West Place Animal Sanctuary hoping to grow, ready to welcome guests for Fall Visitors weekend

TIVERTON, R.I. (WLNE) — One of the largest farm sanctuaries in the state is set to open its doors for the community to meet their newest resident, an Emu named Clover.

For the last seventeen years, Wendy Taylor has run the West Place Animal Sanctuary, helping farm animals recover from cruelty, neglect, and abuse, giving them a chance to rehabilitate.

“There are a lot of shelters out there, and a lot of resources for dogs and cats that need to be rescued. But there was really a gap in the coverage so we decided that we would start serving the underrepresented populations of farm animals,” she told ABC6.

Before the sanctuary, Taylor had a litany of pets; including dogs, cats, and even a goat.

“I had an actual job, I was a medical malpractice defense attorney in Providence. And I was on my way to work one day and my secretary called and told me that my house had caught on fire,” she said.

Taylor lost her home, her pets, her possessions, everything in the fire.

But in the months after, found a new purpose.

“I decided that I needed to make that right. And the way I went about it was opening up a sanctuary for farm animals to try to save more lives to honor the lives that I lost.”
It hasn’t been an easy journey, but it’s certainly been a strange one,” she said.

“I remember when I would go to the supermarket, it still happens, and I would be buying a lot of grapes. A lot of grapes. And they’re for the peacocks, and I would just say that to the cashier and they would look at me, and to me, buying grapes for peacocks is really normal!” she added.

Now Taylor’s brought in a brand new adventure, in the form of a young Emu named Clover.

“We learned that she lives for 30 years, we also learned that Emus do better with other Emus and it just so happens, got a call a few days ago and someone else is looking to have us rescue an Emu,” she said.

“So she may be getting a friend soon and it sounds like not a big deal, but all of those things are really important to make this animal as happy and healthy as possible,'” she added.

Taylor is still working to grow the shelter, and part of that comes in the form of visitor weekends.

“It’s a pretty rare occurrence to open to the public, we only do it three times a year. We’re very busy as you can see taking care of all of these animals,” she said.

“We need bigger buildings, we need more land, we can rescue and do more good if we are able to get more,” she added.

The visitor’s weekend is held on Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., a visit lasts around 90 minutes for a guided tour of the services they offer.

Taylor says they’re also always looking for donations and volunteers, and you can get tickets here.