"I share my 200-acre home with 175 animals and spent $100k looking after them"
- 6 days ago
Meet the real-life Doctor Doolittle who shares her home with over 175 rescue animals - spending almost $100k on their care every year.
Adri Rachelle, 36, lives in a 200-year-old farmhouse on 200 acres of land in Atlanta, Georgia, US, alongside her massive menagerie.
Her mum, Cynthia Selby, 65, and a family friend, Shannon, 39, also own 15 acres and live in houses nearby - while her sister, Andrea, 32, soon plans to tend to some of Adri's exotic animals.
Adri saves around five animals a month from the slaughter trade - frequently undertaking 14-hour drives across the US to bring them to her animal kingdom.
Adri keeps 30 chickens, 22 rescue pigs, 12 dogs, 14 cats, 13 horses, nine parrots, 10 goats, nine geese, eight ducks, eight cows, eight alpacas, seven donkeys, six peacocks, five sheep, four ferrets, four rabbits, three mules, three tortoise, three emus, two geckos, two cockatoos, two pythons, one bearded dragon lizard and one tegu lizard.
A Lord of the Rings fan, Adri has decided to name the majority of her animals after characters from the books - including Bilbo Baggins the mule, Gandalf the goat, Frodo the spaniel and two cats named Boromir and Faramir.
Adri runs the whole site as a non-profit sanctuary and documents her day-to-day life caring for the animals on social media.
Mum-of-two Adri, a part-time dog sitter and full-time sanctuary owner, said: "I think we've got over 175 animals now.
"Since we moved to the 200-acre plot of land it's just been non-stop building.
"We've put up three additional barns, four pastures and we've cleared all the land.
"We've added a bunch of Highland cows and a lot more donkeys and horses.
"For the most part, we've got more of everything we already had like the exotic birds, reptiles and mammals.
"The bills have gone up tremendously - horses alone are expensive.
"We're constantly expanding. I think it's close to $100k-a-year now for food, vet bills, general farm maintenance and building.
"We're averaging a barn or more a year in construction and we've had several horses just by themselves that can eat up $15k just on surgery."
Before buying her new plot of land, Adri lived on a WHAT SIZE space with 90 of her animals.
She said: "We were spending $10k-a-year on care then and now we can spend that in one month on a horse."
Adri's pets are treated to a life of luxury on the farm - with many of the animals residing in 'mini houses'.
She said: "We have two buildings, one for small mammals and animals.
"The dogs have a house outside in addition to being allowed in my house whenever they want of course.
"It's got bunkbeds and AC.
"And then living with me in the house at the moment we have the foster kittens that we just took in, the Newfoundland, the hairless dog, and a couple of mini pigs."
But the 175 animals aren't solely Adri's responsibility now that some of her family members also live on the sanctuary.
Adri Rachelle, 36, lives in a 200-year-old farmhouse on 200 acres of land in Atlanta, Georgia, US, alongside her massive menagerie.
Her mum, Cynthia Selby, 65, and a family friend, Shannon, 39, also own 15 acres and live in houses nearby - while her sister, Andrea, 32, soon plans to tend to some of Adri's exotic animals.
Adri saves around five animals a month from the slaughter trade - frequently undertaking 14-hour drives across the US to bring them to her animal kingdom.
Adri keeps 30 chickens, 22 rescue pigs, 12 dogs, 14 cats, 13 horses, nine parrots, 10 goats, nine geese, eight ducks, eight cows, eight alpacas, seven donkeys, six peacocks, five sheep, four ferrets, four rabbits, three mules, three tortoise, three emus, two geckos, two cockatoos, two pythons, one bearded dragon lizard and one tegu lizard.
A Lord of the Rings fan, Adri has decided to name the majority of her animals after characters from the books - including Bilbo Baggins the mule, Gandalf the goat, Frodo the spaniel and two cats named Boromir and Faramir.
Adri runs the whole site as a non-profit sanctuary and documents her day-to-day life caring for the animals on social media.
Mum-of-two Adri, a part-time dog sitter and full-time sanctuary owner, said: "I think we've got over 175 animals now.
"Since we moved to the 200-acre plot of land it's just been non-stop building.
"We've put up three additional barns, four pastures and we've cleared all the land.
"We've added a bunch of Highland cows and a lot more donkeys and horses.
"For the most part, we've got more of everything we already had like the exotic birds, reptiles and mammals.
"The bills have gone up tremendously - horses alone are expensive.
"We're constantly expanding. I think it's close to $100k-a-year now for food, vet bills, general farm maintenance and building.
"We're averaging a barn or more a year in construction and we've had several horses just by themselves that can eat up $15k just on surgery."
Before buying her new plot of land, Adri lived on a WHAT SIZE space with 90 of her animals.
She said: "We were spending $10k-a-year on care then and now we can spend that in one month on a horse."
Adri's pets are treated to a life of luxury on the farm - with many of the animals residing in 'mini houses'.
She said: "We have two buildings, one for small mammals and animals.
"The dogs have a house outside in addition to being allowed in my house whenever they want of course.
"It's got bunkbeds and AC.
"And then living with me in the house at the moment we have the foster kittens that we just took in, the Newfoundland, the hairless dog, and a couple of mini pigs."
But the 175 animals aren't solely Adri's responsibility now that some of her family members also live on the sanctuary.