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Drought leaves horse haven high and dry
Alexandria's Refuge RR for Horses in dire straits without water - and money
David Gonczol, Ottawa Citizen
Published: Sunday, October 26, 2008
ALEXANDRIA, Ont. - It's like Noah's Ark, but without the water - and that's the problem for Rose Gergely and her Refuge RR for Horses.
The Alexandria-area animal sanctuary for abused and neglected animals has run out of groundwater, and a drilling crew that has punched three deep wells into her property can't find any more.
The search has cost about $18,000 so far and Ms. Gergely's money has become as scarce as the water, which could end her 20-year effort to give sanctuary to neglected horses and other animals.
For now, she trucks in water five kilometres every day for the 165 horses, ponies, donkeys, chickens, geese, goats, pigs, peacocks, cows, sheep, dogs, cats and pigeons that call the facility home.
The crisis has prompted an anxious call for financial help that has extended to a stellar acquaintance, movie legend Tony Curtis, whose wife, Jill, runs a similar rescue operation in Las Vegas.
Refuge RR for Horses is a federally registered charity and receives tax-deductible donations to support its work, but the family finances and area volunteers largely keep the operation afloat. It costs about $40,000 a year in feed alone.
Animal welfare and police organizations in Ontario and Quebec routinely call on Ms. Gergely to shelter animals needing care and a place to recover from mistreatment.
Horses have come from as far as Kentucky and North Dakota and she has several former race and show-jumping horses that were tossed aside once their glory days had passed.
She has a chicken that was found wandering the streets of Montreal and pigeons left to freeze to death in a cardboard box. A large puppy mill shut down in Montreal last week has produced the latest guest, a trembling chihuahua.
Several of the animals were destined for slaughterhouses, are blind or were emaciated and left to die before they were nursed to health by Ms. Gergely and her volunteers, including her 13-year-old daughter, Shelby, and son, Matthew, 15.
Her mechanic husband, Bob Blickstead, is the family's only source of income.
Thirty-three horses and ponies will live out their lives with Ms. Gergely, but she also operates a significant foster program, placing up to 100 horses a year in good homes. Many were seized as part of animal cruelty investigations.
Ms. Gergely suspects the lack of groundwater at her farm is due to climate change-related semi-drought conditions in the area and modern farming practices. Her property is surrounded by farms that use tiles to drain excess water quickly from their fields, rather than let it seep deep into the ground. About six weeks ago, their hoses began to run dry and the family even spent a month without functioning toilets.
She said the water supply has never been "great" since moving the refuge from Ormstown, Que., four years ago, but it has never run out.
"We noticed partway towards the end of the summer the water (flow) was getting slower. We thought, OK, we will try to use less. Then about a month and a half ago, there was, like, no water," said Ms. Gergely.
A drilling crew dug the existing 22-metre well to a depth of more than 30 metres, but couldn't find a reliable source of water. A new 75-metre well yielded poor results, but a price tag of $7,500. On Friday, the drill team was at it again and this time, the stakes are very high.
"If I can't give them water, I don't know what we are going to do. We are out of money," Ms. Gergely says matter-of-factly.
It will cost $18,000 to continue drilling for water, dig trenches and lay pipe, she said. Efforts are moving farther away from the farmhouse and barns, which will require expensive trenching and pipes to bring the water back to the animals.
"We are here offering to do the job; we just need people to help us keep them alive."
At one point, they were so desperate they heeded the advice of an environmentalist who suggested they try to "divine" where the water is.
"I don't know how real it is, but we actually tried with the apple stick. It says we have water, but it doesn't say how much. That's the problem,'' she says with a laugh.
Want to help?
- Tax-deductible donations can be made to Refuge RR for Horses, and mailed to 21305 Concession 10, RR2, Alexandria, Ontario, K0C 1A0.
- E-mail Rose Gergely's at blick.gerg@sympatico.ca. She can also be reached at 613-525-0049. The website is www.refugerr.org
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