 Sara’s Sanctuary is a Federally Licensed 501 (c) 3 non profit Animal Rescue Facility & USDA licenced. Fed. ID# 91-2047487 USDA # 91-C-0094 WE ARE NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. We are often asked “Why Not?” The answer is: Sara’s Sanctuary is NOT a zoo. We are a rescue facility that was created to provide animals in need, a quiet, predictable and safe and loving home, something many of them, have never had before. Because of their backgrounds, many of the animals can be unpredictable and reactive around humans they don’t know. Many of animals were illegally purchased, abandoned and subsequently confiscated by city or county agencies before they were brought to us. They are innately wild animals and need insulation from human stresses. The animal’s daily care and well-being has to be our number one priority. We hope that you will get to know us better through the information and pictures of our wonderful babies, and that you will better understand our mission for the animals that come here. Thank you for your interest in Sara’s Sanctuary and for taking the time to visit our site! |
|
Sara's Sanctuary Updates
January 24th, 2010: Thank you for visiting our new website!
October 31st, 2009: We need your support!
Maynard loves his toys!
You might have noticed our website has changed – This new website has been dedicated to Maynard.
A serious situation developed at our Redmond location of Sara’s Sanctuary. One of our neighbors filed a formal complaint against Sara’s Sanctuary with King County. When King County Animal Control responded to the complaint and conducted an on-site inspection, they found NO code violations with our sanctuary, and first and foremost, NO violations with Maynard. Because of this neighbor’s persistent threats and efforts against us, our case was transferred to King County DDES. This neighbor obtained a petition against us. This petition action resulted in an investigation of our property. King County is now questioning some of our animal enclosures, in proximity to the property lines/and the property line set backs laws. The set back laws for a private farm is 10′. We are a Sanctuary for animals, not a shelter. A shelter, is a temporary housing facility. Because we are a Sanctuary the setbacks are “10 ft” . King County now wants to change our classification to a shelter not a sanctuary. This will change our set backs to 50′ for any animal enlcosure and even our pasture grazing area. There is No grandfather clause for buildings for a shelter. Although, this property was bought for the sole use of the Sanctuary, our barn, that was built over 20 years ago, (not by us) is not safe from the Neighbors and the County. Because of the neighbors threats, the County now say’s it’s too close to the property lines. Our barn is 48′ from our surveryed property line, but we have been told to tear it down. Just one of many enlosures where our babies call home.
We are USDA licensed and exotic animals do not fall into the the same laws of domestic animals. Maynard, was not an issue – he was protected as an exotic endangered species. Sadly to say, many of any of the other animals living at the Sanctuary were not protected by this same act because they were not exotic. The injured little dove, an abused and injured goat, or the goose that was shot in the head, are not protected because they are not exotic endangered species. We are working with King County to try and resolve these property ”set back” issues.
read more…
September 6th, 2009: Please help save an entire family of animals
- Maynard the Gibbon
We are a Sanctuary, not an animal shelter. An animal “Sanctuary”, is a no-kill, “Lifetime Haven”, where animals are not bred, sold, traded or adopted out. We should not be forced to break this commitment to any animal we give refuge to.
Sara’s Sanctuary’s policy & pledge to any animal in our care is that we will give them the best life possible. If there is a situation where an animal needs to be relocated, we will only relocate them if we can find a home that will give them as good, or better quality of life than we can give them here.
One of our neighbors, literally threatened Maynard’s safety and all the other animals living here at our Redmond location. Because of this one man and his legal postures against us, we are no longer operating out of our Novelty Hill location. Prior to this neighbors threats against us, we had been aggressively looking for a new home for Maynard. Ultimately, we were looking to find a female Gibbon who could be his life long partner. Placing a Gibbon in a primate sanctuary is an extremely difficult task. We have had a skilled team of primate specialists searching for a new home for Maynard.
read more…
September 6th, 2009: Facts – The Situation with Maynard & The Neighbor
A few months ago, one of our neighbors showed up at the Sanctuary with threats and accusations in response to the “singing” of Maynard, a wonderful Gibbon ape, who has resided here at the Sanctuary for four years now. This neighbor had made no previous effort to contact us about his dislike of Maynard’s singing and, in fact had never visited the Sanctuary. This neighbor told us he was giving us one week to have Maynard removed from the property. He said he had already contacted King County Animal Control and that Animal Control would be assisting him in Maynard’s removal. He said he did not care how it was done. His actual words being “I don’t care if he has to be shot and killed”. If that is what needs to be done, they will do it. We informed him that we had been working day and night to try to find a new home for Maynard, but our hands were tied until another facility became available. Maynard is an endangered species and therefore, his life was protected here. We were bound by our license to protect him.
This neighbor states that if Maynard remaines here at the Sanctuary, he would file a class action lawsuit against us, and we would lose our property - home of the Sanctuary. This man claimed that Maynard sings 24/7. This was absolutely is not true! If and when Maynard sings, it is usually
read more…
