Suzannah Sloan struggles to keep the barn doors open at animal sanctuary.
Most of the dogs are quiet behind the chain link fence, but one runs back and forth, barking its head off.
“Trouble!” Suzannah Sloan admonishes the canine. “He’s named ‘Trouble’ for a very good reason.”
Sloan’s affection for the dog is plain – but then, she feels that way about all of her animals. And her north-island home, Furrytale Farms, may be the “beastly” version of heaven.
The 8-acre spread on Lovgreen Road was developed five years ago by cookbook author Sloan as a haven for unwanted pets and cast-off animals. Five horses, four donkeys, a pony, seven potbellied pigs and 10 dogs currently call the place home.
But the sanctuary, supported by proceeds from Sloan’s writing, is in danger of closing.
“The economy being what the economy is, I can no longer support it on my own,” she said.
While Sloan gets a break on property taxes because part of her land is held in a conservation easement overseen by the Bainbridge Island Land Trust, she still must find some $6,000 a year to support the operation. And, since she supports the farm with full-time writing, she has had to hire staff to help run the farm.
“It’s a little bit of a ‘Catch-22,’” she said.
She has applied for nonprofit status, but without immediate help, the farm will close before she can begin to apply for grants.
Sloan, brought up in New England and steeped in that region’s work ethic and individualism, finds it hard to admit she needs help to keep the doors open. But the alternative is not one she wants to contemplate.
“I don’t want to close this place down because, to tell you the truth, these animals have no place to go,” she said. “Animal Control would euthanize them.”
While her dogs often find homes within two weeks through a web site, larger animals are harder to place. And by the time most arrive at Furrytale, she said, “they’re not good for anyone else.”
Her charges come to her by word of mouth, or from local veterinarians; many arrive with a dramatic rescue story.
“Trouble” was the only surviving puppy of a litter left in a box at the roadside in Suquamish. Lady, a German shorthaired pointer mix, and her puppy Koko, were saved from a Belfair meth lab.
Beauty and Balo, both Bay thoroughbreds, came to Sloan when broken bones ended their racing careers.
The animals help each other heal, Sloan believes.
That’s why she never kennels her charges, but always lets them run free together in large, fenced areas.
“They rehabilitate each other a lot faster than I can,” Sloan said. “That’s why it’s a philosophical decision, to let them live here in an open society.”
The residents do seem to appreciate the freedom.
The horses gambol in the large fields.
Poking open the door to the potbellied pigs’ shed, the visitor is greeted with a chorus of contented-sounding grunts.
The pigs – unlikely-looking beasts, whose barrel-shaped midriff appears grafted directly onto tiny feet – are smart, friendly and clean.
“They’re adorable,” Sloan said. “If I didn’t own dogs, I’d have them in the house.”
The pigs, a fad a few years ago, were dumped by their owners when they became passe. A friend in the “sanctuary business” in Arlington has a herd of 300 abandoned by owners, Sloan says.
Dumping pets is an all-too-common practice, she said, even on Bainbridge.
Miss Holly, her third Bay thoroughbred, was found abandoned and starving in a local field.
“The family moved out and she was just left,” Sloan said. “I guess the reason I’m appalled is there’s no reason for it. It’s not necessary to mistreat an animal.”
It took Sloan a year to get the young horse back up to weight, increasing food by small increments until the horse had gained back 200 pounds.
“(With) large animals, if they come from abuse, you have to work with them a lot,” she said.
Sloan, who grew up in a suburb, and admits that her current life-style was nothing she ever envisioned, rescued her first animal 30 years ago.
She kept the shepherd-chow puppy she found playing with her dogs in her yard for a month before locating the owner.
Sloan turned over the dog housebroken and trained to sit, stay and heel.
But the reunion was hardly happy for the young dog, Sloan discovered, because the owner chained him to the front porch and “proceeded to kick him up and down the steps every time they came in or out.”
“I ‘liberated’ the dog one night, and he never left my side for 12 years,” she said.
Now she hopes to fulfill a commitment to her current charges.
“Balo went down with colic – and that’s something 18-year-old horses don’t survive,” she said. “I made him a deal: I told him he’d live happily ever after if he survived. So now I have to keep that promise.”
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Paws and hooves
Furrytale Farm, open weekends by appointment, hosts a special farm open house 1-4 p.m. March 7. Call 842-0397 or 842-1498 for more information. For a listing of Sloan’s dogs waiting for adoption, see “Animal Rescue Farm” at petfinders.com.
