West Place Animal Sanctuary will open its grounds to the public for its Spring Visitors Weekend on Saturday, May 30, and Sunday, May 31, the season’s first public visitors weekend at the Tiverton sanctuary.
The nonprofit farm animal sanctuary invites the community to take 90-minute guided tours of its historic grounds, where visitors can get up close with rescued farm animals and hear their stories. Guests will meet new rescues such as Pua the piglet and Tad the Mandarin duck, and catch up with favorites like Happy the racehorse, whose lineage traces back to famed competitors including Secretariat.
This year’s event also gives guests a chance to be among the first to see the custom West Place Defender 130, a one-of-a-kind vehicle created for the sanctuary as the grand prize for winning the 2025 Defender Service Awards.
The weekend also includes a spring plant sale and the West Place Gift Shop. Driving tours are available at 4 p.m. each day for those unable to walk the grounds.
The sanctuary said the event serves as a critical fundraiser, with its rescue work, student programs and wildlife rehabilitation funded solely through community support. Proceeds also support the organization’s wildlife rehabilitation work during Baby Wildlife Season.
Walking tours leave every half hour from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with driving tours offered at 4 p.m. each day. Advance online registration at westplace.org/visitors-weekends is recommended. Adult tickets are $28 online, or $30 at the gate, and children 12 and younger are $15. All proceeds benefit the animals at West Place.
Founded in 2007, West Place Animal Sanctuary is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that rescues, rehabilitates and cares for abused and neglected farm animals. It is the oldest and largest sanctuary of its kind in Rhode Island and a licensed wildlife rehabilitation facility assisting sick, injured and orphaned waterfowl and game birds. The sanctuary also offers educational tours, volunteer opportunities and humane education and workforce development internships for students.
