VINE Sanctuary News
In early 2000, Miriam Jones and I found a chicken in a ditch who had jumped or fallen from a truck headed to the slaughterhouse. We brought her home and grew attached to her. She seemed to like us too! We named her after my grandmother Mosselle.

And then she started crowing. I noticed that this led me to feel differently about my beloved bird friend, because all of the stereotypes about roosters were getting in the way. That started me thinking about the ways that people project our ideas about masculinity and femininity onto animals — and then use those projections as “evidence” that gender is natural!

Meanwhile, the bird we had renamed Viktor Frankl seemed lonely. We told the local humane society that we would take in any roadside birds found by other people, and it wasn’t long before two youngsters arrived. So young that they were still peeping Violet and Chickweed took turns sheltering under each other’s wings. Only the equivalent of an adolescent himself, Viktor stepped up to be their parent, thereby earning his status as a co-founder of the sanctuary. (Read more about Viktor’s heartwarming interactions with Violet and Chickweed here .)
In stepping up to be a caregiver, Viktor defied the stereotype of roosters as aggressors. So many other roosters at the sanctuary have subsequently stepped up to do the same:

  • Che risked his life protecting fellow escapees of a “broiler breeder” facility. Later, when disabled by the leg problems that strike so many of those big birds, Che regularly stretched out his giant wings to create a safe space for newly rescued youngsters to shelter within.

  • Charlie Parker was nurtured by Che as a youngster and then turned around to offer the same care to newcomers when he became a disabled elder himself.

  • Rocco, DeWayne, Cocoa Puff, One-Eyed Jack, and 20 other adult roosters flew in together to collectively school us on the means by which roosters in healthy flocks cooperate to keep the peace.

  • Turtle so gracefully guided his best friend through the yards that we didn’t even know she was blind until he died.


  • Mighty Mouse, a tiny rooster rescued from pool table cockfighting, repeatedly volunteered to adopt motherless chicks, most of whom grew to several times his size.


  • Sharkey a survivor of cockfighting, who joined forces with a Muscovy duck to co-parent a cast-away duckling, willingly sharing what had been his private coop with them.
The Rooster Project
Today, we are asking you to join these roosters in extending care to other birds. Because of stereotypes that both foster cockfighting and make it hard for roosters to find homes, roosters just like Mighty Mouse, Sharkey, and Heartbeat are euthanized by the hundreds every year. 

We need you to jump-start The Rooster Project , an initiative that will simultaneously increase the capacities of sanctuaries AND reduce rooster homelessness. (You can find FAQs about the project here .)

Here are some suggested amounts:

$10 will support one rescued rooster for one month and is also the minimum for you to count toward the 40 donors we need to earn a spot on the Global Giving platform.

$18 equals one dollar for each year we’ve been offering refuge to roosters.

$50 buys one “rooster rehab” crate to keep a bird rescued from cockfighting safe while he learns the skills needed to live peacefully with other birds.

$90 equals one dollar for each of the average of 90 roosters in residence at the sanctuary at any given time.

$120 covers basic care costs for one rooster for one year.

$240 equals ten dollars in memory of each member of the colorful flock of adult roosters who flew into the sanctuary one day to teach us the things we needed to know to devise a method of rehabilitating roosters used in cockfighting.

$500 covers all costs of an on-site technical training for a sanctuary that wants to take more roosters but needs help in figuring out how to do so.
The Continuing Crisis
Every single day, sanctuaries have to turn away roosters because there is no room for them. This continuing crisis is emotionally exhausting for sanctuaries and literally lethal for roosters. We need to solve the problem, we are ready to start as soon as the project is funded, and we have the expertise and experience to know what needs to be done. 

Here’s what other experts have to say about VINE and The Rooster Project:

“VINE Sanctuary is a premier haven for roosters who need lifelong responsible care and a strong, articulate voice on their behalf. VINE has taught countless rescuers that even roosters rescued from cockfighting can be rehabilitated to live peaceably once their traumas have been eased by these experts.” — Karen Davis , President, United Poultry Concerns

“I remember when I started at Farm Sanctuary that we had about half a dozen roosters and I was told we could not take more due to fighting. I then learned about the work that Eastern Shore (now VINE Sanctuary) was doing with roosters, from the more labor-intensive behavior modification to having just rooster groups, which I had never considered. Since then we have been able to have anywhere from 40 to over 100 roosters on site. Their work has allowed so many more roosters each year to find sanctuary and not perish just because they were born male.” — Susie Coston , National Shelter Director, Farm Sanctuary

“We wholeheartedly support this initiative by VINE. pattrice and her team have long been regarded as experts in the challenges of providing sanctuary to one of the most abused creatures— roosters. This project will make a world of difference in all sanctuaries’ ability to provide the best opportunities for roosters to thrive.” — Indra Lahiri , Founder, Indralocka Animal Sanctuary

By supporting The Rooster Project, you will be not only helping to save lives but also helping the sanctuary to stay solvent into the future. We are raising the funds for this project on Global Giving. We need $20,000 to fully fund the project, but we MUST raise at least $5,000 from at least 40 donors to earn a permanent spot on the Global Giving platform. As little as ten dollars from you can help us reach that goal.
If you prefer to donate by mail, you can send a check to the address below.
VINE Sanctuary, 158 Massey Road, Springfield, VT 05156
VINE (Veganism Is the Next Evolution, Inc.) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation (EIN 52-2248977)