Black Pine Animal Sanctuary seeks donations after recent storm damage

By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw

ALBION — Black Pine Animal Sanctuary in Albion is seeking financial support after storms on Sunday night damaged parts of its campus.

Severe weather caused damage in Noble County and other areas Sunday night that was part of a spate of storms in recent days.

Black Pine currently houses about 78 animals on its property. None were injured or escaped.

The worst damage involved an animal sanctuary that’s home to a wolf dog named Minko.

Rebuilding Minko’s habitat will likely cost thousands of dollars, even with insurance, said Black Pine Development Director Julie Josey.

Much like an old car, the habitats on the property have depreciated in value over time, she said.

“We are not going to expect that we are going to get anything close to what we need for today’s safety and security standards,” she said. “We are going to need to upgrade greatly from what was originally there.”

Downed trees also damaged walkways and other areas of the property, she said.

Minko is eight years old and was rescued from a roadside zoo in Michigan six years ago, she said.

“All of the animals here are captive, displaced exotic animals, so all of them have stories that are kind of traumatic to begin with,” Josey said.

“This wolf dog has already been through a lot of trauma, has already lost his partner this year, and then was found terrified in a tunnel because this tree came down,” she said.

Michigan law prevents people from keeping wolf dogs. Minko and other wolf dogs were removed because some in the pack (not Minko) became aggressive with humans.

Indiana law permits possessing wolf dogs, but experts say crossbreeding wolves and dogs might sound fun since they’re cute while still young, but many struggle with being domesticated.

She said 12 trees need to be removed and is hoping tree service companies will step up and help.

“If they’re willing to donate any of their time or talent to help us get some of these other trees down so that we don’t end up in the same situation again, we would be incredibly grateful,” she said.

Black Pine is the only multi-species accredited sanctuary in the Midwest, she said.

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