Saturday, June 18, 2011

Columbus GLBT Pride

We just completed 2 intense days at Pride in Columbus.  We brought with us our animal ambassadors, Buddy, Rocky, Cinnamon, and Flower.  They were a huge hit.  Everyone was in love with the little guys.  And we made a huge amount in donations.  Over all the event was a great success, although we are exhausted.  More to come soon.

Good night all.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Columbus GLBT Pride

Noah's Arc is going to be at Gay Pride in Columbus.  The festival is going to be on Friday June 17 & Saturday June 18 in Goodale Park in Columbus.  We will have a booth with a few of our animals to see.  You can come learn about foxes, raccoons, and skunks.  We will have at least 1 of each with us.

You can also talk to us about our plans to expand and create a space that is open to the public.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Open Letter

Dear Donor:
We are Noah's Arc Sanctuary.  (www.noahsacrsanctuary.org) We focus on native Ohio wildlife. We operate 3 programs:
1. LEND A HELPING PAW;  We rehabilitate injured/orphaned wildlife for release
2.  BEYOND YOUR BACK YARD; We educate children on the importance or wildlife preservation by taking some of our tame animals to schools. (Skunks, raccoons and foxes)
3.  OUR GENTLE TOUCH; We provide therapy with our rescue horses for traumatized children.
This is how we got stared :We are a same sex couple and we have adopted 4 special needs children with issues ranging from dyslexia, asbergers syndrome, to fetal alcohol syndrome.  As you know, same sex couples face much scrutiny when adopting children and we have weathered many storms. We saw a rainbow after these storms when we realized the spiritual healing that was happening with our children just by spending time with our animals.
This has provided us with an amazing opportunity to combine our love for animals with our passion for children. The support we have gotten from the community has been overwhelming! I did two shows at my sons school  (Emerson Academy Dayton Ohio) with our foxes and raccoons and the principal  (Ron Albino) was so impressed that he offered to do a fund raiser for us! We have a show next week at an animal shelter (The Society for the Improvement of Conditions for Stray Animals; SICSA Kettering, Ohio) and calls and emails are coming in from willing volunteers ..it's just amazing.
We have out grown our current site and have found an amazing 30-acre farm in Huber Heights Ohio, we just need to raise 400 thousand dollars to be able to purchase this property. We are writing grants and seeking other fundraising opportunity’s but could really use your help! :)  Our goal is to take in more animals who need us as well as approaching local foster care agencies to help more children. We could do so much more with a little help. Any assistance you could provide would be eternally appreciated.
Sincerely yours
Donny & Stephen Marlow-Kelty


Thursday, June 2, 2011

We found a property!

Now we just need to find the money for it.  It is 29 acres just north of Dayton.  It has an old farmhouse built in 1888, several out-building, and 3 spring-fed lakes.  There are over 9 acres of woods on the property.  It is an awesome opportunity.  So we are looking to raise the funds ASAP.  If you know anyone who could help, have them contact us: stephen@noahsarcsanctuary.org

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

First show

Today is our first show. Donny, Becca and the boys will be doing it. I can't make it because of work commitments. The show is at Emerson Academy in Dayton. As part of the fun today there will be a 2 foxes, 1 grown and 1 kit, 3 raccoons, 1 grown and 2 babies, and our peacock.

It should be a great first show. Donny subs at the school from time to time so he knows the teachers and many of the students.

I will be at our next show with SICSA in June at their summer camp. More details to come.


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Thursday, May 19, 2011

New Website

We re-launched our website with lots of new content!  Check it out:  www.noahsarcsanctuary.org.

Raccoons in your garage?

Since we've gotten a few calls about this recently...

If you have a raccoon in your garage, roof, shed, etc. you may be worried about it having rabies, or attacking you. First, it is unlikely to have rabies. Second, it probably is a mother with a nest nearby. She will move her babies within 6 weeks and you won't have a raccoon problem anymore.

If you are unsure, feel free to call us.

Monday, May 16, 2011

New additions

In case you aren't following us on Facebook, we got 2 new additions this weekend.




