All About Rooterville Animal Sanctuary

Our Story

Rooterville Animal Sanctuary is located in Melrose, FL which is a rural area right between Jacksonville and Gainesville, FL making it a great location for visitors from all over the state!  For the past two and a half decades, Rooterville has provided a safe and compassionate refuge to rescued farm animals, providing them with the best care possible. These precious farm animals are just like us in that everyone is an individual who deserves to be treated with respect and kindness. We provide them all with a healthy diet and comfy home filled with love and the best possible care. You'll see animals happily living their lives communing together on our beautiful property with ponds, grass and lots of shade.

Our residents, which we kindly refer to as ambassadors, are the lucky ones who have come here from all sorts of situations but primarily as the result of abuse, abandonment, and neglect. They include pot-bellied pigs, farm pigs, cows, a goat, turkeys, mini-horses, chickens, peacocks and a few dogs and many cats. Rooterville Animal Sanctuary currently provides a beautiful, peaceful and loving home to over one hundred animals.

Animals live their best lives here at Rooterville and when their health declines, they are humanely euthanized.  Sadly our animal friends do not live forever and saying goodbye is the second hardest part about having so many animals, the first hardest part being that we cannot save them all.  The last thing you will see at Rooterville is an animal suffering or struggling to make it through another day, we just do not believe that is kind or reasonable to let an animal suffer, especially with so many needing help being turned away every day.

In 2015 tragedy struck when Elaine's husband suddenly passed away. It was a defining moment, it would have been easier to quit but despite serious health issues including Lyme disease and injuries from a car accident, Elaine stayed the course and made Rooterville into what you will see today-- A vibrant, joyful, peaceful place where kindness, care for others and the environment as well as generosity are lived out and shared. Kind folks are GOOD folks!

Our memorable experiences and stays help us care for the awesome animals you'll meet at Rooterville, animals no one else would help. Our feed cost is almost $100 per day and our wonderful staff members appreciate being paid for their contribution too!  Caring for this many animals is expensive.  By visiting, booking an experience or stay or shopping with us, you help us keep our gates open so that visitors can have an amazing experience with our awesome animal friends and learn about the benefits of making kind choices. Together, we are making this world a better place for ALL of us.  With heartfelt appreciation, we all say "Thank you!"