LAKE ELSINORE -- Animal haven owner Renee Duncan appears to have been granted a reprieve from foreclosure on her Lake Elsinore-area refuge, but the retired nurse already has moved her collection of old, wounded and abandoned creatures to an adjacent ranch and sent others to "foster homes."
Duncan has operated the Meadowbrook Animal Sanctuary and Haven since 1988. When she became ill four years ago with tongue and throat cancer, she fell behind on her payments on the property. The feed bill for her 90 animals runs about $3,500 per month.
Duncan said she was notified Friday that the lender holding her mortgage had backed off from an eviction scheduled for June 22. Helpful as the extension is to giving Duncan more time to move some of her things, what she really wants is for the mortgage holder to sell the property to one of two buyers who have said they will allow her to move back to the ranch and operate it again as it was, an animal haven.
By Monday, Duncan even had sold her two-story metal hay barn, which was dismantled and hauled off. And two donkeys, four goats, two sheep, two geese and a "one-eyed chicken and her husband" had been sent to foster homes, places Duncan said she was assured they would be cared for until her ranch status is settled. The owner of the ranch where she has moved is offering to sell it to her.
Since The Californian reported on Duncan's foreclosure challenge last week, dozens have called and e-mailed offering to help, either by taking some of the animals or giving Duncan money for feed.
The numerous offers of help doesn't surprise psychologists.
"We're hard-wired to care for helpless creatures," said Robin DiMatteo, professor of psychology at UC Riverside, who said it can be "almost irrational" the lengths people will go to help animals in need. "We derive something important emotionally and psychologically," she said.
That might help explain why people also have offered to buy the ranch and let Duncan resume living there and caring for the animals.
Yet it isn't clear what the mortgage holder on the property plans. The U.S. arm of London-based HSBC said it is the trustee for the trust that owns the company; efforts to reach a spokesman for that trust that HSBC provided were unsuccessful.
While she awaits word on the fate of the land, Duncan has been busy creating quarters for her brood. Volunteers helped her put up sun shades for the horses Monday.
One of the people helping out Monday was Denise Spurlock from Downey; she and her husband have offered to buy the ranch and let Renee move back. Spurlock also has set up a Web site for MASH -- http://mashanimalrescue.wordpress.com
"People say I'm nuts," said Duncan, who says many people wonder why she doesn't let the old animals be taken to slaughterhouses. Motioning to one of the 48 horses, Duncan asks, "Why shouldn't she have a retirement?"
Call staff writer Jeff Rowe at 951-676-4315, ext. 2621.
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