Animal Place Named ‘Best Sanctuary’ by Best in Shelter

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Marji Beach

Animal Place

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Animal Place Named ‘Best Sanctuary’ by Best In Shelter

GRASS VALLEY, Calif. – Animal Place, California’s oldest and largest sanctuary for farmed animals, was named best sanctuary by Washington, D.C.-based Best in Shelter (www.bestinshelter.org), a nonprofit organization aimed at raising the public’s awareness of animal shelters and sanctuaries. The public cast more than 29,000 votes for seven sanctuaries around the country.

Founded by bestselling mystery author Martha Grimes as a sort of antidote to “best in show” competitions for purebred dogs, Best in Shelter has raised awareness of the plight of shelter animals since 2012. This year, for the first time, Best in Shelter expanded its focus to celebrate sanctuaries and feature rescued farmed animals.

“Sanctuaries expend enormous amounts of effort and time in rescue and rehabilitation of animals, some that quite literally drop off the backs of trucks headed for the slaughterhouse,” said Grimes. “They save them from killer auctions, slaughterhouses, stockyards, and factory farms; they save them from abuse, disease and often a hideous death. Sanctuaries offer these animals a lifetime home of shelter, food, and care. Farm sanctuaries and the people who run them are to me the unsung heroes of the animal world.”

No sanctuary in the country has saved as many farmed animal lives as Animal Place. In the past five years, Animal Place has rescued nearly 18,000 hens from egg farms throughout California. At least 200 animals – cows, pigs, goats, sheep, turkeys, chickens, rabbits, and donkeys – have a permanent home at Animal Place. Animals arrive from small and large farms, slaughterhouses, research facilities, student agriculture programs, hoarding cases, cruelty cases, and more. Animal Place also leads protests, campaigns, legal and legislative efforts on behalf of animals, and through their sanctuary tours, adoption events, and educational programs, they show farm animals not as commodities but as the individuals they truly are.

“Receiving this recognition from Best in Shelter is so touching and gratifying considering the enormity of the issues we confront,” said Kim Sturla, Animal Place executive director. “Every day, Animal Place receives calls about animals in need, every day there’s another poignant reminder of the terrible apathy we humans feel towards other species, and every day there are more victims of factory farming, which takes the lives of 10 billion land animals a year in the United States alone.”

Best in Shelter awarded Animal Place a $50,000 prize, which will be used as a reserve fund for rescuing more farmed animals in need.

For more information about Best in Shelter, visit www.bestinshelter.org/competition.

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About Animal Place

Founded in 1989, Animal Place is one of the largest and oldest animal sanctuaries in the nation, operating a 600-acre sanctuary in Grass Valley, California, and a 60-acre animal shelter in Vacaville, California. Animal Place’s California animal shelters fill a much-needed niche of farm animal rescue, sanctuary, education, and adoption. Animals arrive from small and large farms, slaughterhouses, research facilities, and neglect or cruelty cases. Nestled between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, its Grass Valley location offers tours, cooking classes and workshops at the sanctuary as well as volunteer and internship opportunities. At its Vacaville location, Rescue Ranch, needy farm animals including chickens from egg production facilities are rehabilitated and placed in permanent homes. Animal Place – recognized as best farm sanctuary in the country by Best in Shelter – is a nonprofit 501c3 organization funded by private donors. For more information visit www.http://animalplace.org.

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