The animal refuge at Stutzman’s Nursery on the northern edge of town is fast becoming a local tourist attraction. It is also about to burst at the seams.Nick Ormes is the main volunteer caretaker of the animals at the refuge. For Ormes, who grew up with a small backyard flock of chickens in a farming area of Springfield and spends hours every day just feeding the animals, it’s an act of love. He and a crew of 10 other volunteers care for such exotic animals as llamas, emus, iguanas and peacocks, as well as such commonplace farm animals as horses, pigs, and a variety of poultry. He has a hard time saying no to anyone who wants to drop off an animal they no longer can care for, even roosters.
“We are rooster heavy these days,” he said in a recent interview. “We can’t take anymore.”
Stutzman’s flock of chickens has grown to around 60, due in part to the many backyard flocks in Yellow Springs. When people buy chicks they usually want pullets, as hens less than one-year old are called. But inevitably some of them turn out to be cockerels or young roosters. If you live in town, when the cock crows, he usually goes. But the question is “Where?”
According to Ormes, people have, without asking permission, dropped off unwanted chickens at privately owned farms. Others have released them in the wild. Recently, a local farmer found a box full of chickens that had been left in his driveway, Ormes said. He was able to save some, but not all of them. They also drop them at the entrance to Stutzman’s.
“I wish they wouldn’t do that. It would be kinder to butcher them,” he said. “If they are not properly cared for, they fall prey to dogs, foxes, coyotes, hawks, or raccoons.”
Ormes should know; he is constantly battling raccoons that are especially resourceful when it comes to finding ways to break into his chicken coops. At Stutzman’s watchdogs and network of alert roosters, peacocks, and Tom turkeys, help, but are not fool-proof.
Back in June a woman brought in a rooster that her dog had grabbed at Ellis Park. The bird had lost a few feathers in the attack, but Ormes was able to nurse it back to health. “Ellis,” as they named him, can now be found strutting proudly along the paths at the nursery.
Recently, Ormes and volunteer Dawnelle Ki were called upon to rescue a pair of chickens that had apparently been turned loose in the park. A woman had come in to ask for some feed and a cage, hoping to catch them herself. Her dog had attacked one of them, but it had escaped. When she failed locate them, Ormes and Ki undertook the task.
“It was just like on TV,” Ormes said. “When we first got there, the trail had gone cold. We asked people in the park if they had seen any chickens, but no one had. Finally, we saw a trail of white feathers and followed it to some bushes.”
Soon their hungry quarry emerged, lured by the shelled corn Ormes and Ki had spread on the ground.
“They came over and let us pick them up,” Ki said. “They had obviously been someone’s pets, because they were real tame.”
Cathy Phillips, whose daughter Nadia Kasparek kept four chickens as pets, felt she could no longer protect them, after one was killed by a raccoon and another one was injured. She found someone in town with a more secure coop, who was willing to care for them. Every now-and-then he gives her a dozen eggs and Nadia is free to visit her chickens whenever she likes.
Due to a change in her working hours, another former chicken owner, who asked to remain anonymous, could no longer care for the flock of six she had had for three years. According to Ormes, she did the right thing by finding them a home with another chicken-lover, in town.
“There are humane alternatives to bringing them to Stutzman’s,” he said.
According to Gary Stutzman, owner of the nursery, animals started to arrive at the nursery shortly after he moved it to its current location in 1995. It started with the donation of a goat that had been raised as a 4-H project. Stutzman, who thought it would be nice for visitors to have something to look at while they shopped, traded the goat for some peacocks and turkeys. Soon after that, someone asked him to take in a pot-bellied pig. He later bought some chickens and ducks, but hasn’t made anymore purchases in five years.
“I never really decided to have an animal refuge,” he said in a recent interview. “It just happened. In the beginning it wasn’t anymore work to have a few more. It was a hobby – something for the kids.”
These days it is a lot of work and it takes a lot of money.
“With the downturn in the economy, we have to be cautious about taking on any extra expense,” Stutzman said. “Recently, I had to pass on a pot-bellied pig, because it would have required me to build a new enclosure. I hate to turn anybody away, but lately roosters have become a real problem. They are more work.”
In order to keep the refuge afloat and formalize it as a separate operation from the nursery, Ormes has been working on getting it official nonprofit status. In the meantime, he has set up a donor directed fund with the Greene County Community Foundation, where donations can be made by specifying that they should to go to the “Ranch Menagerie Animal Sanctuary” as he is now calling the refuge. Fore more information about donations, or to find out about becoming a volunteer, Ormes can be reached at (937) 231-1046.
(This article appeared in the October 4, 2007 Yellow Springs News along with the story about The Chickens of Yellow Springs that can be accessed from the links in the column on the right."
Posts
