As temperatures dip into negative numbers across the region this week, everyone outside is shuffling in big puffer coats, mittens and boots. But what about farm animals?
At Indraloka Animal Sanctuary in Dalton, even chickens wear little sweaters and booties to keep them cozy.
Cold temperatures can be dangerous for animals and the people who care for them. People buy waterproof shoes for their dogs when taking them for walks during the winter season, so we should do the same for our outdoor animals, argued Indraloka’s Founder and CEO Indra Lahiri.
“We have a lot of elderly animals because we keep them throughout their natural lives. So there's danger in even just ice, right for all of us, but especially many of us that are elderly, whether we're a cow or a human,” said Lahiri.
Lahiri listed ways Indraloka protects its animals during the winter months, like by letting animals graze in paddocks on cold mornings instead of venturing into ice-slicked meadows.
Like us, animals also burn more calories in the winter, so her staff feeds the animals extra hay, Lahiri added.
But part of taking care of farm animals like cows and pigs is realizing how their needs differ from ours. Most farm animals like cows and pigs rely on grass not only for nutrition, but for hydration. It’s counterintuitive, said Lahiri, but animals drink more water during the winter months.
Some animals also look extra snazzy in the cold.
Ryan Wenck, Indraloka’s animal care and facilities manager, showed off the sanctuary’s animals — and their outfits — on a frigid winter day.
Goats walk Indraloka’s meadows with coats in pink, grey and checkered red and green. Many won’t stay dressed for long.
“They think it's hilarious to walk up to each other and rip the velcro off. Amazingly the next day, three quarters of them aren't wearing coats because they took each other's coats off. So, we don't bother unless it's really cold,” said Wenck.
Wenck joined the sanctuary in 2021 and he said he’s watched it adapt to changing health concerns. He explained how Indraloka protects animals from avian flu, which is spreading across the United States.
Avian flu is a highly contagious virus that can kill an entire flock within a few days. There are no confirmed cases in backyard or commercial flocks in Pennsylvania, but the Pennsylvania Game Commission reported on Jan. 2 that it suspects bird flu killed 200 snow geese in the Allentown area.
Indraloka added quarantine areas to separate new birds from the sanctuary’s flock. All visitors sanitize their shoes in baths before entering the sanctuary and where birds are housed. Staff clean the wheels of vehicles as well.
Wenck boasted Indraloka never had any cases of the virus because they take strict precautions and prioritize animal health.
“We're more concentrated on the life of each individual bird, because they come here…to live out their lives, as opposed to, like, flock health…because we want them to live out their lives as happily as they can,” Wenck said.
The sanctuary, he added, also monitors who they allow to volunteer to limit the chances of infection. Volunteers who own or work with birds outside of Indraloka are generally not allowed inside of the sanctuary.
“[If] we've known them for a while, we allow it, but if, like, it's a newer volunteer, we just can't take their word for it until we get to know them,” said Wenck.
Indraloka’s background
Indraloka’s story starts with an "oink."
In the late '90s, Lahiri said she and a few rescuers were working to rehome 16 horses that had been owned by a man who died from a heart attack and hadn’t made plans for them — or his pig.
“All of these horse rescuers who were being so kind to the horses were joking about eating the pig. And then I was kind of shocked, y’know, at the whole thing, but I thought they were just kidding,” Lahiri said. “And then ... kind of near the end, when we had placed the horses, somebody said, ‘Well, I guess I'll take this pig over to the, y’know, the livestock market, see if we can sell them for slaughter.’”
She decided to take the pig herself and named him Pigmont.
After calling her vet for advice — she’d never taken care of a pig before — she said she was put in touch with a factory farm.
“And so when I entered, I could clearly see, having met only one pig in my life, that all of these pigs in this barn were insane. They were, you know, dull eyed. They were swaying back and forth. They were biting on the metal rods … And so I understood that what I had to do was change my focus immediately, because there were plenty of people that were rescuing dogs and horses, but nobody in those days was talking about farm animals,” Lahiri said.
Over time, she started taking care of more animals and opened Indraloka in 2005 after seeing the impact the animals had on kids.
Her animals changed too.
“Animals that were quite frightened when I brought them in became much more confident with love and attention from the kids. And a lot of the kids that came to me with, you know, not a lot of confidence, and all kinds of problems at home and everything else were really clearly, invisibly benefiting from their interactions with the animals,” said Lahiri. “So at that point, I recognized that it was a little selfish to try to keep the animals to myself.”
Indraloka expanded its services after moving to Dalton from Mehoopany in 2020. Besides providing a veterinary clinic for low-income households, nonprofits and shelters, Lahiri said they also provide educational and emotional growth opportunities through its ‘Compassion Classroom.’
Animals become the child’s teacher, said Lahiri, who said kids can learn STEAM skills at Indraloka. Often, teachers ask Indraloka staff to find animals who can teach their students a particular lesson.
“Sometimes it's a biology teacher and … they say, ‘Well, we want to talk about ecosystems.’ Or sometimes it's a health teacher who says, ‘I want to talk about self confidence, y’know.’ So, it's a variety of things, and what we do is we take them around to spend time with the animals, and we focus on whatever animals have a story that relates to the learning,” Lahiri said.
Lahiri also announced that Indraloka is starting a Resilient Counselors program this winter for mental health workers to help alleviate burnout.
For more information on Indraloka Animal Sanctuary and its services, visit their website.