By Katherine Hatcher | Staff Writer
One can hear the calls of roosters and boisterous goats, the peaceful sounds of nature which serve as a warm welcome when walking into China Spring’s Cloven Heart Farm Sanctuary.
Their Art in the Barnyard event encouraged guests’ creative expression as they painted on canvases under trees and enjoyed being around the various farm animals from 9:30-11:30 a.m. on Saturday.
Cloven Heart is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to restore health to and foster a wonderful life and home for abused and neglected farm animals and create a compassionate community that inspires change in animal welfare.
The farm sanctuary’s Founder and Executive Director Tab Sabre said that Cloven Heart has many different events where people can engage with the animals in a beautiful and creative way, so that people can understand what it means to truly respect animals.
In addition to the Art in the Barnyard event, the sanctuary also hosts online silent auctions to raise funds and awareness, Donkey Cuddles with Willow, Outdoor Om — yoga with the animals — and more.
“Compassion and respect for animals — it’s a harsh truth that there is no such thing as humane slaughter,” Sabre said. “We just want to show off the animals as who they are.”
Director of Operations Davy Divine agreed with her daughter, Sabre. She said that after their 2016 move from Honolulu and purchasing their land, the two women decided that they wanted to fill the space with a bunch of animals, or “their kids,” as they call them.
“We’re all drawn to one purpose or another, and mine was to help animals in need,” Divine said.
Although it’s easy for some people to see farm animals differently than house pets, Divine said that Cloven Heart treats all their animals with the same respect as pets and often adopts farm animals since many people don’t want to.
“Those types of animals, just like dogs and cats — domestic animals — do get abused and do get neglected and do get abandoned,” Divine said. “I think that’s something that people need to be more aware of.”
According to Sabre, some people see their mission as only serving animals, but she said that they also offer people experiences with opportunities to be with the animals.
“It’s a win-win situation,” Sabre said. “People leave here feeling lighter. People leave here feeling like they’ve had therapy.”
This is true for Cloven Heart’s yoga instructor, Kaylyn Muscarello. Muscarello said she knew she wanted to start working with the sanctuary after her training emphasized joining a community that is compassionate and nonviolent.
Additionally, she said that while she researched where she wanted to work, she watched many heavy documentaries about animal slaughter and cruelty.
“I’m getting something out of it too, in the sense that it’s been so traumatizing for me to watch all those videos,” Muscarello said. “But just being here with them is so peaceful.”
As they’ve gained much more popularity in the past few years on social media and with their events, Sabre said they have people traveling from outside of Waco, including from Austin and Killeen.
Welcoming to all, Sabre hopes Cloven Heart can become even more of a cornerstone for China Spring with their events. She said she wants people to take time out of their day to visit their sanctuary.
“I think everybody has overwhelming, stressful lives that they lead; [they] get bogged down, but coming out here and doing something different, getting to meet these animals — it’s something totally satisfying,” Sabre said.
