“The animals no one wants”

From pigeons to pigs, WoodHaven Rescue thrives to provide the best life for the forgotten

BY KEN THOMPSON

WoodHaven Rescue was Susan Slayton Whaley’s destiny from infancy. Her earliest memory of displaying love for all creatures great and small was picking up earthworms and putting them in her pockets.

“My mom would throw the baby jeans in the washing machine and have worms floating on top of the water,” says Whaley, who also remembers crying when her parents walked over an ant hill.

During a recent visit to the rural Tippecanoe County rescue, there were no earthworms or ants in sight. Goats, llamas, donkeys, mini horses, mini mules, peacocks, pheasants, guineas, dogs, cats and kittens, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, a goose and a steer provided the soundtrack on a cool afternoon. The animal population at WoodHaven ranges between 80 and 90 at any given time.

“We take in animals who are needing rescue or are extremely elderly -- the animals no one else wants,” Whaley says. “The 4 Rs for the animals of WoodHaven are rescue, rehabilitate, rehome, retire. If we rescue, we want to rehabilitate. We want to rehome or adopt out. If they can’t be rehomed, we retire.”

WoodHaven first got its name from the farm in Tennessee that Whaley and her husband shared. A graduate of McCutcheon High School (1985) and Purdue University (1989), Whaley moved back to Lafayette in 2014 after her husband passed away.

“I lost my husband. I had to sell the business we had,” she says. “I brought with me all the rescue animals we had: dogs, cats and horses.”

During COVID, Whaley decided to pursue her dream of opening a non-profit animal rescue.

“Somewhere back in second grade, I wrote what I wanted to do when I grow up. I wanted to save animals,” Whaley says. “The timing was here. After selling the business and understanding the corporate world, what’s stopping me? The fact that I found this place with a lot of trees and a lot of woods, it just made sense to still call it WoodHaven.”

Whaley received the 501(c)(3) letter, given by the IRS for tax-exempt non-profit organizations, in 2022. While there have been sleepless nights worrying about the next vet bill, Whaley has been rescued by the animals who return her love.

“These animals do more for me than I will ever do for them,” she says. “After losing Gary … these animals are my reason to get up and get out every morning. Even on the days when I have my sinus trouble, I can still walk in the barn, and you feel the love. Every single animal on this property is grateful. All animals are wonderful.

“I may be a little biased, but I have had other people say the animals here are special. How they look at you, how they interact. Part of why I think that is we don’t allow our wants to be pushed on them. I want to love on this animal, but if this animal does not want to do that, we let them be animals. We let them tell us what they are comfortable with, and they give us back so much more.”

While Rescue is part of WoodHaven’s title, it is not a pet shelter.

“Every animal has a stall, a barn we can shut in. Otherwise, we won’t take them,” Whaley says. “I’ve had to turn people away. We are a rescue. We are not a rehoming service. Because you are tired (of the animal) and you don’t want to take care of it anymore, I’ll give you resources to try to find a home, but it’s not an urgent rescue. The exception is someone passed away unexpectedly and there was no place. If it was short term, we would try to help out if we could. But I don’t want to help someone else’s animal and hurt one of ours.”

A recent rescue brought 22 chickens from Ohio. Another rescue ended up with a place in Whaley’s home.

“We get a lot of calls from the sheriff’s department when shelters are full,” she says. “Elvis the dog, he was a case. The sheriff called and asked if we had an empty stall. He says unless we take him in they are going to euthanize him. When they brought Elvis out, he was laying in the back of a squad car. He had just given up.”

Elvis got his name from the hound dog eyes that gazed at Whaley as she took him from the squad car.

Every animal has a story. Here are a few. Three orphaned kittens were given the names Wilma, Barney and Betty from “The Flintstones.” We met Betty during a tour and discovered she loves to unexpectedly launch herself into your arms. Another cat, Gus, has scarred lungs from a respiratory infection as a kitten and breathes unusually, like a human with COPD or emphysema. Behavior issues mean Betty and Gus will spend the rest of their days roaming WoodHaven.

Rachel, Monica and Phoebe (“Friends”) were three llamas rescued from a breeding operation in Ohio. Rachel has since passed away but Monica, at age 32, and Phoebe, at 27, have well exceeded the average life expectancy of 15 years.

They were joined in June 2022 by Nightmare and Champagne, who Whaley says welcome extra love and attention. “They have settled in nicely with the other seniors, and we hope they will be able to live out their lives all together here.”

And then there’s Franklin the steer, named for President Franklin Delano Roo- sevelt, who also wore leg braces. Born with contracted tendons, Franklin was unable to stand or walk when he came to WoodHaven shortly after birth in 2021.

“I made his braces out of PVC pipe,” Whaley recalls.

After plenty of physical therapy got him on his feet, Franklin has become one of WoodHaven’s ambassadors.

“He’s a lifer here,” Whaley says. “We do a lot with him for educational purposes.”

Visitors to WoodHaven are greeted by Bandit and Coot, peafowl who don’t like to get out of the way but will beg for treats. The duo’s favorite treat is cat food.

