We believe all animals deserve the same care and quality of life, no matter what size or specie it is.  Providing that is our first priority.

Meet Some of the wonderful critters who have found their way to our doors.

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Bob and Al

2002 -Bob was rescued from a padlocked 8′ x 10′ cage where he had lived for fourteen years. When we first met Bob, his body was plastered with dried feces, he had open sores on his belly, edema in his legs, and a respiratory infection. He could hardly stand and was literally at death’s door.

This Emu was living in a horrific environment. A local independent zoo veterinarian who examined him held out little hope for his survival. In his opinion he thought he would never regain the use of his legs and advised us to put him down. This was not an option for us; Bob deserved our best effort to get him walking. Against all odds, Bob survived. Six months of daily rehabilitation he was thriving.  Bob was going to feel grass under his feet! Fully recovered he is living on acres of open ground like any emu should be. Bob is very old now but every day he is with us, we feel so lucky to have been able to give him the opporunity to live like an Emu and the freedom of a wire cage.

(Now 2013) — Bob is slowing down a bit, but he is still loving life and doing his crazy “Emu run” every day!

Dr. Kovar, what more can we say! We have been blessed to have Lesley give her love and time to our animals. Not only is she a highly skilled vet, she is an extremely compassionate and empathetic human being. Lesley handles all of our animals with the sensitivity and kindness that all animals deserve.

The amazing recovery of many sanctuary animals it attributed to the hours of research, consultation, veterinary care and devotion provided by Terri and Lesley. The results have been the amazing recovery of many animals.

This is the beginning of a new life for this wonderful Serval.

We were called to help with a Serval that the owners could no longer care for. This serval  was being kept in a back yard in a busy crowded neighborhood. It’s enclosure was a very unsecured small pen. The owner told us that their serval had an abscess and that they were not able to get it medical treatment. When we arrived, it was on the ground gnawing on a large growth on it’s leg. It was obvious that it was not an abscess, but a large tumor.

Prepping for surgery

The owner knew it was illegal to own this kind of exotic cat  in the State of Washington without a USDA license.  Although they did love this cat, because it was illegally owned,  they did not seek medical help for it.  We took it immediately to our vet and had its health issues assessed. The tumor was removed the next day and the pathology report came back. It was a an aggressive form of cancer.   Because this tumor was left for such a long period, we will have to wait to see how long it will survive.

This is one happy serval – now experiencing things everyday that are new and exciting, especially being in the company of other servals.  Only a few days after surgery — climbing on platforms, to levels of 15′.    These cats so deserve to live in the wild, and not  to be sold to be somone’s pet…

Please, teachers and parents – animals should not be in a class room and used for a school project!

To sponsor one of our wonderful animals at the Sanctuary like Spinner, click here.

Milly the Mallard

Milly is a sweet little mallard girl who is the queen of our flight pen.  In 1992, we were contacted about a little duck in desperate need of help.  She was found in a garbage can outside a restaurant.  She was missing her eyes.  Sadly, in some cultures it is considered a delicacy to eat the eyes of living ducks. That is what happened to Milly.  She was brought to the Sanctuary and where her wounds were healed. She now gets around with the help of a best friend who was also cruelly injured by its former owner.  Milly has thrived and has reached the age of 20, way past her life expectancy. She loves to swim in the pond and sit in the sun.  She’s our little warrior and we love her so much!

Update 2012: Sadly Miss Milly passed away at the age of 21. She is very missed.

To sponsor one of our wonderful animals at the Sanctuary, click here.

Terri constructed a special support device similar to a baby’s Johnny Jump-Up for Pierre that allowed him to stand upright, be fed upright, and start moving his legs so that his muscles could start developing. After four months of continuous therapy and muscle stimulation, Pierre was able to remain upright on his own and started walking.

He is now completely recovered. This is truly a miraculous recovery.

Update 2012: Pierre is still with us, he is now 20 years old. Yey!!

Sponsoring Pierre will allow him to live out his life at the sanctuary in comfort and happiness.  To sponsor one of our wonderful animals at the Sanctuary, click here.

His “help” of course was refused.  Jane’s legs were set, and with time, good food and lots of love she nursed her back to health. Jane is now flying, walking and perching normally, socializing with all her friends and is part of the happy family here at the Sanctuary.

To sponsor one of our wonderful animals at the Sanctuary, click here.

Charlie

Charlie is the perfect example of why Sara’s Sanctuary was created and what we strive to achieve with all the animals that find their way to our door.  With patience, persistence and a lot of love, every one of them has  a very happy story!

Charlie came to us from a very caring person in California. He had been trying to raise this crow in his kitchen for over a year. Although, he obviously loved this crow, he knew Charlie needed more specialized care than he would be able to provide. So he brought him to here to our Sanctuary.  Charlie had no tail or wing feathers. We called him “Bumble Bee” because he and would fly straight up and drop back down, he couldn’t balance or even sit upright on a perch.  We needed to build a cage that would help to keep him from continually falling on his back. We added different sized ladders and ramps so he could  learn to balance himself.  After a few months he  eventually was able to walk down onto the grass where he finally conquered his fear of open spaces. 

Charlie also had developed what’s known as “scissor beak”. This required his food to be cut into very small pieces and hand fed to him three times a day. We massaged his beak twice a day to train his beak to move back into a normal position. We were sure that Charlie would remain in captivity for the rest of his life, but after two years, his feathers were fully restored and he was able to eat completely on his own.  He was moved to a flight pen to allow him to gain his wing strength to learn to fly again.  Another crow that had been  rescued and released on our property began coming to  Charlie’s enclosure.  We cut a hole to see if Charlie showed any interest in flying free. One incredible day, after several months, Charlie chose to pair with the other crow and flew out of the enclosure to be free on the property.  That was seven years ago and they are both still together.  Every day they come to remind me to put out the fresh food they have grown to expect. They are wonderfully protective of the Sanctuary grounds, and every year bring their children to say hello to us.

After seeing the unbelievable and horrendous things humans either do or allow to happen to animals, this is the perfect story. This is exactly why we work so hard to provide everything possible to ensure a happy ending for all our animals and birds who have and will call Sara’s Sanctuary their safe haven.