Welcome beloved viewers to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. On today’s program we visit the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary at Angel Canyon in southern Utah, USA. It is the nation’s largest sanctuary for homeless animals and was established by the non-profit organization Best Friends Animal Society which strives to bring about a better world through kindness to animals. At any given time the Sanctuary is home to up to 2,000 dogs, cats, birds and other animals who have unique physical, emotional, and behavioral needs.

They are brought to Utah from shelters from around the country for specialized care and attention with a focus on rehabilitation in order to re-home them. For those unable to find a new home, Best Friends allows them to stay at this perfect haven for life. Faith Maloney, an Animal Care Consultant at the sanctuary and one of the co-founders of the Best Friends Animal Society, now shares a brief history of the site with us.

I’m originally from England so I came over here to the United States in 1971. And with a group of friends, some of us who actually started “Best Friends,” and knew each other back then. So we met each other through the years, raising families, doing our work, that kind of thing.

And then in the late 1970’s we decided this is something we wanted to do. And we started it in a place in Arizona (USA), not too far from here, but we knew we needed a bigger facility. And we found this piece of property and purchased it in 1984. So we’ve been here for 26 years.

The sanctuary is 1,500 hectares in size and is surrounded by gorgeous national parks. The refuge is divided into several aptly named areas for the different animals that reside there like “Dogtown,” “Cat World,” “Bunny House,” “Horse Haven,” “Parrot Garden,” and “Piggy Paradise” to name but a few. Let’s now find out about the friends living in Parrot Garden from Amy Meade.

Welcome to the Parrot Garden at “Best Friends Animal Society.” Here we have just over 80 parrots. Cody is who you're filming now and he is a Congo African Gray. He's only 21. He could easily live to be 60. Parrots are kind of in a unique situation in our homes. Since they are wild animals, some of the unique problems that they present us with aren't problems to them; they’re problems with us adjusting to living with them.

They are very loud in the wild, they don't have cell phones. If they want lunch and want to know if you've got something better over there or if you've found something, they're going to have to call. And they use their voices to do that, so their voice has to carry.

It takes a lot of responsibility and patience on our part. Providing lots of toys, lots of enriching experiences, foraging opportunities. In the wild, they spend most of the time looking for their food. When we put their food in a bowl and they don't have to do anything to eat, they get bored, they can develop plucking behaviors, excessive screaming and they get bored. They are very intelligent so they do get bored.

Horse Haven is ready and waiting for you! Let’s trot on over to the site.

One kind of little interesting thing about horses, is they are very, very sensitive creatures. They’ve really been incredibly abused in all through the centuries really as a work animal. People forced them into doing what they wanted. Our work with horses it’s much more relationship-based. That’s what we believe we should be doing with the horses, just having a good companionship, relationship with a horse.

We do have a kind of training here called Parelli. And it was founded by a gentleman Pat Parelli and his wife. And it is based on building that relationship, reinforcing that relationship. And when you have that relationship with the horse, the horse will do whatever you ask her, because she wants to, the horse wants to.

Right, a friendship.

He or she, it’s a friendship. And that’s a wonderful training method and we’ve been doing that here for a number of years now. It’s based around games. They love to play, and this whole training course is based on games with balls; they kick balls around the field and they do all kinds of things and this develops the friendship and the trust between the trainer and the horse.

Who’s up for a visit to Piggy Paradise?! Ms. Maloney will now tell us about the wondrous Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs.

Well they’re generally called Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs or from that region of the world because where they’re native. And they are meant to have a belly. They are meant to have a little pendulous belly, that’s the way they look. They were brought over here as a fad many years ago, over 20 years ago because the lie is that they’re going to be really small. They take four years to grow, four years to get their full height and weight.

So often what people are doing is because they breed very young, so they breed very young parents, who then have little piglets. And everyone says, “Look how small (they are),” but that pig is under a year, so it’s going to take another three years to get to their full weight and height.

Pigs are intelligent and make wonderful companions. They are loyal and show great love to those around them.

Pigs are smarter than dogs, I was told. They can be house-trained, they will sit on command, and they can be clicker trained.

