Between the North Georgia mountains, in the small city of Mineral Bluff, a couple has created a home for animals who require special care.
Horse Creek Stable is a nonprofit animal rescue farm run by Diane and Lester Aradi in Fannin County, according to Channel 2 Action News.
The Aradi couple adopts special needs animals from Georgia rescue groups, and gives them the attention and medical treatment needed to provide them with good lives.
The idea to create the sanctuary came from Lester Aradi’s experience as a police chief in Florida, he told the news station. After retiring he decided he wanted to continue doing work devoted to helping others, this time with animals.
“God has given us a purpose and it’s a reason to get out of bed in the morning and take care of the animals,” he said.
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The level of care required varies. Some animals require special walkers to get around, like Hope — a golden retriever born with cerebellar hypoplasia, a congenital disease that effects mobility.
Snowflake, who was a breeder dog, had very little human contact in her life, the Aradis said on the stables website.
For most of her life, she was pregnant in order for her breeder to sell liters, according to the Hope Creek Stable website.
Snowflake developed cancer and lost an eye because of the illness. After she was rescued by the Aradi couple, she lived a happy life until she ultimately lost her battle to cancer, the website said.
The couple recently adopted another undertaking: caring for llamas that otherwise would have died from parasites.
“Les one day said ‘let’s get llamas’ so I thumped him in the head going ‘what are you thinking because we don’t know anything about llamas,’ ” Diane Aradi said. They now have two llamas, Vixen and Qtip, they told the news station.
The couple told Channel 2 their stable is not just a sanctuary for animals. Horse Creek Stable also helps children with special needs.
The sanctuary offers therapy tours that allow children to interact with some of the animals, according to their website.
“It kind of lets the kids know that there’s animals that have special needs too,” Lester Aradi said.
The Aradis were inspired so much by their work that they wrote a children’s book about a golden retriever named Tricycle, who lost one of his leg in a car accident, Channel 2 reported.
The book aims to make feel children comfortable with being different and lets them know they’re not alone.
All profits from book sales go directly to fund the care of the animals at the farm.
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