Barn Sanctuary in Chelsea gives farm animals new lease on life
CHELSEA, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Barn Sanctuary was founded eight years ago with a mission to rescue and rehabilitate abused and neglected farm animals.
Dan McKernan had started a career far from home when his father, Tom, called him in 2016 to ask about the future of the family's 140-year-old farm in Chelsea.
"I was living in Austin, Texas, working in tech, coding, working in a glass office, and I got really bored of it and wanted to do something more enriching with my life," said McKernan.
He pitched the idea of launching a sanctuary for farm animals at the farm and, with his fundraising know-how, raised money to make that vision a reality.
In a few years, the nonprofit went from being a father-and-son operation to a full-time staff of 17.
In that time, Barn Sanctuary has rescued more than 500 farm animals, many of which have been rehomed.
The farm was also featured on a television series on Animal Planet called "Saved by the Barn."
Tom has taken on the role of operations manager and said reviving the family's farm with his son has been a deep source of pride.
"To be able to do it with my son," said Tom McKernan. "To actually watch the life of the farm come back and return through something very useful and purposeful - it's been wonderfully satisfying."
Barn Sanctuary has taken in cows, pigs, goats, roosters and turkeys, to name a few.
One turkey named Ben arrived at the farm from a hoarding case.
"Ben actually weighed 55 pounds and was so mushy and overweight," said McKernan. "They weren't feeding them turkey food at all. It was just like food scraps, marshmallows, cat food. Now, here at Barn Sanctuary, he's on a limited diet, and he's lost the weight that he's needed to."
Shelter director Alicia MacLean explained that people sometimes abandon farm animals because they don't understand how to care for them.
She introduced us to Dougal, a rooster in the sanctuary's "bachelor flock."
"What a lot of people don't realize is that roosters can live together in harmony, especially in what we call a 'bachelor flock' just all living together without the temptations of lady friends," said MacLean. "They were actually all abandoned as a group. There were seven of them.
"It just happens a lot in the industry. People get roosters. They don't realize it because when they're really little, you can tell whether it's a hen or a rooster. And they either can't keep them or don't want to keep them, so they just abandon them. But we all think they deserve a loving home."
McKernan says taking in rescues has become more challenging in recent years because the need continues to rise.
"We get phone calls, emails, social media messages every single day asking us to take in a new rescue," he said. "Sadly, we have to say no quite a lot because we're at capacity, and we don't want to become a hoarding incident here at our sanctuary. And so, we work on rehoming all these animals to other sanctuaries making sure they have safe homes."
Some animals have special needs and have been fitted with prosthetics.
Others are in end-of-life care and receive round-the-clock treatment, like Rose the sheep.
"Rose is in palliative care now," said senior animal caregiver Kelsey Lang. "We're taking care of her. It is a fatal situation, so we're doing everything we can to make her more comfortable. And that includes nebulizer treatments twice a day, and that helps her to breathe better and feel better."
Another critical case is Gunther, a seven-month-old goat who was born without the use of his hind legs.
"We took him all the way to Cornell in New York, which is an eight-hour drive because they were really excited to try and find a solution for him," said MacLean. "They did some surgeries that they've never done on a goat before, so he's a bit of a trial case. But he can actually walk now, whereas he couldn't even put his feet down before. He gets physical therapy five times a day, and he takes up a lot of our time, but he's worth every second of it."
"My favorite part about Barn Sanctuary and starting this great nonprofit is rescuing farm animals in need because there are a million dog shelters and cat shelters, but there are not a lot of farm animal shelters," said McKernan. "As well as our amazing staff here. They love the animals. They have that personal touch, and they show the love that all these animals deserve."
Barn Sanctuary is open for public tours from May through October on Saturdays. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for children ages 12 and under.
Private tours, group tours and school field trips are also available. Barn Sanctuary also hosts special events for the community throughout the year.
Barn Sanctuary is located at 20179 McKernan Dr. in Chelsea.