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Atlanta Journal Constitution: Family Farm An Animal Respite

[The Seniors for Seniors program at Joyous Acres in Milton gives older adults the chance to interact with the rescued animals.]

By: H. M. Cauley – For the AJC
March 4, 2023

TV news reporter Joy Nakrin has long known of her mother’s love of animals, horses in particular. In 2021, when Nakrin moved to Atlanta for a job, her family saw it as a chance to follow and fulfill a long-held goal.

“My mother, Teresita Lim King, has had this life-long dream to have a farm for rescue animals,” said Nakrin. “When I moved here, mom saw it as her opportunity to do that.”

Nakrin, her parents and an aunt moved onto a 21-acre Milton farm with three barns and dedicated it to animals in need of a home. Joyous Acres first welcomed horses, but the menagerie has since grown to include a pig, cats and dogs. It has six equines, including a former racehorse, an injured plow horse and a feral creature Nakrin found in a West Virginia shelter. The idea is to welcome animals whose owners can no longer care for them, and at the same time, brings attention to the plight of retired racehorses.

Atlanta Magazine: These Rescue Horses in Milton have two jobs: enjoy life and bond with seniors

At Joyous Acres in Milton, a rescue that started as a family pastime is bringing the healing power of animals to local elders

For most of his life, Geronimo pulled a plow in Pennsylvania Dutch country. But after an injury left him unable to work, the large black-and-white farm horse was consigned to the slaughterhouse, where his life would have ended had the Lim King-Nakrin family not stepped in.

Now Geronimo’s enjoying a different routine, which consists largely of eating fresh hay, running around a pasture, and nuzzling pockets for hidden treats. But on the days when residents from nearby retirement communities come to visit, Geronimo does have one extra job: hang out. “He just loves the seniors, and they love him,” says Teresita Lim King, one of the co-founders of Joyous Acres, a Milton nonprofit that brings seniors for therapeutic visits with rescue animals. “I’ve never met a horse as gentle as Geronimo.”

Geronimo is one of six horses living at the 21-acre animal rescue, which is also home to Humphrey the pig, Gertrude the pocket pit-bull, a gaggle of elderly dachshunds, and a rotating assembly of barn cats. The local deer aren’t officially part of Joyous Acres, but Lim King and her family feed them all the same. “The horses really get along with them,” she says.

At first, the animal rescue was simply a family passion project. But starting this past December, Joyous Acres began opening its gates to elderly senior center residents, who come for monthly therapeutic visits with the rescue animals. For Lim King and her family, it’s a way to give back to their community while giving their animals a second chance at a life well-lived.

A multi-generational love for animals

After retiring from medicine, Lim King and her husband, Andrew Nakrin, spent their life savings launching Joyous Acres. They run the rescue with their daughter, Joy Lim Nakrin, and Lim King’s sister Betty Lim King Cuyugan. Joy Lim Nakrin is a familiar face in Atlanta: she’s an anchor and legal expert for Atlanta News First, where she covers major legal news and trials. But growing up on a horse farm in North Carolina, she said, her first love was animals. “When I was seven or eight, I went to the shelter and got 13 cats,” Lim Nakrin recalls with a laugh. “Mom and I didn’t tell dad, we just put them in the tack room!”

That affinity for animals was hereditary. Lim King, who at 71 still has the vigorous energy of a teenager, grew up in the Philippines, where her family had a large menagerie of animals. She learned to ride horses while practicing rural gynecology and obstetrics in the Filipino mountains.

“You go to these women in labor, or who have cancer growths, in these areas where they don’t have doctors,” Lim King says. “So I’d get all my equipment—scalpels, anesthesia, everything—and ride up there on a horse.”

That job sparked a lifelong love for horses. She and Andrew Nakrin met in Illinois and later bought the horse farm in North Carolina where their daughter grew up. Nakrin, 71, who is soft-spoken with a playful sense of humor, says he quickly got used to living in a family of rescue enthusiasts. “It took some getting used to,” he says mildly, “But I love being with the animals.”

Work eventually took them to Massachusetts and away from horse farming, but Lim King dreamed of opening a horse rescue after the couple retired. They bought land in Dover, but their daughter pointed out that Massachusetts has snow on the ground four months a year and convinced them to move the operation south. With plenty of broadcast television work for Lim Nakrin in nearby Atlanta, the bucolic equestrian hamlet of Milton was a good fit; the family relocated in 2021, and Cuyugan joined them from North Carolina later that year.

