There are plenty of animal-lovers out there, but it takes a special kind to make it her life’s mission to save suffering animals starting at just 11 years old.
That’s the story of Claire DiMenna, founder of Riverhead’s Critterville Farm Sanctuary, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
In 2017 after years of begging her mom for a goat, her wish came true when DiMenna got three. That same year, DiMenna and her mother rescued Luna, a donkey at risk of being slaughtered.
Since her father owned a polo farm in Water Mill, DiMenna had a few acres to work with and she continued welcoming animals in need of rescuing.
“What we do is we save animals from any sort of bad situation,” says DiMenna. “We have animals that were rehomed to us that people couldn’t keep, animals found on the side of the road, saved from slaughter, from farms, from neglect cases. We have animals from all sorts of places and bad backgrounds, and we take them in, we rehabilitate them, we gain their trust and then they get to live out their lives with us forever.”
Just over a year ago, DiMenna and her mother moved the sanctuary to a property in Riverhead where the over 70 permanent resident animals are living on nearly 70 acres.
Thanks to DiMenna’s relationship with the Suffolk County Police Department, other local sanctuaries and other animal lovers and protectors, she is a constant contact for animals at risk.
In recent years, she has taken in sheep that were attacked by vultures as babies and four goats involved in criminal cases: one found roaming roads that was possessed by an owner with previous cruelty charges, and three others saved from a condemned home, found drinking from a dripping faucet.
The most demanding of her recent rescues were four horses and a large pig pulled from a fake sanctuary in Manorville, where the owner is facing various neglect charges.
“We try to take on the ones that no one else will or no one else can — like four horses at once,” says DiMenna. “Because especially in big cases like that where there’s just so many animals that need placement, we’re happy to be one of the county’s point people for that, and to be able to step in and help them.”
Once the animals arrive at Critterville, DiMenna and her team — composed of family members, vets and volunteers — form relationships with them, help to rehabilitate them and provide constant care through the rest of their lives.
“I always do everything on their [the animal’s] terms,” says DiMenna. “I listen to them, so if they communicate in their own way, whether that’s body language or a noise or anything like that, I read those signals.”
While the sanctuary does not welcome walk-in visitors, DiMenna, who is also a full-time college student studying Animal Science at the University of Connecticut, travels home to lead weekend tours and host visiting day events.
To become a Critterville volunteer or to visit the sanctuary, contact Claire at [email protected] and follow Critterville Farm Sanctuary on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok @crittervillefarm.
