“We are welcoming thirty guinea pigs this evening. That was where they were going to end up having dinner for the zoo's carnivores. In the peaceful countryside of the Pays d'Auge, at the Les Chevaux de Marolles equestrian center, there is excitement. The establishment, located at the extreme east of Calvados, has housed a farm animal shelter since May 18.
The center manager, Sandra Petiot, clicked just before confinement. “We welcomed a filly who turned out to be blind. We wondered how to support him. It was the start of a reflection. I wanted to be useful. With their daughter, Mélyna, and Vanessa Troadec, another volunteer, they set up an association to make their project a reality: "Refuge hope with the heart".
A “containment” effect
Their Facebook announcement sparked some enthusiasm. "A lot of people called us, so much so that we had to move the opening of the shelter to May 18, the date when the equestrian center was resumed," says Sandra. And for good reason: “There is a containment effect. People are a little lost, a little disorganized. Some are running out of resources to care for their animal. ” This is particularly true for large animals such as horses and donkeys. About ten have already been collected.
The equines rub shoulders with the fifty or so animals from the equestrian center. "We are at the maximum of what we can accommodate", slips Vanessa Troadec, the secretary of the association. We are looking for land, particularly from neighboring landowners in the center. But the refuge has just been created, and we still cannot afford to pay too much land rent. It is the equestrian center which also regulates that of a plot of seven hectares, necessary to accommodate the first residents.
Soon an educational farm?
The deal is a little simpler for the other animals collected. Rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, roosters, goats ... Some have temporarily taken up residence in horse stalls. Others, in small enclosures, waiting for the end of some work. Sandra Petiot has a lot of ideas in mind: "We are going to set up an educational farm, open to families," she says.
The shelter's treasurer intends to offer a real haven of peace for the animals, some of whom may have experienced abuse. She trained to rehabilitate horses victims of violence. And professionals (farrier, equine osteopath) intervene voluntarily. "We want to save animals," says Vanessa.
