AS HAPPY AS A PIG IN MUD!

City slicker Debbie ditched the corporate world to lavish all her love on rescued farm animals

- Michelle Meehan

Former high-flying Bondi businesswoman Debbie Pearce gave up her marketing career to realise her dream of creating a sanctuary where happy sheep and pigs are so affectionate that they come when called like dogs and cats.

Debbie swapped her heels for a pair of farm boots in 2014 to move with her partner Jamie Bedford 130km north from the shores of Bondi to a hillside at Laguna in the Hunter Valley – and build an animal sanctuary.

Aptly named Where Pigs Fly, it’s now home to more than 130 residents – from sheep, pigs and goats to cows, hens, horses, turkeys and donkeys. Most of the animals were rescued from situations of cruelty, abuse and neglect.

“I think one of the joys for me is the transformation that you see in an animal, seeing them either physically or emotionally repair,” Debbie says.

“If you treat them with kindness you get to see their individuality, which is what we are all about, showing people that farmed animals are no different to companion animals.