A heart for animals – Meet Flag Animal Farm’s Genevieve Chisholm

Be it syringe feeding a baby bird, gently talking to an abused horse or hugging an emu – Genevieve Chisholm is a 24-hour mom to her 1400 animals.

As she takes a seat for a hot cappuccino at Flag Animal Farm in Sheffield Beach, her friend Liquorice – the gentle goat – hops onto the table and sits down next to her.

“Oh Liquorice, aren’t you just gorgeous,” says Gen, as she is fondly known, giving him a good scratch and continues to drink her coffee.

The natural, down to earth and passionate Gen has been an advocate for Flag Animal Farm since her parents bought it 17 years ago.

“As a student, I would walk through the streets with these cheap black and white flyers begging people to come to the farm. On weekends, I used to stand at Lifestyle Spar, who allowed us to promote the farm, with a rat on my head encouraging people to come visit,” says the qualified environmental scientist who worked in the waste industry for eight years before taking over the farm with her husband Cameron six year ago.

“I run the farm with my heart. People are willing to drive to us from far and wide with rescues because they know they will have a good future here.”

Abandoned and rescued animals are dropped at the farm daily, which means Gen is constantly getting to know the new family members and learning to understand who they are.

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“I feel the aura of the animal and react to it. With a new horse for example I will sit for hours and watch them, waiting for them to come to me. I need to connect with the soul of the animal and understand them and let them accept me into their circle. I find the abused animals forgive quickly when they sense a kind hand.”

While she is sitting down casually, her eyes are racing around, checking that everyone is happy and most importantly that the animals are in a good space.

“I am always busy looking at what I can do. I call myself an iguana, because they have a third eye,” chuckles Gen, while watching the fresh veggies being prepared for the tortoises.

“I am very careful of the feed – we give fresh veggies and buy a truck load of pellets once a month directly from the factory. We have a winter and summer meal, with winter food being slightly more oily to make sure their coats stay lush and nourished in the dryer months.”

Her passion for every creature be it a prickly little hedgehog, fat and lazy pig or a rather scraggly emu is equal across all sizes and shapes and she has the same wish for them all.

“My greatest gift to a wild animal is freedom and it is my biggest wish to set my rescues free. Sometimes they come back, which is OK too because it is their choice.”

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