Sponsorship can literally mean life or death. When an animal like Pugsley or Annie Mae arrives, they can use the same amount of financial resources as ten or more healthy pigs. This causes many sanctuaries to think twice before taking on a special needs animal--not because they don’t care but because their first obligation is to the animals they have already promised a forever home and the best of medical care. Every sponsorship helps free up precious resources to help those that require so much and the multitude of mouths needing to be fed and requiring routine care. This is truly the Gift of Life.

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		A chance encounter in July of 2004 alerted us that this large pig family’s home was being sold and that they were in grave danger. A visit confirmed the worst as it was found that the pigs subsisted on molded bakery goods and a few kernels of cracked corn. more...
		The pig in the middle is Topper. She is one of 15 from the Folley rescue of 84 still needing to be spayed. Medical studies reveal that an unspayed female pig has an 80% chance of developing reproductive tumors that will shorten her life or cost around $2,000 to treat. more...
		No bigger than a breadbox, Armie is one of 24 tiny pigs that were confiscated by animal control in North Carolina and slated for euthanasia. For a while it seemed that the best the potbellied pig community could offer was to send an experienced vet to help ease them as gently on their final journey. more...
		Of course, we help animals other than pigs when we can. We could not believe our eyes when we first saw Brittany. She had no hair on her body because she was covered in mange and she was so skinny she could hardly stand. Seven puppies with her also had mange and someone had thrown them out on a back road where the dog catcher picked them up. more...
		Diamond was purchased by a well-grandmother as a birthday gift. She was purchased from a pet store that cared nothing about her or what her fate would be after the sale. No instructions were given on the special needs of this precious little piglet. Soon she was overweight and unable to walk. more...
		Little Twinkle was found as a tiny piglet in Texas. He was following a donkey around. The rancher put him in a solid wooden round pen for training horses and there the little black pig spent the first year of his life--without any shelter. A kind woman saw him and made it her mission to get him a life with comany, shelter, cool water, and love. more...
		Whitt was terribly mutilated with his ears gone and large gashes over his entire body. Even his tail eventually dropped off and required additional surgery after his neuter. This old boy had surely been through hell and back. But as his body and soul healed, the most remarkable and gentle of souls began to emerge. more...
		Beaucephus was rescued by a farm hand who saw him on a pig farm as an orphaned piglet. He was so weak that he could not even stand up. Beaucephus was nursed back to health but then the farm hand was in an accident working on the farm. The owner refused to care for the pig while his worker was sick and said the pig had to leave. more...
		She is the mother of many of the most beautiful and gentle of the Folley rescue youngsters. How hard it must have been for her to have had her male babies taken from her and culled year after year. Eloise is one of the "Tribal Elders" but always full of fun and ready to explore and frolic with the best of them. more...
		Marilyn has weathered many storms. She was born with atropic rhinitis, a disease which severely deformed her sinuses. When we went to pick her up, Marilyn had well over 300 ticks on her and was so fat that she could not see. The kind woman who made arrangements to get her to us had no idea why she had never ventured out of her tiny pen in all those years. more...
		Wallace was an Easter present and lived in a backyard for six years. His owner went to feed him one winter evening and slipped and fell. The man who had loved Wallace for so many years was so injured that he had to leave his job Wallace lay alone in the backyard for months. No one noticed that he grew too fat to see, or hear, or even walk. more...
		Vinnie and Louie are known around Gallastar as the Mafia Brothers. Whenever they hear of an activity they are not invited to, they start making a ruckus that can cause folks in neighboring states to wonder what demons have been released upon them. They were rescued from being shot by a logger who found they were too much for him to handle back at his farm. more...
		Silver was found running loose in a neighborhood in Shipman, Virginia and was terrified as animal control caught him with a "catch pole." He was taken to the county dog pound where he waited for three weeks for someone one to come and save him. The floor was designed with a very slippery surface and Silver could not stand up. more...

The funds we receive from sponsorhips will support the animals in need on this page. Sponsorships of these animals are directed to Gallastar Equine Center, a 501 (c) (3) corporation registered in the state of Virginia. Gallastar incorporates a unique program using rescued animals to reach abused, neglected, at-risk, and disabled children. The lessons of perseverance and dedication to the wellbeing of others offer valuable life lessons that the children can understand and relate to. The stories of these valiant animals touch the lives of these children in a way that few other things can.