I bet most of you didn’t know that Kanab, a small town in Southern Utah is the hot, new spring break destination. Not only because it is “Little Hollywood” (which the town sign boasts, along with: pop. 4300), and its exciting thrift shop finds, but also because it is home to Best Friends Animal Society, the nation’s largest animal sanctuary. Through Alternative Spring Break I got the chance to fly to Utah with 11 perfect strangers and work at Best Friends for a week. Though playing with dogs and petting bunnies is not really what I would call “work,” and those perfect strangers had turned into friends by the time we loaded up the car to come home. This is my account of a spring break among, an abundance of animals.
Day One: Saturday
The first day was spent truly experiencing the meaning of travel. We met outside Ruggles at 5:30 (yes, that is AM) to board the bus to the airport. After a two hour flight and another four and a half hour flight, we landed in Las Vegas where we were able to take a break for pizza and a quick drive down the strip (way more exciting for me than it should have been). What was supposed to be a four hour drive to Kanab turned into a five hour crawl as we ran into blizzard-like conditions in the last 60 miles. Arriving at the townhouse, we immediately crashed in our various bed/cots/pull-out-couches.
Day Two: Sunday
A relaxing morning greeted us on Sunday, as we did not begin work until Monday, and in the afternoon we headed out to Zion National park. When I told my friends that I was going to Utah, every one of them could not help but make a Mormon joke. Well I will be the first to tell you that I did not meet a single Mormon (though I really wouldn’t know if I did since its not like they wear a sign), but saw plenty of blue sky and gorgeous canyons, which is what we hiked at Zion. Natural arches and waterfalls were just off the path; it was quite the sight to see.
Day Three: Monday
On Monday we started at Feathered Friends, which hopefully you could tell from the name, is where the birds housed. We toured the grounds and saw ducks, geese, owls, hawks and peacocks, all there for rehabilitation. There were also many, many different species of parrots and other birds that are common pets that have ended up at Best Friends because of too much breeding and ignorant owners. The one thing they could not stress enough is that birds are not pets. Many people are unaware of how long birds live (some up to 80 or 100 years), or how to properly take care of them and it leads to lots of homeless and sick birds. In the afternoon we helped out at Dogtown (yes, the same as the show) where there are almost 500 dogs. The dogs come to Best Friends for a variety of reasons, but many were rescued since it is a last chance sanctuary. Best Friends offers sleepovers for many of their animals, so that evening we took home two puppies from the Puppy Center, Aero and Reeses.
Day Four: Tuesday
Puppy socialization classes started out our day, which involved five excited dogs and lots and lots of treats. The more people dogs meet when they are younger, the better socialized they become, so we were essentially helping them out with that as well as working on their training. Then we went to cats, where we worked with cats who have leukemia (it is possible, and is unfortunately very contagious in cats). After lunch was what they call Area 51, since it is not on the map. Hundreds of bunnies, mostly feral, who were found on one woman’s property are housed here. Bunnies are another animal that people don’t realize take so much work, and can easily become very sick. On Tuesday we took home an adorable pitt bull named Jager for the night.
Day Five: Wednesday
Wednesday was our individual volunteer day, and I worked with dogs again in the morning, which meant spending almost three hours taking groups of dogs to the dog park. Then in the afternoon I worked with horses and walked a sweet shetland pony named Sira. Sister came home with us that night. She was quite the ball of energy and became many people’s, including mine, favorite sleepover dog of the week.
Day Six: Thursday
More time in Dogtown on Thursday morning, where I feel in love with a lab named Aries. We also saw a couple of the Michael Vick dogs (mention the V-word at Best Friends and you will get a rant about how he is one of the most awful men to live, and if you heard the stories about what he did to his dogs, you would agree) who now live at the sanctuary. Potbellied pigs were in the afternoon, and you might be surprised at how much personality a pig can have. We then listened to talk about Pit Bulls, who are being euthanized in shelters all over the United States because they are thought to be a dangerous breed. This is not true, and is called breed discrimination. Learn more about the efforts to help save Pit Bulls here. That night we again took home another Pit Bull, this time the precious Mamas, who actually was a part of rapper DMX’s dog fighting ring and could not be sweeter if she tried.
Day Seven: Friday
In the morning we worked with horses, cleaning out pastures and saying hi to the ones friendly enough to come interact with us. That afternoon we listened to a talk about puppy mills, and the horrible things large-scale breeders do to dogs, including not adequately feeding them and keeping their dogs (which can go into the hundreds and the thousands on one property) in small wire cages for their entire lives, never letting them out to run around. You can learn more about legislation against puppy mills and how to stop them here.
Day Eight: Saturday
Another long day of traveling at we finally arrived home in Boston early on Sunday morning, exhausted but grateful for all our experiences at Best Friends.
Best Friends’ mission is, No More Homeless Pets. They are trying to clean out shelters and prevent animals that should be in homes from wandering the streets. The time I spent at Best Friends taught be so much and gave me so much more than I could ever give them. When the time comes I will be adopting my first pet, and I encourage you to do the same. All the animals I mentioned are available for adoption, along with hundreds of other dogs, cats, birds, horses and pigs. So visit the website or even your local shelter, and give an animal in need a good home.