Sanctuary Explains Why Their Rescues Still Wear Ear Tags

By Published On: 22 January 2015Last Updated: 23 January 2017

Have you ever wondered why sanctuaries don't remove livestock ear tags? Turns out sometimes they can't and it can vary from location to location as to why.

mino-valley-farm-sanctuary

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By KD Angle-Traegner, Founder & Editor

Have you ever seen a picture of commercial livestock with tags hanging from their ears? Have you seen them on the ears of animals who have been rescued and living at an animal sanctuary? Have you ever wondered why the sanctuary doesn’t remove them? I have. Turns out, sometimes they can’t and it can vary from location to location as to why.

Mino Valley Farm Sanctuary, located in Spain,

“There are no special laws in Spain for animal sanctuaries, so in order to be able to save and keep farm animals at all, we have to be registered as a farm. This means that we have to comply with the agricultural department legislations in our region of Spain. In order check for the prevalence of contagious diseases within the agricultural industry, all animals are required to be tagged and have their blood tested each year.”

Are there special laws in the United States for animal sanctuaries? Someone who knows should tell me in the comments because I’d like to know. It is gross that sanctuaries are forced to register themselves as farms when they couldn’t be more different. In fact, since sanctuaries rescues victims- give them medical treatment, food, and shelter for the rest of their lives, sanctuaries are doing a community service and deserve special laws. Caring for the animals in our world should be a community service and we should do it as a community.

Not surprisingly, this policy doesn’t and didn’t sit well with the sanctuary.

“When we started the sanctuary we resisted putting the tags in their ears, but the government warned us that if we didn’t comply that the animals would be taken away and killed, the sanctuary could be closed down, and we could be fined up to 120,000 Euros, leaving us with no choice. . .Across Spain we are working to try and change the legal status of farm animal sanctuaries, so that we do not have to comply with the same laws as the very farms we are saving animals from, but the situation is complicated and this is not going to happen overnight.”

Mino Valley believes in focusing on the positives in the work they do saying,

“There are so many awful things happening to animals around the world, and we like to think that the animals who are rescued by sanctuaries are the lucky ones who have been given the chance to have a new life, free from suffering and abuse. The fact that the animals have to wear an ear tag is of little consequence to them compared to what would have happened to them if we were unable to save them.”

And saving animals is what it’s all about.

Do you want to help sanctuary animals?

Do you want to help animals like the ones living at the sanctuary in this article? It’s as easy as logging onto social media and sharing an article that brings awareness to their cause- using social media is a great way to spotlight the great work that these sanctuaries do. If you’re able, check out the Sanctuary Wishlist for a list of items that sanctuaries desperately need donated. And if you’re not able, no worries. The How to Help Animals Guide has more than 25 ways to help animals and some of them won’t cost you a dime. Finally, the Sanctuary Database is a large database of animal sanctuaries all over the world. Plan a trip to an animal sanctuary near you and find out what your advocacy has made possible. Once you’ve been, you’ll never be the same.

3 Comments

  1. Elizabeth Saben March 27, 2020 at 4:21 pm - Reply

    It seems anytime a Democrat administration is involved, animal rights are almost always better respected.

    • Ryan T September 3, 2022 at 5:20 pm - Reply

      Why would you think that? It doesn’t matter who is in office. Every politicians gets donations from Big Ag.

  2. Halle March 4, 2015 at 9:14 pm - Reply

    Very interesting article. Definately something I want to read up on further

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HELLO! I'm KD Angle-Traegner.

Writer, activist, and founder of Four Urban Paws Sanctuary. I’m on a mission to help people live a vegan life. Read more about KD…

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