Best Friends Animal Society

“A better world through kindness to animals.”

Best Friends Animal Society Sanctuary is a no-kill sanctuary dedicated to the care and preservation of all animals. "No-kill" means that animals are not destroyed except in cases of terminal and painful illness, when compassion demands euthanasia because there is no reasonable alternative.“

According to their website,

The sanctuary "...had its origin in Arizona in the 1970s with a group of animal lovers who were unwilling to accept the conventional wisdom of the time that humane societies and shelters "had no choice" but to kill their unadoptable animals.

In a pilot program they rescued animals from shelters where their luck was about to run out, rehabilitated them, and found homes for hundreds of these cast-off cats and dogs.

Those who were still unadoptable formed an eccentric assortment of wonderful and lovable creatures whose numbers grew until Best Friends was established in the early 1980s as a large and unique sanctuary at Angel Canyon in Utah.

In 1991 Best Friends became a non-profit, tax-exempt- charity, and quickly grew to be the flagship of the rapidly growing no-kill movement throughout the 1990s.

This No More Homeless Pets goal became central to the work of Best Friends, and by the end of the decade the number of animals being killed in shelters had dropped from about 15 million in 1990 to less than 5 million.

Best Friends operates the nation's largest sanctuary for homeless animals; provides adoption, spay/neuter, and educational programs… and publishes Best Friends, the nation's largest general-interest animal magazine.”


As a non-profit, tax-exempt-charity, Best Friends is dependent upon the donations from:

• Members - Presently over 300,000 Households across the United States

• Foundation and Corporate Partners - Corporations, such as Capitol One, Pet Health, Pet Smart Charities and Petco, provide necessary funding and resources to administer and grow Best Friends many programs.

• In-Kind Partners – Companies such as, Purina, Old Mother Hubbard Baking Co., Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance Pet Foods provide such things as cat food to feed the over 3,000 feral cats in the Sanctuary's community outreach program.

• Business Supporters - Some of the businesses which donate as-much-as $10,000 are Suns Out , London Jewelers, Mr. Chewey and Zooma Office Supply.

Location: Kanab, in southwestern Utah, is approximately 74 miles north of Page, AZ. The entrance to the sanctuary is at Kanab Canyon, approximately 5 miles north of Kanab off highway 89. From the intersection of Kanab Canyon and highway 89, turn east and continue 1.5 miles to the Welcome Center at Angel Canyon.

Books about Best Friends may be purchased at the Visitor Center, or you may purchase them through Amazon.com by clicking the link below.   Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

Tours of the sanctuary:

Angel Canyon covers a large area and visitors are not allowed to visit the animal facilities unaccompanied by a member. Four complete tours are offered each day, each one lasting about 1.5 hours. If you are interested in taking one of the tours it is recommended you call ahead before visiting, especially during peak tourist season.

What you’ll see on the guided tours:

• Dogtown – Big dogs, little dogs, white dogs, black dogs, dogs of all breeds can be found here.

• Cat World – If you love cats, you will find plenty to love here.

• Bunny House - They’re all here, Peter Cottontail, Jumbo and all their cute and cuddly friends.

• Horse Haven – Here you’ll find not just horses, but mules, goats and sheep in a place they all call home.

• Parrot Garden – A place where you can talk to the birds and they may just talk back.

• Piggy Paradise – It all started with just one pig and now has more than a dozen pigs in their own pig houses and condos, play areas and shrub garden.

• Wild Friends – This is a state and federally licensed wildlife rehabilitation program to help injured wild animals return to lives of freedom.

• The Clinic – A fully staffed clinic which provides care for the sanctuary’s animals and well as spaying/neutering programs

Climate:Kanab is located in the high desert of southern Utah and is almost a mile high. Weather and Climate are what you might expect. See climate under FAQs:

Kanab, UT Current Weather and Forecast

Lodging:

There are some guest cottages and cabins located at Angel Canyon but they tend to be well booked in advance. Be sure to call ahead months in advance of your expected arrival.

Also, in nearby Kanab there are several motels. Again, during the busy tourist season, finding a vacancy could be a problem.

However, there is now an easy way to check for availability and to get the best available prices.

Simply use the box below, which is powered by Hotels Combined, to get you the best deals for the dates you have in mind.

This is not a Booking Agency. Rather it is a search engine designed to help you find available lodging in Kanab, Utah on the dates you select and for the best possible price.

They search through their data base of the 30 biggest booking sites looking for motels with accommodations available for your selected dates.

The results of this search are then brought back to you with all the information you need to make an informed choice.

To use this service to find lodging at Kanab, Utah simply go to the little box below:

• Enter the dates you need
• Click "Search"
• ...and you will be taken to a list of Kanab,Utah
accommodations available for those dates,
along with the best price for each one of them.
(Page opens in new window.)

Once you have a list of hotels, simply click the ones in which you are interested.

For each hotel, you will be given a General Overview plus a number of quality images of the hotel.

Additionally there will be a listing of Hotel Features, such as basic amenities, what additional services are available and check in and check out times.

There will, also, be FAQ’s, and Guest Reviews. All the information you need in which to make an informed choice. Only after you click "Select" on the hotel of choice, will you be sent to a regular booking site. Until then, you remain with the Search Engine.

Finding and selecting lodging has never been easier.

Contact Best Friends:

For more details, reservations and other information you can go directly to their Websiteor e-mail them at visiting@bestfriends.org or telephone them at 435-644-2001 ext. 4537.

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