Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes. 

~Henry David Thoreau

Before I start, let me toss some numbers and statistics out to all of you:

• The approximate distance from the center of Kanab to the sanctuary is 15 miles. 
• According to the US Department of Transportation, the average vacationer travels just under 40 miles per trip. 
• Approximate distance from us to Germany – 5,500 miles.

So you ask, what’s the significance of all of this?  Ask Heike.  This is her second year visiting us at Best Friends and we couldn’t be more delighted!

Having already traveled for many years, she’s spent the past two years traveling from Germany across the United States to come to the sanctuary and for two years she’s been more than impressed with her experience here.

This means she’s made a round trip of over 11,000 miles, not counting the countless miles she travels across this country when she’s here and the 30 miles to and from Kanab, just to come up to see us at Best Friends!

Her reason for coming up to the Parrot Garden is rather simple – she loves birds.  Here, she has taken a particular interest in Ruby, one of our resident African Greys and Pippin, a little bald Cockatiel in the aviary.  Being an avid bird enthusiast, however, she’s always on the lookout for local wildlife and has also spent some time at Wild Friends, visiting with their assortment of native wildlife.

The aspect about Best Friends that appeal most to her is that we are one of the country’s largest no-kill sanctuaries.  In Germany, being a no-kill shelter is a given.  In the United States, however, no-kill shelters are not mandatory and many that claim to be still end up euthanizing due to overcrowding and budgeting issues.  Our no-kill policy is one that she can relate to and agree whole-heartedly with, which is part of the appeal.

Thank you Heike for all of your support!  We’re hoping we’ll see you again sometime soon!