Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Israeli Farm Gives Disabled Animals A Second Chance

MOSHAV OLESH, Israel (Reuters) – Miri, a three-legged donkey, Gary, a sheep with leg braces, and Omer, a blind goat, munch on some hay at Israel’s only animal rescue and educational sanctuary.

Founded by animal rights activists Adit Romano, a 52-year-old former business executive, and Meital Ben Ari, 38, who used to work in tech, Freedom Farm serves as a refuge for mostly disabled animals and as an educational center for visitors.

“If you want people to open their hearts toward these animals, we have to bring them close,” said Romano, stroking two pigs named Yossi and Omri.

Most of the nearly 240 animals at the facility were raised for slaughter. Some were donated by farmers who chose to save them. Others, like Miri, who was found lying in a ditch with a broken leg, were abandoned.

After Miri’s rescue, her leg was amputated.

Ben Ari said children with special needs particularly enjoy tours of the farm and its 5 acres (2 hectares) of green pastures, stables and a barn in Moshav Olesh, an agricultural community in central Israel.

On a visit with her 84-year-old father, Shira Breuer, 56, said: “I’m worried about the future of humanity and this place sounds like a place of hope.”

The farm’s most recent addition is Nir, a five-month-old cow fitted with a prosthetic leg to replace one that was broken and then amputated.

Freedom Farm raised money for the artificial limb and medical care through an internet crowd funding campaign.

It costs about $1 million a year to run the farm, which relies on contributions and volunteer workers from Israel and abroad, including musicians – who come and play for the animals.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.