ARIN GREENWOOD
Exit
Cummings and Hoerauf opened
the sanctuary in 1996. The pair had
been renting a farmhouse dated to
the 1730s on the site — with Cummings commuting to D.C. to work
as a veterinary technician at the
National Zoo, and Hoerauf working
in printing — while the surrounding property was rented out to a
beef cattle farmer. The couple got
to know the animals. They developed relationships. Then one day
the slaughter truck arrived.
“It occurred to me that my next
hamburger could be one of my
friends,” is how Cummings described this development to The
Washington Post.
THE THIRD
METRIC
HUFFINGTON
11.17.13
Poplar Spring’s six
turkeys get their own table
— in a twist on the usual
Thanksgiving meal, visitors
feed them.”
Meat exited the diet, and, after a long talk with the property’s
owner, rescued farm animals replaced the beef cattle. Over time,
the land was donated by the couple’s landlord — the one who’d
once rented property to the farmer whose animals were destined to
be meat, and whose original lease,
somewhat ironically, prohibited
cats and dogs in the house.
“We didn’t have any cats and
dogs,” Cummings said. “We had
ducks and chickens.”
Hoerauf with
one of Poplar
Spring’s goats.