Local farm is sanctuary of last resort

by Wendy Turrell

When Terri and Denny Flanagan bought their dream property on Broadview Road in 1988, they did not imagine that it would become a refuge of last resort for abandoned and neglected farm animals.

Their first “rescue” happened soon after they moved in. Terri was in the yard with their two small sons, when a woman pulled into the driveway, motioned to her from the car window, and handed her a shoebox full of peeping chicks. Terri laughed as she recalled that the woman was a teacher who had driven all the way out from Cleveland with this classroom experiment, and she pulled into the first farm she saw with someone in the yard.

Their next acquisition was a baby potbelly pig. He was found on a local golf course – hungry, scared, and weighing only three pounds. He was named Gump, and grew to a healthy 200-pound family pet.

“Gump would follow us around the barn. … Occasionally he would sneak off, and I would find him stealing from the neighbor’s garden. He would race back to his stall with a giant yellow squash in his mouth!” Terri reminisced.

Gump was an ambassador for Farm Flanagan, when they welcomed tours from school groups and disabled adults. “He would stand up, leaning on the top of the stall gate, eagerly begging for head rubs and treats. Although he was a bit intimidating at first, he’d win everyone over in no time and was everyone’s favorite,” Terri recalled.

Terri stressed that Farm Flanagan is not a formal nonprofit animal refuge. Creatures in desperate straits find their way to the farm in a number of ways. Often by word of mouth, or through other rescue organizations who are overwhelmed, especially Happy Trails in Ravenna or Maggie’s Mission in Wadsworth.

Farm Flanagan is also not a foster organization. “Once any farm animal comes to us, they stay to live out the rest of their days, with one exception – cats.” Terri has cared for feral cats and kittens until she found them a forever home.

Terri said, “I consider us a very last resort. … Many or most have health issues, carry troubled histories, and often may require a palliative kind of care. …This is what we do instead of take vacations or buy new cars.”

Taking in troubled animals is not always easy. “Definitely with the fun and funny times comes some very tough health care and heart-crushing departures,” Terri continued. “It is critically important to us that we provide dignified, loving departures for our animals.”

Recent months have brought sad losses of long-time farm family members. “Gump had a strong healthy life with us and, as aging will do, he only slowed down as his hearing and sight left him, and probably he had a smidge of arthritis in his back. We took turns spending his last hours with him,” Terri recounted.

They also lost their gentle draft horse Flynn last year. “He was a formidable guy, who took up a huge amount of space, both in our barn and in our hearts,” she said.

Currently Terri said they are at their lowest animal count in a long time, with “three ponies, two donkeys, a few goats, a pig, a duck couple, chickens, and a senior Guinea hen.”

The newest residents are the donkeys that were rescued by Maggie’s Mission from a meat truck on its way to Mexico. One was just a few months old and emaciated – possibly from a hoarding situation – and both were so wild they couldn’t be touched. Now they are healthy and love head rubs from Terri as she passes their stalls. She laughingly said she had had no experience with donkeys and, “They are as stubborn as people say they are!”

Solar Panels

The Flanagan’s recently reroofed the home for the animals, a large century barn that was covered with solar panels in the rear. Wind Turbines of Ohio removed and reinstalled the panels after the new roof was complete.

Terri said the impetus for solar panels came when, “Every day I would walk out into the sunshine and see energy. For years I would look up at that big, big roof baking in the sun and think, ‘What a waste of electricity!’ We started saving our pennies at first and then dollars. It was 2016 when we purchased enough to cover the top of the back of the barn and side overhang. It was very exciting!”

Denny explained the value of the investment: “The solar panels produce about 11,000 kilowatt hours per year, and on the farm, we use 16,000 kilowatt hours. April through October our bill is pretty much $0. November-March it is [reduced] about 50%.”

Recently the Flanagan’s repurposed a second house on the property, which had been a home for Terri’s mother. It is now an Airbnb, with the income helping to offset the roofing and other major farm expenses.

More community service

Before retirement Denny enjoyed a long career as a pilot. First in the U.S. Navy for 20 years; then with United Airlines. “On 9/11, I was in Denver and was woken by a call from Terri, and was shocked like the rest of the world,” Flanagan said.

That experience prompted him to serve on the board of the Captain Jason Dahl Scholarship Fund for ten years. Dahl captained the ill-fated United Flight 93, which was hijacked and taken down over Pennsylvania on 9/11. The scholarship was created by United pilots and friends and family of Dahl. The Dahl Scholarship is open to young people pursuing a flying career at an accredited four-year flight program.

Flanagan continues his efforts on behalf of the fund, by speaking about the “Just A Buck” program he created. This program urges pilots to sign up to make a minimum donation of $1 per pay period towards the fund. To date the Dahl Fund has awarded 234 scholarships, totaling $493,000.

As if she isn’t busy enough with the farm, Terri also works at Assumption Academy in Broadview Heights, where she runs the lunch program for the Catholic grade school. Even there, she is always thinking of ingenious ways to the help support the farm’s animal rescue efforts. She brings kitchen food scraps home to compost: “We have a ton of gorgeous dirt from all that compost!” Denny takes some of it to community gardens in Cleveland, and people stop in to buy it as well.  He also solicits food from local grocery stores and delivers it to various pantries and hunger centers.

Denny first laid eyes on their property when he was a high school student and ran out of gas in front of it. The kindly farmer gave him a gallon of gas, and Flanagan thought, “Someday I would like to own this place.” Little did the Flanagan’s know that the teenage dream would come true, and inspire an ardent avocation. ∞

On our cover (photo): Terri Flanagan has tamed a donkey that was rescued from a meat truck headed to Mexico. He now enjoys her head rubs. Photo by W. Terrell.

Terri Flanagan is surprised to find an egg in her chicken coop for orphaned chickens. Photo by W. Turrell.

Denny Flanagan picks up food donations from area grocery stores and delivers it to various hunger centers. Photo by S. Serdinak

The large barn on Farm Flanagan was recently re-roofed and solar panels re-installed, which produce about 11,000 kilowatt hours per year. Photo submitted.