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Wild Animal Sanctuary :Puerto Rico Zoo Rescue

Arts and Entertainment

July 5, 2023

From: The Wild Animal Sanctuary

Dear Bekim,

It's hard to believe we have missed two of our quarterly newsletters this year - which include both the Spring and Summer print editions. Although we feel terrible for not being able to produce our favorite communication piece for all of our dedicated supporters, we did have a valid reason for such crazy shortcomings.

As many of you may have learned via an urgent email call-to-action back in March of this year, we were tasked by the U.S. Department of Justice to help evacuate an entire zoo's collection of animals that were located in the United States Territory of Puerto Rico.

The situation was dire and we needed to respond immediately, as animals were dying with each week that passed. In fact, since 2012, the zoo had more than 1,000 animals die from neglect and inadequate funding.

So, in response to the call for help, our Sanctuary jumped into action and flew to Puerto Rico to begin saving animals. We were facing a herculean task, but each and every staff member knew that innocent animals were suffering daily and literally dying by the week. This meant the remaining 340+ animals would soon be gone if we were unable to help!

Adding to this massive challenge, there happened to be a second wildlife facility that also contained more than 400 animals in dire need of help - so the DOJ asked us to rescue them as well. By the time we tallied all the animals we would need to rehome there were more than 700 animals in need.

There was so much to do and so little time to get it completed, as the annual hurricane season would be coming in just a handful of months. Not only did we need time to secure placements for all the animals, but then we would have to manage dozens of flights involving as few as one or two animals - all the way up to hundreds at a time!

Read all about this incredible rescue in this special update. An actual print edition of our standard newsletter will come later this summer once the very last animals have been airlifted off of the island.

Yet, for now, please follow the link in this email and see the amazing story we have to tell!

The Sanctuary Staff

Click Here To Read The Update