Bucks County Herald – February 7, 2008

Last Chance Ranch

Dear Friends,

Good morning. “I saved that pot bellied pig from someone’s Easter dinner,” Lori McCutcheon of the Last Chance Ranch told me. I met her thanks to a lead from Bob Keegan, the famous Berggeist sculptor of Haycock Township.

On a 35-acre farm near Richlandtown, Lori McCutcheon has been rescuing animals, mostly horses, for more than 20 years. Last Chance Ranch (LCR) is the home to as many as 30 horses. An additional 21 are kept at Gratorford Prison where prisoners and guards care for them.

LCR has a unique mission statement. “Last Chance Ranch Equine Rescue is a 100% volunteer, non-profit (501c3) organization rescuing and rehabilitating horses,” it begins. “LCR provides a safe and secure refuge for slaughter bound, abused, unwanted or neglected equines. LCR rehabilitates physical and psychological issues and places them into new homes where they receive the treatment and care they deserve.”

Lori has been rescuing horses since she was just 14. She and 80 volunteers run the not-for-profit operation which depends upon the generosity of its donors. It costs up to $400 per month to feed and house each horse. There’s a working board of nine directors who meet monthly at the farm.

She finds unwanted horses via word of mouth or the Internet. Lori works with veterinarians from as far away as California. One of them is Carl Seybolt who rows with us in Philadelphia. Carl’s a traveling vet who operates out of his truck. As you’d guess, he makes house/farm calls.

Lori told me that there’s a surplus of horses…just like dogs and cats that end up at the SPCA. “There’s an excess,” she began. “There’s too much breeding, useless breeding and most of it is unregulated.”

She’s also a humane police officer and writes summary citations on people who abuse their animals. Recently, she seized four horses and two dogs from an Upper Bucks County farm. “It was horrible neglect,” Lori told me. “The horses were filthy. They hadn’t been out of their stalls in a year!”

But Lori opposes the proposed federal slaughter bill, which outlaws killing horses for their meat. “It sounds great,” she says, “but all that will happen is that the horses will be shipped to Canada or Mexico instead. It just prolongs their [horses] suffering.” Unfortunately, Lori sees more neglect these days. She believes that teaching people how to care for their animals is the key. “I call it horsemanship education,” she added.

Last Chance pays only for professional services like veterinarians, accountants, and lawyers, Lori told me. Everything else is taken care of by the volunteers. Judy Grant works with Lori. “Judy’s the glue that keeps everything together around here,” Lori continued.

“We’re not just rescuing horses anymore,” Lori said pointing to a menagerie of abandoned goats, sheep, ducks, and even a one legged chicken just outside her front door. “We understand horses and people psychology,” Lori added. “We teach both people and animals…although cats are harder to change than dogs.”

Last Chance Ranch matches new owners with dogs, cats, parakeets, and bunnies. “We’ve even cared for a boa constrictor,” she quipped! “We find homes for everything under the sun and turn nothing away unless it can eat us!”

Lori McCutcheon was born in New Jersey and graduated from Delaware Valley College. Her horse accompanied her. “He went everywhere I went,” she laughed. “Very few parents send their horse to college,” Lori said. Years later Lori figured that it was time to find a final home for her horse and she moved to what has become the Last Chance Ranch.

“I’d like to write a chronicle about the animals that’ve been rescued here,” she told me. The book would highlight how horses have been rehabilitated and the new relationships with owners.

Animal Planet Cable network did a feature on LCR. It ran last year. There’s a handsome 2008 calendar with photos of pets at the ranch. “Lori is proud of the calendar. “These are not just pictures,” she said. “There’s real feeling in each of them.”

You can learn more about LCM through her website www.lastchanceranch.org or send an email to Lori@lastchancerance.org “We can’t save them all,” she concluded, “and it’s heart breaking when you can’t.”

Sincerely,

Charles Meredith