Third grade student Sophia Rose really loves animals and wants to do everything she can to save them from being abused or neglected. As a vegetarian, she is concerned about the way animals are treated on factory farms, and loves to share her sympathy for farm animals with her classmates. So when Sophia's class decided to do a Flat Stanley Project, where students create 2 dimensional versions of themselves to send to people around the world and to learn about where they live, Sophia decided to send her 2D self, named Flat Rose, to Farm Sanctuary so that her fellow students could learn about the lives of farm animals.

During Flat Rose's visit to Farm Sanctuary's New York Shelter, she got to meet lots of farm animals - including Clarabell, a friendly goat who couldn't resist giving Flat Rose a little kiss on the cheek, and a pig named Ellen who likes to keep cool by rolling around in the mud! Clarabell was rescued from a petting zoo by a little girl who was concerned that her tiny goat friend was very sick and wasn't getting veterinary treatment. Ellen the pig was rescued along with her mom and six siblings by Farm Sanctuary from a dangerous flood in Iowa last summer.

Flat Rose also met a steer named Snickers who, despite his enormous size, is very sweet and gentle. And she learned about chickens who had been kept in cages so small that they couldn't even lie down comfortably or stretch their wings. Luckily, the rescued chickens, pigs, goats, cows, and other animals Flat Rose met at Farm Sanctuary are now very happy, healthy and have lots of room to roam around and play! And thanks to the real Sophia Rose's decision to send Flat Rose to visit Farm Sanctuary, her classmates all got a chance to learn how smart and amazing farm animals are.

Read Flat Rose's journal here.

Are you an Outstanding Animal Friend? Would you like to nominate a friend or relative? E-mail us and tell us about it! You or your friend may be featured as a future Outstanding Animal Friend!