A zoo for rescued animals, beneath a Key West jail
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ม.ค. 2025
- The Monroe County Sheriff's Office Animal Farm, a small zoo on the grounds of a detention facility in Key West, was started by accident in the mid-1990s when word got out that the sheriff had rescued some ducks from a nearby road. Since then, many animals - abandoned, abused, confiscated or donated - have been brought to the farm, which is maintained by a small team of people incarcerated there. Correspondent Conor Knighton reports on a zoo that is making a difference in the lives of those incarcerated as well as the more than 100 animals currently residing there.
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This is what true rehabilitation is all about. You can’t lock people away in cement boxes and think they’re going to know how change.
Well it's quite telling that America has the highest rate of incarceration. 🙄
Thank you for allowing me to be in the interview and also both farmers to allow me to be a part of the farm. It definitely is a huge role that got me through me hard times. Animals are the best! Loved every part of this. Staff and inmates were all a great refresh to get out too. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of the interview and for people to see this great sanctuary.
Your welcome dabagman! Please do your best to not steal.
@@mr.iforgot3062 I don’t steal but keep up the words of wisdom tho!
Animals are fantastic and you guys took such great care of them. Thanks for that. Shut down the haters (like mriforgot3062 👆) and allow the animals to heal you. They really do have that to give.
Keep up the good work 🎉
Animals are the best, and so are the people who care about them. Good luck to you!
I hope that these men continue to work with animals when they are released from jail.
I was thinking this. It is giving them a new skill and would make them more employable at the plethora of animal parks throughout the state of FL or beyond.
Nah I been here seen and done it. They just gonna do it while in the joint. Everyone finds Jesus while locked up. The moment the outside world is back at their fingertips they cave in and go back to
That’s what’s so great about programs like this, whether it’s prison programs or extracurricular school activities, a person can always be exposed to something they didn’t even know they had a passion for if they’re given half the chance to engage in it-such as animal husbandry, music, or whatever the case may be. Actually, I’ve seen many documentaries on prison programs involving cat care, dog rescue, care of farm animals, zoo animals, etc., and many of the inmates were either scared of animals before, uninformed about them, or were maybe annoyed by them. Lol. Then they’re released and open a rescue or become a zookeeper.
These people are doing something RIGHT. God bless them all. From the top down.
Stories like this is why I love watching CBS Sunday morning . As someone that lives in Florida it’s good to see a great story like this. This would be awesome to see more jails do this if possible to make a difference in the lives of both inmates and also rescued animals.
Rescued animals and troubled humans can connect and help for each other. Great program.
This is absolutely WONDERFUL people doing something right for animals and human souls GREAT WORK
As a local here in Key West I tell you Jeanne is so knowledgeable, kind and the perfect fit for this position.
We consider Jeanne a regional treasure.
The inmates, for perhaps the first time in their lives, learn responsibility, reasoned cadence, and how to provide and accept love.
Our exceptional Sheriff, Rick Ramsey started the program and is extremely supportive of this community gem.
Love Laura
Jeanne is a real TREASURE for sure and I bless her compassion and caring nature.🥰
Bless Sheriff Ramsey too!👍🥰
She seems so lovely and kind and compassionate. You are lucky to have her! I'm certain she has made an impact on many, many lives. ❤❤❤
What a great program, and wonderful lady. It's refreshing to see a correctional facility's leaders be willing to try something like this. Good for the animals, the inmates, and the public.
I love people who care about our animal friends and find themselves becoming better humans because of it. I once lived in Florida and loved going to Key West, too.
Keep up the good work CBS Sunday Mornings, your positivity gives me hope and a relief from all the negative things that are always on the news.
Thank you to the guys helping the animals.
This should be done more often... its crazy to think that the inmates that get to participate in this program will look back and see that the best job they ever had in life was at one of the worst times in their lives....
Caring and love is the best rehab you can have ,she is doing a great job at both !
What an awesome program for the animals and the inmates!
This is wonderful! Animals have the ability to heal our hearts if we allow it. Blessed are the beasts!
Please, more encouraging stories like this👏
Awesome way that a fluke and lack of animal shelter evolved to this bimonthly zoo. Animals are beautiful ,exotic ambassadors for the betterment of mankind.
CBS Sunday Morning, This is amazing! I subscribed right away!
Beautiful story showing wonderful Humans helping Animals in trouble.🥺🐾👍🤗💓 This has ALWAYS been one of my favorite News programs & unfortunately channel 2 in Chicago doesn't always come in very well and I can't afford cable TV. Thank you for sharing this beautiful story!👍🐾🤗🥰
What a lovely person that lady is
Everyone needs a purpose, and putting your concerns on another being is the best way to better yourself, alleviate grief, and learn something.
I love this story and this place of hope ❤
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every city had a Zoo under their jail to help rehabilitate those who are low level offenders!
Fantastic idea. Good for the inmates and the critters they help care for. Instilling healthy morals, empathy, kindness and communication skills. Maybe other prisons could follow suit.
That was sweet, seeing Robert Velasquez after his release, coming to visit the animals again with his family. 😊
What a wonderful way to rehab. This sort of plan ought to be incorporated into jails and correctional facilities all over the country. Animals have a natural calming effect on us, and providing a non-threatening companion. We definitely need more of this.
GOD BLESS this Beautiful program. How healing and therapeutic for both.💚🐾
What a wonderful gift for these men, the animals and the public. Ma'am, you ARE making a difference. You are inspiring and a blessing. 😊
We need more programs like that
4:39 this is wonderful- ❤
what a great program for the inmates.
