We were lucky to catch up with Wendy Taylor recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Wendy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I didn’t come up with the idea or find the idea, but more so that the idea found me. On February 24th, 2003, I was headed to a meeting on a beautiful winter day, not a care in the world. Then my secretary called. I couldn’t understand a word. I told her, “Slow down, take a breath, it can’t be that bad.” When she spoke again, her voice was clear as she said, “Your house is on fire.” And I thought, “That’s okay. I can fix that.” I’m a litigation attorney, the managing partner of my law firm, and I fix everything. It’s my job. It’s what I do.
I arrived to a three-alarm response. My home was in tatters, smoke pouring from everywhere. The Red Cross was on scene because I wouldn’t have shelter or clothes for the night. But it was okay. I could fix that. As I was fighting to get closer, I heard the Fire Chief yelling, “What’s left of this house needs to come down.” That was still okay. I could fix that too.
Then, I looked toward my open garage bays and saw nine white sheets lined up in a row. A make-shift morgue on a cold concrete floor. My pets were under those sheets. All my four-legged friends were gone. I could not fix that.
Everyone around me was working franticly but I was standing still. As the lens on my life panned out, the background noises dimmed, and everything faded to black, the only thing in focus were those sheets. In that moment, my perfect life as I knew it changed forever, as the horror of my new reality came crashing in. My world stopped. And I did too. Yet everyone around me continued to move at the speed of light. Firefighters were scrambling, and police were manning the crowd, when a camera points at my face; a reporter asking, “How do you feel?” How do I feel? How would anyone feel?
As they were searching for a sound bite about the worst moment of my life, officials pulled me away to survey what’s left of the house. Fallen ceilings, broken windows, scorched belongings, everything dripping. A gaping hole in the foyer where a firefighter fell through the floor. A soot outline of my dog in a bathtub where she crawled to try to escape the noise. An open wall in a room being renovated where one of my cats hid out of fear.
I couldn’t fix them. For the first time, I couldn’t make something right. And I didn’t know how to handle that. I was capsized.
I was upside-down, inside my own world with no idea what to do next or how to move on. I couldn’t be that hero I always tried to be for others, and I wasn’t much at all in the seconds, or the minutes, or the hours that followed. I was broken, and I was helpless. And after everyone cleared the scene, I was lost, as everything I had was lost.
But time has a funny way of keeping pace, as the next morning was a whirlwind. I still had a law firm to run. I had to find housing. The insurance company started its investigation. The building inspector wanted to speak. The fire chief needed to finalize his report. Dumpsters had to be rented. Contractors had to be hired. My pets needed to be buried. So, there I was. My state of things. The months ticked on; I dealt with life; rebuilt the house; tried to fight my way back to normal. But through it all, I wasn’t living. I was just surviving…and surviving wasn’t good enough. I needed to find a way to thrive. A friend suggested I donate to an animal organization. A good idea…but it was too small, temporary, a quick fix. That wasn’t enough to make it right. That wasn’t enough to make me right. My world was off its axis and I didn’t just need to right it, I needed to re-write it.
Because our lives are not defined by what happens to us, but by how we choose to handle what we are handed. I asked myself if I was given a fate, or was I given an opportunity to make a difference; to change my purpose; to enhance my value? So, I started a non-profit, called West Place Animal Sanctuary, to honor the lives of the pets I lost. I chose to care for underrepresented farm animal populations. While there are many great organizations assisting dogs and cats, establishing a farm animal sanctuary was uncharted territory. There were no local organizations to learn from, no blueprints to follow, and far fewer grants available for the care of farm animals. West Place was also started without an endowment or seed money. Instead, I personally funded West Place through its infancy while still working full-time as the managing partner of a law firm. There is a reason why, according to Forbes, more than half of all non-profits are destined to fail or stall within a few years of their inception. Despite the challenges and obstacles, I have continued to guide West Place for almost two decades, overseeing the tremendous growth that has impacted thousands of lives, and counting.