Buddy is our baby red fox. He is just 5 weeks old and eating soft solid foods. He is gray-brown now and will gradually turn red as he gets older. Pictures are posted on facebook.


Cinnamon is our newest raccoon. He is also 5 weeks old and still bottle fed. This early feeding gives us a chance to bond with both animals as they will become two of our little celebrity spokes-animals.

Please welcome them both to Noah's Arc.
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Monday, May 9, 2011

Preparations for our presentations

As I've previously mentioned, we have two shows coming up this summer.  One is at Emerson Academy in Dayton and the other is at SICSA Animal Shelter, for their summer camp.  This weekend we got a portable kennel that we can take the animals in to show safely.  It is a huge cage that is 5X5X6 so a person can stand up in it too! 

Now that we have the cage, we can start practicing with the animals.  Roseanne, the fox took to it pretty quickly. She was a little nervous, but mostly curious.  Our peacock, Mohinder did great, once he calmed down a little.  He was able to purch on our arms and sit calmly.  Smokey, the raccoon was going crazy for a while. They love shiny things, and the whole cage is shiny steel.  She was all over the place!!!! 

I can't wait to see how the kids react to the animals.  I'm sure they are going to love it! We are really looking forward to the show at the Animal Shelter, since it will be an up-close and hands on experience.  We will be bringing the babies that the kids can get up close to and possibly pet.  That'll be 2 raccoon babies, and 1 fox baby at that time.  I doubt we'll have the skunk yet.  We are getting the second raccoon and the fox this coming Saturday.  The skunk won't come until June and may be too late for the show. 

Things are really happening fast this summer.  There is talk of the media being present for the SICSA presentation.  And now Donny has an invitation to speak about us on local cable TV.  More news on both of those later. 

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Some Photos of Noah's Arc

Here are a few pix from Noah's Arc.

This is Jesus and Midnight, our two ferrets.  They love to play together.   



Here are our two ducks.  Yes the white one is the same kind as the Aflac Duck.  

This is Roseanne.  She is cross between a Red Fox and Silver Fox.  She loves to play and acts a little like a cat.  

Here is our pond.  (It's where the ducks live.)

Duck Eggs

A duck.  She isn't happy about this photo :-)

This is one of our horses helping out.  Eddie loves caring for the horses.  

This is Smokey.  

Gretchen, our other horse, helping Marcus feel empowered.  

Donny with our Peacock.  

Rocky Update

Just wanted to let you all know how Rocky is doing.  In short, he is doing great.  He is gaining weight; he was 500 grams when we got him and is now 680 grams.  That is about 6 ounces, or 1/3 of a pound.  He is starting to climb the sides of his small cage, so we will be moving him today to a larger cage with room to climb and stretch out more.  He is remarkably active and loves attention.  Although with just one baby I'm amazed at how quickly we are going through formula, so I can only image what it will be like when we start getting litters of orphaned babies in.

In other news, we've had a few small changes to our website.  Check them out at www.noahsarcsanctuary.org.  First of all, we now have a listing of current board members.  Second our donation link is now working (yay!!!).  And third, we have a short narrative about where we are planning to go with all this.  A major site re-design is coming within the next month so I will let you all know when that happens.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Board Development

We are currently scheduled to speak at a few engagements in the community (schools and animal shelters as of right now) and as of now are not charging for this services as we are focused on getting our name "known"

Also, as you may know , we have recently applied to the IRS for our 501C3 (non profit) status and as soon as we get our determination letter, we can start applying for the grants we need for purchasing more land. Once we get that we can get the larger animals like Bison, bobcat and wolves and other animals people dont typically think of when they think of Ohio.

One way we can strengthen our grant requests it to diversify our board of directors. 
Sooooo...we are actively seeking people who would like to be board members for our animal sanctuary. Now, before you say, "Oh I couldn't do that", Hear me out lol
Here are a few disclaimers :)

1. First and foremost. We are not asking for your money. That's not to say that you have an extra 10 grand laying around we couldn't use it...lol, but that's not what we are seeking from board members at this time.

2. In terms of diversity, in the sheer definition of the word, we are seeking people who are not gay white males lol. We can even have board members who are school aged, which would actually be greatsince one of our focal points is education.

