Best Friends Animal Sanctuary had been on our radar for a couple of years and when we finally got to visit, it exceeded all our expectations. We were amazed by the passion and unending love the hundreds of people that work there have for the animals. They are constantly learning and evolving to best serve the creatures big and small.
Animal welfare is the first thing on everyone’s mind. Each critter has lots of space, an individualized eating, health, and training plan, regardless of whether they’re being prepared for adoption or are going to live out their days at the Sanctuary. Every animal gets exactly what they need to become healthy, confident, and content. This includes massages, acupuncture, spa days, and dance parties – I found myself becoming envious of the life the animals have there 🙂
“Way down deep, we’re all motivated by the same urges. Cats have the courage to live by them.”
– Jim Davis
A Very Brief History
In the 1980s, a motley crew of friends from all over the world decided to dedicate their lives to saving abused, injured, and homeless animals. They turned their dream into the biggest animal sanctuary of its kind in the US, creating a safe haven for over 1600 creatures, as well as a national movement to protect shelter animals from being killed. Many of the founders still live and work at the sanctuary.
What and where is Best Friends Animal Sanctuary?
200 miles North East of Las Vegas, 300 miles South of Salt Lake City, 350 miles North of Phoenix, and 30 miles from Zion National Park, this national animal welfare organization and largest no-kill sanctuary in the US sits on 6 square miles of the spectacular red canyonland landscape of southern Utah, near the town of Kanab.
Mayim Bialik talks about Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and her new show
Best Friends is loved and supported by the likes of Charlize Theron, Mayim Bialik, Ellen DeGeneres, Moby, Bill Maher, Kelly Slater, The LA Kings, The NY Rangers, and many others.
The sanctuary provides a safe and comfortable home for over 1600 animals in need, from guinea pigs, bunnies, cats, and dogs to pigs, goats, horses, and wildlife. They also rescue, heal, and love animals that others consider un-saveable. Several hundred employees and countless volunteers take exquisite care of all these beings, some of whom are hard to adopt because of their special needs and will live out their lives in the Sanctuary.
The vet clinics here are state-of-the-art. The animals receive top-notch personalized care to get and stay healthy, be it acupuncture, chiropractic treatment, hydrotherapy, massages, or traditional medicine.
One of the big ambitions of Best Friends is to make every animal shelter in the US no-kill by 2025. They run life-saving community programs for dogs and cats, mobilize the public on behalf of pets, and provide support and training for animal shelters and rescue groups.
Best Friends Animal Sanctuary has partnered with Southern Utah University to help people turn their passion for saving homeless pets into a new career. They created the nation’s first university-endorsed animal services leadership program with a variety of degree, certification, and non-credit courses to choose from.
Can you visit? How much time should you spend?
Yes, you absolutely can (and should) visit. We’ve stayed twice so far, for three weeks each time but you can get the full experience in just a few days. The length of your stay will depend on which tours and activities you’re interested in.
Check out the schedule
To decide how much time to spend there, have a look at the Tours and Activities page, choose what areas you want to tour and/or volunteer at, check the available dates and times (not each tour runs every day and many of the activities overlap), and plan accordingly. Tours take 30 minutes to 2 hours, volunteer shifts last about 3 hours (one in the morning and one in the afternoon to choose from).
Try to book all activities well in advance to create your dream stay.
I’d spend at least 3 days (longer if you have the luxury) taking the tours, volunteering, hosting sleepovers (yes, with animals), stuffing yourself at the delicious $5 vegan lunch buffet at the Angel Village Cafe, and hiking the stunning landscape that surrounds Kanab.
We met several people that spend a week at Best Friends as a yearly present to themselves. Some of them have already adopted a pet, some of them come for the interaction with awesome animals and humans, and some leave with a new furry (or not-so-furry) companion.
What is there to do?
There are plenty of activities to keep you occupied, amused, and engaged at the sanctuary.
Take a tour
I would start by booking the Grand Tour, where a guide brimming with stories and knowledge drives you, free coffee in hand, around the whole sanctuary in a van and stops at some of the habitats to let you pet and feed the animals while you learn about their life at Best Friends.
You can also take specialized tours of the areas of the sanctuary that interest you the most – Cat World, Dog Town, Parrot Garden, Horse Haven, Marshall’s Piggy Paradise, Bunny House, or Wild Friends. We took them all and they were highly personal, illuminating, and overall brilliant.
Play with the animals
You can play with animals at any of the public areas – Puppy Preschool (open 10-12 and 1 to 4), the Welcome Center (open 8-5), and Sinjins House at Cat World (open 8-12 and 1-5). These areas are accessible without an appointment and all have adoptable little friends to spend time with. You can visit the rest of the departments on a tour or by booking a volunteer shift.
