A Hanover animal rescue just reached a big milestone, accepting their 1000th animal.
Founder and executive director of Carroll’s Animal Sanctuary and Rescue, Jennifer Nephew says it all started when they adopted two pot bellied pigs, Wilbur and Oliver. People started reaching out to them to rehome their pigs when they got too big.
“As we continued growing we realized that there was a huge need for animals to find a safe place to go when they are no longer wanted by their families,” said Nephew. “So we ended up starting a whole rescue.”
Unscrupulous breeders are perpetuating the myth that pot bellied pigs can be house pets.
“Pot bellied pigs take up to five years to become full grown, whereas cats and dogs are about a year,” explained Nephew. “When piglets start breeding, and they can start breeding at four to five months old, then babies are having babies. Because the baby mom is small people just assume the baby is not going to get any bigger than that.”
There are about 100 animals living at the sanctuary as part of their permanent resident program and between 25 and 30 cats at any given time in their adoption program.
Nephew said they just recently hit their big milestone.
“Over the five years that we’ve been running our two programs we’ve rescued a thousand animals,” she said. “Most of them were cats and kittens in our adoption program.”
You can meet cats up for adoption at the Pet Valu locations in Listowel, Hanover, or Markdale.
To support Carroll’s Animal Sanctuary and Rescue you can also drop off donations of food and litter or order items from their Amazon Wishlist. There is also a link to make monetary donations on their website or you can volunteer.
