Sweet Paws Rescue last week purchased the 20-acre Spring Tide Farm in Boxford to carry on its animal sanctuary—a change from its original plan to buy a 69-acre Haverhill farm.
According to the Southern Essex County Registry of Deeds, Groveland-based Sweet Paws Rescue paid $1,425,000 to Kathryn N. Borylo last Friday. The organization, headed by founder Cynthia Sweet, called the shift to a different property “unexpected but fortunate.”
“Despite proper due diligence, the sudden passing of the Bradford property’s owner led to complications with the estate and an unforeseen pricing shift, making the acquisition financially unfeasible,” the organization said in a statement Tuesday. During an interview with WHAV last spring, Sweet outlined her forever homes plan.
“Basically it will continue to be a space for our southern animals that are coming into the state. They have to be quarantined for 48 hours. And then it will also be a space for our local animals where we will be able to get them exercised and really get to know them. But it’s really for growth,” she said.
The organization added the existing barn and miles of trails “offer a layout that not only accelerates Sweet Paws Rescue’s timeline but also strengthens its long-term vision.”
With the purchase behind, Sweet said, attention now turns to transforming the Boxford horse farm into “A Forever Home for Sweet Paws Rescue” a two-phase fundraising effort expected to cost more than $3 million.
“We have laid the foundation, though we still have a long way to go to make this dream a reality for the animals and the community,” said Campaign Chair Gina Weishaupt. “The next phases will transform the farm into a fully equipped rescue facility and education hub, and we need the community’s continued support to get there.”
The next phase calls for renovating and repurposing an existing area of the main barn for dog and cat quarantine; renovating existing space to strengthen partnerships with area animal control officers by providing secure animal intake areas; developing a large, fenced-in play yard; creating what they call “Casa de Cats,” a sanctuary space for adoptable and special-needs felines within the barn; and establishing community walking trails. As early as 2022, Haverhill officials held out hope Sweet Paws Rescue could help with its inadequate animal shelter.
Sweet spelled out the demand earlier.
“There is a huge increase of local dogs and cats in need basically since the last few years. It’s sort of a result of COVID. We went from 2019 to about 3% of our dogs were coming from Massachusetts. Now it is about 45% of our animals are coming from our own backyard,” she said.
A final fundraising phase aims to launch youth camps and educational programming, build community-based humane education initiatives, build out a dedicated veterinary suite for supplemental care and rescue and provide lifelong sanctuary for farm animals in need.
There’s more online at sweetpawsrescue.org/farm.