Driving through the historic town of Woodville on Highway 278 and down a two-mile gravel road in Union Point, one can stumble upon a herd of animals – both big and small – on the grounds of the Wild Things Sanctuary spread out over 175 bucolic acres.
Framed by old-growth oak trees stands a yellow farmhouse, which dates back to the 1820s. It is home to the animal sanctuary that Adrienne Jacobs created here in Greene County about four years.
The Wild Things Sanctuary is now a non-profit sanctuary for displaced animals and home for almost 200 creature inhabitants.
Jacobs, a native of Michigan, had an early love affair with animals and found herself adopting all sorts of furry critters through the years, including cats, dogs, rabbits and other animals that found their way to her early home. She later went on to become a veterinarian tech, where her love and care for animals was solidified, as was a dream to find a farmhouse and establish a rescue organization of some type.
Moves to several states, purchases and sales, and a chance find at a property in Jefferson led her to Georgia, where she met Ben Fierman. It was here she and Fierman began their rescue efforts and soon had livestock, birds, surrendered cats, dogs, pigs, horses and more on their property. They soon found they had outgrown their barns and fields. “We needed more land,” Jacobs
“We needed more land,” Jacobs said. “I started looking around and found this old property, which had the old farmhouse, one of my important criteria in the purchase. It seemed to be the perfect fit.”
Fierman, an attorney in Madison, was soon at work building and repairing fence lines, barns and outbuildings. There was a lot of work to do to move their animals from the Jefferson property to Union Point, and it required an “exhaustive three days.”
Her efforts started to escalate a few years ago with the property in Jefferson. Through word of mouth, she opened her doors to all kinds of animals. Her first adoption was a senior draft horse, which she lovingly nursed back to health so he could live out his remaining years in peace. “We developed a special relation
“We developed a special relationship and it sparked something in me,” she said.
She soon became more involved in horse rescue and then brought in pigs, goats, donkeys, cows and any animal that could walk. She has now added on a special aviary that houses more than 40 specialty birds, including parrots as old as 30 years. The birds bring a special charm to the pig grunts, horse neighs and donkey shrills on the grounds.
Jacobs detailed the costs of the food bills, and vet care, as well as how much the materials cost to maintain a rescue operation this size.
“The feed bills, where we buy grain in bulk, average $1,300 a month,” she said. “Vet care fluctuates, and we are fortunate to receive assistance from the local Circle of Love grant funds, but care can cost upwards to $10,000 a year or more. Materials maintaining fencing, barns and outbuildings run about $50,000.”
Both Jacobs and Fierman have traveled the country to help animals, and people all over have reached out due to unforeseen circumstances to save their animals.
This has included them scouring animal auctions for animals doomed to slaughter or neglected and senior and needing a safe spot.
Due to the nature of some of the adopted animals, Jacobs does not open her rescue to public visits. Many of the animals have come from neglected situations, and sometimes personal safety is not assured. However, her prowess over the years has persevered, and the Wild Things Sanctuary is now home to assorted reptiles, ferrets, emus, peacocks, highland cows and alpacas. It has truly been a labor of love.
By way of an old open-bed truck on a corner gas station in South Georgia, their latest addition came home. He’s a big, all black Newfoundland dog named Hagrid. Harry Potter would be proud.