Good News Notes:

“On 8 acres of farmland north of the Pardon Gray Preserve, alpacas roam with donkeys and miniature horses, chickens mingle with turkeys, and a pig called Jack accompanies visitors on their tour of the property.

Call it a Peaceable Kingdom.

Wendy Taylor calls it theWest Place Animal Sanctuary, home to roughly 100 farm animals who were neglected, abandoned or abused in their former lives.

Now in its 15th year, West Place has a storybook feel. Animals roam freely throughout the property. The pigs, Jack and Diane, root among the chickens while a lone turkey fans his feathers in a full display and pecks at a visitor’s ankles.

The sanctuary grew out of a devastating loss. In 2003, Taylor‘s house on West Main Road was destroyed by a fire that killed all nine of her pets. That led Taylor, who was a lawyer, to reevaluate her life. Three years later, she founded the animal sanctuary, which she ran as a one-woman show until a couple of years ago.

“I had to do something to balance the scales,” she said.

Although Taylor owned two goats, she was decidedly not a farmer.

“I lost dogs and cats,” she said. “Emotionally, I couldn’t rescue dogs and cats again. With farm animals, I saw there was a need. No one was doing it.”

Taylor has come to love farm animals in the same way she loves domestic animals.

“They are just as sentient, just as intelligent, just as inquisitive as dogs and cats,” she said. “They need humans and we need them.”

Each animal on the farm has a story, some more heartbreaking than others.

Tat the turkey was rescued right before Thanksgiving after he slipped and broke his wing, which had to be amputated.

The two donkeys were on their way to a kill shelter in Texas….”

View the whole story here: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/humans-heres-why-ri-woman-145621178.html