Fourteen years ago, Tracy Muscatello was on the verge of giving up rescuing animals. “Having all this land, people would call me to take in more animals,” she says of her 21-acre property in Buskirk. “I was doing it out-of-pocket, and my accountant was like, ‘This is noble, but you’re going to go bankrupt.’”
The next weekend, officers investigating a farm up the road walked neglected horses to Muscatello’s land to stay short-term. “I’d been told to stop doing what I’d been doing,” she says. “Then eight new horses were in my field.” She went to bed, praying about what to do, and awoke to find all her animals herding together and getting along with these scrawny, new horses. Muscatello wasn’t quitting.
In 2010, she founded HeartsHerd Animal Sanctuary and Rescue Center, and a decade and a half later, she’s still passionate about fostering and rehoming animals. Today, HeartsHerd is home to 60 fowl and 40 farm animals, including elderly llamas, potbelly pigs, a blind cow and a horse with a clubfoot named Cherokee—one of those original eight who inspired the nonprofit.
But it’s not just about the animals. HeartsHerd also sponsors wellness days and events for schools, nonprofits and other organizations to enjoy the healing benefits of human-animal interaction. Muscatello understands that recuperative power all too well. She purchased the land in 2002, after divorcing her high school sweetheart. “I was a broken soul,” she recalls. “I moved here with one horse, one dog and one cat. I needed a place to heal.”
Two decades later, she’s using that place to heal and help others.
Muscatello is one of 10 honorees featured in the holiday issues of Saratoga Living and Capital Region Living. Join him and nine others at our 6th annual Capital Region Gives Back event, returning to Putnam Place at 6pm on December 11.