The family lives in two houses on the property, while the horses have stables adjacent to pastureland. The property’s historic barn—featured in Robert Meyers’s Barns of Old Milton County—is rented out to boarder horses. The other animals live in the house with the Nakrim-Lim King family, including Humphrey the pig.

“He has his own dog bed!” says Lim King. Her daughter shakes her head, correcting her mother: “Actually, he has two.”

A herd of rescues

Though Lim King was intent on rescuing horses, Humphrey—who weighs nearly 200 pounds and escaped a hog farm—was the first animal to arrive at Joyous Acres, besides the dogs the family moved with. Their first horse was Bella, a senior Arabian mare, who Lim King rescued from the Save the Horses shelter in Cumming in July 2021. Difficult around other horses, Bella had been at the shelter for seven years, waiting for a permanent home; Lim King fell in love with her at first sight. Horse herds are matriarchal, so as the only female at Joyous Acres, Bella runs the show. “She actually gets along great with other horses—so long as they know she’s the boss!” Lim King says.

Since then, Joyous Acres has rescued five more horses from shelters and rescue organizations around the country. Lim Nakrin rescued Enduring Honor, a thoroughbred originally bred to race, from the grim racetrack-to-slaughterhouse pipeline. More than 7,500 race horses who fail to turn a profit for their owners are slaughtered in the U.S. each year, usually for dog food or human consumption in Asia or Europe. “They’re perfectly healthy, they’re just not fit for racing,” says Lim Nakrin.

After rescuing Enduring Honor, she pivoted him to show jumping: they’ve since won a slew of awards together, including 2022 champions in their category at the Georgia Hunter Jumper Association championship. Lim Nakrin has highlighted Enduring Honor’s success to encourage horse rescue and demonstrate that rescued horses can still dominate in competition. “He knows what it’s like to have a hard life,” she says. “Now we’re really bonded, and he’s so eager [to jump].”

Onaqui, a white Mustang, grew up wild on federal land before being rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management, which manages the population of wild horses and burros in Western states. The agency uses cash incentives to find permanent homes for the horses, but it’s a controversial policy: investigations have found that many buyers pocket the cash and then sell the horses to slaughterhouses. Onaqui landed first in Kentucky, where his owner was charged with animal cruelty, and then at a rescue in West Virginia. He came to Joyous Acres in August 2021, malnourished, blind in one eye, and too skittish to touch; two years later, he’s calm enough to let Lim King sit at his feet in the pasture and enjoys romping on the grounds with Enduring Honor.

Rounding out the group are Prince—a premium-stock show pony whose owner surrendered him when he refused to jump—and Johnny, a gray colt and newest addition to the family. As a juvenile, Johnny’s still got some rambunctious habits. “We think the deer taught Johnny how to jump the fence!” laughs Lim King.

“I remember Geronimo”

As the rescue grew, Cuyugan, Lim King’s sister, had the idea to welcome senior citizens to Joyous Acres. The retired sociology professor saw it as a seniors-helping-seniors opportunity: “After my husband passed away, I fell into a deep depression,” Cuyugan says. “But when I joined my sister on the rescue farm, the animals gave me new life. I wanted to share their healing power with other seniors.”

Cuyugan reached out to a few local retirement communities, and the first group arrived from Village Park Alpharetta in December 2022, followed by several other nearby centers. For visits, Joyous Acres sets up small tables in the backyard, adjacent to the pasture: Bella and Geronimo, the calmest horses, walk amongst the tables, where visitors can pet them, while the others stay behind the fence to be admired from afar. Gertrude, Humphrey, and the dachshunds also serve as therapeutic animals, gladly making themselves available for lap snuggles, pets, and ear scratches.

The response has been overwhelmingly positive, says Lim King. “Many of the ones who visit are from memory care, and when they come back, they remember the animals. “They know all their names. They’ll say, ‘I remember Geronimo!’”

Animal-assisted therapy can be hugely beneficial for elder adults: research has found spending time with animals can help reduce anxiety, encourage social interaction, and improve quality of life. Interacting with animals can be especially impactful for older adults with dementia or Alzheimer’s, with data showing a reduction in symptoms like depression and distress.

While Joyous Acres doesn’t offer a certified therapy program, simply welcoming seniors into their backyard to meet the animals is a positive experience for everyone, human and animals alike.

