“The purity of a person’s heart can be quickly measured by how
they regard animals.”
Anonymous
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| Entrance to Habitat |
Noah’s
Ark Animal Sanctuary is home to 1500 animals from over 100 different
species that have been neglected, abused, or surrendered that include
many exotic animals that come here to live the rest of their life in
peace. The sanctuary gets their animals from the Department of
Natural Resources, zoos, educational institutions, and the general
public. It is a non profit educational sanctuary that has 250 acres
of land and is a most enjoyable place to visit.
Noah’s
Ark is about 2 ½ hour drive from Augusta and about an hour from
Atlanta, Georgia. We enjoy driving the country roads and getting to
see a part of Georgia we had never seen before. We drove through
lovely farm lands with the wheat freshly rolled up in the fields to
dry out, old farmhouses and barns with animals grazing in the nearby
fields, picturesque lakes, and charming small towns that dotted our
way there. We never tire of driving through Georgia as it is so
diverse.
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| Visitors Center |
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| Our friend, Penny the Peacock |
We
were excited to be here at this lovely animal sanctuary after reading
all about it. We pulled through the gates of the sanctuary and
parked. As we headed to the Visitors Center, we were greeted by a
beautiful peacock who strutted right up to us, got a good look, and
wandered away. Looking around we saw a few other peacocks just
walking freely around the grounds. We spoke to one of the volunteers
who told us, “Just follow the painted paws on the sidewalk and it
will lead you right into the park.” Just before the gate to enter
where the animals were located, we saw a nice picnic area in the
shade. We walked up to the entrance and put our donation into the
box and walked in. A kind volunteer thanked us for the donation and
wished us a great day in the park.
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| Baloo, the black bear. |
The
most notable guests over the years was Baloo, the bear, Leo, the
lion, and Shere Khan, the tiger who came in 2001. They were rescued
as young cubs that were in bad shape when they were found in an
Atlanta basement during a drug raid. These three were the best of
friends and wanted to be together all the time so they were housed
together. They were a big attraction at the sanctuary for a number of
years. Shere Khan was underweight and malnourished when found and
unfortunately ended up with Intervetebral Disc Disease (IVDD) and
passed away. Leo, had an infected nose when rescued, which was
treated and soon healed. On August 11, 2016, he sadly had to be put
down as his liver was 80 % full of inoperable masses and was
terminal. Now only Baloo is left in the park and I’m sure he
misses his pals. These three celebrities were featured on National
Geographic and on BBC. Baloo, was a gorgeous bear that was larger
than we expected. He was spending his afternoon on top of a shelter
enjoying his day.
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| Sleeping bear in the corner |
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| Pathway with tall fence |
Walking
on the paved walkway through this delightful park was a nice
experience. The sanctuary has been set up in a beautiful park like
setting with large shade trees throughout. They have two fences
around each of the areas for animals that could be a threat and to
protect their guests. The outer fence is extremely tall that
surrounds the outside of the already fenced areas. We almost missed
seeing a bear that was laying in the corner literally snoring away,
enjoying his afternoon nap.
The
many tigers we saw were elegant, gorgeous animals. One of the tigers
was enjoying jumping in and out of a creek that ran through his area.
He was so playful and youthful and we found it tantalizing to watch.
He was just enjoying an afternoon dip on a hot day. We witnessed
Liberty, aka Libby the lion, stalking one of the volunteers laying
down with her back arched. We weren’t sure if she knew the
volunteer and was excited or thought she thought he might have been
dinner.
Jama
Hedgecoth, the director and founder of Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary,
moved to Georgia in 1978 and has always been passionate about helping
and protecting animals. When she was a child, she nursed injured
animals back to health. After she moved to Georgia, she finally had
enough resources and room to start rescuing animals. She states
her life is all about Noah’s Ark. Her mission is to show love and
compassion to her animals and educate and share that love and
kindness with others. She chose the name Noah’s Ark as she wanted
this to be an “Ark of safety” for the animals and children.
