In the summer of 2016 Diane Proper, Gerhard Foerg and their family moved from Ontario and Wild Rose Horse Sanctuary, a registered non-profit horse sanctuary was opened at 284 Upton Rd, St Peters Bay in eastern PEI. The 55 acre property is home to approximately 77 animals consisting of wild mustang horses, domestic horses, ponies, mules and donkeys that were either slaughter-bound, neglected, or just not wanted any more. All of these animals will live out their lives in peace and know they will be cared for and loved. Everyone at the sanctuary has a name and everyone knows their name when called, Wild Rose provides a forever home to 44 horses, 20 mules, seven donkeys and six ponies, as well as, one steer and a cow, two lambs and three alpacas. "So many of these animals have a story, whether it be of not trusting humans, being neglected or abused, not knowing where they were going to be tomorrow and wondering what they did wrong to deserve this fate," said Proper, "We felt compelled that we had to do something to try and help these animals. Saving one horse will not change the world but will change the world for that one horse. It is just such an overwhelming feeling to walk among the horse herd knowing these
After managing to save this mule and upon speaking to many rescue people and organizations this was a whole new journey for Diane to try and save more animals that were so deserving of being given a second chance. Thus the beginning of Wild Rose Sanctuary. "After we found out about all these horses going to slaughter we wanted to help and began to save as many as we could care for. Reba was the first mule we saved from the kill pens." Said Proper.
With Gerhard's passing the responsibility of the sanctuary has fallen on Proper's shoulders. A typical day consists of checking all three barns several times a day to ensure all animals okay, feed and water all those that require extra nutrition and put hay bales in feeders where required daily and put straw in barns as needed. "We try to keep barns cleaned out with our skid-steer and I spend time just walking and talking amongst animals to keep building trust with us." Said Proper. Proper's biggest concern at this time is finding volunteers to help with daily and weekly tasks and additional help during the haying season. The task of acquiring enough funding to ensure the sanctuary can continue operating is an ongoing issue. Although Wild Rose already has a few volunteers and their vet offers reduced rates for some procedures, the sanctuary would appreciate any donations either monetary, services, hay bales and hay fields, and feed. "At this time we cannot save any more lives but, we certainly can use help to continue in caring for the horses we have saved by volunteering services, supplies or by donating to Wild Rose Sanctuary." said Proper. "Through our horse sponsorship program, direct donantions to the sanctuary and donations in the sanctuary's name to the accounts of our suppliers, we hope to fundraise enough for the exspenses from day-to-day operations."
Visit the GoFundMe account where donations can be made directly to Wild Rose Sanctuary. www.gofundme.com/f/wild- rose-sanctuary
At Wild Rose Sanctuary we they committed to caring for each and everyone of the animals and providing them with quality of life and respect as long as they live. In addition, they felt the need to raise public awareness about horse slaughter in North America and in the hope that other people might save some lives as well. "A very dear friend we met while on this journey of saving horses, Mae, who is an advocate for saving wild mustang horses, was a real inspiration to us starting a sanctuary as well." Said Proper. Wild Rose Horse Sanctuary faced its biggest challenge in February 2020 Gerhard Foerg was diagnosed with multiple myeloma cancer in his blood, immune system and bone marrow. He lost his battle with cancer June 30, 2021.
animals now trust again after the trauma they have been through."
Proper also wants to raise public awareness to the horse slaughter industry. "We saved a saddle mule in 2019 that had been advertised on the internet. We called the number listed on the ad and were directed to contact a kill pen to save this mule because she was being shipped to Mexico in the next 24 hours for slaughter. We were totally blind to the horse slaughter industry until this point."
For more information or to donate visit the website, www.wildrosesanctuary.ca
Contact Wild Rose Horse Sanctuary by visiting their website, by phone or stay in touch by liking their Facebook page www.wildrosesanctuary.ca 902.978.1819
SPRING 2023 www.pei-living.ca
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