The Montana Large Animal Sanctuary and Rescue, Inc. (MLASR) is a non-profit animal welfare organization dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, and continued care of neglected, abused, needy animals. The sanctuary provides lifetime care for over 400 animals, and therefore requires a great deal of support from monetary donors and volunteers. One of the few of its kind, the sanctuary is home to animals from all over the western United States.

The mission of the MLASR has three components: to nurse ill or abused large animals back to health; to rescue healthy, imperiled animals, and give all animals the opportunity to live out their lives with dignity; and to educate the public to promote higher ideals of humanity towards all animals. I came to the sanctuary as a volunteer, to lend my abilities to the animals for one month in hopes of gaining hands-on experience with large animals such as horses, llamas, and burros. I plan to apply to the School of Veterinary Medicine in the fall and wanted to learn more about the behavior and medical needs of these creatures that I have had little experience in the past. With so many animals to care for, especially numerous "special needs" animals (see picture of "William"), the sanctuary has enough work for nine full-time employees, but has only two, so my offer to volunteer was enthusiastically accepted.

The sanctuary was founded in 1996 by Kathryn Warrington and is located in the Mission Valley on the Kootenai-Salish Indian Reservation five miles south of Polson, Montana. Along with her husband, Brian, she operates the entire sanctuary with employees Kevin Maynard and Kat Scott. Perhaps the best word to describe life at the sanctuary is "LABOR". It is difficult, time-consuming, never-ending physical labor, but extremely rewarding, done out of compassion and love for animals that have come to the sanctuary as their final home. The Warringtons live on the sanctuary grounds and have been working sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, for four years and will continue to do so "until we drop dead," says Kathryn.

Upon arrival at the sanctuary, I was immediately introduced to the morning and evening feeding and cleaning routines, beginning at six a.m. and five p.m., respectively. The morning begins with a rake and wheelbarrow as I head for the "round pen" to clean the wild burro enclosure. Here I am accosted by three young burros by the names of Luna, Leonardo, and Gerard; they were all born at the sanctuary and love people. Pregnant with them at the time, their mothers (along with more than ten other wild burros) were rescued from Death Valley National Park. They would have been shot if not for Wild Burro Rescue, who placed some of the burros with MLASR. As I clean, I am able to observe the burros' reaction to me invading their space, and I learn a bit about wild burro behavior. Some of the older females ("jennies") are wary and run to the back of the pen but the youngsters come right up to me for affection. Having been raised around humans, they're very different from their mothers.

I move on to another pen containing two blind horses, Splash and PaintBabe, and one 38 year-old mare named Rindy. Even as I shovel, I am learning about horse behavior: the interaction of the blind horses with each other, with Rindy, and with me. For instance, Splash and Paintbabe rely primarily on hearing and kick violently if surprised or frightened. Since they cannot see to run they stand their ground and kick- fight rather than flight. Rindy, even at 38, kicks to defend herself if provoked, but generally the three seem to have made an uneasy truce. I don't approach them, but I must talk constantly while doing chores so they know where I am at all times.

I continue to clean pens for the animals in the barn. Next, I move on to clean and fill water containers for the burros, horses, llamas, pigs, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, pigeons, peacocks, and cats. Once this is finished, I help load the feed truck with eighteen ninety-pound bales of hay and hop on the back while Kevin or Kat drive out into the main pastures that are home to the horses and llamas. As we bump along, I drop hay off the truck in flakes for hungry animals. After driving through the main pastures, we come to "the lane," feeding and watering the animals on each side. First, we come to the pot-bellied pigs, anxious to get their chow, topped with bite-sized apple slices, cut every morning by Brian. Next come the emus, fourteen in all, followed by goats, sheep, donkeys, llamas, and more horses, including the drafts (my personal favorite). After all hungry mouths have been fed and itchy bellies scratched, we head back to the barn for a break. My afternoons are often spent helping Brian with a project or routine task. I drive the truck while he and Kevin pick up hay from the field, dig post holes for the enclosure soon to be home to an elk and deer, change the water irrigation pipes, or "drag the field" (dragging the field consists of driving a truck around the horse pasture with a heavy metal drag on the back to break up and spread manure over the field). On any given day, I might be asked to accompany Kathryn to Missoula to pick up 1400 pounds of grain, go to a meeting or pick up apples for the pigs. Once the clock strikes five p.m., the entire routine begins again and continues until about eight o'clock. After chores, I retire to the refurbished school bus that is my dorm room, shower, eat dinner, and rest up for the next day. Although I started work at six a.m. every day at first, I settled into a schedule beginning at ten a.m. for five days, starting at six a.m. only on the weekends, when Kat has two days off. I average over fifty hours of work per week, seven days a week. I came to the MLASR with hopes of learning more about the field of large animal veterinary medicine; however, with a few exceptions there weren't many medical problems to deal with during my stay. While I did learn some about the medical needs of the animals, I gained more knowledge of animal behavior. Before my arrival at the sanctuary I knew very little about how to communicatewith horses; I was easily intimidated by them because they are somuch larger and more powerful than myself. Although I am eons away from being a "horse whisperer," I now feel comfortable around most horses and can usually read their body language well enough to know what they are saying to each other and to me. I also learned some "llama language"