3. You dont have to live in Ohio, any mandatory "meetings" can be done via email, or skype, or phone.

So basically, this could be a great opportunity for you to be  apart of, would look REALLY great on a resume to say that you are on a board for a non profit, and of course would help diversify our funding options by word of mouth.

So basically you wouldnt have to do alot, you can be as active as youd like, we just need people to believe in what we are doing, those who want to have a voice, and might have some fresh ideas. If thats YOU please email us: stephen@noahsarcsanctuary.org

Thank you for your consideration

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Welcome Rocky!

Please welcome Rocky to Noah's Arc Sanctuary.  Rocky was found orphaned in the woods in Perry County.  He was found near a fallen tree with no siblings, parents or nest around.


He is about 550 grams and eating a lot!  He is about 4-5 weeks old and still bottle feeding.  He is in good health and doing well.  Although I think he may be lonely.  His best friend right now is a rice-filled sock used to keep him warm.  He was unfortunately taken from his mother too young and needs that nurturing.

Ohio law prevents us from releasing him back to the wild because of rabies concerns, so  he has found his forever home here with us.  He will likely be on show in just a few weeks at Emerson Academy of Dayton!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Long time no blog

Sorry for taking so long to post anything. It certainly hasn't been for a lack of things happening. Noah's Arc has been very busy.

We have another show set up for this June. We will be presenting to a summer camp all about animals. The camp is a week-long camp with different groups bringing in various animals to show and interact with the kids. We were recommended as the group for wild animals thanks to a vet tech at our vet's office.

We mailed off our application for 501(c)3 status this week. It could take several months to hear back about our approval and there is nothing more to do but wait. That is the hardest part.

Our website has been moved to a new host. Additionally we are getting a redesign. A friend has volunteered his services to help rebuild our site to really make it pop. Thanks Dan!

We are set up and ready to receive donations, so we just need to get the word out. We have a Paypal link on our website for donations along with a list of some of the items we need.

Speaking of items we need, we are gathering our supplies to start rehab. Our application should be ready to be mailed this week and then we just wait again.

Okay that's enough for now. Thanks for following us and supporting the work we are doing.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Official Wildlife Rehabilitator!

OK, so I'm not an official rehabilitator yet.  But I did complete the required training.  And I'm completing the application tonight.  In addition to the class, I need to get a vet.  We already have one for Roseanne and Smokey, so it shouldn't be a problem.  We also need to get our supplies ready and facilities up to code.  To do that we have a long list of supplies we need.

If you have any of the following items and are willing to part with them, please consider making an in-kind donation to Noah's Arc.

Aquariums, pet taxis, cages
Heating pads, heat lamps, incubators
Leather gloves
Protective glasses
Stethoscopes
small containers
measuring spoons
thermometers
syringes
nipples
nets

Thank you for considering Noah's Arc as you seek to get rid of your junk.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Wildlife Rehabilitation Training

This weekend I am going to Alliance OH to take a course in wildlife rehabilitation.

This is the first step to rescuing injured animals.  After this course, I will be able to get licensed to rescue orphaned squirrels and rabbits.  Ohio has some pretty strict regulation on this.  After I've been rescuing orphaned animals for about 3 years, I can take a class to add more species, and add injured animals.  It is a slow process, but Ohio wants to make sure that people know what they are doing before they start taking in dangerous animals.

So Friday night after work I am driving to Alliance OH.  This Saturday I am in class all day.  Then I get to drive back to Noah's Arc and my family.

Wish me luck.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

First gig!

We just found out that Noah's Arc has our first gig. We will be presenting to Emerson Academy in Dayton. The date for the show is May 25, which is good because we have lots to do to get ready.

First of all Smokey & Roseanne need portable cages. Our idea is to build large scale enclosures that can be assembled easily on stage. This will allow the animals to have some room to run and climb. They will also be more calm. Since they are wild animals they aren't too fond of leashes.

We also need fliers and business cards made. Its a little thing but will allow us to expand and look more professional.

