Seniors, Unwanted Animals Face Loss Of Home As 160 Acre Rescue Sanctuary On Brink Of Foreclosure; Donations Dwindle As Economy Hits Skids

In Douglas County, Colorado, The Colorado Springs Gazette reports:

• One of the most innovative animal sanctuary operations in Colorado is teetering on the brink of collapse. Unless the Dreampower Ranch gets $500,000 before the end of the year, it will face foreclosure.

• Diane Benedict opened the 160-acre spread in southeastern Douglas County 10 years ago. On the ranch, older people take care of older, unwanted animals in exchange for their room and board. She calls it People and Animals Living Synergistically (PAALS).

• "Often in this country, old animals and old people are discarded," Benedict said. "Animals go to shelters and are killed if no one adopts them. Senior humans go to nursing homes where they are visited on average only once a year - until they pass away unnoticed."

• Not so on the Dreampower Ranch, where older people serve a vital function and animals live out their days in a natural playground. Benedict has taken in dogs, cats, horses, donkeys, chickens, goats, potbelly pigs, mules and a long-horned steer named Chico.

• But the ranch faces foreclosure at year's end unless a donor, or a collective effort, can pony up a half-million dollars. Benedict said she doesn't have the money, and the nonprofit has seen its donations dwindle as the economy hits the skids.

For more, see Dreampower needs an angel to rescue ranch.

For other posts on foreclosure pets, go here, go here, and go here. ForeclosurePetsAlpha