Our story starts with the rescue of a little goat who would not be tamed. Shanti, which means Peace in Sanskrit, was taken from her mother at only a few weeks old and sold as a birthday gift. Thrown out onto pasture soon afterwards, she proceeded to imprint on a pony and evade all human contact. Two years later, having failed to sell Shanti as a dairy goat, because she was"too wild", her owners had captured her and were planning to sell her to slaughter. On hearing about this wild, confused, abandoned little creature, our founder Lara begged to take her home and, on opening the door to her vehicle, Shanti immediately jumped in, which sealed the deal. Six months later, Lara rescued a wild horse (aka mustang), also at risk of imminent slaughter. Named Storm for her similarly untamed and untameable temperament, Shanti and Storm became instant companions, joining Sunshine, another little goat rescued from severe neglect.

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Eighteen months later, in December 2016, Lara met Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim, the oldest of the founding members of The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, whose goal is to heal the earth and promote world peace. Grandma Aggie, as she was also known, was an advocate for Indigenous sovereignty, recovering traditional ceremony, and honoring Water as "our first mother". Lara had organized a Winter Solstice benefit in Ashland, OR to support Grandma Aggie's work and, during a meeting the next day, Grandma asked her about the animals she cared for. On hearing how Storm had been taken from the wild as a yearling, bought by a man who bred her for profit and sold her foals, and endured 12 years of abuse and neglect before being rescued from slaughter, Grandma Aggie was deeply moved. She remarked on how this story reminded her of the many brutalities her Native Tribe, the Takelma, had suffered, along with so many Indigenous Peoples all over the world. She gave Storm a blessing that day "to protect her", urged Lara to continue her work as a "voice for the voiceless", and encouraged her to trust that she would be guided along the way.

 

In December 2019, Shanti was diagnosed with cancer. Three months later she died in Lara's arms in a snow-covered meadow. Her body was given a sky burial at Mary's Peak, the highest mountain in the Oregon Coast Range, known by the Native Kalapuya, as "Tcha Timanwi" or "place of spiritual power". In the same month, Storm returned from a rewilding experiment in Mount Shasta, CA, and the Covid19 pandemic was announced. Unable to find any facilities willing to take on new boarders, Lara was forced to relocate to the Oregon Coast where she landed on a large overgrown and degraded rural property. Soon after, she adopted two wild burros from a BLM approved facility, both neglected and one arriving with several injuries, leading her to discover first-hand some of the corruption that lay at the heart of this adoption program - discontinued in 2023. Later that year, Lara rescued a local donkey that was suffering from severe neglect and cancer. As the Wild Peace herd began to form, the seed of a larger vision began to take root, one of a sanctuary where animals, people, and the land could heal together.

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Inspired by nature restoration and conservation programs in Europe that routinely use rewilded equines as proxies for the wild herds of large-bodied herbivores that used to roam our ancient landscapes, Lara began to apply some of these same practices into the regenerative work she was implementing on the land. Since then, the sanctuary has seen a substantial increase in wildlife biodiversity, including the arrival of belted kingfishers, wild mallard families, blue herons, and beaver. The sanctuary donates organic compost to local food security and eco-restoration projects, including the 25-mile herbicide-free pollinator corridor between Yachats-Newport, run by the local non-profit, Concerned Citizens for Clean Air, and offers a seasonal program of outdoor workshops and events to support hands-on learning of place-based knowledge, skills, arts, and crafts. We offer nature-based healing retreats and equine-assisted healing for individuals, families, and groups; and are doing what we can to raise awareness of the plight of wild horses and burros in the US, as a symbol for all wild animals and wild lands in peril. 

 

No matter the hardships we may face in these unprecedented times, by attempting to create places of refuge in a world filled with suffering and injustice, our experience is that we can gain courage, hope, and resilience by trusting in larger forces at work and walking in prayer. One of many synchronistic moments in our story that helped to lay that foundation of trust, and that has carried us through many hard times, is from Spring 2022, when, after putting out a call to the community to donate several tons of organic compost - two years in the making - to local food programs, we it to the newly acquired 40-acre Tribal Farm at the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in nearby Siletz, OR. Shortly afterwards, Lara learned that Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim, who she met seven years before, and 200 miles away in Southern Oregon, was the grand-daughter of the first-ever elected chief of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. In this mysterious full circle moment, Lara remembered the day that Grandma Aggie had blessed Storm, and urged her to continue being a voice for the voiceless, encouraging her to trust that she would be guided. In that moment, Lara realized that she had indeed been guided - to this place and to this vision - and was being guided still.