We first told you about Stricker Sunshine Rescue Ranch in April.
It’s a rescue in Pasco County that gives horses and donkeys a second chance at life. They get these animals through owner surrenders, auction, sheriff’s seizures, and from kill pens in other states.
“It’s what keeps me going – rescue is very hard emotionally to see these horses come in and see how people have failed them, their owners have failed them. To see an untrusting horse come in and emotionally just love people and to see them flourish mentally and physically is what makes us keep going,” said Tammy Stricker, Coordinator at Stricker Sunshine Rescue Ranch.
The organization is constantly working to raise money for daily care of the animals. This includes the cost of feed, hay, and medical bills all to get their health back on track.
But that is expensive, so we wanted to help through an ABC Action News Gives Campaign.
ABC Action News anchor Lauren St. Germain met with Tammy, her husband Al Stricker, and members of the Stricker Sunshine Rescue Ranch to present them with the donation.
“On behalf of ABC Action News Gives, the Scripps Howard Fund, and our super generous viewers at home who truly believe in what you guys are doing. We want to present you with a just about $3400 check at Stricker Sunshine Rescue Ranch,” said St. Germain.
“Without the donors we couldn’t do any of this. We do a lot of the hands-on work but without everybody helping out we wouldn’t be able to do it at all,” said Al Stricker, President of Stricker Sunshine Rescue Ranch
“We will purchase feed, hay, all the good stuff, all their supplements everything they need,” explained Tammy.
She continued, “Definitely vet bills. We just had a $1400 bill on bae, we thought she was colicking and we had to have the vet out at 3am.”
And because our viewers were so generous, we had another surprise, ten 50-pound bags of feed.
“We know you guys need a lot of feed for these animals as well. We also got you feed for the horses. This is also thanks to our generous viewers,” said St. Germain.
“You don’t realize how far this goes,” explained Al.
“Per horse, one bag usually lasts a normal size horse one week. One scoop in the morning, one at night, a 50-pound bag will last one week approximately. If they come in emaciated, we have to go slow so we have to feed them a little bit at a time,” explained Tammy.
And the work at Stricker Sunshine Rescue Ranch is not slowing down. Within the past few weeks, 2 colts were born at their ranch, and they rescued 2 donkeys.
For more information about Stricker Sunshine Rescue Ranch and how to donate to the nonprofit click here.
