“There’s been this whole back-to-the-land movement and some people call themselves homesteaders or sustainably raising animals and they want to grow their own food in their back yards and that includes animals," Cummings said. "So there’s been a real increase in this over the last few years and we’ve seen more and more problems associated with it. They think that they are going to be able to cheaply raise animals for meat in this manner and it really ends up being an abusive situation for the animals because they don’t have the knowledge or the desire to do it properly.”

She describes a batch of chickens that recently arrived on the farm.

“They were purchased from a hatchery for somebody to raise in their backyard and the person had a change of heart at the last minute and didn’t even open the box that came in the regular mail from the hatchery,” she said. “Just literally threw the box out on the street in a busy intersection, and it was picked up by animal control.”

On this sunny day at the refuge, an assortment of birds -- among them roosters, turkeys and chickens -- roam free, take dust baths and sun themselves without any fear from humans.

Down the hill from the chickens, a special pair of pigs have found a safe haven here after arriving at the farm earlier this year.

“Emilia and Felix, they are very cute little Guinea Hogs who were being kept in a horrible place in Maine," Cummings said. "The owner had them in a wire cage where they had no shelter, no roof of any kind, and it was negative 10-degrees and they were kept without food or water…the owner just didn’t have the desire to spend the money to give them a proper shelter.”