I loved seeing the guy who was once incarcerated there bringing his kids to show them the animals. You could tell how proud he was telling them the animals names and information about them. Perfect example of how this program is working.
It's good for children visiting the Zoo to developing good skills and knowledge about different kinds of animal's 😊
That's great. Maybe they can do work with the kitties at the Hemingway House too ❤
Thank you ❤God Bless you and your endeavors🤩
Perfect! This works on so many levels.
The ex-inmate who got to bring his family and show them what he did to fill his time in jail is awesome.
We NEED more stuff like this for prisons. A lot, (not all) …of prisoners can be rehabilitated, if given purpose and confidence. They are human, I think a lot of people forget that.
Animals make everything better ❤
Bravo! Well said! Many thanks for making a difference in the lives of the people and the animals!
Good humans did this ❤ Thank You 😊
Awesome, very beautiful, inspiring, moving. Thank you to all of you, humans and non humans!
This is great. Taking care of Animals are a great way to get people back on track
❤You deserve a Trillion likes ! 😃👍
Animals can heal people
Outstanding idea! Thank you for the "out of the box" concept!
That would make me want to go to jail and get assigned to animal duty!
So many of these people have seen and dealt with the brutality of humans. It must be therapeutic to deal with other beings for a while.
What a great program! Great idea!
I think animal centered programs should be implemented in more jails/prisons around the country, if not around the world. Incarcerated people often do community service as a part of their sentence, but for many it doesn’t feel like truly fulfilling work emotionally. But by working with animals, they get that emotional connection to what they’re doing and get to experience guilt free empathy and affection. Jackson Galaxy visited a prison with a foster program and it was amazing! Whether it be fostering dogs, cats, rabbits, reptiles, birds, etc. or caring for these exotic animals, it’s a mutually beneficial experience for all involved. And once the inmate is released, they have experience with that line of work and can possibly get jobs. They can also have a positive impact on their community to promote animal welfare. Great story, I hope we see more of it.
Awesome story. Love it!
pairing inmates with animal care is always a win/win situation. then training dogs is also great program!
There's a vid on this same place from years ago that I watch a few times a year, she was petting the same skunk... So amazing to see how much it's expanded and free tours!
Great story everyday benefit ❤❤❤❤❤❤
👍 What a great and beautiful idea! We should copy this to other prison program facilities! 🐦🐢🐖🐐
Thank you for the hard work 🤗
Awesome stuff.. God bless you guys. ❤💪❤
Life is wonderful !! A God blessing story
Thank you for covering story
Itd be awesome if they set it up as a work program ,to where they can leave jail and go to a job taking care of other animals in zoo's or something like that. Like an apprentice gig with a solid job opportunity and help with education so they can get the certification needed to continue it professionally. Alot of inmates would do better when released if they had hope when leaving and a chance to do better with a solid support system
Rehabilitation and restitution. Win, win.
Animal brings joys :)
"Yeah, Bonnie, you wanna do me a favor and open up the Yellow Pages and uh under the section for 'Correctional Facilities, Animals...'"
Awesome story!
This is true rehabilitation. We need a reform in our prison systems. If we implemented programs like this or other programs that teach them responsibility, gives them a job, empathy and helping others. This is really awesome
Maybe we should have this at every jail. It's great for the people and the animals.
That’s nice😊, glad to see something “refreshing” good job👍😊👍
I think that is awesome. It’s a win win for everybody and every animal. I can only pray that the inmates use this time to enjoy and look at what they can do and be when they get out. That there are better things in life. God bless them all. 🙏🙏🙏😇😇😇❤️❤️❤️
That is amazing!
All jails and prisons should have animals.
This is a wonderful idea
Hope they're safe in hurricanes.❤
MAN JUST A GREAT STORY .
Why don’t all prisons have zoo’s???
They might unite and rebel
Sad that low level nonviolent drug offenders are in prison to begin with.
Wonderful woman.
Love this!!!
Where this farm is?
Excellent ❤
Question: What happens with this zoo, animals, and inmates when a hurricane rolls by?
All Animals are moved into a different safe area depending how severe of a storm plays part as well and accompanied by one of the farmers. Inmates are moved to mainland, sometimes all the way up to Broward.
They should allow some violent crime people to do this too because just having a weapon on you or in the area at the time of the crime makes you violent even if you did not use it. Also, I think violent criminals need this too but probably start with a restorative justice program and then when that is completed they can work with animals because I saw in the cats/dog adopt program (s in the inmates make them adoptable) when there was a violent offenders they did not commit another violent crime after that some did commit smaller crimes but that was due to financial hardship. This is just based on what I have read about the data these programs put online. Oh I forgot to clarify some people (inmates) had past violent histories based on videos of them talking about but they are not in for a violent crime at that moment because most programs would not allow them to interact with a cat or dog if they were in for a violent crime.
What a story!!!
Wonderful💖
Fantastic!!
Brilliant idea! Very therapeutic for prisoners and gives them work to do . Vegetable gardens would be great too!
YES! I love this.
Awesome ❤😊
Great story.
Wow!😃what a great idea. It brings back the human side that drugs take away. Why not try this everywhere?
Wow
The zoo is the jail, for the animals.
Wonderful 👏👏👏
Even if they did not commit a crime they get to enjoy life still and the inmates get to learn how to take care of them also
This is great!
I wonder what would happen if the animals were human and we were the animals.
All zoos should be rescue sanctuaries.
Great idea!
LOVE THIS!
..... Animal Life's Matter 🐒🐺🐱🐴🐃🐫🐏🐓🐢 .....
Alright!❤
Probably hard to find cheap land for animal rescue in Key West.