Animal Sanctuary and Family Crisis Support

We support community based assistance to families in crisis who need help caring for their pets through volunteer coordination, assistance with basic necessary animal expenses, and rehoming and transition assistance.

What we can provide:

· Grants for animal care expenses, such as veterinary care, food, rehoming expenses and volunteer pet care

· Network referrals for animal rescues, re-homing and sanctuary

· Network referrals for local community support addressing human needs

· Volunteer recruiting and coordination including mileage reimbursement to assist with animal care during the crisis

Advice and networking for community members who are helping friends in need.

We are a fiscally sponsored project of 501(c)(3) Chappy & Friends, thus donations are deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Click to donate now!

How we started this work

A friend of a friend reached out to me and a few other individuals for help re-homing her herd of mares as she is no longer able to care for them and doesn't have the means (physically or financially) to re-home them anymore. It is no secret that a horse breeding business is challenging work and as the economy evolved it is harder and harder to stay afloat. Add a personal health crisis to the problem and it can feel unsolvable if someone is facing it alone.

So a group of horse women stepped in to help her. We knew the road would be long and hard, and we kept our eyes on our commitment to the welfare of the horses. It has taken a team of dedicated volunteers to solve this problem, and we now see how challenging this can be. But keeping horses out of the auction pipeline saves them from a great deal of trauma and uncertainty and preserves spots in rescues to help other horses in the auction pipeline. To date half of the herd has safely made their way to new homes matched to each horse.

We have decided to extend our work to others in need on a case by case and capacity basis. We are working on building a network of organizations with similar missions to help improve the safety net for these animals and their humans.

Finally, we are hoping to build funding for a small sanctuary to home the elderly horses and other animals we cannot realistically rehome.

We hope you will support our work! If you are feeling especially generous, please consider supporting our animal welfare partners:

https://travellersrestfarmsanctuary.org/

Our Volunteers

Horse care team

Becki, Julie, Ryan, Lana, Jordan, Tucker and Carolyn are the current volunteers on our care team, helping an elderly horse owner in Maryland. The team is caring for the horses including providing feed, water, health monitoring and veterinary visit support. The team also assists with basic horse handling and assisting shippers when the horses find their new homes. Each volunteer is dedicating time and resources to help the horses.

Marketing team

Debi and Billie are helping find homes for the horses. Each situation is different, and for the herd we are currently helping it is critical to understand the market for the horses and screening potential homes to ensure they share our commitment to the welfare of the animals.

Community members like you

Our vision is to provide assistance where needed. These situations and people who need our help are identified through friend and family networks. Friends and family stepping in is how we got our start. There are many organizations that provide this kind of help. If you are aware of a family in need, currently helping someone or want to know how to help, please contact us!

❤️Bella❤️

Meet the horses

Bella

Bella is an aged mare who has Cushings Disease and Lyme Disease. Because of her conditions, she struggles to maintain muscle tone. Her owner could not afford to pay for her medications and care so we partnered with Traveller's Rest Farm Sanctuary to give her a safe landing. She is currently on medications for her conditions and on the rebound. Kindred Souls is her permanent foster home through Traveller's Rest Farm Horse Sanctuary, but we would like to make her our first permanent sanctuary horse and free up a spot at Traveller's Rest for another needy horse. Her care costs include:

medications, complete feed to help her maintain body weight, boarding expenses, veterinary care and farrier care.

Bella was very bonded to another mare in the herd dispersal, similarly aged and unlikely to find a home through traditional channels. We are fundraising to make her our second sanctuary horse and help meet Bella's social needs.

Meet the cats

Our current recipient was recently hospitalized, and we have added her cats to our care list. Eek, Dash, Minoit, Meep and Tuxy are currently under our care. We hope she will return home soon where she can be reunited with her cats!