The Honorable Gary Moore writes about the MSSPA
From the paved state road, which passes in front of the antique farmhouse, white barns and rolling green hills, the MSSPA farm appears to be a well kept, attractive example of life in rural Maine. In fact, the property houses an organization that is amazingly unique. The Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals is unlike any other animal welfare facility in New England ... maybe anywhere. It is the largest equine rehabilitation facility in the northeast. Originally formed in 1872 to protect the horses who then pulled Portland's streetcars, the Society now provides around the clock on-site staffing and has access to veterinary services to large animals twenty-four hours a day. At present the MSSPA maintains close to eighty equines on its farm facilities, headquartered in South Windham. Large animals, who have been seized by Maine's law enforcement officials and placed by court order with the Society, are kept for the entirety of their lives or placed in forever homes.
The Society is a tax-exempt, 501(c) (3) public charity and receives no federal, state or local funding. The organization is funded by a combination of membership dues, bequests, donations, grants, and fund-raising activities. The Society does not charge the State of Maine for its services and seeks no reimbursement from any public source. The MSSPA provides nearly one million dollars in services, annually, to the tax payers of Maine.
The animals who live at the MSSPA, despite the circumstances that have brought them to it, are the lucky ones. Consider the American Saddlebred, "Doc," who was taken into care by Maine law enforcement agents nearly two years ago. At the time of his seizure, along with his mother and a sibling, "Doc" was death struck. Veterinarians told Society staff, had "Doc" not been rescued, he would not have survived another week. He was not socialized or accustomed to ordinary equine management. The Society staff, under the direction and expert guidance of their president, Marilyn Goodreau, worked to implement a specialized feed and rehabilitation program for "Doc." Each day, he was painstakingly treated with necessary medications, nutritious feed, beneficial supplements, and water. He was regularly groomed and a skillful farrier tended his hooves. Society staff caressed and chatted with him. "Doc" was turned out for daily exercise and bedded down in a spacious box stall every night on fresh shavings. By day, his large window let fresh air and sunlight. All around "Doc" other horses, donkeys, and goats experienced the same dependable care. "Doc's" own will to live, together with what the MSSPA provided, and the remarkable determination of Marilyn Goodreau to return this animal to life produced a breathtaking result.
Today, Doc gleams in the sunlight and happily puts his head over the stall door to greet the staff and public as they pass through the center aisle of the big, airy, well-lit barn that is his home. He is a spectacular young gelding with bright future as a pasture ornament at the Society. Due to his extreme deprivation in the early part of his life, he has a cardiac anomaly that prevents him from being ridden or worked in any manner. For that reason, he is not a candidate for adoption to a forever home; "Doc" has already come home.
Marilyn Goodreau, president of the MSSPA, and its farm director for the last thirty five years says that for every animal the Society receives and rehabilitates too many others are ignored or abandoned to cruel suffering or death. She wishes for the time when organizations like hers could be closed due to lack of business. Marilyn Goodreau knows that time will not come during her lifetime. "It is all about the animals," she says. "What we do isn't about publicity or people. It is about returning these animals to the most healthy, happy lives they can have. They have suffered so much by the time they come to us." She credits the talented, caring staff of the Society for its remarkable successes.
Since 1872 the organization's mission has expanded. It began its farm existence with the purchase of land and buildings in 1975. Its first clients were two ponies seized by the State. Today, the Society's nearly one million dollar annual operating budget requires fund-raising and substantial donations in order to continue its work.
The Society's farm at 279 River Road, South Windham is open to the public from 1:00pm - 4:00pm daily. Please report suspected abuse or neglect of large animals to them by calling 800-482-7447. Learn more about the Society at www.MSSPA.org