In a perfect world we would live our lives without scars and heartache, but that’s not reality. Stuff happens, and when it happens, the true test of a human being is to find out what you’re worth and what your purpose is. My worth, my purpose, arose out of tragedy – an unexpected way for my tides to turn and my heading to change.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am the Founder and Executive Director of West Place Animal Sanctuary, rescuing farm animals from neglect, abuse and cruelty cases. Seeing West Place grow over the last 17 years, and having so many people start to recognize, understand and embrace the vision of helping farm animals is exciting. West Place relies on a diverse and robust volunteer corps to operate 365 days per year. The sanctuary nearly always operates at capacity, which means there are more than 100 animals representing more than a dozen species in need of daily care at any given time. Although West Place has been able to hire a small number of paid staff members, it is largely the adult volunteers and student interns who perform daily duties and provide our residents with love.
The local high school and college students enrolled in West Place’s popular Educational Internship programs gain hands-on experience within a working farm environment and receive a real-world humane education. They are immersed in farm animal care, wildlife rehabilitation, and working with lost dogs. Students observe and participate in veterinary visits, shearing, hoof trimming, dentistry, and more. They also have opportunities to participate in our food cultivation program, which includes farm-grown vegetables and fruits, and stewardship of our rotational grazing system and sanctuary grounds. Each day, animal lessons are given regarding nutritional requirements, exercise and conditioning needs, anatomy, and animal welfare.
Visitors will agree that West Place is as much a sanctuary for people as it is for animals. The beautiful 8-acre property includes nine pastures for rotational grazing; four greenhouses, an orchard, and a berry garden for on-site food production; a barn, a duck coop, chicken building, a peacock house, and an 80,000-gallon pond that operates year-round. There is even a historic cemetery on the property from the late 1700s, which predates the home by almost 100 years. While the animals enjoy the open space and the constant enrichment, it is the humans who immediately fall in love with this safe haven and the organization tasked with the emotional work of rehabilitating animals so they can enjoy their second act. Through it all, West Place is cultivating a more compassionate community on the Farm Coast of New England.
For anyone in the area, we run three Visitors’ Weekends each year, with our next coming up on September 7-8, 2024, wherein guests will receive an hour and a half long educational and interactive tour around the sanctuary to meet the animals and learn their stories, as well as our environmental and conservation efforts. With Tiverton Historical Four Corners down the road, it is a great way to spend a day.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
Many people forget that non-profit organizations are still businesses, and they require all of the same resources that any commercial business needs to succeed. When I decided to start West Place Animal Sanctuary, I never dreamed of how my idea to give back would turn into a full-fledged organization whose impact continues to grow.
Unlike celebrities’ foundations or non-profits whose Boards of Directors have deep pockets, West Place was founded on the simple principle of providing sanctuary to underrepresented animal populations. We are located on the farm coast of New England, an area with a rich agricultural history and many working farms that continue to operate today. Sadly, there is a need for an organization like ours in this area because horses, pigs, goats, sheep, and other farm animals have nowhere else to go. To prove this point, the largest case of animal abuse in the history of the Northeast occurred in the next town over, Westport, MA, and involved more than 1,400 animals. My goal was to meet the needs of the community and fill a void in the animal welfare industry, and the best way I knew how to do this was to just do it.
I am fortunate that I had a successful legal career and was able to fully fund West Place through much of its early existence. There were no angel investors, no bequests, and no magic formula to funding West Place. I transformed my personal property into a fully functional farm animal sanctuary, and paid for the construction of the barn and numerous outbuildings. Knowing that this was not a sustainable model, I also learned how to write grants and apply for funding. Unfortunately, the funding opportunities for farm animal and wildlife care pale in comparison to what is available for the care and adoption of dogs and cats. Being ahead of the curve and on the cutting edge of farm animal welfare definitely made things more difficult, but West Place has formed lasting relationships with several local foundations that believe in our mission.
West Place has operated on a shoe-string budget for a long time. Although I was the first employee, I went unpaid for the first decade. But as word got out about who we are, what we do, and where we’re located, the support started building. Although it is still a challenge to meet our operating budget each year, thankfully, I am no longer the sole funder of West Place. Not only has West Place become a sustainable organization, the participation and support of the community affirms that we are doing important work that people care about.
And now we have plans to improve and expand the sanctuary, as well as a plan to make West Place a premier destination on the Farm Coast. But plans are only plans without the financial support needed to bring them to fruition. This is why our reputation as a leader in the animal welfare industry is so important. The ultimate goal is for West Place to own land and expand our services and offerings. There are some very real opportunities to do this in the new future, but they are also one-time opportunities. If we miss out on them, the trajectory of our organization will be significantly altered.
