ALBION — Black Pine Animal Sanctuary in Albion is seeking financial support after storms on Sunday night damaged parts of its campus.

Severe weather caused damage in Noble County and other areas Sunday night that was part of a spate of storms in recent days.

Black Pine currently houses about 78 animals on its property. None were injured or escaped.

The worst damage involved an animal sanctuary that's home to a wolf dog named Minko.

Rebuilding Minko's habitat will likely cost thousands of dollars, even with insurance, said Black Pine Development Director Julie Josey.

Much like an old car, the habitats on the property have depreciated in value over time, she said.

“We are not going to expect that we are going to get anything close to what we need for today's safety and security standards,” she said. “We are going to need to upgrade greatly from what was originally there.”

Downed trees also damaged walkways and other areas of the property, she said.

[caption id="attachment_134648" align="alignright" width="325"] Photo of Minko provided.[/caption]

Minko is eight years old and was rescued from a roadside zoo in Michigan six years ago, she said.

“All of the animals here are captive, displaced exotic animals, so all of them have stories that are kind of traumatic to begin with," Josey said.

“This wolf dog has already been through a lot of trauma, has already lost his partner this year, and then was found terrified in a tunnel because this tree came down,” she said.

Michigan law prevents people from keeping wolf dogs. Minko and other wolf dogs were removed because some in the pack (not Minko) became aggressive with humans.

Indiana law permits possessing wolf dogs, but experts say crossbreeding wolves and dogs might sound fun since they're cute while still young, but many struggle with being domesticated.

She said 12 trees need to be removed and is hoping tree service companies will step up and help.

“If they're willing to donate any of their time or talent to help us get some of these other trees down so that we don't end up in the same situation again, we would be incredibly grateful,” she said.

Black Pine is the only multi-species accredited sanctuary in the Midwest, she said.

To donate, click here.

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WARSAW — A microburst storm that hit Whispering Pines, Chapman Lake and other nearby areas on Friday afternoon produced winds upward of 80 mph — but no injuries.

While it normally takes more than a day to determine if storm damage was caused by a tornado, meteorologists at the weather station in North Webster were able to quickly determine it was a microburst in part because of the pattern of tree damage, 

Meteorologist Lonnie Fisher said Sunday they were able to tour the area near Whispering Pines Mobile Home Park shortly after the storm.

"The magnitude of trees that came down also made it quite easy to determine what it was,
Fisher said.

The storm struck shortly before 4 p.m. with high winds, rain, and dime-size hail.

"The area up by Whispering Pines was easily probably about 70-80 (MPH) and then Chapman Lake ... was pushing toward the 80s," Fisher said.

"We're lucky with the amount of wind that there was, there were no injuries," he said.

Possibly the worst damage was on the east end of the mobile home park where a home was crushed in half while a family was away.

The storm caused sporadic power outages and there was significant tree damage throughout the area.

A series of downed trees made Levi Lee Road impassable for several hours.

Part of SR 13 was closed until 4:30 a.m. because of a downed power line.

Fisher said the storm developed so quickly that there was not enough time to issue a warning. By the time NWS received damage reports, much of the storm had moved to Whitley County, he said.

The weather service station is also just a few miles away and two of the meteorologists live nearby, Fisher said.

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