We also need to work with Roseanne and Smokey to get them more used to being on display. In that same area we need to work on our presentation.

I'm absolutely certain I'm forgetting about a dozen things we need to do, but I'm just so excited.

We have our first gig!!!!!!!


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Saturday, March 19, 2011

Education & Collection permit

We received our education permit yesterday!!!  This means that we can show our animals for educational purposes.  We can start setting up programs to take the animals to schools and libraries and any where else that would like to have us present.  We also have a request for our younger boys' preschool to come to our house for a field trip to see all the animals.

We will talk about the animals specifically, as well as the importance of conserving nature so that our captive animals aren't the only ones left.

This permit also enables us to collect animals from the wild.  So we can take in orphaned animals.  In a couple of weeks, I will be taking a class to learn how to care for orphaned animals and re-introduce them to the wild.

This is very exciting for us!!! Things are really starting to move now.  The only permit left to get is the tax-exempt status.  This is the most involved application, and the most expensive.  It costs several hundred dollars just to apply for tax-exempt status.  I guess the IRS figures that this is their last chance to get any money from these organizations.

In other news, we are getting business cards, and working on that website.  I know it still has a long way to go.  But we have help with that.

We still need the land to expand.  And for that we are going to need money.  Lots of money.  Which is why we need the tax-exempt status.  That will allow us to apply for grants and donations.

One day at a time...

Thursday, March 17, 2011

OMG, What a week!!!!!

This has been a crazy week.  Okay, so most of it is about my personal life and not about the Sanctuary.  But still it has kept me from updating you on what is happening with the Sanctuary.  It has also kept me from doing much of anything I want.

As I've mentioned, I am currently in grad school working on a masters in economics.  This was finals week.  I also had a paper due this week.  So I've spent most of my free time studying and writing my paper.  10 pages on underemployment.  I won't bore you with the details of that here.

I've also had a day and a half of team building with my new department at work.  Not that I have a new job, just a new boss.  And my team has been realigned with other teams.  So I haven't gotten much done at work, and know that tomorrow is going to be crazy trying to catch up.

But on the good new side, I also had a phone interview with a company much closer to home.  But enough about me.

We just received our permits for the animals.  This is the permit to own and breed them. We are now licensed to have 2 foxes, 2 raccoons and 1 skunk.  So now we just have to wait until the new babies are ready.  The fox & raccoon should be ready to be picked up in May and the skunk in June.

Well, "just wait" isn't the right term.  We have to build pens, and figure out what skunks eat.  We have  a lot of prep work to do.  We are also waiting for our education permit so we can take the animals to schools.

On that last note, we were just asked by our boys' daycare/preschool if they could have a class trip to our house to see the animals.  So we are really getting started with it.

We have an offer to help with our website, so we need to provide pictures and ideas.  We are ready to get business cards made up, so now we need a logo.

OMG!!!!! It never ends.  All this is happening without even submitting our application for tax-exempt status.  I really need to get back to that soon!!!!

Any volunteers to help out?  Besides Dan for offering with the website, a great big thank you!!!!!!  

Monday, March 7, 2011

Permits, Permits, Permits!!!!

While it's not the most exciting thing in the world, but we are busy applying for our various permits.  There are so many we need to have.

First of all, we have a permit just to own and breed the animals.  This permit has to be renewed annually, and updated with all the new animals acquired each year.  This permit has to be sent to one state agency.

Then we need to have an educational permit.  This allows us to take the animals to schools, libraries, etc to showcase them and talk about them, us, and preserving nature.  This permit is a little bit more involved, since we have to not only be a registered organization, but also must have an educational program.

Our final permit that we are applying for today is our rehabilitator's permit.  This is a two stage permit process.  The first step is actually to take a class in rehabilitating wild animals and reintroducing them to the wild.  The first permit allows us to take in orphaned animals and raise them until they can care for themselves.  The second permit would allow us to take in injured animals too.

So tonight we applied for our general permit and our educational permit.  And I signed up for the rehabilitation class.  So on April 2, I will spending 8 hours in Alliance OH, learning about how to care for and rehab wild animals.

Once we get this permit, we can start advertising that we can take in animals.