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| A fine feathered friend came to say hi on our walk. |
Her
son, Charlie Hedgecoth is the Assistant Director and Co-founder and
is her right hand man taking care of all the equipment, feeding and
caring for the animals, as well as setting up special events on the
property. He loves this special one-of-a-kind place and shares
Jama’s passion for the animals. Allison Hedgecoth, manages the
dietary, housing, and medical care of the animals. She does
everything from cleaning and maintaining the animals and their
enclosures as well as giving them their needed medications. It is a
good team.
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| The many faces of Anna Lou, the Grizzly bear. |
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| Many of our feathered friends. |
Anna
Lou, the grizzly bear was very attentive to us and followed us down
the fence line, sat down and just seemed as captivated by us and we
were of her. We spoke to her and she responded to us by almost
smiling. She looked so sweet, I just wanted to hug her. I felt like
we connected. After spending some time with her, we walked over to
see the birds.The Macaws, Cockatoos, and Cockatiels were amazingly colorful. As we walked up to them, we heard, “Hello” and
“Pretty Bird”. They were gorgeous parrots from the Amazon that
were full of personality. When we spoke to them, they spoke back.
It was a blast hanging out with our feathered friends and as we
walked away, they whistled. Again, I felt we had connected with
them. We so enjoyed our time with them.
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Nice playground for the kids.
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| Demonstration Hall |
Since
there are only a few full time staff members, they rely heavily on
volunteers. The have over 250 volunteers that help with the park.
The staff are very grateful for all the help they get. This fabulous
place wouldn’t be here without them. It cost the sanctuary $33,000
a month to care for and feed these animals. They do not charge to go
inside to see the animals. They do rely on donations so please, when
you visit put some money in the donation box to help support their
cause. Over 250,000 people come to visit each year and many other
people help support them with donations.
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| Shawn was active so I only got this picture. |
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| Alvin |
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| Ostriches |
The
monkeys were fun to watch and they swung from branch to branch doing
their acrobatics and appeared to fly. They were quite active but
stopped to see what we were doing. Alvin, the Baboon, was sitting
and watching the flowers grow. Clark Gable, the spider monkey was
enjoying his day in his digs as well. On the far end of the park and
got to see the ostriches running around and the Bison and Buffalo up
close. They are beautiful stately looking animals. In the outer
fields, we saw loads of wild horses running around and grazing and
enjoying their day.
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| Our pal, Sarge |
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| Peanut Butter and Jelly |
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| Lucy and Oscar the Silver Foxes |
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| Sweet Llama Couple enjoying a romantic afternoon. |
We
were fortunate and got to meet Sarge, who was their newest addition
at that point. Sarge is a Sandhill Crane that was brought there as
he received a gunshot wound and is considered unreleasable. He came
running up to the fence and greeted us and appeared to pose for us.
Lucy and Oscar, the silver foxes looked at us as if we were some
interesting characters. They were so right. Peanut Butter and
Jelly, the donkeys were enjoying walking around with their goat
friends. We loved the Llamas who were sitting side by side
daydreaming while sitting under a shade tree. They were adorable.
There were many more animals to see and enjoy while there and they
were all fascinating to see up close and watch them in their lovely
environment.
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| Memorial Gardens |
Noah’s
Ark Animal Sanctuary does not just work with exotic animals.
Recently, they took in 181 Chihuahua dogs that were rescued from a
home. They are now in the process of having them all spayed and
neutered, dewormed, vaccinated, treated them for fleas, and bringing
them up to good health. They will be needing homes soon so if you
are interested in adopting one, get your application filled out on
line. Since they have been there, many of the dogs have given birth
so there are puppies as well. Check out their Facebook page and you
can see their progress or donate to help with their medical expenses.
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| Beautiful grounds |
We
really enjoyed our day at the park. You can see the animals are well
taken care of and loved. Walking the tree covered paths was lovely
even on a hot day. This is a great place to get close and personal
with the animals. We would recommend this place for anyone
especially animal lovers. It was worth our two and half hour trip
and we hope to come back with the grand kids at some point. It is
located at 712 L. G. Griffin Road, Locust Grove, Georgia and you can
learn more about them on their website: noah@noahs-ark.org.
That
is all for now. Take care and bye for now.
