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Are your residents’ outdoor living spaces safe? - Our free Global Toxic Plant Database is easy to navigate and contains information sortable by species and location!
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188 pages, 1200 policies and best practices for sanctuaries
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Strategic Planningsustainability

Animal Sanctuary Sustainability: Defining and Implementing Plans For Resiliency

How can a sanctuary cultivate organizational sustainability?
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The Open Sanctuary Podcast: Contingency Planning Basics For Your Animal Organization

Our staff discusses contingency planning basics!
Forrest and Friends is a farmed animal sanctuary and pig shelter established by two veterinarians, Sofie and Dimitri, in Belgium in 2017. Dimitri spent his childhood on a farm, but growing up, he saw that the lives of farmed animals and companion animals, such as dogs and cats, were valued completely differently by society. Not accepting this distinction for himself, he eventually became vegan and involved himself in animal rights. After volunteering at animal shelters since childhood and becoming veterinarians, Dimitri and his partner Sofie established the Forrest and Friends sanctuary and shelter, offering homes to animals rescued from the livestock industry or who were neglected or dumped. As of 2020, Forrest and Friends had approximately 30 animal caretakers committed to over 300 animals residing on their 11-hectare property. Many of the chickens, ducks, geese, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and other species living there are permanent residents of the sanctuary. Forrest and Friends is also recognized as a pig shelter by the Belgium government, and they take in unwanted or neglected pigs and roosters, often former pets, offering them a safe home while seeking out new, caring and responsible homes for them. Forrest and Friends believes that all animals deserve a life like the animals at the sanctuary and works towards a future where animals are not used for human purposes. Forrest and Friends conducts tours and educational outreach to the general public based on the guiding principle that we can live happily and healthily without harming others.
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Excerpts From The Compassionate Care Classroom: Calmly Herding Sheep And Goat Residents

Tips for calmly herding sheep and goats.
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Animal Care Resources

Educational Programming
Learn about creating and managing an animal sanctuary here! READ MORE
Learn about creating and managing an animal sanctuary here!
Governance & Organization
Access innovative online courses for important sanctuary topics here! READ MORE
Access innovative online courses for important sanctuary topics here!
Downloads & Multimedia
Access our database of helpful documents and more here! READ MORE
Access our database of helpful documents and more here!
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Starting A Sanctuary?

We have over 500 free informational resources, guides, templates, tools, and a whole lot more to help your animal organization grow and thrive!

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About The Open Sanctuary Project

The Open Sanctuary Project is a freely accessible, always growing digital guide for any resources or information you need in order to responsibly create and successfully manage an animal sanctuary.

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About The Open Sanctuary Project

The Open Sanctuary Project is a freely accessible, always growing digital guide for any resources or information you need in order to responsibly create and successfully manage an animal sanctuary.

LEARN MORE ➞

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