The animals of the Refuge RR
Rose Gergely
Release date: November 8
Release time: 2:30 p.m.
Biography
Rose Gergely was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec and has loved animals since a young age. At the age of 11 shebecame aware of the horrific cruelty of the Canadian seal hunt and became active in raising awareness about it. It was also at this time that she stopped eating animals and adopted a vegetarian diet.
At age 13 she bought her own horse who was boarded in a riding facility but she soon discovered that many people had no love or respect for their horses and only used them for sport and profit, eventually discarding them, selling them or sending them to slaughter. She embraced veganism when she was 18 years old, and as her awareness of animal cruelty grew so did her passion and drive to help them.
Rose worked as a veterinary technician and purchased her own property in Ormstown, Quebec to rescue, rehabilitate and provide a permanent home for dozens of abused and neglected dogs, cats and rabbits. In 1988, Rose rescued her first farm animal, a baby lamb named Snowy who needed to be bottle-fed. Snowy paved the way for the founding of Refuge RR in 1990 when it became a registered charity.
Calls started to come in about old horses that people no longer wanted. They didn’t trust anyone else except her because they knew her love for animals was genuine. Soon the word spread, and Rose started getting many calls about different animals that needed help like horses from racetracks who were starving and freezing to death and abandoned and abused animals of all kinds.
Over the past 29 years Rose has rescued thousands of animals ranging from domestic, to equine, farm and wild animals. She is always finding loving homes to place abandoned animals and carefully chooses the right families and sanctuaries that will take the best care of them.
Refuge RR is Canada’s biggest animal sanctuary and is now home to over 250 animals. It is currently located in Alexandria, Ontario where Rose lives with her two children Matt and Shelby who help her with the daily work. Refuge RR receives no help from the government and relies entirely on donations to cover the tremendous costs.
Rose is considered a hero by many and is highly respected for dedicating her life to saving animals. She whole-heartedly believes that all lives matter and that every life is precious and should be saved, her level of compassion and love for animals is insurmountable.