A Thursday morning fire has destroyed part of an animal farm and sanctuary in Tottenham.
The fire began in a two-storey house shortly just before 11:00 a.m. at the Painted Rock Animal Farm and Sanctuary on the 3rd Line.
When crews arrived the house was engulfed in flames and crews from New Tecumseth, Bradford, King and Schomberg were called to fight the fire.
The house was destroyed but fire crews prevented the fire from spreading to other buildings or hurting other animals. No one was injured in the fire.
"She (sanctuary owner) was in the barn doing chores and then she noticed when looking out there was smoke coming from the house and she went into the house and did not see any flames, she just saw smoke so we have no idea what happened," said relative Daniela Torelli.
Originally OPP had said that 25 cats and five dogs died in the fire but late Thursday afternoon the sanctuary’s owner says that all the dogs and half the cats have been accounted for. They are hoping the other cats will return to the area.
There is no word on what caused the fire.
"We had to transport water from firefighting purposes to the scene so we had great participation and great support from our mutual aid partners and unfortunately due to the extent of the damage, investigation is pretty much impossible. At this point there is nothing that would seem suspicious about the fire," says New Tecumseth Fire Chief Dan Heydon.
According to their website, Painted Rock Animal Farm & Sanctuary is ‘dedicated to caring for abused, abandoned and orphaned animals.’ The website also says the sanctuary cares for horses, donkeys, goats, sheep, pigs, ducks and all kinds of animals.
Crews remained on the scene of the fire on Thursday night looking for the cause.
