick very easily because of the egg laying. They tend to have reproductive and respiratory problems.”

Coque Fernandez Abellá and Ismael López Dobarganes founded the Gaia sanctuary in 2012. They got the same tattoo of a cow and its calf.

José Dominguez is among many Gaia workers who, like the sanctuary’s founders, have tattoos showing their commitment to veganism. "Sometimes it's a tattoo of the first animal they saved,” photographer Ana Palacios said. “These people are so much into saving animals.”

"I got a chameleon tattoo because I love David Bowie, who is called ‘the chameleon,’ ” said Gaia volunteer Ana Segura Lenllon. “It is part of the set of animals that run along my left leg that I decided to fill it with nature. I also carry a pigeon, a sparrow, several butterflies, a dragonfly, a little mouse.”

When a sanctuary adopts a new animal, one of the first things they do is give it a name, Palacios said.

This is, of course, useful for identification purposes and tracking each animal’s progress. But here, it is much deeper and symbolic than that. They’re no longer just another farm animal. They’re a part of the family, a sentient being with a unique personality and a basic right to life.

Many of the animals are given names that are inspired by animal activists or famous people, such as actors, who are known for advocating for animal rights. At El Hogar Animal, they named one pig River for the late actor River Phoenix. Palacios has also seen animals named after musicians Morrissey and Paul McCartney as well as actress Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex.

Roca lets Reina the duck fly at the Eden Sanctuary in Mallorca. "Here I feel at home," she said.

Daga and Itak are the Gaia sanctuary’s oldest inhabitants. These two horses, a mother and son, were already on the estate before Gaia acquired and rented the 33 acres to set up the sanctuary. The horses had both been used for riding, and the sanctuary decided to keep them. When Palacios photographed them, they lived free in the forest inside the sanctuary.

Medical care can be quite expensive for the animals, and the sanctuaries that Palacios documents here — Gaia, El Hogar Animal and the Eden Sanctuary in Mallorca — all rely on private funding. They do not receive any public funds.

Gaia has hundreds of sponsors who help cover the sanctuary’s overhead expenses, which amount to about €30,000 ($31,643 US) a month, Palacios said.

At El Hogar Animal, which was founded in 2008 by Elena Tova, they have a cabin where everyday people can pay to visit and share the experience.

Some people have also been known to leave money to the sanctuaries when they die. But steady funding is always needed.

Pedro the cow arrived at Gaia when he was 3 weeks old. He lived among sheep for a few years before more cows arrived at the sanctuary. He became very fond of Olga, a lamb his age rescued at the same time, and they always stayed together. Every morning, when cows are taken out to eat, he stops by the sheep stable to see them eating their breakfast. He can stare at them for hours. Sometimes Olivia, one of the workers, has to lure him away from the spot with treats.

Most of the sanctuary workers who Palacios met are either vegan or vegetarian.

“Sharing the vegan philosophy is a very strong point we all have in common,” said Victoria Celedón, a long-term volunteer at El Hogar Animal. “Living together is sometimes easy, sometimes more complicated, never difficult or bad. We are always surrounded by good people who want to help and are very compassionate, empathetic, and aware.”

After photographing these sanctuaries, Palacios now adheres to a vegan diet herself.

“I see a steak and I just see all my friends lying there on that plate,” she said. “I just couldn’t see it the same way. ... We eat a lot of meat in Spain. Now it’s just corpses to me on a plate. It changed my perception completely.”

Workers from El Hogar Animal live together and are united by a common cause.

A cat rests on an anti-bullfighting poster at the Eden Sanctuary. “I go to bullfighting protests with two messages,” Eden said. “One for those attending the fight, the other for those attending the protest. There are those among us who protest bullfighting, but consume animal products. This is such a perfect example of the huge disconnect we have.”

Palacios hasn’t been back to the Gaia sanctuary recently, but she’s always checking it out on social media and looking for updates on Armonia.

“She’s fantastic now,” Palacios said. “She’s still there and her mother, Tecla, is there.”

Because Armonia’s rescue was the first rescue she was able to witness firsthand, Palacios says she feels almost like a godmother to the sheep. When she learned a fellow photographer was visiting recently, she had a special request: “I was like, please take a picture of Armonia! And sometimes when I contact Coque, I ask, how is she?”

Palacios also named one of her photo exhibits after Armonia, to symbolize the harmony that these sanctuaries are striving for.

“I’ve never seen so much commitment,” she said. “It’s amazing the way all these volunteers commit.”