This avid animal lover shares her home with 90 different rescue pets – and almost all of them are named after Lord of the Rings characters.
Adri Rachelle’s massive menagerie includes Bilbo Baggins the mule, Gandalf the goat, Frodo the spaniel and two cats named Boromir and Faramir.
But the 31-year-old dog sitter from Atlanta, Georgia, recently admitted she is rapidly running out of Middle Earth names.
“I’ve always loved animals. I don’t think anyone is surprised that I’m living like this,” says Rachelle. “When I was a kid, my room was full of stuffed animals because I couldn’t get the real ones.
“They do all have names and 80% of them are named after Lord of the Rings,” said the Tolkien fan. “I’m a little obsessed with the books and the films. Technically we haven’t run out of Lord Of The Rings names, but I really have to search for them now.”
Rachelle keeps 22 rescue pigs, 12 dogs, eight chickens, six cats, four parrots, four horses, four peacocks, four rats, three hairless guinea pigs, two goats, two ducks, two cockatoos, two cows, two mini cows, two alpacas, two ferrets, two geckos, one tegu lizard, one bearded dragon lizard, a mule, a hamster, a rabbit, a tortoise and a python.
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She has constructed a special 10-foot-wide bed so that at least four of her animals can pile in with her at night.
“Without fail, the pigs will join me in bed and usually dogs and cats will come in too,” says Rachelle. “I have set up tree branches in the headboard so the birds can sleep near me too. I’ve taken naps with my rats before as well.
“Even though I built a bigger bed, they all still sleep on top of me.”
Rachelle moved into the farmhouse back in 2015 so she could use the extra space to accommodate her pets. Her critter companions cost her a whopping $10,000 a year in veterinary bills and food, including frozen mice for her snake and roaches, as well as crickets and superworms for her reptiles.
She has her feeding routine down to just 40 minutes a day and cleaning cages and enclosures takes another half an hour.
“I like to make sure everyone is settled in and then I’ll feed the dogs their breakfast and I’ll feed myself if I’m lucky. I give the rest of the animals breakfast around 10, fresh fruits and vegetables, hay and pellets for the horses, and all the pigs get bananas.
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“I can go through and spot clean all the cages and enclosures in half an hour. I just put on a podcast and do it.”
She has also spent another $10,000 on animal-proofing her 11,000-square-foot guest house so her pigs, birds, and guinea pigs could live inside.
“The birds like to chew everything so we took out all the molding, the baseboards and carpets and child-proofed all the cabinets,” says Rachelle. “Now they can fly free and not be locked in cages.”
She even rigged the home with cameras so she can always keep an eye on her beloved animals when she’s not home.
Rachelle credits her parents Larry Jacobs, a retired natural resources specialist, and Cynthia Selby, a retired nurse, for her animal-loving nature.
“My dad would go out every year to count endangered species like bald eagles, frogs and snakes,” says Rachelle. “My mom was constantly taking in stray animals like baby birds, kittens and dogs. We raised chickens, rabbits and ducks. Growing up, I probably had about 20 animals, I’ve always been that way.”
Ten years ago, she started taking in rescue pigs and her menagerie grew from there.
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Her family sometimes wishes she would focus on herself instead of her many pets, but Rachelle said: “There’s nothing I’d rather be doing with my time or money than looking after animals.
“I ended up with all of these animals because other people had taken them in and didn’t want them. A lot of them arrived in terrible conditions.
“People say I’m an animal hoarder, but there are people who have failed at having just one animal. Here I am with other people’s animals all around me and I’m doing a good job.”
Though she adores her zoological lifestyle, she admitted that it is not for everyone.
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“I think for a normal person this would be a lot of work, a lot of noise and a lot of cleaning, but for me, it is almost therapeutic,” she said. “I get so much satisfaction from caring for my animals.
“Out of 90, only five of them weren’t adopted. I’m able to provide unwanted animals with a home. This is my little piece of paradise.”
In addition to sharing her animal-loving life on Youtube as Adri Rachelle, she is applying for nonprofit status with the hopes of turning her home into a sanctuary so that she can take in even more animals.
(WATCH the video below)
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How does she afford the food and vets? She is an awesome human being. I love animals more than people too. What an angel!