<p>The <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_blank">coronavirus </a>pandemic has led millions of people to embrace meetings via Zoom, but admittedly, those can be as tedious as in-person conferences.</p>.<p>So one animal sanctuary in Canada, in dire need of cash after being forced to close to visitors, found a way to solve both problems.</p>.<p>Meet Buckwheat, a donkey at the Farmhouse Garden Animal Home, who is ready to inject some fun into your humdrum work-from-home office day -- for a price.</p>.<p><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/coronavirus-news-live-updates-over-359-lakh-have-recovered-from-covid-19-so-far-indias-tally-spikes-over-606-lakh-toll-at-17852-856206.html#1" target="_blank"><strong>For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here</strong></a></p>.<p>"Hello. We are crashing your meeting, we are crashing your meeting -- this is Buckwheat," says sanctuary volunteer Tim Fors, introducing the gray and white animal on a Zoom call.</p>.<p>In the video application's signature window panes, the call attendees offer some oohs and aahs as they realize what's happening -- and then erupt in laughter.</p>.<p>"Buckwheat is crashing people's meetings in order to make some money," Fors tells <em>AFP</em>.</p>.<p>"They donate to the sanctuary when they want her to crash a meeting, so it's mostly a fundraiser so we can feed the cows, especially during Covid-19."</p>.<p>The Farmhouse Garden Animal home in Uxbridge, about an hour's drive northeast of Toronto, used to rely on visitor donations and paid on-site activities to make ends meet.</p>.<p>But since the pandemic erupted in mid-March, the former cattle ranch can no longer welcome outsiders, putting a serious dent in its finances.</p>.<p>"About four years ago, Mike Lanigan, who is the farmer here -- he is a third-generation cattle farmer -- he had a change of heart and decided not to send his cows to slaughter anymore," Fors explains.</p>.<p>The animal sanctuary was born: it's now home to about 20 cows, chickens, ducks, a horse, and Buckwheat, the female donkey born 12 years ago.</p>.<p>With the pandemic threatening the sanctuary's survival, its leaders quickly realized they needed to identify other ways to bring in money.</p>.<p>They themselves were using Zoom calls for work -- and thus was born the idea of having animals sit in on people's work calls to lighten the mood.</p>.<p>On the sanctuary's website, interested parties can fill out a form to hire Buckwheat, Melody the horse or Victoria, whom Fors calls the "matriarch of the herd."</p>.<p>A 10-minute Zoom appearance costs CAN $75 (US $55). For double the time, the price shoots up to CAN $125, and $175 for 30 minutes, sanctuary co-founder Edith Barabash told Toronto Life magazine.</p>.<p>"We are always happy when the people at the meeting are surprised," says Fors.</p>.<p>"We started about the end of April, and I think we've done about 100 meetings and sometimes we are crashing meetings three or four times a day."</p>.<p>On one call, Fors tells attendees that he hopes they will visit the sanctuary once lockdown measures are lifted.</p>.<p>"Definitely," one of them says.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_blank">coronavirus </a>pandemic has led millions of people to embrace meetings via Zoom, but admittedly, those can be as tedious as in-person conferences.</p>.<p>So one animal sanctuary in Canada, in dire need of cash after being forced to close to visitors, found a way to solve both problems.</p>.<p>Meet Buckwheat, a donkey at the Farmhouse Garden Animal Home, who is ready to inject some fun into your humdrum work-from-home office day -- for a price.</p>.<p><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/coronavirus-news-live-updates-over-359-lakh-have-recovered-from-covid-19-so-far-indias-tally-spikes-over-606-lakh-toll-at-17852-856206.html#1" target="_blank"><strong>For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here</strong></a></p>.<p>"Hello. We are crashing your meeting, we are crashing your meeting -- this is Buckwheat," says sanctuary volunteer Tim Fors, introducing the gray and white animal on a Zoom call.</p>.<p>In the video application's signature window panes, the call attendees offer some oohs and aahs as they realize what's happening -- and then erupt in laughter.</p>.<p>"Buckwheat is crashing people's meetings in order to make some money," Fors tells <em>AFP</em>.</p>.<p>"They donate to the sanctuary when they want her to crash a meeting, so it's mostly a fundraiser so we can feed the cows, especially during Covid-19."</p>.<p>The Farmhouse Garden Animal home in Uxbridge, about an hour's drive northeast of Toronto, used to rely on visitor donations and paid on-site activities to make ends meet.</p>.<p>But since the pandemic erupted in mid-March, the former cattle ranch can no longer welcome outsiders, putting a serious dent in its finances.</p>.<p>"About four years ago, Mike Lanigan, who is the farmer here -- he is a third-generation cattle farmer -- he had a change of heart and decided not to send his cows to slaughter anymore," Fors explains.</p>.<p>The animal sanctuary was born: it's now home to about 20 cows, chickens, ducks, a horse, and Buckwheat, the female donkey born 12 years ago.</p>.<p>With the pandemic threatening the sanctuary's survival, its leaders quickly realized they needed to identify other ways to bring in money.</p>.<p>They themselves were using Zoom calls for work -- and thus was born the idea of having animals sit in on people's work calls to lighten the mood.</p>.<p>On the sanctuary's website, interested parties can fill out a form to hire Buckwheat, Melody the horse or Victoria, whom Fors calls the "matriarch of the herd."</p>.<p>A 10-minute Zoom appearance costs CAN $75 (US $55). For double the time, the price shoots up to CAN $125, and $175 for 30 minutes, sanctuary co-founder Edith Barabash told Toronto Life magazine.</p>.<p>"We are always happy when the people at the meeting are surprised," says Fors.</p>.<p>"We started about the end of April, and I think we've done about 100 meetings and sometimes we are crashing meetings three or four times a day."</p>.<p>On one call, Fors tells attendees that he hopes they will visit the sanctuary once lockdown measures are lifted.</p>.<p>"Definitely," one of them says.</p>