About Stillmeadow Sanctuary

One thing you should know about us: we have always loved animals. Not in a casual, "aw how cute" kind of way. In the foster failure, how-hard-can-it-be, we-just-ended-up-with-another-one kind of way. And after years of channeling that love in every direction we could, we decided to do something with it that would actually last. That is how Stillmeadow Sanctuary was born.

We are a nonprofit farm animal sanctuary on five acres on Whidbey Island, Washington. Our mission is simple: to give animals the lives they have always deserved, with no strings attached and no expiration date. Every animal who comes to us is here for good.

The animals we focus on

Prey animals, including horses, cows, bunnies, and ducks, are among the most passed around animals in the world. Horses can go through ten owners over the course of their lives through no fault of their own - and still end up in the slaugter trucks. Domestic rabbits and ducks are surrendered in waves after every Easter, dropped at shelters with no space for them or released at ponds where they will not survive. These animals are not asking for much. They just need it to stop. Here, thats what happens, we stop.

What life looks like here

We do not believe in minimum standards. No rabbit will ever live in a hutch here. Our bunnies have their own 11x9 foot homes where they can zoom, binky, and forage freely without predator risk. Did we make a fully temperature controlled home? We sure did! Our horses have a minimum of one acre each and 24/7 turnout so they can just be horses. Every habitat is designed around what that animal actually needs to feel safe, stimulated, and at home.

We also believe in the quiet power of what happens when animals are finally given that safety. Watching a prey animal learn to relax, to trust, to play again is one of the most moving things we have ever witnessed. That kind of healing does not just belong to the animals. It belongs to all of us who get to be part of it.

How we support our community

Stillmeadow is not just a sanctuary for animals. It is a place built around the belief that people deserve second chances too.

While we are largely volunteer run, we also employ workers and professionals, and we take that responsibility seriously. We are committed to paying fair wages, full stop. But beyond that, we actively seek out people who might not find that opportunity somewhere else. We hire people in recovery. We hire people rebuilding their lives after incarceration. We partner with organizations to offer meaningful work and unique therapeutic experiences to people who are navigating some of the hardest chapters of their lives.

We see this as part of the same mission. Being a good steward of this land means being a good steward of every soul on it, human and animal alike. The healing that happens here is not one directional. The animals need us, and more often than we expected, we have found that we need them right back.

Who we are

Stillmeadow is run by Nina and Andrew, who have invested their own time, land, and resources into building this from the ground up. They do not draw salaries from the nonprofit. Every dollar that comes in goes directly toward the animals in our care and the people who help us care for them.

We know we cannot save everyone. But we can save some. And we are just getting started.

Transparency Promise

This is something we take extremely seriously. In addition to filing our form 990 every year, we will be committing to posting actual cost of infrastructure and where every single donated dollar goes to support the animals. Anything further than what our operational costs are needed each year, we will donate the excess in the form of grants for other nonprofit rescues and sanctuaries in Washington to continue the work they are doing.