“It’s good for the animals, it’s good for [the seniors],” says Lim King. “The animals are giving back, and they are giving back to the animals.” Joyous Acres doesn’t charge for the visits, which has made it easier for groups to visit and benefit from the therapeutic interactions.

For her and her family, connecting their rescue animals with others in the community is part of why they founded Joyous Acres in the first place. “We wanted to give a voice to the voiceless,” Lim King says.

Plus, as a seniors-helping-seniors program, it’s keeping the Joyous Acres family active, too. Finished with her interview, Lim King got up and led her rescue herd back to the stables, five happy horses following behind. Her husband got up to go find Johnny, who had trotted off to the explore far fence, a mischievous gleam in his big brown eye.

ATLANTA NEWS FIRST: Rescue farm brings Joy to Atlanta Seniors

[This is a space where animals come to heal, but it is also a place where the animals get to create spaces of healing for other people.]
By Sawyer Buccy
Published: Mar. 23, 2023 at 6:53 PM EDT|Updated: Mar. 24, 2023 at 10:24 AM EDT

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – We get the love we give: that’s the motto of Joyous Acres, a Metro Atlanta program for seniors facing declining health that gets them interacting with rescue animals.

It’s produced some pretty remarkable results, too.

The property is maintained by Atlanta News First Anchor Joy Lim Nakrin and her family.

It opened in 2021.

It is a rescue farm, a place for the animals humans decided were too old, slow or out of shape. It’s a dream come true for Joy’s mother.

This is a space where animals come to heal, but it is also a place where the animals get to create spaces of healing for other people.

A group of seniors from Village Park Milton came to visit.

“It is wonderful! The whole atmosphere is wonderful. How could it be more beautiful!” one visitor said.

They will find value in animals others saw as disposable.

Andrew Nakrin, Joy’s father, said “Every morning I come into the barn and I say, ‘Good morning! Good morning! Hello! Hello!”

There are no rejects at Joyous Acres. There are second chances and success stories.

“We love them, they return the love…now we are sharing it with other seniors,” said Betty Lim King. “We do our little bit to make this world a better place.”

Milton Herald: Family Farm Rescues Animals, Gives Therapy to Elders

By AMBER PERRY–Apr 8, 2023

MILTON, Ga. — Sitting on their backyard patio, a family described their surrounding small rescue farm — Joyous Acres, a place seniors frequent to visit with about a dozen of its animals.

Teresita Lim King, who gives warm, hardy hugs upon meeting for the first time, realized her lifelong dream in 2021 when she moved from Boston with her husband Andrew Nakrin and daughter Joy Lim Nakrin. When Joy was young, Andrew promised Teresita that they would have a farm when they retire.

“I didn’t realize when you retire, you’re decrepit,” Teresita said, wearing shorts, a T-shirt and rain jacket for the anticipated rain.

Betty Lim King, 73, emphasized the condition of her sister’s hands, dirtied from a daily routine that begins at 3 a.m. with exercise. Andrew, who wasn’t feeling well on this particular day, joins Teresita in the barn to greet the horses in song a few hours later.

“My sister is very inspirational,” Betty said. “But she’s a pain in the [butt].”

Over time, the family accumulated 20-plus acres off Brittle Road in Milton to house animals left behind and rejected, using savings from Teresita’s career as a gynecologist and Andrew’s in anesthesiology.

They also rescued historic barns from development in the process, featured in Appen Media columnist Bob Meyers’ book, “Barns of Old Milton County.”

‘Seniors for Seniors’

A retired sociology professor, Betty spoke in broad, philosophical terms. Every so often, she dropped insight into what a fulfilled existence looks like, using Joyous Acres as a touchstone.

“We share a universe of meanings. So [Joyous Acres] will transcend all the human barriers of race, class, gender, politics, religion,” Betty said. “We share our humanity with one another through the power of animals — love, love…”

Wearing a sundress and sun hat, Betty described herself as a “pie in the sky.” She thinks of the ideas, while the rest of the family puts them in motion. It was her idea that the family share the farm with other seniors. The program started up in December.

But Betty said she’s realistic enough to know that humans have a “disorderly soul.”

“We want to get rid of whatever is inconvenient — disposable animals … the American society has become too materialistic, even in the horse industry,” Betty said. “It’s all about making money.”

