Animal sanctuary in dire need of winter feed
The director of a farm-animal sanctuary is asking Albertans to dig deep and donate money to help with a hay shortage threatening to leave animals hungry this winter.
Sandie Hucal runs the Free Spirit Sanctuary in Cochrane, where staff have rescued and rehabilitated dozens of horses, cows, sheep, goats and other animals.
Hucal said the sanctuary’s animals are rescued from “slaughter and neglect.” Free Spirit Sanctuary is also an advocate for Alberta’s wild horses, and Hucal said six “wildies” live on the property.
The animals rely on hay for feed through the winter. But Hucal said a dry summer, a cancelled deal to buy hay bales and a provincewide shortage have led to a need for feed.
“It basically has been an accumulation of events,” Hucal said. “The price of hay this year is just crazy. In 12 years of doing this, the prices have never been remotely this high.
“We had gotten, for this year, a pretty reasonable deal,” Hucal said of what she thought was an agreement to buy 80 bales of hay. When the seller informed her the supply had already been sold, Free Spirit Sanctuary went into emergency mode. “But now, here we are … trying to find hay in a market where there is not much out there.”
Hucal is asking for donations so she can buy feed for the animals. But not just any hay will do, she says. Because of the wide range of livestock, Hucal said she needs “horse-quality hay,” which is free of mould and rich in nutrients.
As little as $10 allows Free Spirit Sanctuary to feed two horses for one day. Larger donations in the $200 to $250 range could buy enough to feed the sanctuary ’s wild horses for a week or all of its cows for a month.
People looking to contribute to the hay drive can visit www.freespiritsanctuary.ca/donate. Hucal also has calendars featuring photos of the rescued animals available for purchase online and said all the proceeds go toward the hay fund.
And if any philanthropic animallovers feel like making a sizable donation, Hucal said she would take the generous benefactor on a tour of the sanctuary and introduce them to the animals.
“As we move into winter we generally don’t have much for visits … but, certainly, if there are larger donors, we can arrange a tour,” she said.