Meet Valerie!

Valerie has been volunteering at Carroll’s every Thursday for the past year, and she is a favourite with all the residents because she’s the human with the extra treats!

Rain or shine, Valerie comes out every Thursday to help us with our delivery of fruit and veggies from the grocery store – even bringing her own rain poncho when the weather looks like it’s not going to cooperate. We absolutely love when Valerie is here and so do the residents! When asked why she chose to volunteer with us, Valerie said, “I picked Carrol’s because I wanted to feel like I was making a difference in the lives of rescued animals. I love being outdoors and working hands-on with animals, and Carrol’s felt like the perfect place to do that. I also felt that the sanctuary’s morals and values matched my own, and I wanted to be part of a community that truly cares about animal welfare.”

When up at the sanctuary, Valerie enjoys handing out snacks to the pigs and seeing their smiling, happy faces, and she loves learning each of their personalities and how they react to the snacks she offers. But it’s not just about the pigs! Recently, Valerie has made some duck friends, too.

“The ducks have never shown any interest in me”, says Valerie, “but one day, one of the smaller pigs was eating too quickly, so I broke up his food into smaller pieces for him, and then after a few weeks of this, while breaking up a hot cross bun, I noticed one of the ducks was very interested.” She offered the duck a small piece and they it took it so gently, and gave the cutest little tail feather wag. Then a second duck came over, bowed its head politely, and waited for a piece to be placed in front of them. Now, like clockwork, the pigs and ducks come out together when she gets there in the morning, all lining up for their treats! How lucky are they? How lucky are we???