[ Seniors from Village Park in Alpharetta visit with animals at Joyous Acres, as part of the family’s new “Seniors for Seniors” program. The program, run by and for seniors, helps those suffering from cognitive and physical decline. ]

JOY LIM NAKRIN/PROVIDED
With heavy consideration, Betty left city life to follow Teresita last July. After 44 years of marriage, Betty’s husband died in 2018, and she fell into a deep depression, struggling to find purpose. First, she looked to her role in the Asian American Commission. But the farm became Betty’s resolve.

“It’s such a happy place. The animals make me happy. I used to be so scared of the horses. Now, I scold them,” Betty said, gesturing and making noises. “Then, along the way you meet people … gives you purpose, you know.”

Around twice a month, the “Senior for Seniors” program invites residents from the Village Park Alpharetta retirement community to spend time with the animals.

While most of the seniors have significant memory loss, the family described moments when they return and recognize the animals. If some of the seniors are angry upon arrival, the family said the anger dissipates.

Teresita and Betty also meet the seniors where they’re at. They plan to visit again soon with the dogs, and they bought a trailer to transport their horse, Prince.

“[The seniors] become our friends, and we think about them,” Teresita said.

The animals at Joyous Acres are well cared for with healthy diets, natural medicine, the freedom to roam and massages.

“What’s good for us — it’s got to be good for them,” Teresita said.

Teresita puts hyaluronic acid in her drink every day — a supplement horses take for their joints. She also swears by milk thistle. The plant has helped Bella, the herd leader and the family’s first rescued horse, who has Cushing’s disease. It has also helped one 27-year-old dog.

Before Teresita migrated from the Philippines with Betty, she did rural medicine on horseback. That’s when she fell in love with horses. She later instilled that love into Joy, who grew up riding and returned to the sport when she moved to Milton.

There’s six horses — Bella, Prince, Geronimo, Onaqui, Johnny and Honor. There’s also a pig named Humphrey, who obliged Joy with tricks, a few small dogs and a couple of cats.

Most of the horses arrived at Joyous Acres with severe post-traumatic stress disorder. Onaqui, named after his suspected mountain home in Utah, had the worst case. He was born in the wild, rounded up then taken to an abusive home where his pasture mates starved to death.

But the family described a total transformation, from a horse with alarming behavioral quirks to one with a more even temperament. Onaqui, the “Lieutenant Stallion,” now acts as shepherd to the other horses. He also knows how to kiss — in the pasture, Teresita demonstrated with a piece of granola between her teeth.

Joy Lim Nakrin — **AMBER PERRY/APPEN MEDIA**Honor, Joy’s $2,500 rescue, began competing against imported warmbloods in under two years. He was adopted from Blue Bloods Thoroughbred Adoption and Placement, which pulls race industry rejects out of the slaughter pipeline. More than 7,500 former racing thoroughbreds are sent to slaughter from the United States each year, Joy said.

“One of the things I’ve been trying to do is kind of bridge the gap between the show world and the rescue world,” Joy said.

Last year, Honor won as the overall champion in the Green Hunter division at the Georgia Hunter Jumper Association Finals & Grand Finale.

Geronimo and Prince were hovering around the patio table, Prince sometimes warding off Geronimo — he’s known to be a bully. Prince is the first owner-surrendered horse, given away because he refused jumps and bucked a child off his back.

“They say he’s a very bad boy, but look, is that a bad boy?” Betty asked, pointing to Prince innocently sniffing around in the grass.

Alpharetta-Roswell Herald: Joyous Acres Cheers Alpharetta Seniors

: AMBER PERRY – Jan 2, 2024

[ Teresita Lim King, founder of the Milton rescue farm Joyous Acres, shows Bella to seniors Dec. 24 at Addington Place, an assisted living and memory care community in Alpharetta. ]

JOY LIM NAKRIN/PROVIDED

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Horses from Joyous Acres, a family-owned rescue farm in Milton, visited seniors Dec. 24 at Addington Place, an assisted living and memory care community in Alpharetta.

Joy Lim Nakrin, along with her 72-year-old parents, Teresita Lim King and Andrew Nakrin, and her 74-year-old aunt Betty Lim King run Joyous Acres.

Over the past year, the family has welcomed residents of Village Park, a retirement community in Alpharetta, to their 20-plus-acre farm off Brittle Road for pet therapy visits in their Seniors for Seniors program where elders share the healing power of animals with other seniors.

