To help ensure all of its creatures have full bellies this winter and beyond, the Pan Equus Animal Sanctuary (PEAS) in Oxford Township is hosting its Third Annual Fall Festival and Silent Auction fund-raiser on Sunday, Oct. 8 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“This is our big event,” said Ed Stull, who cofounded the nonprofit animal sanctuary with his wife, Judy Duncan, a veterinarian who practiced for 21 years before retiring. “The majority of our support will be generated from this one event . . . We count on this. It’s crucial.”

The fund-raiser will include hay rides, opportunities to pet and feed the animals, live music, a bake sale, a pinata, refreshments, 50/50 raffle, silent auction, face painting and an educational exhibit.

Admission is $5 per person and every five-spot buys one 60-pound bale of hay. Kids age 5 and under are free.

This year’s goal is to raise enough to buy 7,000 bales of hay to feed the sanctuary’s growing animal population.

“Three-quarters of that will be consumed between November and May 1,” Stull said. “Those are months that we have to throw heavy hay. If it’s a cold winter, you have to throw more hay. That’s how horses stay warm. When they eat hay, that’s an endothermic reaction. As they digest that, it creates heat. If we have a really cold winter, we notice it in the amount of hay that we go through. When we get those zero and subzero (temperatures), they eat nonstop.”

Stull noted PEAS’ animal population is “bigger than ever.”

PEAS is currently home to approximately 40 horses, 16 cows, seven goats, four pigs (three of which are the potbellied variety), two sheep, a donkey and a peacock. That’s not including the chickens, dogs and cats.

The 16 cows arrived over the summer and they all have extremely healthy appetites.

“They really put away the groceries,” Stull said. “They pretty much eat nonstop.”

“They’re whole day is just focused on ‘what can I eat next?’ If you’re carrying anything, they lock on to you – they’ve got to find out if that’s something they can consume,” he continued.

Stull estimated the 16 cows eat the equivalent of 30 horses.

“I would say it’s two-to-one,” he said.

Located on a 75-acre farm at 940 Hummer Lake Rd. between M-24 and N. Coats Rd., PEAS has been operating since 1994, but it didn’t become a public nonprofit until 2014.

The sanctuary’s primary focus is taking in animals, especially horses, that have either been abused, neglected, abandoned, suffer from health issues or are simply getting old.

“Everything has a story here,” Stull said. “They all came from bad situations, some worse than others.”

Although their stories are different, every animal on the farm has one thing in common – if PEAS hadn’t taken it in, it would have been either put down or sent to slaughter.

“They have no (other) place to go,” Stull said.

The main thing at PEAS is all of the animals are given the freedom to live out the rest of their days in peace and be who they are. They’re not expected to be ridden, pull a wagon or carriage, or entertain people. They spend their days wandering the spacious pasture, eating, playing and doing whatever else comes naturally.

“All of them are retired,” Stull said.

For more information about PEAS, please visit www.peanimalsanctuary.org.