Our good friends, Rich and Laura Ouellette from “The Bag-It Tour” were in this area earlier this year. They visited Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and when they learned we were in Kanab, suggested that we go there too. So before I go any further, I want to extend our deepest thanks to them for their suggestion! Thanks Rich and Laura!

Best Friends Animal Society is the nation’s largest no-kill animal sanctuary and tours are free. At any given time they accommodate around 1500 displaced animals; dogs, cats, birds, horses, donkeys, goats, sheep and pot-bellied pigs. About 85% of them are adopted out but many are permanent residents. The sanctuary welcomes volunteers to help with the care of their residents and today after our tour (which was wonderful), Rick and I volunteered for a couple of hours.

We were assigned to “Dogtown” where we helped “Jane”, a paid employee, to feed and walk some “residents” and wash some doggie dishes. Jane, previously from Dallas was hired by Best Friends after they discovered her dedication to animals in New Orleans. Jane (born in New Orleans) spent over six months there after Hurricane Katrina, helping to rescue abandoned pets and Best Friends enticed her to move here and continue her work. She was a wealth of information, a real pleasure to work with and devoted to her work and the animals she helps.

After our volunteer stint, we went for a walk over to the farm area to visit with the pot-bellied pigs, some of the horses and the goats and sheep. When we had our Bed & Breakfast, we had several animals of our own including some PB pigs, 2 goats and 2 sheep so for us it was an opportunity to hang out with some familiar critters. The entire day was a wonderful experience and made us wish we could stay for weeks to help some more. Despite all the gorgeous scenery we have seen, (and we’ve seen a lot) today was the highlight of our visit to Utah!