At Kindness Ranch Animal Sanctuary in Hartville, Wyoming, John Ramer tends to a farm of dogs, cats, pigs, horses, sheep, goats, cows, and llamas rescued from testing facilities. All of them were slated for euthanasia — until Ramer convinced the research laboratories to give them a second chance.
“It’s so easy to be against something. I could tell everybody that I’m against euthanasia and that they need to change their ways to appease me, but that doesn’t get anything done,” Ramer, the executive director of Kindness Ranch, told Cowboy State Daily. “But then I have to figure out what I’m in favor of.”
“I’m for building relationships with these facilities and informing them that there’s alternatives to euthanasia,” he reasoned, “and we can do it while still objecting to the practice of animal testing, but finding the one thing we agree on, and that euthanasia isn’t required.”
The Kindness Ranch was first founded by Denver psychologist Dr. David Groobman in 2007.
Image via The Kindness Ranch
It was the first animal sanctuary of its kind to rehabilitate former research animals with the goal of eventually rehoming them.
“Since then, we’ve developed from rescuing 30 animals a year to recently surpassing 500 dogs and cats placed into private homes in a one-year period,” Ramer said.
As leading research animals, beagles are the ranch’s most common intake. When Cowboy State Daily visited the farm in early June, the team was preparing for the arrival of 47 more.
Farm supervisor Terri Brunner said, “We don’t focus on their past. … What we’re focusing on now is where their futures are, and we hope that we can provide them with a sound and comfortable and enriching life here at Kindness Ranch.”
To support The Kindness Ranch Animal Sanctuary, you can fulfill their animal wishlists on their website.
A version of this article originally appeared in the 2025 Dogs Edition of the Goodnewspaper.
Header image via The Kindness Ranch / Instagram
