Creatures Comforted
Sanctuaries embrace least-wanted animals in order to rehabilitate, re-home or provide kill-free lifetime homes
Steve Smith and Alayne Marker, founders of Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary in Montana for disabled animals, snuggle with blind Callie
Unwanted, disabled or discarded pets – from ferrets and parrots to donkeys and cats – are getting another chance at happy lives at sanctuaries created to mend their health and souls.
The animal-sanctuary movement, which began to pick up steam in the 90s, houses exotic animals like retired circus elephants or big cats once used in commercials, as well as working animals like Thoroughbreds that, because of age or inadequate racing results, are destined for the slaughter house.
Hundreds of non-profit, specialty refuges are now receiving sufficient contributions to take in thousands of creatures that are rehabilitated when needed, adopted out into new homes when possible or kept for the animals’ entire life when necessary.
But the vast majority of sanctuaries deal with former pets or companion creatures like dogs, cats and rabbits. And the pet specialties that these sanctuaries have been created to accommodate have grown wider in recent years, from those established for wolf-dog hybrids rejected after owners realized they’re not appropriate for most families or circumstances to pythons discarded after they grew too big and their appetites became too expensive to support.
“Animals are not disposable. That’s a very big part of the message we try to get out there,” says Mark Meyers of the non-profit Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, Tehachapi, Calif.
“When you see the joy in these animals over something as simple as a fresh snowfall or a belly rub or the chance to play with one of their animal pals, it just breaks your heart that they probably would have been euthanized just because they’re different,” says Alayne Marker, who with husband Steve Smith founded the non-profit Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary, Ovando, Mont., in 2000 for disabled dogs, cats and horses.
Here’s a sampling of non-profit specialty sanctuaries (and for each species there may be scores of other sanctuaries scattered around the country):
• Ironwood Pig Sanctuary, Marana, Ariz., cares for 480 pot-bellied pigs, the must-have-pet of the late 80s and 90s. Some of the inhabitants were rejected when they grew from cute piglets to 150-pound porkers, others are the victims of divorce or the death of the caretaker, or cross-country moves that didn’t include pets.
The 6-year-old refuge will be the lifelong home for most of the abandoned, abused, neglected or unwanted pot bellies since most are older, have health problems or they weren’t properly socialized to be great adoption candidates.
Why pigs? “They’re very intelligent, of course, and some are very sweet, very sensitive and endearing,” says the sanctuary’s Mary Schanz.
They live with carefully selected pen mates and pass the hot summer days oinking about in the plastic swimming pools distributed by the dozens throughout the property.
• Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, Tehachapi, Calif., has taken in 650 donkeys and burros, most of them former pets and gentleman-farmer companions that were abused, neglected or outlived their owners (a donkey’s life span is 40 to 50 years).
Started in 2000 by Meyers, a successful contractor who got donkey happy after his wife bought one and realized “how loving and friendly” theirs was, and how unhappy most other donkeys were. Now there’s a satellite adoption facility in Miles, Texas, plus plans to establish another in Belen, N.M., and Meyers expects to build more sanctuaries in Colorado and Texas.
About 150 Peaceful Valley creatures have found new homes, Meyers says, and the rest browse the 140 acres in painstakingly created herds. There are lots of toys for the young ones, who revel in play time and enjoy a raucous game of tug-o-war.
• Washington Ferret Rescue and Shelter (WFRS), Kirkland, Wash., is home at any given time to 70 or more ferrets, affectionately known as “fuzzies.” The group takes in ferrets of all sorts, including those that have been neglected, those whose families have lost interest in them or those that have been languishing at animal shelters.
The very qualities that make ferrets so appealing to most – they are sociable, inquisitive, bright and playful– make them less than perfect for some households. So the group works hard to educate the public in not only the joys, but also the challenges of having a ferret in the home, according to its Web site.
WFRS adopts out ferrets every year, but there are some that will probably spend the rest of their lives there because of age or behavior issues or chronic health problems.
• Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary’s founders, a couple of former Boeing execs, knew that animals with any disability are far less likely than animals without problems to keep or find a loving home. So they created one.
All of the 80 animals at the Ovando, Mont., sanctuary are blind, three-legged, deaf or have neurological problems or some other disability. There is the occasional adoption, but demand for such animals is not huge, and Marker and Smith make a lifetime commitment to each dog, cat and horse they take in.
Animals live in group houses and are provided ample outside time every day in pens that allow freedom, but also keep them safe. The animals also get plenty of personal attention from Marker or Smith.
The couple must turn away many animals every year “because our priority is to the animals already in our care,” says Marker, but they dream of expanding, and will do so when contributions support buying more land, constructing additional animal abodes and hiring a helper.
• Best Friends Animal Society, Kanab, Utah, is the grand-daddy of the sanctuary movement. That’s partly because Best Friends proved more than a decade ago that establishing and garnering support for such a place was possible, partly because it is the biggest in the nation and partly because of its impressive outreach programs that have helped improve spay/neuter programs and adoption efforts nationwide.
More than 1,500 dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, horses and other creatures are Best Friends residents on any given day. And they’re generally ones for whom time has run out at other shelters and facilities.
Best Friends has, over the years, developed world-class expertise in rehabilitating and caring for animals that have suffered all manner of trauma, and with their state-of-the-art medical facility and skilled staff, they are often able to assist animals that would have been classified by others as hopeless. Hundreds of Best Friends animals are adopted every year; those that for whatever reasons are not chosen have a whole-life guarantee of care at their facility.
And sometimes that never-ending patience actually leads animals to new homes elsewhere. Bancha, a shy cattle dog mix, spent 11 years at Best Friends. A visiting volunteer became attached to Bancha and adopted her. The dog was transported to her new home in New Jersey, and there she lived until this past spring, when she died just before turning 19.
You can find dozens of other creature-specific sanctuaries online.
Not all that call themselves sanctuaries are no-kill, so if that’s important to you, do the research carefully. Also, not all are non-profits. If that’s important to you because of the various standards and regulations required to achieve that status, research that as well.
What’s your question? Sharon Peters would like to hear about what’s on your mind when it comes to caring for, training and loving your pet. E-mail Sharon@Pets2008.com.
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