For the fourth installment in our summer Microsanctuary Series, Hope has a conversation with Rebecca Moore, the founder of the Institute for Animal Happiness, a non-profit chicken rescue in Hudson Valley, New York. While working at large farmed animal sanctuaries for over 10 years, Rebecca found herself repeatedly bringing home chickens who required more special, individualized care, and realized there was a critical need for greater advocacy and education on behalf of chickens. Empowered by the Microsanctuary Movement, Rebecca turned a small rented backyard into a non-stop busy advocacy hub that is fiercely dedicated to a mission of care, activism, and change.

Rebecca shares her years of expertise caring for special needs birds and the innovative approaches she has created for their care and recovery. She also talks about the need to deconstruct the current sanctuary model that mimics a farm environment and the importance of letting the chickens themselves be seen, heard, and allowed to tell their individual stories. Rebecca explains how even someone of little means and few resources can rescue and offer care to animals in need.