But, for the first time, the family transported horses to seniors who aren’t as mobile.

“They can’t come to our home, so we’re going to theirs,” said Betty, who founded the Seniors for Senior program. “That’s our next step. We find that we could have a better outreach that way.”

More than a dozen residents at Addington Place were able to interact with Geronimo and Bella, both dressed in their best festive attire.

Teresita, founder of Joyous Acres, said she always dreamed of having a farm for rescued animals, especially for the older animals who are overlooked but have a lot of love to give.

Bella is a 28-year-old Arabian mare, who had been passed over for adoption for seven years at Save the Horses shelter in Cumming before the family took her in. Geronimo, or Gerry, adopted from Second Chance Stables in North Carolina, is a former plow horse who had been dumped for slaughter.

ALL 0104 Joyous Acres Christmas (2).jpg — Andrew Nakrin, middle, and his sister-in-law Betty Lim King, right, speak with a resident of Addington Place Dec. 24 as they hold their rescue horse Geronimo.

JOY LIM NAKRIN/PROVIDED

Betty shared how the pair created a relaxing environment for the seniors at Addington Place, sparking spontaneity and funny conversation.

But, she also described the joy it brought her family.

“… They found it also very relaxing and therapeutic for themselves because they met other seniors. It was in a different environment,” Betty said. “And, I saw Andy just looking at us lovingly … and my sister, [Teresita], was just a riot.”

She placed her family’s work in the “circle of love.”

“Building community through our common love of animals … breaks down all the artificial human barriers — race, ethnicity, economic class, age, gender, politics, religion,” Betty said. “Makes us share our common humanity with each other.”

Kathleen Pantaleo, executive director of Addington Place of Alpharetta, called the session with Bella and Geronimo a success.

“Residents who attended the event thoroughly enjoyed the horses and have expressed their desire to either have them back at our community or to schedule a visit to the horse farm,” Pantaleo said.

She noted a number of health benefits to the interaction between animals and seniors, including increased physical activity, stress reduction, cognitive stimulation, enhanced social interaction, mood enhancement and a heightened sense of purpose.

“The companionship and therapeutic impact of animals are invaluable for the physical, emotional and social well-being of older individuals,” Pantaleo said.

The Proud Asian: a Flipino Family helps seniors, rescues animals

A Georgia Filipino American family is the driving force behind a senior therapy program that helps those suffering from cognitive and physical decline. Joyous Acres is a family-run animal rescue farm at a historic Milton equine facility. The farm is run primarily by seniors, with the help of rescue animals.

From www.TheProudAsian.com • News Tips? Reporter@TheProudAsian[.com]

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Milton Family Providing Forever Home to Unwanted Horses

[ Joy Lim Narkin with draft horse rescue, Geronimo and her mother, Teresita Lim King, with senior rescue horse, Arabella at Joyous Acres. (Courtesy Joy Narkin)]

By: Karen Huppertz for the AJC
Aug 10, 2023

Seven horses died at Churchill Downs ahead of the 2023 Kentucky Derby, according to several reports. Two of the horses were injured on race day and sadly euthanized.

Unfortunately, when racehorses are deemed too slow, too old or too unfit to earn a profit, they become one of thousands slaughtered annually. One family of Milton residents has created Joyous Acres, a loving home for unwanted horses and other rescued animals, including at least one race industry reject.

The 501(c)3 nonprofit, currently funded exclusively by the family’s savings, is fulfilling a childhood dream for Joy Nakrin’s mother. “Joyous Acres was my mother’s lifelong dream… to be a safe, loving forever home for animals in need,” said Nakrin.

Unlike large rescue shelters, Joyous Acres is not intended as a temporary stop for animals while they wait for a permanent home. They are the forever home. Horses require a lot of land. When they are abandoned or unwanted, there are very few places large enough to provide them with a safe place.

Currently home to six horses, the farm provides the same quality of care to its herd as expensive well-bred horses at boarding stables receive. Costs range between $500 to $3,000 per month/per horse to cover nutritional supplements, grain, hay, farrier (hoof) care and veterinary care.

In addition to the retired racehorse and a former plow horse, the farm is home to a majestic Mustang that was seized by authorities.

“Our Mustang came from a very abusive background. Due to his PTSD he was downright dangerous. Now he follows my mom around doing tricks like a puppy dog,” said Nakrin.