When we return, we will meet other residents of the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants, featuring a visit to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah, USA, a “no-kill” refuge for special needs animals. “No-kill” means only if an animal has a terminal or painful illness will euthanasia be used, and only if it is the most compassionate option.

The residents, who typically come from shelters or are brought in by rescue groups from across the country, often need only a few weeks of loving care before they are ready to be re-homed with a warm family. There are also wild animals staying at the haven. It looks like it’s time to visit the Wild Friends area with our guide Haven Diaz and make some new acquaintances!

Welcome to “Wild Friends” here at “Best Friends Animal Society.” At “Wild Friends,” we take care of all of the educational wildlife that’s here because of physical and mental disability, and they’re non-releasable back into the wild because of those injuries and conditions. We also do a wildlife rehab program where we’re getting injured and orphaned wildlife back out into the wild that’s come in, from various injuries and things like that. So we do handle the rehab portion of it as well.

We also do the domestic species; it could be reptiles, avian, all the domestic species. Ok, what you’re seeing is a Barn Owl. Her name is Suvali. She has a shoulder injury that was non-repairable. So she’ll spend the rest of her life here with us. And they’re here strictly for the purpose of education: educating the public, conservation, things like that. And these guys are strictly nocturnal, so she is kind of peeking at you slightly, it’s hard to tell.

It’s okay buddy. This is Poet, he’s a Prairie Flacon. … The portion of his left wing… It’s okay, Poet. You’re okay, buddy. He’s also non-releasable in our education program due to a physical disability.

He’s beautiful.

How do you care for these (birds)?

It’s basic cleaning and the feeding, clean water, and clean habitats or enclosures. And we’re also careful to make sure that they have a good quality of life. We provide enrichment for them as well, given the fact that they have to spend the rest of their life in captivity. We pretty much provide everything we can and to give them the best quality of life given the circumstances.

How does the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary ensure wild birds feel at home?

Well, with falcons they’re solitary, so they don’t really want a lot of company. These guys all came in as mature, wild animals. So for them, it’s just providing them with safety, security, not only the food and water, but also making sure that they’re happy and they’re not going to be with another bird, because they’re solitary.

So we have contact with them twice a day for feeding and cleaning, and we just pretty much give them their space and let them, have their own area and feel safe and secure. So that’s pretty much what we do aside from the cleaning. We let them have their free space and feel comfortable in their habitat.

What should we do if we find an animal in the wild requiring medical attention? Here is some wise advice.

These two are Alfred and Annabel, they’re two American crows. They came into our program because they were actually raised by people. So when I was saying earlier about physical and mental disability, these guys have the mental disability. They don’t know how to be social with other crows, or survive in the wild.

Annabel actually crippled her feet in a fall from a nest, and some people actually took her in. But she should have been taken to a rehab facility with some of the Good Samaritan laws that have been passed, you are actually legally covered to transport an injured wild animal from where you found them to a wildlife facility.

You want to get in contact with your local department of wildlife services to do that, and if you ever find injured wildlife, it’s best to have a trained professional relate to them, but in the event you’re not able to get someone to a location, you may be their only chance, especially when you’re out in the wilderness and we find animals, you are covered legally to transport them to a wildlife rehabilitation center.

The best thing to do is to secure them safely, don’t handle anything that you don’t feel comfortable handling, because you’ll probably just make the situation worse. And then quietly and safely transport them to your nearest wildlife facility. And also, veterinary facilities are legally covered to do immediate emergency medical care and they usually do have contacts for wildlife rehabilitators, so it’s a good resource to use.

Our gratitude Faith Maloney, Amy Meade, Haven Diaz and the rest of the dedicated staff of the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary for providing such a safe home and a magnificent rehabilitation place for all animals. Please join us on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants tomorrow for part two of our feature on this remarkable refuge.

For more details on the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, please visit

Thank you for your company today on our program. Coming up next is Enlightening Entertainment, following Noteworthy News here on Supreme Master Television. May all beings be blessed with everlasting joy in their lives.