We have stumbled upon an amazing place. I thought stopping here would be a nice interlude and something that Elise would enjoy. I had no idea the scope of the place or how much we would love it. It quickly became Elise’s favorite stop of this whole trip.
Best Friends Animal Society was started by a group of friends who wanted to rescue cats and dogs who would otherwise be euthanized. They started out with around 200 acres near Prescott, Arizona. One of the founders traveled through the Kanab area, liked it for the dry climate and more moderate temperatures year round, and asked if there was any land for sale in the area. The land Best Friends bought, after soliciting family and friends for money, was once a working cattle ranch with 3,000 acres. Eventually another 800 acres were acquired. The organization leases 30,000 acres from the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) to create a buffer zone.
The Welcome Center
The sanctuary is located in Angel Canyon, one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The bluffs are an incredible combination of reds and creamy whites. It is much greener than you would expect the desert to be (or at least than I would expect it to be) with cottonwoods, juniper and heavenly smelling sage bushes dotting the landscape. It turns out that this canyon has been in a lot of movies. The landscape is perfect for the quintessential westerns. We saw a barn that was once a prop for a Disney movie, One Little Indian, starring James Garner and a young Jodie Foster. The barn is now used as a shelter for three horses, one of whom, Alex, has an amazing story (more on that later). We scooped poop out of that barn today. The Apple Dumpling Gang was also filmed here, starring Don Knotts and Tim Conway. Elise was excited at this since she has seen it. We’ll have to rent it again now that we know where it was filmed.
The barn from One Little Indian
In order to volunteer here, you take a 90-minute tour of the sanctuary. It is here you really begin to understand the scope. There are over 300,000 active donors. The sanctuary employs 3-4 full-time veterinarians and Best Friends is the largest employer in the county. Currently, there are over 650 dogs here and almost 900 cats. And all of the facilities are amazingly clean, thanks to the staff and the many, many volunteers who donate their time.
Lots of voracious hummingbirds here too
Among the animals that call Best Friends home, you have horses, dogs, cats, sheep, goats, parakeets, parrots, cockatoos, cockatiels, peacocks, mules, bunnies, pot-bellied pigs and some wild animals that are being rehabilitated so they can be released back into the wild. And these are just the animals they take care of. On the land they own and lease, you will find (and sometimes see) wild turkeys, cottontails, jackrabbits, coyote, mountain lions, grey foxes, mule deer, quail, bobcats and lynx. Surprisingly, they have never had any trouble with the wild animals attacking any of the animals that are part of the sanctuary. There are enough wild prey animals for the predators that they don’t bother with the others.
The dogs are kept in octagonal buildings with access to outdoor runs 24-hours a day. There is natural light coming from the top, a fan to circulate the air, swamp coolers to cool them off in the summer and radiant heat in the cement floors for those cold winter days. They’re not hurtin’.
Best Friends runs the nation’s largest sanctuary for abused and abandoned animals. During Hurricane Katrina, Best Friends was one of many organizations that went down to help. April, one of the horses we groomed today, came to the sanctuary four months ago literally covered with sores and with the care she has gotten here, only has a few scars to show what her previous life was like. There are dogs here that have been rescued from “puppy mills,” essentially breeding factories, where the moms live in cages and the pups are taken away to be sold soon after they are born. These dogs, having lived in cages all their lives, some for over 10 years, must be taught basic skills, like how to climb stairs.
Twenty-two of Michael Vick’s dogs are here. They are called the Vicktory Dogs. No volunteers are allowed to work with them and staff are with them 24-hours a day. In an effort to socialize the dogs, some of the staff live there and the dogs even sleep with them. They are hoping that all but two will eventually be adopted. The courts have ordered that two of the dogs must stay at Best Friends for the rest of their lives. We saw the dogs today in their runs and they seem to be doing great.
After our tour we headed over to the horse area to see a demonstration by one of the trainers. Linda was working with a Mustang named Dewey rescued from a Utah herd. For about an hour she showed us how they train the horses and while Bobby and I were fascinated by the Parelli technique, Elise got a little bored, though she was happy to watch a horse.
