Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah

In our last post, I mentioned that visiting The Wave was a great birthday gift... but it didn't end there.

Situated in between all of the National Parks/Monuments between Utah and Arizona is a place called The Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Scott happened upon it while reading about Kanab, Utah - the little town nearby. It's the largest no-kill shelter in the country, located on gorgeous property just outside of Zion National Park. The property is BIG - you need to drive between animal houses. They have more than 700 cats, 500 dogs, pigs, 100 parrots, bunnies, horses, etc. They have gotten worldwide press because of their work after Hurricane Katrina, their care for Michael Vick's fighting dogs, and a National Geographic TV series called Dog Town. We did a tour the first day, and were inspired to stick around a second day to volunteer. Another awesome birthday gift for me!

Unfortunately we didn't get very many pictures.

Basking in the morning sun

 

The competition for affection was fierce

I could definitely see us coming back for a longer period to volunteer and explore more of this area. Their sign-up process for volunteering took 5 minutes online and the next day we were set up to spend the morning with the cats and the afternoon with the dogs - so efficient.

Big male tabby making friends with the other big male in the house

This old lady wouldn't let any other cat get our attention - we were warned that she gets very jealous

There were lots of "rafter kitties" - the ones too scared to get near the humans

Sweet pit-mix who couldn't get close enough to me

She was a little leary of Scott at first, but then wanted to be a lap dog

These two were definitely trying to de-rail my pooper scooping

Yes, we scooped poop, but we also connected with some precious, adoptable animals. If you are heading to Utah or Arizona, I definitely recommend at least taking a free tour of their property and facilities. Oh, and also make sure to stop in for lunch at their all-you-can-eat vegetarian buffet for $5, with a sweeping view of Angel Canyon.