Our Animals
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We did not set out to create a shelter or sanctuary in the beginning. Our Director, Beth, is a single mom who was homeschooling her two gifted daughters and her son with special needs while incorporating their pets into the lessons. Her oldest son had already gone on to college. They had the usual pets, a dog, cats, hamsters, & gerbils. However they decided to add ferrets and ended up taking in a rescued ferret and his cousin. Then came the hedgehog, another gerbil and parakeet. Before long word got out & people were bringing them their unwanted animals. They used these opportunities to learn about the new animals in all subject areas - reading, writing, math, geography, science, etc. When they had nearly 30 animals they decided they had to either stop accepting the homeless critters or make it a full time endeavor and become a licensed shelter. We have grown to care for over 300 animals of 30 different species, utilizing about 20 regular and hundreds of one-time volunteers, and becoming a USDA licensed registered 501c3 non-profit organization with a worldwide network of experts to help us gie the animals the very best of care.
Volunteers from miles away come to help us at Critter Camp. They help clean cages, build enclosures, exercise, feed and play with the animals. Learn more about how we started here! |
Our Belief:
At a certain point re-homing pets, particularly the unusual and exotic ones, at all costs often serves only to make the people involved feel better about themselves, regardless of the stability and continuity of care the elderly, abused or ill animal, actually needs. Euthanizing such animals brings the rescuer down to the universally despised level of “puppy-mills” in that if an animal is no longer useful to humans it has no need to live. This is incredibly heartbreaking. Again, people bred every one of these pet animals for human enjoyment and/or profit, therefore we as humans have an obligation to provide quality care for these animals for their entire lives whether or not they are “pet quality.” Only when people care about every animal will all animals be safe Critter Camp Exotic Pet Sanctuary has always been committed to the well being of all companion animals and animals bred in captivity. Although we do not specifically accept farm animals we believe that they are deserving of a full happy life and should not be raised and slaughtered for human consumption. Many of our own board members and volunteers are practicing vegetarians or vegans and we encourage others to eliminate as many animal products from their diet and clothing as possible. In keeping with this dedication to the welfare of all animals Critter Camp vows to only allow vegetarian/vegan foods (striving to be as vegan as possible) to be served at any events we host, as well as to be available in our future facility (i.e. snack machines, etc.)
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We're in year 18 now! Will update these numbers soon!
Critter Camp's First 10 years in operation:
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- We are a sanctuary and will never turn away or prematurely euthanize any animal for being old, ugly, sick, or ill-tempered, no matter what outside pressures are brought to bear. Every animal brought to Critter Camp will be provided with comfortable living quarters and veterinary treatment until it is in that animal's best interest to be provided with end of life care.
- Our current Board of Directors may be small, but it is also agile, effective, and focused on the best interests of the animals in our charge.
- We are proud of our current environment but are always seeking better ways to care for the animals we serve. To that end, we will be aggressively seeking new sponsors to assist us in constructing the new building we desperately need.
