About Us
Who We Are
We are a compassionate plant-based backyard rescue and microsanctuary for animals in need, specifically special needs animals.
Butterfly Valley Rescue & Sanctuary is our life. It is our family and the amazing souls that we provide care for on a daily basis at our home. Helping animals is the foundation of what we do each day, and everything we do (eat, sleep, and breathe) is to make their lives better and give them a chance to live. We are not open to the public but do let people visit by appointment. We are not a registered non-profit (501c3) at this time, but we do accept donations toward the care of these amazing animals which currently includes 11 special needs residents.
Our goal is to change the way animals are seen and
treated through education and interaction.
THE DETAILS
Who are the hoomans behind Butterfly Valley Rescue & Sanctuary?
Nikki and Brandon and our two amazing daughters Alex and Abi are behind all the happy, sad, crazy, wild, and amazing antics you see at Butterfly Valley Rescue & Sanctuary. We are not a big organization; we have a few friends that have volunteered to help us when needed but 99.9% of what you see is family. Nikki is a stay-at-home-mom due to a disability and is the primary caregiver for the animals and the one that makes all the magical miracles with these animals possible. Brandon works full-time in Healthcare in Infection Prevention. He helps with animal care, especially the heavy lifting, runs most of the social media accounts and is the in-house photographer. Alex and Abi are 14 and 11 years old and help with rescue life as much as they can between school and being kids.
How did Butterfly Valley Rescue & Sanctuary get started?
We have rescued and saved animals for many years as we are all avid animal lovers, but this crazy adventure really started in August of 2020 when we had an amazing little goat born here named Baby Jane (named after hooman mudder's mother who has passed away). Baby Jane was born with a cleft lip, wry face, and contracted tendons in her legs. Upon seeing her congenital deformities at birth, we called our vet, who told us she had a 50/50 chance to make it through the first night. We told her we would fight and do everything we could for this sweet little one. To make a long story short, Baby Jane lived much longer than the vet expected. She lived 10 weeks under the amazing care of her hooman mudder and had the best life any goat could ever imagine. Baby Jane went EVERYWHERE, and her story is what began our page. When Baby Jane passed peacefully on November 2, 2020, we were absolutely devastated, but we knew we had to keep her legacy going and help as many other animals as we could. Today, looking back, the last 2.5 years seem like a blur full of triumph and sorrow featuring some of the most amazing and sweetest animals we could've ever been blessed to help. Our biggest focus was always to help the special needs animals that need us most as we knew we had limited space. We are currently home to 11 special needs animals including amputees and those with other orthopedic issues, and those with congenital birth differences including a blind pig, deaf goat, a cleft lip/wry face goat, and a goat born with no back hooves.
️
Where are we located? Do we have a farm? Are we open to the public?
Our rescue and sanctuary, located in Louisville, KY, is what is known as a microsanctuary. We do not own a farm or large amount of land. We run our sanctuary right out of our backyard in a subdivision. This has allowed us do amazing community outreach and introduce these amazing animals to so many people that would've never even experienced goats, sheep, mini pigs, etc. We try to do a significant number of outreach events throughout the community and you never know where you might see us and our special animal pals next. We even set up each fall at a local haunted house to do outreach. Since the sanctuary is located at our home, it is not necessarily open to the public. However, we do try to host some open sanctuary days and events for people to come meet the animals and we do allow small groups to come meet the animals at times.
️
What is Butterfly Valley Rescue & Sanctuary's mission?
Our mission, first and foremost, is to provide our residents with a life filled with love and happiness while giving them the best care possible. Secondly, these animals help us show the world that different is beautiful and help us teach that our differences don't define us. There is something magical about meeting these amazing animals that changes people’s outlook.
️
Is Butterfly Valley Rescue & Sanctuary a registered non-profit or 501c3?
At this time, we are NOT a registered non-profit or 501c3 and you will notice that we do not state that we are anywhere on any of our social media pages or website. Our focus has always been and always will be the animals. There is significant cost and resources associated with becoming a 501c3. We have numerous conversations with accountants and others about the process and we just can't bring ourselves to spend that kind of extra money for that status. Unless an individual or business is making very large and significant donations, it usually would not affect their tax status regardless. The biggest thing that non-profit status would bring us is the ability to apply for grants. We do plan to become a 501c3 in the future, but we will do it when the time is right, and we know that won't take money away from our residents.
️
How can you help?
One of the most important things is to follow our social media accounts and like, comment, and share our content to help spread awareness of our amazing animal residents. If you would like to help financially, we do accept donations via PayPal, Venmo, and CashApp that go toward continued care of our animal residents including but not limited to vet care, food, shelter and more. You can donate directly to our vet to cover both routine and unexpected veterinary expenses, contact us for the information. You can send items from our Amazon Wishlist to our residents. These are items needed for their daily care and animal enrichment items. You can find all this information and more at https://linktr.ee/butterflyvalleyrescue.