A horse on a teeter-totter, hmm
As a volunteer, you are invited to join the staff and other volunteers for lunch at the Angel Terrace. This building sits on top of one of the bluffs, overlooking the canyon. For $4, you enjoy a wonderful vegetarian buffet. Today was salad bar, fruit crepes, a soup (I didn’t check to see what kind), bean salad and fresh fruit. There is dessert, too. While we were eating lunch, we realized that we were sitting next to the National Geographic film crew that was on site to film episodes of their show, Dogtown. Apparently, they have shot and televised several episodes already. They have been extremely popular so they are back to do some more. Also at the table with them was one of the founders of Best Friends, Gabriel. When the crew left, Gabriel was still eating his lunch so we struck up a conversation with him. He is very pleasant and told Elise funny stories about the dogs he had growing up. Bobby and I asked him some questions about the organization and facilities at Best Friends. It was an delightful way to end our lunch.
And now for the funnest part of the day: volunteering with the horses! We showed up at Horse Haven at 1:15 and watched the obligatory video with its information and guidelines. After that the fun began. We spent the afternoon with Steve, who worked there, and two other volunteers, Mitch and Deb. Part of what you see on the tour are paddocks throughout the property for the horses. There are about 25-30 horses there right now and they all need their space. Most paddocks have 3-4 horses in them. Some cannot socialize with others for various reasons and are kept to themselves.
Danine, Elise and Deb grooming Strawberry, I believe
In the afternoon, we rode in the feed truck with Steve to muck, water and groom the horses. All three of us rode in the bed of the pickup along with Mitch, the poop scoop rakes and poop wagon. It was a wonderful afternoon. Steve has only been working at Best Friends since last October, but has worked at the San Diego Zoo and at Sea World (with the Anhesier-Busch Clydesdales), among other things. Mitch is from Ohio and came here with his wife after she spent a girls’ weekend here some time ago. Deb found out about Best Friends in 1991 on a trip through this area to see the national parks. Without seeing the place, she has been a member since ‘91 and this is her first time visiting. She and her husband Bruce have been here for almost two weeks and they have adopted two dogs already! This brings their total animal population up to four (they already have two cats) in their 30′ fifth-wheel trailer. They will be featured in one of the National Geographic shows since they adopted Gracie, one of the puppymill moms.
Elise and Deb scoopin’ poop
OK — back to the horses. Ask Elise who her favorite horse was and she will tell you, “Beetlejuice”. She was great with the horses. She scooped poop with the rest of us without complaint, and loved grooming them. Deb had been around the horses before so Elise relied on her expertise when grooming, asking her which brush she thought would be best, etc. I wasn’t needed once. There was a point when I was grooming the same horse she was so that I could spend time with her, but she asked me (nicely, of course) if I could go groom another horse! She wanted to be a big girl and do it herself, but I think she was also thrilled to have other people to talk to!
We finished up with horses close to 5:00 and headed back to the trailer for showers and another meet up with my cousin, Shannon. She took a leave of absence from her job and is traveling full-time with her two dogs, Angus and Lucy. She arranged her schedule a little so that we could meet up while we are all traveling. In a very small-world kind of way, it turns out that she is staying at the same campground as Deb and Bruce and is actually right behind them! When Deb got back from Best Friends she saw Shannon outside and asked her, “Are you Danine’s cousin?”
Bruce, Deb, Danine, (Felicity), Elise, and Shannon
Shannon came over to our trailer for dinner, and a game of Life that Elise won, last night and tonight we decided to head out for sustenance. Turns out Bruce and Deb were going out, too, so we all met up at the Rewind Diner in downtown Kanab. We quickly went for the Retro Burger, at Bruce’s recommendation, and never looked back. Dessert was fried dough in the shape of a pretzel, filled with sweet cream and topped with vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce and whipped cream. Completely decadent, but necessary after a day with the horses, or so I told myself.
After dinner, we ventured over to see Shannon’s trailer and say “hi” to Angus and Lucy. While there, we met up with Deb and Bruce again and met their cats, Bubba and Yoda, and the new dogs, Gracie and Dolly. They invited us in and we had a wonderful time visiting. It was another one of those instances when you just click and you find you could talk for hours. But another day of animals awaits us and so home we went. Shannon leaves tomorrow for Lake Mead and we are heading to Zion after some quality time with some cats and dogs. I’ll tell you more of the animals’ stories in my next post.
