Just outside of Hartville nestled in virtually the middle of nowhere rests the only sanctuary in the United States that takes in horses, pigs, sheep, cats and dogs that were used as research animals. The Kindness Ranch has been in existence since 2006 and has provided sanctuary to over 250 animals.
As we arrive, a handful of former lab Pigs line up to get treats from their handlers. Pigs are useful to researchers because they have a body mass and dental structure that resemble humans. They are used for bio-medical research and medical students will practice removing their hearts…installing pacemakers and then re-installing their hearts. While important for researchab, that activity can take a toll on the animals, but now things are better.
Kindness Ranch Manager Craig Boyd smiles and says the animals have a great life.
"The livestock are pretty much here forever, they will die of old age here hopefully. Most of the animals the livestock just roam free around the property, you know they have their little areas they love to hang out in. There is about a thousand acres of prime grass, so we have a lot of fat happy animals here."
Boyd has worked in the ranching industry most of his life and has a background as a vet tech, so he has a strong love for animals, especially horses. Many of the Kindness Ranch horses come from a lab in Canada.
"They were used for manufacturing Primaren which is a post-menopausal drug that women use. A lot of people don’t understand that Primaren actually means pregnant mare urine. So a lot of the horses we have here spent their lives pregnant, urinating in a bucket and they would use the urine to process the medication."
The livestock are pretty much here forever, they will die of old age here hopefully. Most of the animals the livestock just roam free around the property, you know they have their little areas they love to hang out in. There is about a thousand acres of prime grass, so we have a lot of fat happy animals here.
In the past, when researchers were done with the animals they were generally killed. The same fate faced race horses that had defects. Boyd says all of those horses now get to run free on the ranch property.
"The animals are in heaven. I mean very well taken care of and very well adjusted."
What they do adopt out to people are dogs and cats, Stephanie Bilbro oversees that side of things. As she shows me around the homes that house dogs, a number of Beagles race out to greet us. Many are barking as Bilbro explains that Beagles are the perfect lab animal.
"Because of their size they are pretty easy to handle, they don’t usually become aggressive with overhanding or when they’re stressed out or anything, they are easy to house and feed and all that stuff, so Beagles are usually a common breed they use in research."
They also have bigger dogs. The dogs and cats have undergone a lot of experiments in labs, such as flea and tick studies to nutrition research. Since they have lived in labs with little human contact, members of the Ranch staff live with the dogs and cats, so they can be prepared for adoption.
"A lot of people look at it as we get to play with cats and dogs all day and there is an element of that, but that’s what they need."
Cats are pretty easy to handle, but Bilbro says the dogs need some work. Remember, they’ve never lived in a home before.
"You know how to go in and out of the backdoor, how to use stairs, they’ve never seen a TV, they’ve never heard a blender turn on, they’ve never heard a doorbell, so those are all things that we are trying to get them used to on a daily basis, so when they go home everything is not new and scary."
Bilbro says that even though the dogs are older it’s a lot like training a puppy.
"They don’t know how to walk on a leash, they are not housebroken, you know the first time you give them a milk bone, or the first time you give them a soft treat, or a Kong and they go what is this?"
The goal is to get the animals adopted and they have a tremendous success rate, and since they have lived with the animals they know all their habits they can help the new owners get acclimated to the pet’s habits.
Tamra Brennan is the Kindness Ranch Director. A big part of her job is to raise money to keep the not for profit ranch running. That money comes from donors, grants, and foundations. But the favorite part of her job is getting notes from adopters.
"They send us updates with you know the dogs on the bed snuggling with their kids or their other kids and you were there when they were trying to walk the dog for the first time. That’s the reward."
For more information on the Kindness Ranch go to http://kindnessranch.org/.
