Sunday Drive - Best Friends

In the spirit of giving this Holiday Season, we thought we’d use this week’s Sunday Drive suggestion to encourage you to head on out through Hurricane and Colorado City and take the drive out to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab.

On any given day, Best Friends in Kanab is the healing home for up to 1,600 dogs, cats, birds, bunnies, horses, pigs, and other animals.

The largest sanctuary of its kind in the U.S., Best Friends has become the heart of a collaborative no-kill movement, and a model for the future of animal welfare.

Tucked into the majestic canyons of southern Utah, the Sanctuary is truly a place like no other. And you can quite easily see for yourself what a magical place it is.

Red-rock vistas meet endless blue skies as the sweet smell of sage lingers in the air. The beauty of the landscape is dwarfed only by the exquisite show of resilience and trust of the animals who come here — and by the love and compassion offered by Best Friends’ members, volunteers and caregivers.

For locals living here in southern Utah, there are a number of ways to explore the beauty and mission of the sanctuary.

You can do anything from signing up for a volunteer shift to simply taking a self-guided tour of the canyon with their new app.

You can also stay at the sanctuary, or in one of the many pet-friendly hotels in Kanab and host a sleepover with one of the adoptable pets from Best Friends.

But in our minds, the best way to experience Best Friends is to get up close and personal with the animals and their caregivers by spending time volunteering.

It’s a relatively short drive of a little over an hour from St. George and the process for signing up online to volunteer couldn’t be easier.

You can feed pigs, walk dogs, clean stalls for horses, or just spend time socializing with cats or any of the animals – just petting a cat or dog may not seem like a big deal but it really is! Socializing with the animals helps make them more adoptable and closer to finding their forever home.

Anyone over the age of 8 can volunteer although minors do need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

To get started, please visit volunteers.bestfriends.org or contact the Sanctuary Volunteer Department at volunteers@bestfriends.org or435-319-0622.

And if you don’t have time to spend a half day volunteering at Best Friends, it truly is a beautiful drive just to get out there and back from St. George and well worth the time it takes to get there and back.

With the Best Friends app, you can take a self-guided tour of the world's largest no-kill sanctuary for homeless pets and meet the animals who call it their home-between-homes. Explore individual areas through audio and video, and learn fun facts about the history of each (as well as some interesting animal info).

You can also find tips for visiting with children, as well as hiking trails and lookout points to check out around the Sanctuary. And don’t forget to check out the activities and events if you’re looking to add that little something extra to your visit.

Explore the Sanctuary on the app for Android

Explore the Sanctuary on the app for Apple

And if you don’t even have time to go for a Sunday Drive with the hustle and bustle of the Holiday Season, we encourage you to find a shelter closer to home to support through volunteering, offering to foster animals, or simply adopting!

Together, we truly can ensure there are no more homeless pets in southern Utah and the rest of the United States!