Visitors just might find their best friend at animal sanctuary

Just how far does respect for life reach at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary? Well, if someone sees a rattlesnake, maintenance is called. Not to kill the rattler, but to capture it and relocate it to a remote area where it is less of a threat.

When Best Friends folks say they believe kindness to animals builds a better world for all of us, they mean it.

Full disclosure here: Even before I went to see the nation's largest no-kill sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, I was predisposed to look on it favorably.

My Mr. Darcy is a Best Friends' rescue kitty. Two years ago, he was one of five kittens dropped off from Annabella, Utah. He was 2 pounds, sneezing, and had diarrhea, gas and worms.

Best Friends gave him medical care and neutered him. Nearly three months later, he was deemed OK to adopt, given all his shots, driven the 200 miles to a PetSmart in Las Vegas and offered for adoption.

Luck would have it, I was looking for a new rescue kitty, and the gray and white kitten was the chosen one.

I was also predisposed toward Best Friends because of the work the nonprofit did following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, rescuing 6,000 animals.

In Pahrump in 2007, Best Friends rescued about 400 sick and starving cats at the FLOCK cat sanctuary.

And 22 of NFL not-so-great Michael Vick's 66 pit bulls ended up at Best Friends. One was recently released to a foster home to see if he can transition from fighter to pet.

I can't claim any insider's behind-the-scenes knowledge, since all I did was take the regular 90-minute tour offered to anybody. But what tour guide Tina Judd told us and showed us was impressive and worth your time.

My senses of sight and smell told me something else. This place didn't smell of urine or feces. It was clean.

It was larger than I expected, employing more than 400 people full time. That doesn't count volunteers such as four Arizona women who came to help out for a few days.

This past year, according to Best Friends Animal Society's tax returns, the sanctuary had 7,000 volunteers, doing everything from cleaning cages, feeding animals, grooming and walking dogs to socializing with the animals.

The sanctuary isn't just for dogs and cats. The third most euthanized animal? Bunnies. Besides Cat World and Dogtown Heights, there is the Bunny House, the Parrot Garden, and Piggy Paradise.

The tour provides an overview and only stops at Dogtown Heights and Cat World. Best Friends suggests the best way to see bunnies, parrots, pigs and horses is to volunteer.

Best Friends is big -- big in size, big in scope and big in budget with expenses of more than $36 million and relying mostly on private donations and grants.

Judd told her group 501(c)3 tax returns are on the Best Friends' Web site. She encouraged people to look at them. I liked that and I did.

I also liked that Judd encouraged people to volunteer with their hometown rescue groups rather than just ask us to support the sanctuary, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Since more than 25,000 people visited the sanctuary last year, reservations for the free tours are recommended by calling (435) 644-2001, ext. 4537 or through the Web site www.bestfriends.org.

At any one time, 1,700 animals are at the sanctuary. Some are not adoptable and will live out their lives there. Others, like Boscoe, may have another chance. Boscoe is a friendly 5-year-old black and tan shepherd mix who has been at Best Friends since August. A woman taking the tour not long ago met Boscoe, was charmed, and saw his potential. An adoption is pending while Boscoe gets some medical treatment.

If the adoption goes through, Boscoe will be living at a new home, a facility for Alzheimer's patients in Salt Lake City, where he can give as much as he receives, where he's likely to be as well-loved as he is loving and where perhaps he'll spark memories of dogs loved in the past.

As Charles Duran said, "Folks will know how large your soul is by the way you treat a dog."

Or a cat. Or any animal -- even a rattlesnake.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.