We are looking for Angel Donors. That is truly what we need the most to created a sustainable legacy. When I started West Place Animal Sanctuary in 2007, I chose to focus on serving farm animals rescued from abuse, neglect, and cruelty because there simply weren’t any organizations doing this type of work in our area. Seventeen years later, there still aren’t any other organizations focusing on farm animals who most desperately need help. West Place fills a rather substantial void in the animal welfare landscape in southern New England, and it is our intent that West Place will continue doing so, while growing, for generations to come. In order for West Place to exist in perpetuity and expand its services, our non-profit needs to own land. We have established a capital fund to facilitate the purchase of property through much-needed donations, which will make West Place a permanent fixture on The Farm Coast but we have a long way to go and need all the financial support we can get. We have a Strategic Plan to open a very special nano-brewery on nearby land if we can acquire it, in order to provide for-profit support to our non-profit. Additionally, the ownership of property opens opportunities to Federal grants and other funding that is only available to non-profits who do not rent or lease their property. We also believe we are stewards of land and in our historic farm town, farm land is disappearing. We border a large tract of land that should be saved, like many other parcels, in order to maintain the view corridors and scenic drives for which our area of The Farm Coast is known.
I hope that my legacy is a shared legacy among like-minded individuals who believe farm animals are just as worthy of our love and care as dogs, cats, and other pets. Although I will always be the founder and the creator of this incredibly unique and special organization, it is only through the generosity of compassionate donors that this legacy will exist or matter. West Place has provided second chances to thousands of farm animals and wildlife, but sadly, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. West Place is poised to do so much more and make a monumental impact in the lives of animals, humans, and all who reside within our community for generations to come if we get the right support from the right Angel Donors.
I encourage everyone reading this to get to know West Place, learn why we have earned such a stellar reputation, and support our life-saving work if you believe, like we do, that our farm animal rescue, wildlife rehabilitation, and humane education efforts are worth it.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
When I started West Place Animal Sanctuary in 2007, it is safe to say we were on the cutting edge of animal welfare. Farm animal sanctuaries were few and far between, and no other organizations in our area were specializing in abuse, neglect, and cruelty cases. What I quickly discovered is that prior to West Place’s existence, law enforcement agencies had very few options. Today, more than 17 years later, the landscape has not changed that much and West Place is still the only organization of its kind in our region. The biggest difference is that the public, other organizations, and law enforcement agencies now know that West Place is a resource available to them.
In 2016, we assisted the ASPCA with the largest case of animal cruelty in the history of the Northeast. More than 1,400 animals were found in horrific conditions in Westport, MA, and I personally spent 5 months on-site helping with the rescue effort. West Place ended up taking several dozen animals from that case, including goats, sheep, ducks, koi, partridges and peacocks. With the case receiving nationwide attention, West Place reached new audiences and people began to really understand what we do and why it is so important and necessary. The sudden influx of animals generated more attention and it was definitely a turning point for the organization. It ultimately led me to give up my legal career and focus all of my efforts on West Place.
Our Educational Internship programs have also added to our reputation as a one-of-a-kind destination for humane education. Between our school-year program and our summer program, West Place welcomes dozens of young rising stars to the sanctuary each year and provides hands-on education that can’t be gained anywhere else in the area. Students and their families have praised the program and our efforts, and word keeps spreading.
Ultimately, our reputation has been solidified through our tireless work and our commitment to all animals, great and small. When visitors meet our rescues and spend time at the sanctuary, the gravity of our work really hits home. Visitors note how well loved and well cared for our animals are. Showing is always better than telling, and when the community sees our work in action, they realize that farm animals and wildlife are just as deserving of our love and care as dogs, cats, and other domestic pets.
As our reputation has grown and spread beyond New England, the demand for our services has also grown. In 2021 we accepted two donkeys from a Texas kill pen, and a pair of miniature horses who narrowly avoided going to auction in Pennsylvania. In 2022, two dairy calves were saved from slaughter and are now growing up in the safe confines of the sanctuary. We want to continue to be able to say “yes” to animals in need who fall under our mission, but there are financial, physical, and logistical considerations for which we always need help so we work to continue to build our reputation.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.westplace.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westplaceanimalsanctuary
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/westplaceanimalsanctuary
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/west-place-animal-sanctuary
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/WestPlaceAnimalSanctuary
- Other: Ways to Support West Place – www.westplace.org/give
Image Credits
All images taken by staff or volunteers at the sanctuary and need no credit.