WHAT is an Animal Rescue? WHAT is an Animal Sanctuary?

A wolf dog sanctuary point of view.

 

Editorial By Cathy Beall, September 2008



I think it would be helpful to have some idea what others mean when they say those terms. We all throw them around but rarely do we ever clarify what we mean.

I can tell you what I thought of in terms of Night Song Refuge. We consider ourselves a sanctuary. For me that definition is a place where the animals can live out their lives in relative comfort. We try to take "sanctuary animals" only.

 

 

Miakoda, the only one not truly a rescue. She's been with Cathy since she was 5 weeks old and she was the first. She convinced her there was a need for wolfdogs who no longer had a home.

  

Our initial mission was to take only those hard to or impossible to place animals. What we have found is those are usually higher contents who for a variety of reasons have "issues"...that's a whole different topic. I guess for definition purposes it is easier to say what a sanctuary animal isn't...at least in my opinion... it's a pet quality animal. One who wants to be with people all the time. Those types of animals WE BELIEVE do not necessarily do well in a sanctuary. Well at least their quality of life suffers. 


Quality of life is a big thing for me. Our average enclosure is probably around 2500 square feet. We have one which is around 1000 and two which are around 4500 but the average is around 2500 sq ft. Well that average is skewed right now because of the Michigan guys. We had to put up temp enclosures for them so they are 16 X 16. We are hoping to move them all out soon and take down those enclosures.

Our fence height including our temps is either 8 feet with lean-ins or 10 feet. We have dig out wire down. We are working on getting double gates on all of our enclosures. We are also trying to design a lock out system for one of our enclosures so we can safely enter the enclosure.


Each permanent enclosure has a shelter. Each shelter is a bit different. One is a tree house. They all have some varying heights... platforms etc. This gives the animals some vertical stimulation/enrichment. Some of the shelters have little cubby holes inside the animals can really hide. The packs have more elaborate shelters than the others. Each shelter is a bit different.


All the enclosures have a natural habitat. Some of piles of brush we left when we were clearing. The Indiana Pack has several deep dens built in their brush pile. Most have at least one or two logs they can play around. We try to give them pools but due to the drought this year we have had to make some changes there.

As far as a definition of a "rescue", I would think they are more temporary. Their intent being to ‘rescue and adopt out’. Others may have other ideas. Our board of directors has decided that Night Song needs to return to its "roots" so to speak. We want to get out of the "adoption" business and get back to doing what we love which is what we have described here.

This model works for us. It works for our animals. There are things we do that are different from others. I think it's important we research what others do but in the end we have to do what works for us and our animals. Every person and every animal are different. You can't cookie cutter what a sanctuary should be or rescue should be or how they are built. There are of course some general guidelines and things that go without saying.

Take enclosure size for example. The size of an enclosure is going to depend on the animal you plan on putting in it and what your goal is for the outcome. If the idea is to rehab that animal and the animal is appropriate for a small space then by all means a small enclosure is very useful. If you took some of our animals and put them in a small enclosure...some one is going to get hurt. In a small enclosure, no matter where you stand you are "in their space". That's a frightening thing for a scared or aggressive animal. You have to have space to work with those animals. If the animal just needs some TLC, then a small enclosure is probably best especially if you plan on adopting that animal out. It's one of those things that vary a lot.

Aries, alpha male in the Indiana Pack, and Orion checking out the new scents on their shelter


Sorry that was probably more information than most care to read but just got on a roll. This is all my opinion on what works here for us. Since people are different and work differently this set up might not be ideal for others.

Cathy Beall is a co-founder of Night Song Refuge, 377 High Wood Ln, Zirconia NC 28790

Copyright © Night Song Refuge 2008