Welcoming New Residents
Like every animal sanctuary everywhere, we wish we could rescue all the animals in need. Sadly, however, that is not reality. When it comes to deciding which animals come to live at Carroll’s Animal Sanctuary and Rescue, there are a lot of things to consider.
Every day of every week of every month
That’s how often we get requests to take in animals and give them a lifetime of love and security. For farmed animals like pot-bellied pigs, sheep and goats, we usually get up to 15 requests a month while cats and kittens looking for a place at the Sanctuary is a daily occurrence.
While requests do come in daily, we see an uptick in intake requests in late fall. As the weather becomes colder people realize that they need to bring their animals inside for the winter and often providing that indoor space was not a consideration when the animal was acquired in the spring or summer. Also, during kitten season (late summer) and just after the first snowfall, requests for us to take in kittens and stray cats can increase dramatically.
Making the hard decisions
When faced with an intake request, our first consideration is always for the animals we currently have in our care. We have made a commitment to those residents to provide them with the shelter, healthcare, food, time and space they require. And, of course, that takes money. So, we also must evaluate the additional cost of taking in a new resident – and not just for a little while. The costs must be evaluated for the entire life expectancy of the animal. When we do decide we can take in a new animal, we always strive to first help those in immediate danger such as strays, neglected animals, abused animals and those at risk of death. Some other consideration we have to consider include our ability to safely integrate a new animal into an existing herd, to socialize that animal and to be able to provide them with any regular medical care they may need.
Welcome home!
Whenever a new resident is brought to the Sanctuary, they must quarantine for four weeks. After that, they are given a health check by our vet which includes deworming, vaccination updating and spay or neutering, if needed. All of this is done prior to introducing a new resident to our existing herds. After that…we do our very best to provide each and every animal in our care with the love, nutrition, safety and healthcare they need for the rest of their lives.