Tucked in the woods of North Dartmouth, a group of animals have been given a second lease on life.

Don’t Forget Us…Pet Us houses about 50 animals between two locations. One is a smaller horse farm owned by Jill Tigano and the other, the main site of the sanctuary, is a sprawling 7-and-a-half acre field dotted with barns, animal houses and fences.

Devlin and Tigano, both full-time workers in the medical industry, tend to the animals on their off time. Devlin’s land began as a horse farm, where she and husband would buy and sell horses. Her mission shifted to animal rescue after the U.S. began shutting down horse slaughterhouses a decade ago.

“We transitioned from buying and selling [horses] to trying to protect them from going to slaughter. Even though we closed down our slaughterhouses here in the U.S., horses were shipped out of the country,” said Devlin. “It became a desire to intercept them from meat brokers.”

As Devlin and Tigano took on more horses, the two began to adopt other animals such as donkeys, cows, sheep, ducks, cats, dogs and goats. Tigano said that some sanctuaries will try to find homes for the animals through adoption, but that isn’t the case at their farm.

“With Don’t Forget Us…Pet Us, a lot of the animals stay with us. And that’s what makes us different,” said Tigano. “It’s more of a sanctuary. All of our animals here get along. They live together. They walk around together. They’re happy here.”

Nearly all of the animals that come to the farm have a harrowing background or some special need. Residents of the farm include a blind cow, a one-eyed pony, a duck without feet and a sickly cat that lived near a Papa Gino’s parking lot for years.

The two said that part of what fuels their desire to take on these animals is the opportunity to educate the community about proper pet care. Through community outreach — whether it’s offering kids pony rides or bringing a dog into a nursing home — the two share the stories of their pets and what it takes to heal an animal that has experienced trauma.

In the case of the stray cat that lived at Papa Gino’s (Fluff the pizza cat, as she’s called), they managed to captured it, bring her to a veterinarian and nurse her back to health through months of attentive care.

“We ended up taking her to a youth group and talking about the care of an animal,” said Tigano. “She sat out of a cage and allowed people to pet her, and that was a huge step for people to understand that she is a good cat and deserves more than [abandonment].”

Not only can the animals serve as teaching tools, but Tigano said their presence is therapeutic. She became tearful when describing a trip to Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, after the mass shooting in 2012. Tigano said they participated in a “day of healing” for the first responders, which involved animals from their sanctuary as well as others in a large barn.

“It was just so powerful. We were driving home from that, and we thought, ‘We need to do more,’” she said.

While the farm is not open to the public (namely due to concerns that strangers wandering through might startle the animals), the two hope to start their own nonprofit this fall and bring their creatures into the community more often to help humans, whether that’s through education or therapy.

“When the animals come here, it’s not just about them having a second chance,” said Devlin. “It’s about what you do with it.”