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sat in my car with the door open for a little while, taking it all in, and was greeted by a Shepherd-wolf mix who would later be introduced to me as Bear. He greeted me like a true gentleman with a lick to my hand and appropriately became my ambassador while I visited the ranch that is now home to over 100 rescued animals. I had arrived at Big Sky Ranch Animal Sanctuary (BSRAS) and would leave a slightly different person. Big Sky was opened by Andy Parent in 2002 and is located just outside of Kemptville, Ontario. It is the only no-kill sanctuary of it’s kind in Eastern Ontario for homeless and abused domestic and farm animals rescued from all over Canada. Big Sky Ranch’s motto is that “all animals deserve a second chance without a time limit” and it survives solely on donations and the generous work of volunteers. Over the years it has rescued over 1600 animals. Many visitors to the ranch wish to know an animal’s back-story, but according to Andy his focus is not necessarily upon the reason why the animal arrived in his care, but instead how he can help. Over the last decade, Andy has discovered that the majority of animals do not come to the sanctuary due to cruelty or neglect, but instead arrive because their owner passed away or moved into a retirement home, a family break up or loss of income.
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Feeling