Best Friends Animal Sanctuary Admissions: Questions & Answers

Q: What kinds of animals does Best Friends care for? Where do they come from?

A: Best Friends works with rescue organizations across the country, so that we can take in the homeless pets who are at greatest risk - abused, abandoned and special needs animals who are often "unadoptable" in shelters due to advanced age, behavioral troubles, illness or injury. And on any given day here at the sanctuary, there are about 2,000 dogs, cats, birds, bunnies, horses and other animals receiving special care.

Many of these once-sad faces will need just a few weeks of sanctuary care before they're ready to be placed in good new homes. Others, who are older or sicker, or who have suffered extra trauma, find a home and a haven here, and are given loving care for the rest of their lives.

Q: I need to find a new home for my pets. Will Best Friends take them?

A: We don't, as a rule, accept pets from the general public. Instead, we work with you to find a solution in your own home or through your local community. Best Friends can then focus on creating new model programs that can help shelters and their local communities all across the nation.

Almost always, for homeless pets in need, the best chance for a good home can be found right within their own community. So although we probably can't take your animals here at the sanctuary, Best Friends works in other ways to help people like you find good homes for pets on a local level.

Q: Do you offer resources for helping homeless animals - and other pets who need new homes - in my community?

A: Yes, we do. The best place to start is with the Best Friends Network. It's free to sign up, and easy to use.

Through the Network, Best Friends reaches across the nation and around the world, helping local communities to rescue animals in distress and to set up spay/neuter, shelter, foster and adoption programs in their own neighborhoods, cities and states.

Whether you need help with a pet who is already part of your family, or you've just rescued a homeless animal, you'll find resources to help you 24 hours a day in the Animal Help section of the Best Friends Network. You can also visit the Best Friends Pet Care Library for more free resources.

Q: I've checked your online resources and I still have questions. Can you help me?

A: Yes. Below you'll find some of the commonly asked questions received by Best Friends about admitting animals to the sanctuary. Just click on a question to read the answer.

And if you don't see your question below, you can contact Animal Help at Best Friends. We have a staff of friendly Animal Help Specialists who can provide advice to help people solve their pet problems, from assistance with feral cats to foster pet resources for men and women serving in the military. You can email them at animalhelp@bestfriends.org or call 435-644-2001, ext. 4800.

• Do you accept cats who are aggressive to other cats? Dogs who are aggressive to other dogs?
• Do I have to be a member to get an animal admitted to Best Friends? Is there a minimum donation?
• I was just informed that you can't accept my pets. It seems like you have so much space there - how is that possible?
• Is there a waiting list for admitting dogs, cats and other animals to Best Friends?
• Someone told me that you only accept animals from "high profile" events or from celebrities. Is this true?
• In your magazines and newsletters, there's never any mention of space limitations at the sanctuary. Why don't you just build more facilities so you can take in more animals?

Again, you can find resources to help you on the Best Friends Network, at http://network.bestfriends.org, and on the Best Friends Pet Care Library, 24 hours a day. If you still have questions, please contact Animal Help at animalhelp@bestfriends.org or at 435-644-2001, ext. 4800.

Q: Do you accept cats who are aggressive to other cats? Dogs who are aggressive to other dogs?

A: Most of our dogs and cats live in group housing, so they need to get along well with members of their own species. We do have some housing for animals who prefer to live alone, but these spaces don't become available very often - simply because it usually takes longer to find good homes for these dogs and cats. Back to top

Q: Do I have to be a member to get an animal admitted to Best Friends? Is there a minimum donation?

A: Your membership status and/or donations are not - and never will be - a deciding factor in whether we are able to accept an animal.

Your donations to Best Friends go straight to work creating new futures for the orphan pets who are currently in our care. Donations also support the work of Best Friends far and wide, including nationwide spay/neuter programs and more, so that we can bring about a day when there will be No More Homeless Pets - when every dog or cat who's ever born can be guaranteed a good life in a caring home. Back to top

Q: I was just informed that you can't accept my pets. It seems like you have so much space there - how is that possible?

