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USDA!

It's been a while since I've updated this.  After Gay Pride in Columbus things were a little shaky for a while.  We had a less than stellar showing at Pride and quite frankly were run down and discouraged from it.  Then we got a call from the USDA.  We were reported and found out that we needed a license that we didn't have.  We had spoken with the USDA previously and it was never mentioned until after they realized we were in violation.  But anyway...

Since then we have been busy upgrading all our enclosures to make sure that we are compliant with USDA standards.  And I am pleased to announce that just this week, we mailed off our application.  We are now waiting for an inspection to be approved and then we can begin booking shows again.  This is hugely exciting and we are planning on going back to Pride again next year. 

I'm not sure how long it will take to hear back from the USDA but you can be sure I will let you know as soon as we do!!

Gay Pride

For those of you who may have been following Noah's Arc for a while, you know that we went to Columbus Gay Pride last year.  We had a lot of fun and made a little money.  It was a great way to get our name out and get some recognition. 

Well this year we are returning.  We are going to Columbus again for Pride.  But this year it will be even better.  We will have some new animals.  We will have a float.  We will be offering photos with the animals.  There will be more details to come, but we are really excited about it.  We will also take the show on the road to Cincinnati.  We are doing 2 Pride festivals this year. 

We need to design a float.  We need to build a float.  We need to get a photo printer.  We need to get a power generator to run the printer and computer.  There is a lot of work to do.  And I won't lie, we could use help.  But we are really excited about what we are doing. 

A bunch of squirrels

We have several baby squirrels right now.  They are so cute, and its hard to resist the temptation to pick them up and hold them.  But we don't want them to be socialized to humans.  We want to keep them wild so that when we release them they will stay in the wild and not get to close to people. 

We haven't gotten any calls about baby rabbits, and that surprises me.  Truthfully, I'm grateful, because baby rabbits are hard to care for and they too often don't make it.  I hate to see them die.  And if no one is calling about them, then rabbit mothers must be doing okay and able to raise them without getting hurt. 

Over the weekend we made some changes to Smokey's cage.  She is our female raccoon that we keep and take to shows.  Although we won't be taking her to any shows soon.  She's likely pregnant and not very happy having people around.  But her cage was a mess and needed some work.  So we got her out and went to work.  We put in a better bottom to keep her up off the mud.  We repaired her nest box, which is critical for her to have babies. 

And our female fox, Roseanne is definitely pregnant.  She is due in the next few weeks.  It's not possible to know exactly when she is due without a trip to the vet.  As long as she is doing well, we don't want to stress her out.  We will of course bring her and her babies to the vet once they are born for a check out.  Later this year, we may need to find some new homes for some of the babies. 

Orphan season

So now is the time that start receiving lots of orphaned baby animals.  And yes feel free to call us if you find something in Ohio.  We will let you know if we can take it and how to arrange for us to take it from you. 

Some words of advice about finding baby animals in the wild, or your backyard, garage, etc. 

Rabbits:
Rabbit mothers will often leave the nest for much of the day to eat.  They return to the nest at night to keep the babies warm and feed them.  This also distracts predators from following her to the nest where the helpless babies are.  If you find a nest of rabbits, likely under a bush in your yard, just leave them alone.  Most likely Mom will come back to take care of them.  She most certainly will not come back while you are there watching, as you are a dangerous animal that could attack her or her babies.  If you suspect that she isn't coming back there are some things to look for. 

First of all, are all the babies in the nest, tightly wrapped up together sleeping?  If so, they have been fed recently and she is caring for them.  If the babies are starting to crawl out of the nest and disperse, this could be a sign that the mother has been killed.  Mothers do not abandon their young.  Even if you touch them or handle them, just put them back and she will just clean them off and keep caring for them.  Would you abandon your child because he came home smelling like a dog, or another person? 

Second, if you do think the mother is not coming back you can check.  Sprinkle a small amount of flour around the nest.  Leave it alone for 24 hours (overnight).  If the flour is disturbed then she is coming back and caring for them.  Again, just leave them there.  If there is no disturbance, then they are likely orphans and need help.  You can also arrange a set of sticks in a tic-tac-toe pattern around the nest.  Don't use string because this can get caught on an animals leg, or a bird might pick it up to use for nest. 

Squirrels:
Squirrels nest in trees.  So if you are doing some pruning of dead branches, double check them to make sure there are no nests in them.  Squirrel nests look like big stacks of leaves bundled up in the tree.  If you find baby squirrels on the ground, they have fallen out of a tree.  If you can find a nest nearby, you could help Mom by placing the babies back inside.  She will try to carry them back, if she can.  Again let them sit for 24 hours before calling a rehabilitator. 

Raccoons:
Raccoon mothers move their babies every 4-6 weeks.  If you have a mother raccoon in your garage, or shed, or a tree in your yard, let her take care of her babies for a while.  She will move them along in a few weeks and you can inspect the damage and if needed make any repairs to the building so she can't get in again.  If you find a nest of babies in your barn or garage or shed, the best thing you can do is leave them alone.  Mom may be close and she can be very dangerous if you try to take her babies.  Again use the flour trick if you think she isn't coming back. 

And finally rehabilitating wild animals is best left to trained professionals.  There is a lot to know and classes are required to become licensed.  It is illegal in Ohio and many other states for just anyone to rehab animals.  This is for the protection of the people and the animals.  Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions, or find an animal in your area. 

501(c)3 Status Update

So after several months of waiting, we finally received a reply from the IRS.  They need more information to complete our tax-exempt application.  It's a painfully slow process but we are getting there. 

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.

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.

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

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

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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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.

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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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. 

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.

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

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!

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.


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