A Nurse with a Goat Rescue
Ruby Slipper Goat Rescue was created by Lisa Thompson, a nurse, in a small town in Kansas.
I worked as a registered nurse in a rural community in Northeast Kansas for over 25 years in the small town where I was born. Starting out as a surgical nurse in 1992, I worked throughout the years in many areas of nursing from labor and delivery to hospice and everything in between. My passion and knowledge of caring for people and my deep compassion for animals led me to create a nonprofit rescue and sanctuary for goats in 2016. This was also the time in my life when I knew that my work as a bedside nurse needed to change. I began working as a remote nurse which allowed more time to devote to the animals. I did not have much knowledge of goats before
this, but began learning everything I could about caring for them. This led me to follow many animal sanctuaries on social media. I realized that there were many disabled goats needing help. There are such limited options for disabled animals and I knew that I needed to do whatever I could to help.
My journey with disabled goats really took off after Leanne from Goats of Anarchy contacted me about a 3 month old goat near me with swollen knees. I had rescued other sick goats before, but was not experienced with one who might require a wheelchair. I was so scared. I didn’t know if I was set up to be able to care for a goat with this type of disability. Leanne gave me confidence and shared her knowledge. She helped me raise funds to get a wheelchair for this little goat.
I picked up this little 3 month old goat on March 17, 2018. I was never so shocked as I was when a young girl handed me a small cardboard box with this sick, terribly broken little soul with the biggest eyes looking up at me. I had no idea that this goat would be in such bad shape. (I have since learned that this is the case with every rescued goat; they are always worse than expected) I named this little soul Mona and I couldn’t help but cry looking at her. I couldn’t stop crying. I did not see how she could survive. She was in pain, starved, her back legs broken, her pelvis crushed, and front legs both contracted with knees as big as tennis balls.
She was 3 months old and weighed only 8 pounds. Her horns were not growing. There is so much more to Mona’s story! She became a living miracle. With a lot of love and care, Mona has completely recovered.
Mona paved the way for Ruby Slipper Goat Rescue to be a sanctuary for many other disabled goats in need of a lifetime of love. After Mona’s rescue came Maddie, Maggie, Molly, Dorothy, Pearl, Patrick, Buttercup, Andy, Holly, Mateo, Pixie and Sam. There were a number of other disabled goats who received much needed care at Ruby Slipper Goat Rescue prior to going to other sanctuaries. Each of these goats came with severe disabilities and, without love and care, would not have lived.
They are all living such happy lives now with everything they need. While some of these disabled goats have passed away, leaving huge holes in my heart, they all knew love for as long as they were here.