Perhaps surprisingly, one month at the MLASR revealed almost as much to me about people as it did about animals. Coming from such a liberal university, it was saddening to learn how many ranchers, racehorse owners, farmers, and some other people treat their animals. Many human beings view animals merely as things to be used and when they are no longer useful (due to any injury or old age), they are no longer important, no longer worth being cared for or fed. It doesn't matter how long the horse has served a human; when she cannot work, she is worth more dead and is sent to the canner. Most ranchers are raised to see animals in this manner and therefore do not see the sanctuary as beneficial. The sanctuary feeds 600 tons of hay each year but has been unable to convince the hay farmers to donate any of it, even though on any given day, one can see tons of unused hay rotting in the fields. This baffled me, and when I inquired, Kevin explained, "When that hay is green, it's like gold." The farmers don't see that since they didn't use 100 bales of hay last season (or the twenty before that), it is highly unlikely they will suddenly use it all this season. Therefore, they would lose no money by donating some to the sanctuary. Unfortunately, the statistics and probabilities do not seem to matter to the farmers, and the unused hay continues to rot. If someone buys an animal, they should plan to keep it for life, but at least the people cared enough about their animal to want it alive and didn't opt for the couple hundred dollars they could've received from the canner. The sanctuary cares for 69 pot-bellied pigs, most of whom were bought for pets as cute little piglets, but either grew too large for the owner's tastes or were no longer "the fashionable pet;" the pig fad has ended. A darling turkey named Bouncy resides happily at the sanctuary because she grew too big for the oven by the time Thanksgiving came around.

Life at the sanctuary isn't always routine. On my third day, I was unfortunate to witness the death of a twenty-eight year-old horse named Roanie, who died of a heart attack. It was this experience that opened my eyes to the sanctuary's way of thinking about animals. Roanie wasn't just a horse, or a medical interest, but a friend. All of the animals at the sanctuary are friends, and are treated as such. Never is an unkind word said or a single hand raised to any one of the animals, whether they are horse, pig, or chicken. If an animal approaches for affection, work stops and it is freely given.

Relating the most valuable part of my internship must include reflection on my living situation. As mentioned earlier, I lived in a school bus, furnished with all the necessities, and parked inside the llama pasture! Llamas, being the curious creatures they are, routinely came up to the door and windows, trying to peek in at the human within. Since the bus was parked next to the fence, one side looked out onto the main horse pasture while the other side was all llamas. Living in such close proximity to a multitude of animals, I was able to observe them, unnoticed, at any time of day. I saw aggression and assertion of dominance during feeding time or at the water trough (see picture), as well as companions simultaneously giving each other a good scratch. The animals are able to live in a natural state, without halters, saddles, or shoes (with exception to a few horses with shoes for medical reasons). I learned more about animal behavior living on the sanctuary grounds than I could read in any book.

I was also able to participate in the educational aspects of the sanctuary's mission. Every Friday, the local YMCA brought at least seven children for a two-hour tour. I accompanied Kathryn on these tours so I could learn more about the individual animals through their stories. Every animal has a name, a story to be heard, and a personality to be discovered.

My internship with the MLASR has been a valuable addition to my college education. Although I wasn't able to work with the sanctuary's on-call veterinarian, I gained knowledge in other areas such as animal behavior and communication, public relations, and hard work. I have learned to see animals as true friends; they are beings worthy of individual time, respect, and consideration. This is knowledge I will take with me to Vet School; I must never lose the feelings I have for animals, for if I do, I know I will no longer be the best veterinarian I can be. I am grateful for the opportunity this internship has offered me; I will never forget my experience at the sanctuary.

The YMCA children, when asked what they think the sanctuary does, reply, "You feed the animals." Kathryn asks, "Why do we feed the animals?" The children are silent at first, but by the end of the tour they know the answer: "Because we love them." This is the way of life at the Montana Large Animal Sanctuary and Rescue - this is the way of compassion.