Spending time at an animal sanctuary can be a life-changing experience. 

Not only do you get to interact with and learn about a variety of animals, but you also have the opportunity to learn valuable life lessons that can help you become a better person.

Here are a few of the life lessons you can expect to experience during your precious time at a vegan animal sanctuary:

Compassion

One of the most important lessons you can learn from spending time at an animal sanctuary is the importance of compassion. Similar to the pets we share our homes with, the animals living in an animal sanctuary love being around people too! When you see the animals living joyous, free lives at a sanctuary and hear their stories of surviving and healing, it’s hard not to feel empathy for them. You start to understand that all sentient beings have the right to live a life free from harm and that we all share a responsibility to protect them.

Connection

Another lesson you learn from spending time at an animal sanctuary is the importance of connection. When you spend time with animals, you start to see how we are all connected and how closely we rely on one another for survival. 

This can help you to understand that everything in the world is connected. Our actions have an impact on everything around us. Everything is connected in an invisible web of cause and effect.

Embrace a Vegan Lifestyle

Many animal sanctuaries are vegan animal sanctuaries, where the animals are not used for food, clothing, or any other human use. 

They provide a safe haven for animals and educate visitors about the benefits of veganism. When you spend time at a vegan animal sanctuary, you learn first-hand what being a vegan is all about and you can occasionally enjoy some delicious, cruelty-free, vegan food during your time there! 

It’s Not All Fun & Games

Behind the scenes, running an animal sanctuary is no joke. The brave people who run these sanctuaries go above and beyond to rescue animals from the horrors of the animal farming industry, nursing the often wounded and traumatized animals back to health and providing them with all they need to live a life of respect, health, dignity, and love. 

Their efforts involve long hours of hard, physical work to ensure that all their residents are well-fed, taken care of, and live under sanitary conditions. Quite often, despite their best efforts, some animals, who are too seriously damaged, physically and emotionally, don’t survive and this is truly a heartbreaking and emotionally-taxing moment for the people of that sanctuary to endure. Running an animal sanctuary brings the often sensitive, brave souls who establish them face to face with some of the darkest aspects of human depravity. It takes a truly special person to endure such physical and emotional demands on a daily basis, for years.

Animal Sanctuaries Need Our Support

Vegan animal sanctuaries do NOT operate like zoos. However, they do have operating costs and they often find it extremely difficult to make ends meet. 

Being not-for-profit organizations, almost all of their revenues come from donations. Some animal sanctuaries have created accommodations within or close to their premises so that people interested in spending time at their animal sanctuary can opt to stay at their accommodation, providing them with a source of income.