News Photo by Julie Goldberg Jason and Jess Beatty are seen with their horse Spartan, which got his name because both Jason and Jess went to Michigan State University and Jess said Spartan is a warrior.

OSSINEKE — Jason and Jess Beatty of Ossineke are owners of Sunrise Animal Sanctuary, have been rescuing horses since August and are working on spreading awareness about horses that have been treated horribly. The couple purchased their farm last summer and has grown from a few horses to 24 rescue horses.

“To be honest, I didn’t even realize that kill pens and sending horses to slaughter was still a thing because it’s illegal here,” Jess said. “Once we found out, both Jason and I had bleeding hearts and started rescuing horses. We would quarantine them down in Louisiana and then they were shipped up here and we’ll nurse them back to health.”

Jess said the horses now have a forever home and they will work to rehabilitate them and work with them.

“They get to stay here, be comfortable, and be happy,” she said. “They get lots of food and love here.”

The farm started out small, but the Beattys keep bringing in horses to save their lives.

“You see on these sites the horses that they post and they break your heart and we couldn’t say no,” Jess said. “Where the idea came to do the actual sanctuary and do the nonprofit, Jason works in addiction medicine and some sort of link with the recovery center or with rehabilitating and addicts and people who came to see us as patients.”

The Beattys want people to be aware that animals are suffering and know that both kill pens and abuse of animals exists.

“I mean it’s hard to talk about and hard to look at pictures and it’s hard to see the horses here,” Jess said. “You have to know about it to stop it. The transport company in the quarantine service that brought these horses to us is under investigation and it’s a felony what they did. They are being charged.”

Jess wants people to also know about their farm and if there are any issues locally, they can help them. For more information about Sunrise Animal Sanctuary, visit its Facebook page.

Julie Goldberg can be reached via email at jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5688.