Goat sanctuary Read more Anton Klusener/ Staff Illustration/ Getty Images

by Jesse Bunch and Ximena Conde Published Aug. 1, 2025, 5:00 a.m. ET

When flames tore through a Montgomery County goat sanctuary in the spring, Sharon Mathers rushed to the scene, prepared to put her lengthy experience in animal rescue to good use.

Little could prepare her for what she found in the ashy remnants of the House of Wiggle farm.

“What I saw were animals eating animals,” said Mathers, a volunteer from a nearby farm who was one of the first to arrive at the Lansdale property. “The pigs were eating goats and pigs.”

In the remains of the sanctuary’s barn were piles of animal bones, Mathers observed, similar to the decayed remains scattered throughout the property. Elsewhere, chicken carc

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