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BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SANCTUARY

I recently (5/4/2005) had the opportunity to visit "Best Friends Animal Sanctuary" a 33,000-acre ranch in Kanab, Utah which is in the heart of Southern Utah's Golden Circle of national parks that includes Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon's North Rim, Lake Powell, and Zion National Park. There were about 1,500 dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, horses and other animals living at the sanctuary. These were those who are unwanted, lame, traumatized by past abuse, old, handicapped, or ill. They come for special care from shelters and rescue groups all across the country.. What a wonderful place this was! I met some wonderful caring people and got lots of cute pictures. Here are some of the best ones I took that were the most memorable to me that I would like to share. But you really should stop by the sanctuary and make your own memories.

Of course my favorite section of all is where they kept the cats.


There were different buildings with outdoor runs set up for different types of cats.. There was a building for kittens, feral cats, those that were FIV positive, incontenent, and some cats that were pretty old. Each building has a special name. There is a story behind the Colonel's Barracks concerning a cat and some chickens.

My favorite place of all was the "Kitty Hotel".... The cats there were either without back legs or back legs that didn't work, but they were so happy for my attention when I walked through the door of the "hotel".... I was ready to take them all home with me. There were 2 that just really stole my heart: One was named Bumper who couldn't use his back legs and there was Scooter born without back legs. They really seemed like a couple of happy guys... When I came through the door, they both got all excited and scooted over to me as fast as they could..... I just sat on the floor and they just loved my attention and I loved theirs.

There were just so many beautiful, cute and huggable kitties there. I wish I could have brought them all home.

Some of the other pictures I got of the other animals and their surroundings:

This building was used in an old movie back when the area was a movie set. It is now used for the horses. There were quite a few horses there too..

Angels Rest was a cemetary for the many dogs and cats that had died at the sanctury.

Most of the dogs I saw there were big dogs. An amazing thing I found out in conjunction with the sanctuary and some of the hotels in the area, a person could take a dog for the night from the sanctuary to their hotel. Then they would report back to the sanctuary about the dogs behavior so they would have an insite on how the dog responded away from the sanctuary to better let a prospective owner know what to expect.

There was a section for rabbits and birds of all types ranging from ducks to parakeets.

So if you are ever near Bryce or Grand canyon, Zion National Park, or Lake Powell, stop by and see Best Friends.. You won't be disappointed, especially if you love animals as much as I do.