Placer County community grieves loss of tortoises and other animals in sanctuary barn fire

After a barn fire killed 40 animals early Sunday morning, dozens of people gathered Monday at the Enchanted Forest Exotic Animal Sanctuary to grieve.

The Newcastle sanctuary, small and locally popular, made headlines Monday when a fire broke out at its barn, killing nearly all of the sanctuary’s tortoises, the animal its most known for, along with the entire nursery, which was home to baby tortoises and ducklings.

As the sun set Monday on the hills above the Sacramento Valley, volunteers walked through the wreckage picking out pieces of equipment to be salvaged and mementos to keep.

“This is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me in my life,” said Melyssa Descovich, owner of the sanctuary, as she hugged visitors.

“We got the call at 3:30, I screamed at my husband to get out of bed and get down there and save the animals,” she said. “Get them out of the barn, get them out of the barn. So he went flying down here.”

Neighbors called 911, but firefighters were working at another fire miles away and the barn burned for about 20 minutes before anyone arrived, according to Descovich and her husband, Brian Aipperspach.

“It was pretty much burned down to the ground when I got here,” said Aipperspach, who drove 20 miles from Colfax to the sanctuary.

The fire killed all the animals inside, including a 44-year-old tortoise who weighed 205 pounds, a 15-year-old tortoise named Elenor, and another named Ophelia who was found near her eggs, which she had moved beside her in an effort to save them.

An iguana named Rusty also died after breaking free of his cage and ran out of the fire to a nearby Placer County sheriff’s deputy. He had burns over 80% of his body and died in the deputy’s arms, Descovich said.

A goose named Lucy Goosey died, as did a duck named Momma Rosey, who was found “protecting all of the baby ducklings she had with her in her nest,” Descovich said on social media.

The sanctuary’s ostriches, peacock and geese survived because volunteers opted not to lock them up for the night in the aviary next to the barn, Descovich said, a decision that saved their lives. One tortoise named Axl, who was kept in a different location since recently arriving at the sanctuary, also survived.

Descovich and Aipperspach took the remains of the animals to their home in Colfax, where they buried them. They said they plan to rebuild the sanctuary there.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The Enchanted Forest Exotic Animal Sanctuary was founded 14 years ago as a refuge for tortoises who were either abandoned or abused, Descovich said. But during the pandemic, it had grown to include more than 150 animals. Descovich quit her job last year to take care of them, she said, and opened the sanctuary to the public five days a week.

“For 13 years we were Placer County Tortoise Rescue and we’d get in two to six tortoises in a year, so it was small,” she said. “My vet asked me in March, really at the beginning of COVID ... would I consider taking in more than just exotics and I was like, well, yeah. By May, we were getting five to 35 animals a week.”

Many of them were surrendered during the pandemic because people could no longer afford to keep them, she said.

At the sanctuary Monday, goats, rabbits, cows, four ostriches, two turkeys, a lamb and a peacock were wandering the property.

As a result, the sanctuary grew in popularity in the last year, drawing visitors every weekend and providing a volunteer opportunity to local residents, including young adults with special needs.

Trina Weitzel brings her son, Camron, to the sanctuary three days a week to help take care of the animals. Weitzel said the 18-year-old has autism and the sanctuary gives him a job and an outlet he would otherwise not have because of the pandemic. On Monday, Camron and friend Daniel King, 23, walked through the burned barn, picking up pieces to keep and incorporate in the new barn they said they planned to build.

“I had not planned this,” Descovich said. “I didn’t want people to see all this wreckage. But people were starting to line up all along our fence line and I realized when this fire happened, I needed to come here and see it to really like grieve and start my healing process. And I realized if I feel that way, there’s probably a lot of people who feel that way, too.”