Sometimes following your dreams leads you to a goat farm in New Jersey. For Leanne Lauricella leaving a successful career as a New York City event planner to become a goat farmer was the key to a fulfilled life. She traded in stilettos for gumboots and is happier than she’s ever been. Goats of Anarchy was born after Lauricella and her husband adopted a set of baby goats from Barnyard Sanctuary. They have since adopted countless other rescue goats, a couple pigs, some chickens, a mini-pony and a donkey.
The goats that Leanne adopts are all rescues; the original two, Petal and Ansel were rescued from a property that had over 150 emaciated animals. The animals were trapped in different rooms, living amongst dead animal bodies and without adequate food and water. She nursed Petal and Ansel back to health, feeding them, bonding with them, and eventually adopting them as part of their family. Petal and Ansel are inseparable, cuddling up to each other every night.
Lauricella has two books published on her goats, one is about her own personal story, Goats of Anarchy: One Woman’s Quest to Save the World One Goat At A Time and the other is a children’s book based on Polly, Polly and Her Duck Costume.
Goat prosthetics, wheelchairs and vet visits are the norm for Goats of Anarchy, however one particular patient was also provided with a duck costume. Polly is blind and suffers from neurological disorders including anxiety; she wears the costume any time she has an anxiety attack and immediately calms down to go to sleep.
Leanne was worried for the day that Polly would outgrow her therapy costume until she placed a new rescue, Pocket, down beside Polly during an attack. The results were immediate – Polly and Pocket snuggled calmly together. Pocket has deformed legs and a difficult time getting around, she’ll need almost $10,000 of prosthetics throughout her life. Every penny is worth it to Leanne, who hopes Pocket will continue to be Polly’s seeing-eye therapy goat.
Most of the baby goats that are rescued live inside of Lauricella’s house, they have their own cribs and were babysat by Piney the Pig until Piney got some new digs. Piney has since moved outdoors with his new friend, Winston.
On top of the 50+ goats, numerous chickens and two pigs, the little farm also has a donkey named Torres and a mini-pony named Romeo. Romeo has a bottomless appetite, eating anything in sight.
In a reaction against the rise of baby goat Yoga classes, Lauricella started Cruelty Free Goat Yoga classes at her farm. Leanne is opposed to the fashionable Goat Yoga trend; stating that the baby goats are taken from their mothers too early for the classes and eventually used for milk or to be slaughtered by the dairy farms. Her classes guarantee that the goats will live a cruelty-free life post workout at her farm.
If you want to support a New Jersey couple trying to make the world a little bit better by saving every goat they can, you can donate on their website. They give you the option of sponsoring one of the adorable farm animals or buying some of their goaty swag.