“It has been very therapeutic for my family to see these animals in need transform, to watch the neglected, sickly ones grow strong and healthy — to watch the fearful, traumatized ones become trusting and confident,” added Nakrin.

The horses are giving back as well. The farm’s Seniors for Seniors program, named after founders, Teresita Lim King (71), her husband, Andrew Nakrin (71) and her sister Betty Lim King Cuyugan (73), is partnering with local senior facilities to offer therapeutic interactions with the rescued horses.

The seniors interact gently with the horses and other animals on the farm. “The gentle interactions seem to help heal both the humans and the animals,” said Nakrin.

Aptly named, Joyous Acres is providing joyful connections to brighten the lives of senior humans and senior equine. Learn more about the program at https://joyousacres.org.

SAMPAN: Saving Animals one rescue at a time

The plight of mistreated animals might seem secondary for many of us. From the food we eat to the clothes we wear, our lives have always been inextricably linked with the animal kingdom. Then, when footage of horses needing to be rescued from Hurricane Ian’s ravages early last month flood our social media newsfeeds, we come to understand the sometimes devastating plight of animals whose only mistake was being born and raised in the wrong place at the wrong time. This reporter was fascinated by a recent story about a media personality (Joy Lim Nakrin) and her very personal involvement with helping to rescue horses (among other animals) and bring a sense of restorative justice to their lives as they leave a tough existence and enter a better one. Joy spoke with Sampan about her work and the ongoing issues of animal rescue.

SAMPAN: Many of our readers are first generation Americans like yourself working towards their American dream while balancing that with generational cultural expectations. Your story is compelling in that you earned your law degree from Duke and ended up as a reporter/media personality, Could you speak about your journey basically going from behind the scenes in the world of jurisprudence to reporting on it?

Joy: Like many traditional Chinese-Filipino families, my family encouraged, and frankly, expected me to pursue traditional career trajectories such as medicine or law. I had tried to pursue pre-med in college but had a terrible time in the sciences, earning less than impressive grades. Ultimately I majored in philosophy where by default I had the most course credits with the highest grades, as I had a natural draw towards reading, writing, and analytical thought. Of course, my pragmatic Asian American family recognized that a philosophy degree would not be very practical, and encouraged me to go to law school. As it exercises similar skill sets and points of interest, I decided to pursue my juris doctorate from Duke University School of Law and went on to become certified with the Massachusetts Bar. Despite barely practicing law, it’s one of the best decisions I have ever made. When I later decided to pursue journalism, it gave me extra credibility and a niche. Rather than feeling hindered because I did not have a journalism degree, I felt more valued because I had a highly coveted law degree and licensing to match. It’s one of the instances where traditional Asian American values concerning education really paid off. My mother always told me that if I studied hard and proved myself in school then opportunities would come, and she was right.

SAMPAN: Was there a singular moment in your past that first motivated you to rescue animals?

Joy: My mother is the original equestrian in the family, having done rural medicine on horseback in the Philippines. She put me on a horse for the first time at age 4, and always had animals in our lives. But my compassion for animals and all living creatures deepened during my more than three years living in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, as I began to explore the root influences of Asian cultures, including Buddhism. I learned about the Buddhist principles of interconnectedness between all living beings, and the duty to avoid harming any other living beings. During my time in Asia I transitioned to a mostly vegetarian diet, inspired by monks who avoid eating flesh so as not to harm other beings. With many soy based foods including tofu, and an array of spices and flavors, it was fairly easy to transition on Asian cuisine without feeling that I missed anything. I am now fully vegan, inspired not just by Buddhism but by many great social justice leaders including Gandhi, Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, and Angela Davis. For I realized that while I had spent many years standing up for justice, I had been paying for violence and oppression. I realized that peace started on my own plate. For me the first principle was to do no harm. Then later as resources and time allowed, my family and I were able to take in rescue animals that needed our help. Our compassion and investment grew until last year we purchased a large farm for rescue.

SAMPAN: In your travels around this country and around the world, what has most concerned you about the plight of neglected, abused, abandoned animals?

