100-Acre Georgia Farm Rescues Horses from Kill Pens While Bringing ‘Healing’ to People

Casey Montana founded WarAngel Farms after unsuccessfully trying to save a horse named Mr. Bojangles

NEED TO KNOW

• Casey Montana founded WarAngel Farms after unsuccessfully trying to save a horse named Mr. Bojangles
• The nonprofit welcomes volunteers completing community service, including veterans and people facing mental health challenges
• Many horses arrive from out-of-state kill pens with health issues, and some of its current rescues include a pregnant former racing quarter horse and a foal that arrived at just 5 days old

A Georgia horse rescue is working to save animals from slaughter — all while helping people fulfill their community service requirements and connect with animals.

WarAngel Farms in Canton, Ga., located about 40 miles outside of Atlanta, was founded by Casey Montana about 10 years ago, after she rescued a horse named Mr. Bojangles from a “kill pen,” which refers to holding pens where some horses are gathered after being bought at auction, oftentimes before being transported to slaughterhouses.

Although Montana did everything in her power to help Mr. Bojangles, he died just three months later.

“Couldn’t save him,” she told CBS Atlanta in an interview published on Thursday, Oct. 29. “Tried really hard. He was such a big part of my heart.”

Montana told the outlet that she decided to try again, attempting to save more horses that could have been slaughtered. The project eventually became WarAngel Farms, her 100-acre family farm.

“While some animals might end up in sanctuary, we plan to rescue and rehabilitate the animals we can, and adopt them out to approved forever homes!” the facility’s website reads.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit animal rescue, the farm also allows people needing to do community service — including people battling addiction, mental health challenges, veterans, people convicted of DUI offenses and more. Montana told the outlet that the work gives volunteers the chance to connect more deeply with animals.

“Our mission is to be good stewards of Gods animals here on earth,” the facility’s website reads. “To rescue, rehabilitate, and find forever homes for the animals that come into our care. We are a place of hope, healing, and second chances to people and animals.”

“It just brings healing to my heart and theirs,” Montana told CBS Atlanta.

According to Montana, the farm’s horses mostly come from kill pens in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, and many arrive with health problems.

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One horse, a foal named Birdie, was taken in alongside her mother at just five days old. She had respiratory and immune-system problems, Montana told the outlet, and had been born the night that her mother was taken to a kill pen.

Another horse, named Rumor, arrived pregnant and severely malnourished, she told CBS Atlanta, and farm staff later learned that she had been a racing quarter horse from a tattoo on her lip.

“It just shows you that any kind of horse can end up at a kill pen,” Montana said.

The farm is also home to goats, pigs, and donkeys. Ringo, the facility’s 80-pound African spurred tortoise who was rescued from New York, is also a beloved member of the WarAngel Farms family, she told the outlet.

“He’s so smart. He walks around with me,” Montana said. “I do put him in a wheelbarrow to bring him back because he’s like 80 pounds, so heavy.”

Speaking with CBS Atlanta, Montana shared that her father, a Vietnam Marine, was a major supporter of the farm and its mission, as he built its roads and fences.

“Because this was his heaven on earth,” she shared, telling the outlet that he taught her some of the most important lessons about farm life. “And I think he’d be proud to see how it’s grown.”