Welcome
to The Furrytale Farm. . .a place where old and unwanted
animals can come and live out their days in peace and comfort. . .a place where abused and abandoned animals can learn to
trust again and have a second chance at happily ever after. . .a place where neighs mingle with brays, where oinks are
truly squeals of delight, and where woofs are welcoming. . .a place where kids learn to respect and value animals and learn in turn to respect and value themselves.
Now in its tenth year of operation, the farm is currently home
to horses, mules, donkeys, goats, potbellied pigs, dogs, and cats. Tucked away in the middle of beautiful Bainbridge
Island, Washington, where few other than the neighbors know
it exists, half a dozen people are quietly making it happen
every day.
The
Furrytale Farm is a no-kill multi-species rescue facility that provides
its residents with sound nutrition, complete medical care,
and a comprehensive rehabilitation program. It features
open societies for the equines who frolic with one another
in their pastures, for the porcines who root happily side
by side in their yard, and for the canines, who play together,
eat together, sleep together, and share their home with
the farm’s founder, Suzannah Sloan.
It was Sloan’s
idea to end some of the misery and save part of the world
when she bought the eight-acre sheep farm in 1998 and turned
it into an animal sanctuary. Little did she know how much
larger her world would become than those eight acres, as
she now looks for both public and private funding to keep
the farm going and continue the rescue work.
It was also Sloan's concept to combine education with her rescue
and rehabilitation efforts. Believing that preventing
animal abuse is far preferable to treating it, the farm
currently runs a number of programs aimed at persuading children from all over the Puget Sound area that there are always alternatives to mistreating animals.
So far, results indicate that it's a win-win situation.
Each year, over one hundred animals are cared for at Furrytale. Each year, some three hundred children participate in the farm's unique programs.
There
are two kinds of animals that come to Furrytale. . .those
who can be cured, healed, rehabilitated, and adopted to
good homes, and those who can be cured, healed, rehabilitated,
but have no other place to go, and so stay at the farm for
the rest of their lives. Each has a face to remember, and
a story to tell. We invite you to meet some of them, hear
their stories, and then decide how you might be able to
help.
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