The next step is to apply for our tax-exempt status.  This is the big one.  Once we have 501(c)3 status, we can start looking for grants and donors to speed up the process toward getting the land.

Driving

Currently I have to drive about 85 miles each way to commute to work. There are two ways I can go. I can take the interstate zipping through most of the trip and then sitting in traffic for the last 10 mile or so. Alternatively I can take a back way of country highways. I only hit traffic about 2 miles from work. Both routes take about the same time so there isn't a big advantage to either.

Except that taking the back way I arrive at work less stressed and happier. This morning I even started to notice the many farm houses I pass along the way. It helps that it is now getting light out when I drive to work.

Looking at these homes with barns and fenced pastures, with cows, horses, sheep, and even some llamas, I try to imagine living in these places. I think how great it must be to wake up to the silence and wide open spaces. I think about running out to the barn to feed the animals before showering and dressing for work. Or how great it would be to not need to worry about going to work. Just having all my work there on the farm.

That is my dream. That is my goal. Noah's Arc should be my full time commitment and I am excited for the day that will happen.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Baby Steps

Some things seem to take so long.  We filed our initial articles of incorporation last week.  That mean's we are an Inc.  Or we will be once approved by the state.  This is the first of several steps that are all paperwork to file.  Next we will be applying for our educational permit.

That permit will give us the permission to take our animals around to schools, libraries, etc to talk to people about them.  It will also exempt us from the exotic pet ban that Gov. Strickland signed into law in Dec.  As private citizens we would not be allowed to buy or otherwise acquire wild animals.  The education permit allows us to purchase healthy animals that can be on display or taken to presentations.

We are also applying for a rehabilitation permit that will allow us to take in orphaned animals and nurture them to health and release them.

Finally we are applying for 501(c)3 status.  Or tax exempt status.  This is the big one.  Once we receive this we can start to apply for grants, and seek out major donors.  In the meantime, any donations would not be tax deductible.

We are trying to get all this paperwork completed and approved so that we can seek donations and grants to help us get the land we need to expand.  We have a few more animals coming this spring, and we have room for those.  But we can't get any bigger until we can build bigger spaces for groups of animals, and of course more species.  We have goals of getting bobcats, mountain lions, bison, wolves, coyotes.

And we need help on the website.  I am doing it myself and don't know how to do what I want to do.  I want a very impressive site and am afraid that I'm not going to do it justice.  The website is still under construction, although we have a landing page, www.noahsarcsanctuary.org.  Let us know what you think so far and keep checking back to see how it grows.

But all these dreams seem so distant sometimes.  And each application can take forever to be approved.  And the whole time I am holding my breath to make sure it isn't declined.  I want it all to happen now, and am grateful that it is happening.  I'm just not feeling very patient today.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

New Website coming soon

This is a short entry.  Noah's Arc Sanctuary is getting a new website.  I am building it myself, so I'm not sure how long it is going to take.  But I have some experience, and an occasional free minute to work on it.

I have some design ideas, but I'm open to suggestions.  If you have any ideas of what you think our website should look like, or include, let me know.  We will have information about our animals of course.  And once we have our larger space, we will have information on visiting us and our animals.  We will have a section of the site for kids.

If you think there is anything else we should include, let me know.  If it is something more technical, like a game app, or member's only section, let me know if you have any experience with that, or if you know where I can get some assistance.

I will post an entry with a link to the site once it is ready.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Winter Weather

Is it just me, or has this winter been colder, with more snow and ice?  We've had a very rough time keeping water for the outside animals.  Smokey, who loves to play with her water, and "wash" her food, has not been able to enjoy these activities.  She has a bowl that is frozen solid with just enough fresh water added each day.  Both Smokey and Roseanne have sheets of ice on the bottom of their cages.

Last week we were hit with the ice storm.  We got about an inch of ice all over everything.  We lost power for 3 days and had several branches come down in the yard. One almost took out a section of fence around the chickens and ducks.  Fortunately, all the animals are fine and power has been restored.  Things are back to normal (for us).

