Home For Life Animal Sanctuary

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Home For Life Animal Sanctuary Loving care* A Place to Belong * a Home For Life®
Home For Life® is a care for life sanctuary

Home for Life®, an internationally recognized care for life sanctuary, and in 2019, voted one of the 10 Most Amazing Sanctuaries in the country by USA Today, offers a service to animals in need like no comparative organization. Many shelters and rescue organizations aspire to find a home for every animal and dream of the day when there will be no homeless animals. At Home for Life®, that's what w

e want too—and that's what we provide—for dogs and cats that are overlooked for placement. Home for Life® has created a new idea, the care for life sanctuary—a life-saving and life-affirming alternative for dogs and cats who have not been able to find a home or keep the home they had and for animals who have lifelong special care needs, that most adopters cannot provide. We call our idea "The Third Door®" in animal welfare which gives at-risk dogs and cats, animals who might have been passed over for adoption, an alternative to an undeserved death. The dream of a home should be an opportunity that is available for all dogs and cats, and now with Home for Life®, and the innovative model we have created at our prototype sanctuary in Star Prairie, WI, it can be!

our kittens Beans nka "Brenda" and Frankie have found an exceptional and wonderful home together. When I am on the other...
12/10/2025

our kittens Beans nka "Brenda" and Frankie have found an exceptional and wonderful home together. When I am on the other end of the funnel, constantly dealing with unwanted animals, or those with no one to care, it is heartening to know that there are good and kind people out there like the woman and her family who adopted our kittens through the partnership with SNAP't Cat Rescue. These two kittens were really on the ropes when we took them in as can be noted from their pictures and background in the comments below. Frankie was at animal control, found as a stray, with no rescue interest because he had ringworm while Brenda was found abandoned in Amery, WI, north of the sanctuary, horribly ill.
We created the partnership with SNAP't Cat Rescue because we were being contacted by so many people who had cats and kittens for whom no help could be found. Most of these felines- old, young or in-between- were in dire straits or soon would be yet didn't necessarily need to come to a sanctuary. With the program starting just a few months ago, we have 31 cats and kittens in foster homes and have adopted out 33 adult cats and kittens to date through a small network of volunteer foster homes we have recruited, saving many lives since the collaboration was created.

Last swim for 2025 at the Apple River: photos from last week.
11/10/2025

Last swim for 2025 at the Apple River: photos from last week.

Small dogs in the sunshine
09/10/2025

Small dogs in the sunshine

October kittens: our kittens saved from a wood pile, full of bot flies, and our little golf course kitten, found in the ...
07/10/2025

October kittens: our kittens saved from a wood pile, full of bot flies, and our little golf course kitten, found in the middle of the green, all alone, are thriving in their foster home.
"October is my favorite color"
More about our kittens and first photos after we took them in: https://www.facebook.com/homeforlifeorg/posts/1227934736039551

It was just a few months ago, this year, that Home For Life Animal Sanctuary created the partnership with SNAP't Cat Rescue so cats and kittens that we were being called about but who didn't need sanctuary could be helped when no rescues were available. That program has 30 cats and kittens in fosters and has adopted out 33 adult cats and kittens to date through a small network of volunteer foster homes we have recruited, saving many lives. "Hope is often misunderstood. People tend to think that it is simply passive wishful thinking... This is indeed the opposite of real hope, which requires action and engagement."- Dr Jane Goodall

We had another significant loss at Home For Life Animal Sanctuary this week- our very loved German Shepherd, Samson,. Hi...
05/10/2025

We had another significant loss at Home For Life Animal Sanctuary this week- our very loved German Shepherd, Samson,. His malignant melanoma, in his mouth, had spread to his larynx and, he had stopped eating and was at times experiencing breathing issues. This turn for the worse came on very suddenly this week, although we knew the condition was terminal. We were able to take him to his favorite place, the Apple River, where he was always happy swimming After that and an ice cream treat, he was gently allowed to pass, so he wouldn't suffer a painful ending. We're grateful he was able to enjoy the summer- the extended version- doing what he loved, enjoying as much quality time as possible, He was a great dog, a hero dog, and although we are at peace to know we did everything we could to give him the best and as much quality time as possible, it is still a tremendous loss of a great and brave soul.
More on Samson and how he found his home for life with us.
Rest in peace good boy. We will miss and love you forever. https://www.facebook.com/homeforlifeorg/posts/1180252800807745

We were very saddened to learn of the passing of  , Home For Life Animal Sanctuary's 2018 gala guest. When we were tryin...
02/10/2025

We were very saddened to learn of the passing of , Home For Life Animal Sanctuary's 2018 gala guest.
When we were trying to figure out the 2018 event, I suggested Dr Goodall as our special guest but was told her team would turn us down-"they always are very nice but they always say no". I said: well it can't hurt to ask, so we did and to our surprise she said yes. Then it took a long time to come up with a date for the gala that would work for her and pin her down as she was in the jungles of Tanzania and could not be reached. When we finally got the date, we had less than 6 months to get everything ready to go.

