Animal Stories from All-Creatures.org




Our Magical Unicorn, Miss American Beauty Queen, Angelina Ballerina

From Gina Lynn, New Life Animal Sanctuary
Facebook posting, July 2022

We had braced ourselves to lose her since the very beginning but in the past few years, we occasionally joked that she was immortal. We like to think that she had such a great life here, she did not want to leave.

Angelina Pony

We will have a roundup of the amazing Let Freedom Ring celebration a bit later but we have some heartbreaking news to share first. The party was, unfortunately, quickly overshadowed by tragedy.
The dreaded day came that we had to say goodbye to our magical unicorn, Miss American Beauty Queen, Angelina Ballerina.

Angelina, then called Peaches, was 37 years old (already geriatric for a pony) and going blind when a place called The Science Center lost funding for their animal program and were forced to re-home all of their animals.

We were honored that they agreed to release 2 goats and 17 chickens to us. But they had already arranged for Peaches to go to an elementary school. Our founder begged them to let the old pony spend her final days here with us rather than at a school where she may be stressed and potentially mistreated. Here, she could just BE, for as long as she chose to stay on this earth. And that’s what she did.

The Science Center finally agreed and Peaches/Angelina arrived, along with the goats and chickens, 2 days before Christmas. That day, we all thought we’d have her for maybe 6 months or a year, maybe 2 if we were really lucky. This past December, it was SIX YEARS, making her now 43 years old. We were reeeeeally lucky.

Jane Goodall
Angelia Ballerina and Jane Goodall

We’d braced ourselves to lose her since the very beginning but in the past few years, we occasionally joked that she was immortal. We like to think that she had such a great life here, she did not want to leave.

She had gone completely blind by now and slowed down quite a bit. She no longer trekked all the way down to the far end of the property but spent most of her time hanging at the donkey gate, not far from her own stall. Oh the conversations they must’ve had.

In recent days, one of our guinea fowl had become very protective of Angelina. He would literally attack anyone who came anywhere near her and some of our volunteers have scratches and scars to prove it. We were all puzzled by this sudden change in behavior and in hindsight, we wonder if he was trying to tell us something.

Angelina and Friends...

As it turned out, Angelina had pneumonia, with abscesses all over her lungs, as well as some other internal issues and complications. Several volunteers were present yesterday and we had a long, hard conversation with the vet, who said Angelina was the oldest patient she’d ever had. Even if hospitalized, the chances of her coming home were not good.

It was decided among all of us that that would not be fair to her, especially at her age. She’d already far outlived all expectations and we agreed that it was kinder to let her go here, surrounded by people who loved her. We gave her strawberries and grapes, loved her up, and said our goodbyes.

Gina Lynn
Angelina with Gina Lynn, founder of New Life Animal Sanctuary

To know Angelina was to love her. She was pure magic. We know she’s touched many lives, volunteers and visitors alike, and we’re glad that she got to “see” many of those friends on Sunday. And got to devour a watermelon.

We are so incredibly grateful for every day, every moment, with our queen over these 6 1/2 years. She will live on in all of our hearts forever and always.

Rest well sweet Angelina… you surely earned it.  


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