How to find sanctuary in the West with animals
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Animal lovers who love to travel the West will like this: L.A. Times’ readers nominated the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in southwest Utah as one of the best ‘Secret Spots of the West’ in this week’s Travel section.
Times’ staff writer Hugo Martín paints us a picture of the place:
Angel Canyon, a postcard-perfect, rust-colored sandstone canyon outside of Kanab, Utah, is home to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, said to be the country’s largest no-kill animal shelter.Amid these 33,000 acres of sand, juniper and sagebrush, volunteers and sanctuary workers have built air-conditioned shelters, offices, banquet halls and outdoor enclosures to house and care for up to 2,000 abandoned animals, including horses, goats, pigs, birds, dogs, cats and rabbits. The rescued animals include 22 dogs confiscated from NFL quarterback Michael Vick’s kennels in the Virginia dog-fighting case.The sanctuary is a short drive from Zion National Park, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, an easy side trip for vacationers enjoying some of the Southwest’s best national parks.
Martin also muses to himself with a raw question:
As I drove across the Utah desert from Las Vegas, I wondered why people would spend their precious few vacation days caring for abandoned animals under the hot summer sun. You’d have to be a bit nutty to trade in a day of hiking through Zion’s sweet clover and Indian paintbrushes to scoop up horse manure or refill dog bowls at an animal sanctuary, right?
--Francisco Vara-Orta