SUMMER / FALL 2001 NEWSLETTER

The last week in August brought about the Hampton Classic again. It was a hectic week with Rich getting up at 3:30am to make sure all the animals had food for the day. We had to be at Bridgehampton by 8:00am. When the day was over and we came home, Rich had to make sure all the animals had water and that they were alright and give them their second feeding, while I fed & watered 113 rabbits. I got to bed earlier than he did, he was usually up till 1:30am cleaning and caring for any animals that we took in that were sickly or weak. The parade was a big hit with Annie a white goat dressed up as a fairy princess with wings, Alex a white goat in top hat and bowtie, Ned the lamb as our hero as a fireman, Lizzie and Edna the lambs as Cowboy and Indian, Dottie the black goat as a clown which she always is, she jumps up on your back when you are down on all fours and steals your hat, we are still trying to get her to put the hat back on but not yet successfu... Thursday was Senior Citizen day. Friday was fiesta day. We were requested to have Rich dress up as Zorro to keep with the theme. So he did with hat, mask, bull whip, sword and cape. I dressed in a black concho outfit with gaucho hat and we dressed Alex as Zorro also. It was a big hit. Saturday was children's day and we had Bongo, Bobby and Nelliebelle 3 sheep there to be sheared. People couldn't believe the difference 1 year could make with Bongo. Last August he was a 20 lb weakling attacked by a dog in a woman's back yard. She chased the dog away but Bongo had been bitten on both ears (he lost part of 1 ear) the chin and the throat. She took him to the vet and found out the wounds were only superficial, he had an underlaying problem. She was not feeding him anything other than the grass in her backyard, he was very anemic and weak. She stated "I didn't know this would be so much trouble do what you want with the animal" and she walked out. We were called in because the lamb needed a blood transfusion. We brought Rumpelstiltskin (another lamb) as the blood donor, heard the story, we paid the vet bill of $ 243.00 and took Bongo home. He was terrified and hid under the table at the Classic last year but we had to keep him wi. We also had drawings for prizes. The winner of the $ 100.00 gift certificate for the Job's Lane Jewelry Shop went to Virginia Huggins of East Hampton. The winner of the 10 free riding lessons at the Thomas School of Horsemanship in Huntington was Tricia Sacco of Hampton Bays and the Double D Bar Ranch T-shirt winner was Marie Caruso of West Babylon. Fortunately the # of animals has decreased a bit. We were up to 775 animals but are now at about 700. We adopted out rabbits, goats, all the turkeys and all the peacocks, ducks, chickens and some sheep. We are now down to 109 rabbits, we have no turkeys or peacocks and none seem to be coming in, I guess we found good homes for them. Our feed bills are just as high because we have taken in some larger animals which just happen to eat more. Our feed bills are still around $ 3,500 per month. With the WTC disaster of September 11, 2001 our donations dropped tremendously. We are far behind in the feed bills and need funds to help the animals. Please remember we do not take any salaries or administration fees. All funds received go to the animals.

This is Freddie, a young pigmy goat that we recently took in that needs a home. We would have named him Elvis because of his pompadour if we did not already have another goat named Elvis.

These little bunnies also need a home.
Along with a lot of sweet adult bunnies.

On March 14, 2001 the Suffolk County SPCA brought to us 2 abused horses. They were starving and had been beaten. We put 215 lbs on the big one and 125 lbs on the Appaloosa pony. You could see the ribs sticking out beneath their winter coats. They were eating the barn where they were because there was no food. The court case is still pending against the owners. Even though these animals cost us a lot of money I hope they don't get them back. Red is the big horse is 18 to 20 yrs old and the little one is 8 to 10 years old. If the courts award them to us they will be put up for adoption. These are pictures of them now.

While at the classics we met a nice lady Penny and her daughter who had fallen in love with a little neutered bull at a petting zoo. At the end of the season when the zoo downsized they purchased the little bull and is going to be paying his expenses to stay by us. He is adorable and they named him Lucky. He came to us on October 12th. He is way undersized and underweight but he will put on the weight quick enough but he will never be as big as Norman and Pearl who weigh in at 1,350 lbs each. Norman used to gain an average of 100 lbs per month till his growth slowed down at about 10 months of age. This little guy is 8 months and only weighed between 300 and 350 lbs when he came here.

Dale Evans Says Hello!

We also need volunteers to help us to feed the animals, and to help clean up after all the animals on a daily basis.