Bainbridge's Furrytale Farm Fends Off Foreclosure

By Rachel Pritchett, rpritchett@kitsapsun.com
February 9, 2007

Bainbridge Island

Bainbridge Island’s Furrytale Farm and foreclosure have gone eyeball to eyeball, and foreclosure just blinked.

 

The cash-strapped animal-rescue facility on Bainbridge Island was due to be sold this morning at the Kitsap County Courthouse in Port Orchard and likely shut down, unless $40,000 could be raised fast.

A sale apparently has been averted, thanks to a media blitz and an "avalanche" of donations. The owner says now the farm will stay open.

"As far as I can see, people are really stepping up, and I think I can avert this," said an ebullient Suzannah Sloan, Furrytale Farm’s owner and operator.

The Kitsap Sun first reported on the farm’s crisis last week. Since then, two Seattle television stations have visited the Lovgreen Road facility and a third is coming today. Seattle radio stations also have jumped on the bandwagon.

Pledges and money for the nonprofit facility for sick and abused animals began pouring in. And they came not just from Bainbridge, but from Kitsap County and around the greater Puget Sound.

One woman gave $5,000, Sloan said.

"When the article in the Sun first came out, all I got were people calling to say how sorry they were we were closing, and I thought, ‘Hey, that isn’t the message, folks — we need a windfall, not a wake,’" Sloan said.

"And then, the right calls started coming in, the ones that asked how they could help. And that’s when it started."

The former attorney and best-selling fiction author opened the 8-acre facility nine years ago. Fenced yards and small sheds dot the rolling farm, home to about 40 animals including 15 dogs, 13 pot-bellied pigs, cats, a goat and nine horses, many that cannot be ridden because of their poor condition. Sloan’s home is there, too.

The farm holds summer camps for children. At-risk youth and youth doing community service also come regularly to help take care of the animals.

Over the years, the prickly and energetic Sloan poured much of her own money into running the place and paying her small staff. She held many fundraisers to engage island givers, and local veterinarians have helped with the sometimes-intensive care for the animals.

But Sloan never engaged the Bainbridge or Kitsap communities to the extent that she could easily meet the farm’s annual $250,000 budget. Payments on the property’s mortgage slipped behind.

Bill Schilling of Real Estate Solutions Northwest of Bainbridge Island has been working with Sloan to come up with some financing solutions. The timing of it all has been tight.

"This is running extremely close to the wire," Schilling said.

As for the future of the farm, Schilling said: "That all depends on the public involvement."

Article Source http://www.kitsapsun.com/bsun/local/article/0,2403,BSUN_19088_5340105,00.html