I didn't fully realize her stature as an icon and how revered she was. When we announced that she would be the event special guest, people were thrilled and couldn't wait to rsvp.
When the big night finally arrived the many event sponsors were in the green room, waiting for the meet and greet. She and her team were a little delayed arriving, and people were impatient. I asked the event security lead what the ETA was, and he gestured to a small area off the green room, where Dr Goodall herself stood in the shadows. I had been looking at her photos so often, for months, that to see her there in person, standing in the shadows like a ghost was surreal. She then told me she didn't think a meet and greet in the traditional sense was the best idea because of how many people were in the green room; instead, she pulled a chair up to the front of the room and stood on it to give a short talk to the sponsors and their guests. Remember she was age 84 at the time! But she climbed up on the chair and stood on it holding the microphone for her talk, no problem,

She sat with my husband and some of our friends for dinner, and I got to sit and talk with her for a little while. She loved our dog Raha, and told me to go get him more water, as she thought he was thirsty with all the excitement. She also told me that dogs were her favorite animals, not chimpanzees as you would have imagined.

She was incredibly focused before she went on stage for her address to the attendees, and after I introduced her, I passed her off stage where she was staring straight ahead, gathering her thoughts. She then spoke to the crowd of 600+ for over an hour, and held everyone enthralled. After her address, she stayed, to greet every guest who wanted to meet her, autograph her books for them and pose for photos. Again, at age 84, She didn't even seem tired at the end of the evening, but energized. She was very committed and driven to reaching as many as possible with her vision and message of hope.
We got these photos of her with our dog Raha, whose face was so terribly damaged from firecrackers which had been taped in his mouth and set off. It was after the speech, so she was more relaxed and sat down right on the floor with him backstage.
It was a once in a lifetime experience and, since the event, so many of those who attended told me how meaningful it was to hear her words and to meet her in person. We are proud that Home for Life made that experience possible.
You can see more photos from the event, taken by Katie Thering Photography & Design and read her guest blog post here: https://homeforlifesanctuary.blogspot.com/search/label/Jane%20Goodall

and this from PBS
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/remembering-jane-goodall-and-how-she-changed-the-way-people-see-animals

02/10/2025
Buddy System! 88 degrees today and It looks like we will be doing a lot of swimming this week. We were back at the Apple...
30/09/2025

Buddy System!
88 degrees today and It looks like we will be doing a lot of swimming this week. We were back at the Apple River today with the 3 amigos, Tiger, Semi-Sweet and White. All three have traumatic backgrounds in their past, before coming to Home For Life Animal Sanctuary , are paraplegics and Tiger has only two legs. More about these three friends who have more than their love of swimming in common: https://www.facebook.com/homeforlifeorg/posts/1230523652447326

This afternoon, we delivered several hundred pounds of food to Pooches United with People for transport and distribution...
29/09/2025

This afternoon, we delivered several hundred pounds of food to Pooches United with People for transport and distribution to shelters and pet owners on the Standing Rock Reservation, South Dakota. Our blind and diabetic dog Helen, a red heeler, was from Standing Rock, and to honor her memory, it is very meaningful for us to continue to help the animals in need on the reservation. Read more about our Helen who gave rise to our continuing friendship and partnership with PUPS> https://www.facebook.com/homeforlifeorg/posts/1152591490240543
One of the dogs benefitting from the food donation from Home for Life, is little Angelo, a puppy and border collie mix, found near death in the front yard of a resident of Standing Rock- she called Pooches United with People for help. Angelo has detached retinas and is blind, and possibly has some brain damage. It is presumed the damage to his eyes was caused by some kind of trauma to his head. He was in tough shape when found, with large abscesses all over the top of his back and he was very thin and frightened. More about Angelo: https://www.petfinder.com/dog/angelo-78383644/mn/saint-paul/pooches-united-with-people-mn382/

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