Day 24: Working in a Cat House - Part 1 - Aimless

July 4, 2013

Day 24: Working in a Cat House - Part 1

No, not THAT kind of cat house! Get your mind out of the gutter!

I am talking about the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab. The largest animal rescue facility in the world. I Spent my day there! And it was fabulous! But I will get to that in a minute...

It is the 4th of July don't forget. So a lot of people were up early. I left at 7am so I could make it to the sanctuary for the 8:30am tour.

Of course it is the 4th of July. Guess these people were trying to reserve a spot the parade? But this scene made me wonder if they were sitting there last night, and then all of a sudden said, "oh wait, this isn't the Rose Bowl Parade, its Kanab. Maybe we don't need to sit here all night?"

Port of entry? Hey, Utah. You do know the border is hundreds of miles to the south don't you?

I had hoped to go the animal santuary anyway, to see it, but seeing as my visit just happened to fall on The 4th of July, a day that is high in road accidents, I decided to spend my day there, by taking a tour in the morniing, and volunteering to help with the animals in the afternoon.

The santuary is beautiful. I am going from memory but I believe they own over 4000 acres. It is all sprerad out with Horse Haven, Dogtown, Cat World, and more. Dogtown alone was spread over many acres with different buildings for small dogs, big dogs, dogs that need physical or emotional rehad, jumper dogs (that need bigger fences), digger dogs (that need 6 feet of concrete footing around the fence to keep them from getting out.... And that doesnt even include the bunnys, Cat World... You get the idea.

This is the view from the welcome center, where the tours start.

This is Horse Haven. Not a bad place to be if you are a horse.

The tour lasted two hours, and included riding in a van because it is miles from one complex to another. Later I rode some of it on my bike to resee things, the roads were beautiful.

After the tour, and my initial Volunteer Orientation I headed over for lunch in their cafeteria. The buffet lunch is $5.00 and it was fabulous! They also had a little presentation thing talking about some animals, employees and volunteers. I got the feeling this was not a regular thing.

This area is for the overweight horses. They have to walk way down to the creek to get water, then way up the canyon for food. Eventually the weight melts away, just like it does if you ride a bike up and down a canyon.

This was the start of my lunch. For 5 dollars!

...and talked about things like bunnies.

After lunch it was time for me to report for duty. I asked about working in Dogtown, but was told, "We dont allow bikes in Dogtown, it upsets some of the dogs." What the...! That sound discrimitory to me, but I kept my mouth shut. I didnt want to get fired from my volunteer job before my first day.

"You can work in Cat World or The Bunny House," said the volunteer coordinator. I chose cats of course, since I have experience working in cat houses. NO, I TOLD you, not THAT kind of cat house! I am talking about the fact that there is a cat IN my house and I take care of her.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the cat house.

But I am afraid I am out of time. I will write more about that in my next entry.

Until then...

I could have worked at the bunny house...

...but rode over to the cat house instead. Ain't these pretty roads between facilities?

Today's ride: 28 miles (45 km)
Total: 1,142 miles (1,838 km)

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