Best Friends Animal Society

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Best Friends Animal Society, founded in 1986, is an American nonprofit 501c3 organization that is one of America’s best known animal welfare rescue groups. Best Friends works with shelters, other rescue groups and members nationwide to promote pet adoption, spay-and-neuter services, and humane education programs around the country. A key component of Best Friends’ work is operating Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, the nation’s largest no-kill safe haven for displaced, homeless or unwanted domestic animals, located in Southwestern Utah near the town of Kanab.[1] The society also publishes Best Friends magazine, which has more than 250,000 subscribers. The hour-long series "Dogtown," filmed at the sanctuary, is the story of Best Friends' ongoing work with dogs. The program debuted on the National Geographic Channel Jan. 4, 2008.[2]

Contents

[edit] History

Best Friends originated in Arizona in the 1970s, developing from a charitable retreat set up by The Foundation, a group whose core comprised ex-members of the Process Church.[3]

As animal lovers, they did not accept the conventional wisdom that humane societies and shelters "had no choice" but to euthanize animals deemed "unadoptable." They began a pilot program in which they rescued soon-to-be-killed dogs and cats from shelters, rehabilitated them, and found them new homes. Those not adopted formed an eccentric assortment of creatures whose numbers grew until, in 1986, the group established Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.

In 1991, Best Friends became a nonprofit, tax-exempt charity and quickly grew to be the flagship of the rapidly growing no-kill movement throughout the 1990s. Articulating its goal of “No More Homeless Pets,” became central to the society’s work, and by the end of the 1990s, the number of animals being killed in shelters had dropped from about 15 million in 1990 to less than 5 million.[4]

[edit] The sanctuary

The sanctuary covers 3,300 acres owned by Best Friends, with an additional 30,000 acres leased from the United States Bureau of Land Management. It is located at Angel Canyon (formerly Kanab Canyon), about five miles north of Kanab, Utah, at the heart of the famous “Golden Circle” of Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon's North Rim, Bryce Canyon National Park, and Lake Powell. The land in and around the town of Kanab is famous as a backdrop for dozens of western movies and television shows dating back to the 1940s. Among the many dramas filmed in the area were "The Lone Ranger" television series and the movies McKenna's Gold and The Outlaw Josey Wales.[5]

On any given day, the sanctuary is home to approximately 2,000 animals, most of which are dogs and cats; but the sanctuary also welcomes horses, burros, birds, rabbits, goats, and an assortment of other creatures. Animals arrive at the sanctuary from throughout the United States and abroad, primarily from shelters that don’t have the resources to keep them and from shelters where they would otherwise be killed. A primary goal at Best Friends is to help these animals find good homes with permanent or foster families; but if they are not adopted, they live permanently at the sanctuary.

Best Friends is the nation's largest no-kill animal sanctuary,[6] which means that animals, regardless of illness or handicap, can live out their lives in peace. Animals are only put down in cases of terminal and/or extremely painful illness—only when compassion requires euthanasia because there is no reasonable alternative.

The society also publishes Best Friends, a bimonthly magazine with articles on animal rights, news and photos of animal-related events, goings-on at the sanctuary, and obituaries for members' pets. The magazine is generally, but not exclusively, geared toward younger and family audiences.

[edit] Visitors and tourism

Each year more than 25,000 visitors tour or volunteer at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Tours and visits with the animals are available daily throughout the year, and visitors and volunteers are a vital part of helping the animals to get ready for new homes by giving them the personal attention they would get in a family home. Among the hundreds of volunteers each year at Best Friends are a large assortment of student groups.

[edit] Best Friends’ work after Hurricane Katrina (2005-2006)

The society’s official role in post-Hurricane Katrina operations was that of a primary animal rescue organization.[7] Best Friends was responsible for rescuing and caring for approximately 4,000 of those animals and helped transport another 2,000 to new locations for adoptions.[8] Animals in the care of Best Friends were reunited with their families, placed in new homes, or brought to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary for continuing care.

Best Friends’ rapid response teams entered the hurricane disaster area on September 2, 2005 and worked for 249 days in and around New Orleans.[9] During the course of the society’s work, it expanded search-and-rescue operations to include St. Bernard and Orleans parishes and worked in concert with various law enforcement officials, the National Guard, and the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.

Best Friends’ main base for search and rescue operations was the grounds of St. Francis Animal Sanctuary with Tylertown, Mississippi. The society operated a second rescue shelter at Celebration Station in Metairie, Louisiana and worked with the Humane Society of Southern Mississippi to transport animals brought to their shelter to foster and adoption groups across the country. Utilizing volunteers from across North America, including veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and information technology experts, the society was able to make a major contribution to the hurricane relief effort.

Since Katrina, Best Friends has expanded its animal rescue work by providing the manpower and resources to help revitalize the Pets Alive animal shelter in New York state, rescue approximately 600 cats from an abusive situation in Nevada, and provide expertise to assist local animal rescue groups in the aftermath of the disastrous Peruvian earthquakes of 2007. Best Friends also gave refuge and lifetime care and rehabilitation to 22 of former NFL quarterback Michael Vick's most abused dogs.[10]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Best Friends, an Animal Sanctuary with a Difference, with Faith Maloney, by Diane Cooper
  2. ^ DogTown | Dogtown- National Geographic Channel
  3. ^ Before Best Friends, pp7-9, bestfriends.org, retrieved 9th May 2008
  4. ^ Statistics - Animals in Print 15 April 2002 Issue
  5. ^ The Lone Ranger Movie
  6. ^ AR-News: (UT) Best Friends a haven for unwanted animals
  7. ^ USATODAY.com - Animal welfare groups rescue abandoned pets
  8. ^ Salt Lake Tribune Home Page - Salt Lake Tribune
  9. ^ Deseret Morning News | Art spotlights rescue of New Orleans pets
  10. ^ http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08076/865254-338.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml

[edit] Further reading

  • Scott, Cathy (2008). Pawprints of Katrina: Pets Saved and Lessons Learned. Howell Book House. ISBN 978-0470228517. 
  • Kelsey, Nola Lee (2008). Let's Go Visit Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Dog's Eye View Press. ISBN 978-0980232301. 
  • Best Friends Animal Society (2006). Not Left Behind: Rescuing the Pets of New Orleans. Yorkville Press. ISBN 978-0976744252. 
  • Glen, Samantha (2001). Best Friends: The True Story of the World's Most Beloved Animal Sanctuary. Kensington. ISBN 978-1575667355. 

[edit] External links