During the power outage, we were asked several times if we were staying home during the outage.  Well, yes, we stayed home.  The fact is that we have 4 kids, 4 dogs and all the outside animals who need daily attention.  So the fact is that we can't just pick up and leave for a few days if we loose power.  It doesn't help that we are gay have some issues with family over that.  See Donny's Blog for more on that one.

To that end, we now have a small propane heater, and a portable generator to keep a few essentials going in the event of the next outage.  Now, when we get the new property, we will need a backup generator, since being without power is likely to last longer than 3 days.  We will likely use electric fencing for some of the animals too, so power failures won't be an option.

Next winter, we need to have water heaters so there is no need to break up ice daily.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Roseanne, the Fox

Today I am going to start telling you about our animals.  Today I want to talk about Roseanne.  She is a beautiful young female fox.  We got her when she was only a few months old.  She was just starting to eat solid food.  She lived with us in the house until her outside digs were ready.  Here she is in those digs.


Not shown in this photo is her house.  She has a small den-like room inside her cage to shelter her from the weather.  She doesn't need much protection from the weather though, since she is native to Ohio and used to the cold winters, and other weather.  She is very active all year long and loves to jump & run and climb in her cage.  Unlike dogs, she is very good and climbing and has retractable claws, like a cat.  Roseanne makes a variety of noises.  Some are like a cat, others like a bird.  She can also bark like a small dog.

But these are all common to all foxes.  What makes Roseanne unique is her personality.  She was bred in captivity, and comes from a long line of captive foxes.  This has made her tame.  Make no mistake, she is still a wild animal and cause a great deal of harm with her claws and teeth.  In fact when she was injured a few months ago all of us suffered with scratches and bites.

But she is tame and can be held.  She enjoys the company of her people and will take food right from your hand.  She is also very playful, like a puppy.  You can see in the background some play ropes and chew toys that she enjoys.



She eats a diet very similar to dogs or cats.  In fact she often eats dog or cat food.  But is supplemented with a variety of meats to make it more interesting.  Left over chicken, pork and steak are favorites. She also will get an egg from our chickens, or a rat.  Today she decided to take food into her own hands and caught a bird that flew into her cage.

Her cage has to have a bottom, because she is a digger.  She buries her fresh food to save for later.  She likes to hide her food and eat it when no one is watching.  If she were allowed, she would dig a den underground, but we are not currently equipped to allow that.  We would like to provide her with that opportunity in our bigger space.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

501(c)3

*sigh*

Ok so there are so many more interesting things to write about. I want to talk all about our current animals, our plans for a new larger place, the animals that are coming this spring, the animals we want to get later on. And I tell you all about all of those.

But for now I just need to discuss where we are today. We are applying to the state of Ohio for education permits to own the various animals we have and are acquiring. We are working on applying for 501(c)3 status with the IRS. We are looking into grants to help fund the purchase of land and animals and materials needed for cages and shelters.

Ok, discuss may not be the right word. More like vent. There is a lot paperwork needed to run an animal sanctuary. And the forms are not always easy. The 501(c)3 application alone is over 30 pages long. And it requires supplemental materials, like budgets, and articles of incorporation, and by-laws, and statements about the board of directors.

We also have to apply for education permits for each of the animals. And we have to renew the permits every 3 years. Then there is the insurance and don't get me started on grant applications.

Don't get me wrong, i actually love the behind the scenes stuff. Before starting this venture, i sat on the board of directors of the columbus gay men's chorus. But i just needed to express all the work that you don't usually see. Thanks for letting me share.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Background

So if you've been reading previous posts, you've noticed that I've made some changes to the layout and background.  The background photo is a picture of our fox, Roseanne.  She was supposed to be a red fox, but appears to be a mix between a silver fox and a red fox.  We are getting a real red fox this spring, a male.

But the background I was referring to was ours.  The founders of Noah's Arc Sanctuary are myself, Stephen, and my partner, Donny.  Donny has his own blog here.  We are a gay couple, and have adopted 4 children: Eddie, 16; Esequiel, 14; Marcus, 5; and Juan, 4.  You can read much more about our life and our family on Donny's blog.  We have also been recently blessed by the gift a wonderful heterosexual couple that is offering to carry a baby for us.  Rhea is the woman and has her own blog here.  William, her boyfriend, is an old high friend of mine and has a blog here.  Links to all three blogs will always be posted to the right of this page.  But I'll give you a little background about us now.

