Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary, Locust Grove, Georgia

 

“The purity of a person’s heart can be quickly measured by how they regard animals.”

Anonymous

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. 

Visitors Center

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.

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.

Sleeping bear in the corner

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.

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.

The many faces of Anna Lou, the Grizzly bear.

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.

Nice playground for the kids.

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.

Shawn was active so I only got this picture.

Alvin

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.

Our pal, Sarge

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Lucy and Oscar the Silver Foxes

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.

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.

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.