Samantha Glen

This book gave me more of an understanding of all of the work that goes into opening and running an animal sanctuary and in saving animal friends.

A group of friends got together and purchased a 3000-acre piece of land in Kanab, Utah, where they slowly built up an awesome animal santuary called "Best Friends".

The stories provided on only a few of their longtime and dearest animal occupancies is very touching and will give you a renewed appreciation on your beloved pet, and even for straggler loose dogs or cats, or any other animal you may see not being loved or well cared for.

Sun, a 12 or 13 year old doberman and among the first inhabitant who lived in the santuary for nine years was old and had cancer. Instead of putting a dog down by injecting him or shooting him (like many in the country do), they allowed Sun to just live out his life as any human would, making his life as comfortable as possible. Sun disappeared one day and was found sleeping in the shade of the willow trees down by the river bank where they had always gone for daily walks for the past nine years. They made a stretcher and carried him back to the house where he would be close to his person for the remainder of his three days. On the third day, his owner had to run into town for supplies. He hugged Sun and said goodbye, seeming to know that they were mutually saying goodbye. Sun died confortable on his bed while he was away. Sun was buried on the knoll, which was his old longtime playground. The following spring, his owner took some time alone, went for a drive to the area and found Sun's grave area on the knoll covered in a variety of colorful wild flowers. It was as if Sun was showing him there was no finality in death. What was dog was now beautiful plants providing food for bees and hiding places for insects (p. 260). This is the way to handle the end of a dog's life.

But, with the malamute who had been with them since the beginning, xrays showed he had bone cancer and, in the end, could hardly walk. In his case, he was put to sleep by their vet.

For me, I wish they would have added more personal stories about how their animals came to be in the sanctuary, and the interactions between them, other animals and their new owners. These types of stories help teach me to be a better pet owner.
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This book relates the early history of a huge (the size of Manhattan) animal sanctuary in Utah, from choosing the place to becoming fully operational and solvent. The author presents both a sweeping picture and stories of individual animals and some people. Predictably, the narrative is in turn funny, moving and poignant, but always warm and interesting. The general tone is very uplifting and the book is mostly pleasant to read (if you're very sensitive toward animal suffering you might want to skip chapter 10 - I wish I had - but otherwise I didn't find it emotionally hard to read). It's a book whose "characters," both human and animal, will stay with you long after you finish it.… (more)