Among the more than 30 bird residents is Homer, a failed racing pigeon. Homer traveled more than 350 miles from home to WoodHaven after flying the wrong direction.

After tracking down Homer’s owner from his leg band, the elderly owner asked if Homer could remain at WoodHaven.

A recent intake of a mama goat and her two babies from Michigan joins a population that are all CAE (Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis)-positive.

“We work to educate that CAE goats can have a very healthy long life. Some don’t,” Whaley says. “The equivalent if you had to think in human terms would be HIV. CAE can cause arthritis, hind leg paralysis, weakness and other neurological issues. Some goats, they can live their entire life and never have a sign. They are carriers.

“It’s a virus they are saying as high as 70 percent of all dairy goats in the U.S. have. Some farms and breeders will routinely test for it. There’s no vaccine, there’s no treatment, there’s no cure. If any flag positive, the breeders euthanize them.”

The mama goat and her two babies came from a breeder who pleaded with Whaley to take them in.

“She called me crying. ‘She’s the sweetest little doe and there’s two doelings. I don’t want to kill her.’ ”

Fortunately, a rescue from Michigan had to bring animals to Purdue University for a veterinarian visit, and it transported the goat family to WoodHaven.

The mother was already named Cinnamon, so Whaley named the babies Nutmeg and Ginger. She calls them “our Spice Girls.”

“Our hope is to adopt out the two babies,” Whaley says. “We may or may not adopt out the mom. If someone wants to take all three and it’s a good home, I would love that. But because she has issues so young, Cinnamon may end up being a lifer here. I know how to manage it. We do joint supplements, pain medication, anti-inflammatory medication.”

A tribute with a prominent place in the WoodHaven Barn is The Memorial Plaque, which honors WoodHaven’s departed animals. Time has allowed Whaley to remember them fondly.

“The goat we just lost, Hefty, was pretty special,” she says. “I went to a sale barn where there were CAE babies. He was one of the triplets, and no one wants a boy dairy goat. They were going to (cut his throat), let him bleed out and throw him in the dump- ster. The dumpster had great big Hefty trash bag stickers on it. I said we’re going to call you Hefty because you’re going to be strong and you’re going to come home.

“He was touch and go, touch and go. Then Hefty just thrived. We lost him a couple of months ago to cancer, but Hefty had 10 amazing years.”

Another recent loss was Henry, a pig who was the size of a football when Whaley brought him to WoodHaven. “He was much beloved by all who met him,” she says.

Because WoodHaven specializes in rescuing geriatric animals, there’s a higher than normal attrition rate.

“I don’t care if they are here only for a very short period of time,” Whaley says. “They will know love. I get emotional, and I do shed tears over every single animal.

“I always tell everyone the biggest gift we can give our animals is to take their pain and suffering and put it on yourself. I am willing to hurt, I am willing to cry and miss you horribly so you are not in pain any more. That is the only way. I have sat with so many animals when we said goodbye, and it’s peaceful. Everyone says, ‘I could never get an animal again. My heart would break.’ You know what I’ve found? Every time my heart breaks a little bit it’s like an earthquake. My heart opens and it makes it a little bigger. Now something else can fit in that break.”

Working 14 hours a day, seven days a week, Whaley couldn’t keep the rescue operating smoothly without volunteers and donors. Three regular Tuesday and Thursday morning volunteers are ladies in their 70s.

Sandy Schelle was WoodHaven’s first official volunteer and has been coming to the rescue for four years. Schelle is part of a group of retired women in their 70s. What keeps Schelle coming back?

“The love and appreciation you get from the farm,” Schelle says. “The joy of working and helping the family of animals have a better life.”

What does Schelle wish people knew more about WoodHaven?

“The love and care that is given to these animals who otherwise would have been forgotten,” she says.

No minimum commitment is required to volunteer. In addition to weekday shifts, there’s also help needed Saturdays and Sunday afternoons after church.

A veterinarian in Crawfordsville gives WoodHaven a discount for its services. A plaque inside the barn salutes Animal Advocates, people who have made a substantial donation in memory of a loved one or who in their obituary request gifts to WoodHaven Rescue Farm.

“Our biggest needs right now are money or materials/supplies and volunteers,” Whaley says.

“I’m very much aware that everybody is hurting financially right now, which is why we hold so many things like garage sales. We are thrilled with material donations. Things that don’t mean anything to you that you want to donate to our garage sale — someone might not have $5 to give to WoodHaven but they have $5 to give to this table that they need to make their life better. And that $5 comes back to WoodHaven.”

A two-day garage sale in March raised $9,774.04.

Visits to WoodHaven are by appointment only. Private tours are $200 for up to 10 people. Open house events are free, including the largest of the year on Oct. 18.

“My heart, my true comfort is being with them,” Whaley says. “The rest of the world goes away for me. It’s a beautiful thing. It’s something I’m so passionate about. I am so blessed to do this every day.” ★

WoodHaven Rescue Farm, Inc.

6310 S 900 E Lafayette 47905

931-205-8774

Email info@woodhavenrescue.com

Go to woodhavenrescue.com for more information about volunteering.