Donny is 42 years old and currently works as a substitute teacher while completing his master's degree in Social Work from the University of Cincinnati.  He has always had an affinity for exotic pets, and has previously owned a fox, turtles and snakes.  He worked for a while as a manager of a pet store, where he could care for lots of animals.  Donny loves animals and brought into our relationship 2 Welsh corgis and 2 ducks.  This was just the beginning, as we have quickly added many more animals to our family.

My name is Stephen and I am 33 years old.  I am also completing a masters degree in applied economics from Wright State University. Most of the time, I work for a financial services company in Columbus, OH. When I met Donny, I only had one cocker spaniel, Bella.  Having just one pet was strange for me, since I grew up on a farm with horses, cattle, barn cats, hunting dogs, and a goat (briefly).  I lived for many years in apartments, where I could only have cats, fish, and ferrets.

Our two oldest sons lived for many years in foster care, on a farm.  So they too were accustomed to having animals around and immediately gravitated to the idea of getting animals.  It was our younger children who gave us the idea of sharing our love of animals with others.  We saw how the two toddlers attached to the animals and opened up because of the relationships with animals.  This informal animal therapy for the boys, Donny's training in therapy, and our desire to share our love of animals led us to the idea of an educational sanctuary.

That was the first step.  Since then we have had to focus on the less enjoyable side of building our sanctuary.  There are permits to file, and budgets to create (and stick to), and other less interesting administrative details to stick to.  Besides the animals themselves, this blog is the most exciting part of our venture.

Monday, January 24, 2011

"My life is a zoo"

As I start this blog, I was going to spend some time talking about who we are and why we decided to start this animal sanctuary. However we watched a new show on tv tonight. The show was called "My life is a zoo" and it is all about a couple in northern Michigan who started a zoo and now have over 400 animals.

We are a long way from that, and I'm not sure we even want to get to that point.  Unless someone out there wants to donate a huge sum of cash, we plan to start small and build slowly.

But watching the show gives us hope.  They showed us that it is possible to do it.  And it doesn't have to look like the San Diego zoo.  You can do it on your own property and you can do it yourself.  They build their own cages, and do all the arrangements to get animals themselves.

In an interesting twist, they also rescue local wildlife and domestic animals that are abandon or abused.

We have considered rescuing orphaned or injured wildlife, but never considered rescuing domestic animals too.  We decided to focus on purchasing healthy tame animals so that we can take them to local schools and educate children about local wildlife and the importance of protecting the environment.  We feel that educating children is a great way to protect the natural world for future generations.

Although unscripted, I have to believe that the producers encourage the couple to stage exaggerated arguments or dangerous situations to boost ratings.  Despite this, I see a lot of similarities to the TV couple and us.  I'll talk more about us later, but for now, I see one person who is the pure animal lover.  He knows a lot about how to care for the animals.  The other partner has a business sense.  She still loves the animals and cares for them, but is also running the back office.  We balance each other out in much the same way.

In later posts I will talk more about who we are, where we come from, why we are doing this, as well as updates on what is going on with the Sanctuary.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Introductions

Welcome to Noah's Arc Sanctuary's blog. We are dedicated to the preservation of Ohio wildlife through education. We are just getting started in this area although we've owned all kinds of animals for years. Currently we have a red fox, a raccoon, and ducks. We also have several domestic animals including dogs, chickens and a ferret. Our most exotic animal is not an Ohio native, but a beautiful addition to our aviary. We have a 9 month old male peacock.

We are acquiring another fox, raccoon and a skunk this spring. Our future plans include breeding pairs of animals and more space to create natural environments for our animals to thrive in. We are getting the permits in place to take our animals on show to some local schools. We are also working on getting funding in place to purchase the larger space needed.

Check back often for updates on when the new babies are arriving, when we will be visiting schools, and how we are coming in getting the new land.