Humane Society rescue makes room

ST. LOUIS -- Like figurines from a Christmas Nativity scene, the farm animals at the Longmeadow rescue ranch linger motionless round their mangers, reposing after breakfast.

Among them are horses, a piglet that greets guests with peekaboo girlishness and a cow that was once the down payment for a car.

They are walking comments on the extremes of human nature, each rescued from some dire abuse, each brought to safety on a happy patch of ground, the Humane Society of Missouri's rehabilitation farm for large animals outside of Union.

Funded entirely by contributions, Longmeadow is about to undergo an expansion paid for by a $3 million capital drive. When new construction is finished, the 160-acre facility will boast a learning center, a barn for horses with special dietary or medical needs, an arena for training horses to make them more adoptable, and, most important, more stalls, sheds and shelters to expand capacity.

Now, needy animals have to be turned away for lack of space.

Earlene Cole, director of the rescue ranch since its inception in 1988 says the number of large animals being rescued has doubled in the last few years, and she expects the need to intensify even more.

Horses especially are at risk. Overbreeding already has made it possible for buyers to pay $200 for a colt, but they must pay $350 for a load of decent hay -- mathematics they often learn after they have purchased an animal.

Cole also hopes that the addition of an arena for training horses will accelerate the adoption process and create openings for incoming animals.

Right now, many of the rescue ranch's 75 horses are unbroken, never having been exposed to anything but neglect before they arrived. "I have some trainers who say they will volunteer their time to train the horses when we can get the new space," she said.