A: Strange as it may seem, space is still a big concern when it comes to accepting pets at Best Friends.

At the sanctuary, animals live in housing that is determined not only by species, but also by the level of care that each orphan pet requires. So while a cat with feline leukemia would be placed in Casa de CalMar here at the sanctuary, an older but healthy dog might move into Old Friends, an area of Dogtown that's dedicated to senior pooches.

And so it goes for every pet who comes to Best Friends, from friendly dogs to feral cats, abused burros, traumatized parrots and more. It sounds a bit complicated, but it's necessary to make sure that every animal who comes into our care is given everything they need for a healthy and happy life. It's also why currently available space - in an appropriate area of the sanctuary for the animal we're considering - is the biggest determining factor in whether or not we can accept a homeless pet. Back to top

Q: Is there a waiting list for admitting dogs, cats and other animals to Best Friends?

A: There is no waiting list for admission at Best Friends, for the simple reason that the homeless animals we help typically don't have much time left. In other words, they are the abused, abandoned and special needs animals who are often "unadoptable" in other shelters and rescue organizations. Most have already waited a long time for a chance at a new life, and by not relying on a waiting list for admissions, Best Friends can act quickly to help them. Back to top

Q: Someone told me that you only accept pets from "high profile" events or from celebrities. Is this true?

A: No, this is not true. We very rarely take in animals from celebrities - they have the resources to take care of their own pets. Some of the "highest profile" animals we've ever worked with were the displaced dogs and cats from Hurricane Katrina. Working with rescue groups and volunteers, we rescued and transported more than 6,000 animals out of the region, but fewer than 20 actually came back to the sanctuary. The largest number of animals to come back to the sanctuary for special care was from the rescue of more than 800 cats out near Death Valley. This rescue had almost no profile in the media at all. We wish it had been reported everywhere to help people understand some of the horrors that face abused and abandoned animals.

If you'd like to meet some of the animals who we've helped rescue from back alleys, abusive homes, hoarders and more, you can visit the pet sponsor section of our website. Back to top

Q: In your magazines and newsletters, there's never any mention of space limitations at the sanctuary. Why don't you just build more facilities so you can take in more animals?

A: Because there are more than 4 million animals still being killed in shelters every year ... and simply "housing" these millions of homeless pets won't solve the underlying problems they face. That's why Best Friends is working across two main fronts to save this last group of pets as quickly as possible.

First, as you read earlier, Best Friends continues to take in the homeless pets who are at greatest risk. Most often, these are the "unadoptable" pets who wait in shelters due to advanced age, behavioral troubles, illness or injury.

Here at the sanctuary, Best Friends makes a lifetime commitment to every pet who comes into our care.

And that means each of the 2,000 dogs, cats and other animals who are here on any given day receive whatever they need to stay happy and healthy. And for as long as they need - from good food and clean water (a critical consideration here in the West) ... proper medical care and exercise ... plenty of love from staff and volunteers, plus much more! So the size of our facilities will always reflect that level of care, which as you can see, goes far beyond housing.

The second way Best Friends is working to save these homeless pets is by sharing the results of our work to heal troubled animals - such as the Vicktory Dogs or the cats from the Great Kitty Rescue, for example. We do this by developing model programs - including effective adoption programs ... low-cost spay/neuter clinics ... and groundbreaking new animal care standards for shelters and humane societies. From Los Angeles to New York, you'll find many of these programs already at work ... saving the lives of homeless pets far beyond the sanctuary. Back to top

So what's the bottom line? The Best Friends approach - directly helping the homeless pets at greatest risk, while working to solve the underlying problems they face in shelters and on the streets - has consistently led to fewer and fewer animals being labeled as "unadoptable" each year. And it far exceeds what we could have achieved by accepting more and more pets.

Just twenty years ago, there were more than 17 million animals being killed in shelters. Today, as you now know, that number stands at about 4 million. And together with the support of our members, Best Friends will continue to work toward a day when every dog or cat who's ever born can be guaranteed a good life in a loving home.