What Really is an Animal Sanctuary?

There are many ways to define an animal sanctuary. They are composed of three things:

·         The animals that inhabit their land, and survive off the caretakers who run the sanctuary.

·         The donations they receive by holding events and fundraisers. This money pays for veterinarian bills and food.

·         People who volunteer their time to help maintain the sanctuary.

I think it is important to remember that running a sanctuary is no easy task. It takes very special people to handle this responsibility. Similarly, the Donkey Sanctuary of Canada requires many volunteers to operate their facility. There are 68 Donkeys, Mules, Goat, and Sheep. Many have been severely abused and they take a long time to come around. In addition, without donations this sanctuary would never survive. It is hard work but visitors can’t get enough of the donkeys.

In Ontario, there are many sanctuaries and I had the chance to visit two wonderful women who rescued many different animals. R&R Refuge was one of them and it was an incredible place. I met many different horses who had been saved from horse slaughter. Furthermore, each horse had their own specific journey to this heavenly place. They were taken care off with the utmost love and patience. It was hard to think that anyone would want to slaughter such breathtaking animals.

The final sanctuary I will talk about is the teja Sanctuary. It was home to over 50 different animals. The woman who was in charge of this sanctuary was an amazing human being. It took great courage to look after so many abused animals. It was a gorgeous property and I would really like to go back one day

The Never-Ending Debate Over Pet Food.

Many people want to feed their furry friend the best quality cat or dog food out there. However, this can become a challenge with all the pet products out there. In addition, many people feel they should buy pet food from their local veterinarian, but this can be very expensive. For example, Royal Canin Pet food for dogs and cats is a huge seller in veterinarian offices as oppose to other brands like Pedigree, Blue Buffalo, Purina and Whiskas products. This leaves the consumer with lots to choose from but not with any idea which food is better or worse for their pet.

 In addition, there are those individuals who feel like the real answer to the pet food problem is to make it themselves. There are many online tutorials and instructions on making “natural” and “holistic” products. When I typed in “Make my own pet food” into google, I was surprised to see many websites dedicated to creating their own pet food. It was also slightly disturbing because many people were mixing ingredients together that even a racoon would run from. However, as time has passed many store bought food has come under serious investigation. One example, from Purina Cat Food, is that the ingredients they used were made from outdated chicken, and contained serious bi-products. There may be a reason so many pet owners are concerned over what goes into their pet’s stomach.

The fundamental decision is up to the pet owners, but this is a topic I believe we will be hearing a lot about in the upcoming year. It is true that many pet owners will do anything to please their pets, and buying expensive food or making it themselves is what they will do for their pets.  It will be interesting to see what food comes out on top.

These two wonderful creatures are from Teja Sanctuary which is just outside Montreal. At a Birthday Party, for myself, my friends helped me raise $70 dollars for Teja Sanctuary and another $70 dollars for RR Horse Refuge. The key here is understanding raising money is not as hard as it would seem. I am forever greatful to my friends for helping me save one more animal from the slaughter house.

“To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

 



Welcome to "Kindness is never forgotten," a hopeful website/blog directed at helping those animals across Ontario and Canada who are alone and forgotten. My hope is to bring our community (Kitchener-Waterloo) together and to learn about the many sanctuaries and rescues in our area. Similarly, I hope to raise money for these organizations by selling local pet merchandise, and using that money to donate to the charity of you (the readers) pick. In addition, I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Cat Bradley and I am an aspiring Veterinary Administrator. I also, one day, hope to own my own small sanctuary and concentrate on horses destined for slaughter. I will put up new information soon! Thanks for reading my blog! If you want to contribute anything to sell don't be shy. The more the creative the better.