Volunteer
Book a volunteer shift in your area of interest – at the Cat World, Dog Town, Parrot Garden, Horse Haven, Marshall’s Piggy Paradise, Bunny House, or Wild Friends. This is the best option if you’d like to lend a helping hand with the daily activities, spend a lot of time with animals, learn more about the workings of the sanctuary, and chat with the staff and other volunteers. The morning shift runs from 8:15 to 11:30 am and the afternoon one from 1:15 to 4 pm. You’ll get up close and personal with the animals – take them for a walk or a stroller ride, help clean their living quarters, feed them, or socialize (or all of the above).
Host a sleepover
You can host a sleepover (take a dog, cat, or bunny to your room for the night) after completing at least one volunteer shift in the department your “overnight guest” lives. This way you get to know a particular pet which is good fun and an excellent test run if you’re considering adopting a Best Friends animal.
Take a hike
You might see deer, wild turkeys, coyotes, and other wildlife on the sanctuary’s grounds. The Grand Staircase Escalante, “The Wave”, and the Coral Pink Sand Dunes are right at your doorstep, as are hundreds of excellent hiking trails. Stop by the Welcome Center for a map and some advice.
Zion National Park is only 30 miles away, and The Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Lake Powel are all within a day-tripping distance.
Eat
Even though there are a couple of grocery stores and a few good restaurants in Kanab, you don’t need to leave the sanctuary to fill your belly. Smack on the middle of the sanctuary there’s the amazing (and amazingly inexpensive) Angel Village Cafe – $5 for a vegan buffet lunch of warm dishes (different every day), salad bar, desserts, coffee, and tea, with a terrace overlooking the gorgeous canyon.
Even if you’re not vegan, you’ll like the food. They use such good meat replacements that I wouldn’t have known I was not eating meat. The ladies and gentlemen that work at the cafe are wonderful as well, you can taste the love they put into every dish.
The Cafe is a great place to strike up a conversation with other animal lovers, meet the founders, or just quietly enjoy your lunch and coffee or tea. It’s open from 11:30 am to 1 pm. Don’t miss Thursday’s noon talks and presentations about goings on at the sanctuary while you have your meal.
Where can you stay?
The sanctuary is big. If you want to fully experience it and if you’re traveling with your own pet or plan to host a pet sleepover, your best bet is to book a stay on the property, in one of the cabins, cottages, or RV spots, or at the Best Friends Roadhouse in the charming town of Kanab a couple of miles down the road.
Best Friends Animal Sanctuary Cottages, Cabins, and Roadhouse
Kanab is close to some of the most beautiful natural wonders in America so accommodation options abound in this small town.
How can you help Best Friends Animal Sanctuary?
There are plenty of ways to help if you feel inspired.
- Donate money or crypto, either one time or regularly.
- Volunteer at your local shelter, whether it’s associated with Best Friends or not.
- Visit the sanctuary and volunteer your time to help care for the animals.
- Adopt or foster an animal.
- Create a personal fundraiser to benefit the sanctuary.
- Sponsor a particular animal.
- Donate your vehicle.
- Include animal shelters in your will.
- Get the company you work for to become a Best Friends corporate partner.
- Shop from Best Friends’ wish list to donate items they need.
- Pick a career that helps lessen the suffering of animals.
- Stay at the sanctuary, learn as much as you can, and spread the word.
Summary
Do this a few weeks before you leave home
- Reserve your accommodation
- Book the Grand Tour
- Book specialized tours
- Sign up for volunteer shifts
- Book a sleepover with a bunny, cat, or dog
- Sign up for an outing (by car or on foot) with a dog
Do this while at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary
- Do all the tours, volunteer shifts, sleepovers, and outings you’ve booked before leaving.
- Chat to the friendly folk at the Welcome Center and gift shop.
- If you don’t have the time or will to volunteer and still want to play with animals, go to the Welcome Center which always has some furry friends to pet, the Puppy Preschool building to play with kitties and pups, and Club Sinjins within the Cat World, to chill with cats. All the animals you encounter here are adoptable.
- Eat at the Angel Village Cafe, an excellent vegan lunch buffet for only $5.
- Take a self-driving tour. Download the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary app to take a seven-mile guided tour starting and ending at the Welcome Center.
- Go for a hike! The sanctuary itself sits in a beautiful, red canyon and some of the world’s most beautiful landscapes are only a quick drive away.
- Walk through Angels Rest and Angels Overlook, peaceful pet cemeteries with hundreds of wind chimes representing loved and lost companions.
- See the Disney Barn, built for the 1973 film One Little Indian with James Garner and Jodie Foster. The Lone Ranger, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Lassie, and Gunsmoke were also filmed in Angel Canyon.
So there you have it. If you want to visit the impressive Best Friends Sanctuary, for the love of all critters, don’t wait for years as we did. You’ll love your time there and leave deeply inspired, brimming with stories, and in love with at least a few of the inhabitants. I left a piece of my heart with the soft, silky bunny called Hippo and four very special little doggies. (Update – Hippo and his partner Rhino found their forever home).
Videos
To read about another of our adventures, head over to Volunteering at the first buffalo dairy in Laos.
If you’re in the US and think you can’t afford to travel, have a peek at Getting started with credit card bonuses and also Travel hacking with US credit card points.
