Kathy Stevens’ Top Five Tips for Visiting

Are you planning your first visit to meet the residents of Catskill Animal Sanctuary? Or are you a returning guest hoping for a profound encounter? Founder Kathy Stevens has advice to help you see the Sanctuary through her eyes.

1. Sit down with them. Pigs have short little necks, ducks and chickens are less than knee-high on a human, and our largest goats and sheep are under three feet tall at the shoulder. Sitting down and speaking softly to the animals — or even lying down, in the case of the smallest animals — is a friendly way of being less threatening and communicating that you’d like to say hello.
2. Dress for success. To “dress for success” takes on a whole new meaning at Catskill Animal Sanctuary. If you want to have the optimum experience, you’re going to get dirty. You’re going to hold birds, kiss goats, hug cows and pigs, and perhaps be used as a scratching post by a horse. Dress accordingly.
3. Let the animals approach you, not visa versa. We have a large number of animals — goats, sheep, pigs, ducks, and chickens — affectionately known as the Underfoot Family. The Underfoots roam the entire property freely during the day. While some of the more outgoing ones are apt to greet you in the parking lot (or even try to climb in your car), others are reserved, or even fearful of humans. Catskill Animal Sanctuary is their home, their safe place — so enjoy the ones who approach you, and be content to observe the others.
4. Let your guard down. At Catskill Animal Sanctuary, many of our guests are moved to tears by the animals, their stories of redemption and healing, and by tough truths about our exploitation of food animals. They are also overwhelmed by love. We know because we’re constantly told this. So know that you’re not simply coming to visit some animals. You may well laugh, cry, and fall in love and it’s all good.
5. That feeling you have? Do something good with it. Having been enlightened, empowered, and deeply moved by your experience, hold on to those feelings, and use them for good. It is the most urgent time in our planet’s history. Earth and the animals need every single one of us.