Arizona community rallies to replace tractor stolen from animal sanctuary
Apr 13, 2021, 4:25 AM
(Facebook Photo/Carrie Singer)
(Facebook Photo/Carrie Singer)
PHOENIX — When a community north of Phoenix found out a tractor was stolen from its animal sanctuary, its residents sprung into action to right the wrong.
Animal Guardian Network, a 22-acre nonprofit senior animal sanctuary located in Camp Verde, recently saw its John Deere Gator tractor taken from its property.
The tractor helped distribute more than eight bales of hay a day to feed the almost 100 senior, special needs and hospice animals, so the loss was immense.
The tractor was found in poor condition three days after it was taken.
“People offered to help in different ways like lending or donating equipment, offering rewards leading to an arrest and pitching in to help distribute bales of hay,” Carrie Singer, founder and president of AGN, said in a press release.
One resident reached out to John May, John Deere’s CEO, in hopes the company would be able to help the sanctuary.
Singer said the company felt “compelled to help” and offered a 2019 HPX615E Gator tractor, valued at $12,000, for $3,000.
Through a partnership with dealer Arizona Stotz Equipment and Tim and Genevieve Manatt of Cedar Falls, Iowa, the tractor was paid for at no cost to the sanctuary.