Joy: The correlation between the suffering of human beings and animals is most noteworthy. We have at least 1 billion people starving on the planet, yet we raise, feed and kill an estimated 60 to 80 billion farmed animals each year (which we subject to lives of torture and misery). Traveling to extremely impoverished countries such as Cambodia, this link becomes painfully clear. More than 80% of starving children live in countries where food is grown to feed animals in developed countries. By consuming animal flesh we are choosing to partake in this extreme injustice. We are choosing for fresh soy, wheat, corn and other plant-based products to be fed to animals instead of feeding starving humans. This means inevitable torture for the deprived humans, as well as for the animals who will ultimately be slaughtered.

As our population grows, this issue becomes increasingly more pressing. On 1 acre of land some 50,000 pounds of tomatoes, potatoes or other crops can be grown whereas only 250 pounds of beef can be raised. If we want to sustain our population, fighting starvation, deforestation, climate change, and animal abuse, we must transition to a more sustainable and humane plant based diet. Respect for animals, the planet, and each other is the only way forward. Our fates are inextricably intertwined.

SAMPAN: Could you tell us how and why you first got involved with T.I.P. (Thoroughbred Incentive Program)?

Joy: I moved to Georgia with my family last spring in part to pursue a job as a correspondent with COURT-TV. But part of the decision was driven by the life I knew my family and I could create there. With a shared love of animals, and interest in rescue, we purchased a farm where we began adopting horses, cats, and even a pig saved from slaughter, in addition to our six rescue dogs who moved with us from Boston. One of the horses we adopted, Enduring Honor, was a former racing thoroughbred. I took him in from a racetrack rescue, with the knowledge that some 7500 former racing thoroughbreds are sent to slaughter in the US annually when they fail to turn a profit in the revenue-driven racing industry. Though Honor was extremely skinny with broken hooves, and seemed to know little more than to gallop, he was a sweet curious soul. I began working with him daily, while nourishing his body. Each day he grew stronger, while at the same time learning new skills as a riding horse. I soon began jumping him over small obstacles and instantly recognized his natural interest and talent for it. As each day passed, we took on new challenges (which he eagerly met especially when rewarded with lots of carrots). Within about 9 months I took him to his first local show jumping competition, where we won the championship in the 2-foot division. As our team performance continued to progress, I began increasingly interested in taking on a national stage. I learned about the Thoroughbred Incentive Program national championships held in Aiken, South Carolina which I thought would be a perfect entree into the national scene as it specifically targets the thoroughbred breed, to encourage rehoming. As a teenager, I had competed in some of the top horse shows in the country including Madison Square Garden and Washington International horse show in DC, but never imagined a “throw away” rescue horse could go this far. Little did I know we would walk away from this competition as national champions!

SAMPAN: T.I.P. is very active throughout the United States and 6 Canadian provinces. Is there a chance this could spread worldwide? Are there comparable programs internationally?

Joy: I know there are similar initiatives in Europe, as there is a similar problem. I love that Thoroughbred Incentive Program focuses exclusively on thoroughbreds, a breed at high risk for slaughter due to the racing industry. Through its tailored competitions and rewards systems, it encourages the rehoming of these horses, often overlooked and stereotyped as hotheaded, wild, and unmanageable. While rehoming is a critical part of the solution, overbreeding is the root cause. That’s just one of the reasons why there are growing calls for thoroughbred racing reform or even abolishment.

SAMPAN: Is this a targeted crusade or a general commitment? Is it about inspiring others to follow you or motivating legislators and the public at large to think more about justice for animals?

Joy: I’d say this is a general commitment to encourage everyone to show compassion. I hope that each of us considers how our choices can impact the lives of others. While we don’t all have the ability to help, we almost always have the ability to avoid harm. One doesn’t need to adopt rescue animals to save lives. The simplest thing you can do to improve the lives of animals is to abstain from harm and withdraw your support from products which encourage cruelty… be it food, clothing, or even cosmetics.

SAMPAN: What’s next for Joy Lim Nakrin as a lawyer, television legal analyst, and animal activist? Will there be more animal sanctuaries?

Joy: As our animal rescue operation grows, we hope to share the healing impact of animals with the broader community. I have been privileged to witness how interacting with the animals has had such a therapeutic and healing effect on my family and friends, including seniors with disabilities. Petting an animal is proven to reduce stress, lower blood pressure, stir forgotten memories and even increase ability. This seems especially true when folks hear the inspiring stories of our rescue animals, some of whom have suffered extreme torture and abuse, yet have overcome fear to become loving individuals. Our goal is to develop a program to help other seniors enjoy the therapeutic benefits of interacting with our rescue animals.

More Coming Soon . . .

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