The Open Sanctuary Podcast

Senior Advisor Tara and Nonprofit Specialist Julia discuss how to take steps to prevent, recognize, and address foreign body ingestion by sanctuary residents. While every resident can be at risk of doing this, the degree of risk can vary, and there are action steps you can take to prevent it!  --- This Episode's Referenced Open Sanctuary Project Resources: Don't Eat That! Preventing Foreign Body I...

Julia, the Nonprofit Specialist at The Open Sanctuary Project, sits down with friend and colleague Alastor Van Kleeck to launch a new interview series dedicated to sharing the invaluable experience and knowledge of leaders in the sanctuary movement. Alastor is an advocate, writer, and educator who wears many hats in the rescue community. Alongside their partner Roz, Alastor founded Triangle Chicke...

Senior Advisor Tara and Nonprofit Specialist Julia discuss a concerning but critical topic: fire safety at animal sanctuaries, a "stuff of nightmares" scenario we believe is essential for every caregiver to confront. We examine the sobering statistics on structure fires and common causes such as electrical issues and spontaneous hay combustion. We also share practical mitigation steps—from removin...

We're very happy to offer a conversation, hosted by the Microsanctuary Resource Center, with Nonprofit Specialist Julia on the pros and cons of nonprofit status for animal organizations. In it, MRC staff Alastor and Bird discuss with Julia some of the considerations that come into play when deciding whether to go nonprofit! --- This Episode's Referenced Open Sanctuary Project Resources: Microsanct...

Senior Advisor Tara and Nonprofit Specialist Julia discuss how caregivers can best prepare for a scenario in which a resident cow cannot stand. In this situation, time is of the essence, so having a plan in place is key, as is understanding what to look for when assessing a cow resident who may be having difficulty standing. --- This Episode's Referenced Open Sanctuary Project Resources: When Cows...

Executive Director Mckenzee and Nonprofit Specialist Julia celebrate our eight years of operation by discussing the year in review at The Open Sanctuary Project. We know that our audience of compassionate caregivers are often caught up in the day-to-day work of direct care for animals, so this is your chance to catch up with what's new this year in freely accessible resources to help you do the wo...

Nonprofit Specialist Julia and Senior Advisor Tara talk more about turkeys! Building on our last discussion of how turkeys got here and how domestication has impacted them, we talk about the considerations sanctuaries and rescues should keep in mind when welcoming a new turkey resident to ensure all their needs are met! --- This Episode's Referenced Open Sanctuary Project Resources: Gobble Greetin...

Community Education Specialist Andie and Dr. Emily Tronetti of the Institute for Human Education led a special presentation on October 22nd, 2025 on how to nurture farmed animal agency and consent in sanctuary education. This is the audio recording of that presentation. --- This Episode's Referenced Open Sanctuary Project Resources: Webinar: Agency-Centered Sanctuary Education: Transformative Prac...

Community Education Specialist Andie and Dr. Emily Tronetti of the Institute for Human Education discuss agency-centered sanctuary education and its connection to off-site programming. Andie and Emily explore the crucial considerations sanctuaries should make before planning and facilitating any off-site educational program with residents. They also discuss the essential factors that sanctuary edu...

Nonprofit Specialist Julia and Senior Advisor Tara talk turkeys! In the first part of our Turkey series, we discuss how domesticated turkeys got here and how that influences their care, as well as many of the considerations that you need to take into account when welcoming a new turkey resident to your sanctuary or rescue! --- This Episode's Referenced Open Sanctuary Project Resources: Gobble Gree...

Nonprofit Specialist Julia and Community Education Specialist Andie talk about how you might encounter requests outside of the scope of your mission or your capacity generally, and in particular when those requests concern wild living animals. We offer a framework where you can say no, while still offering support, and also what to do when you feel you must say yes! Andie offers additional guidanc...

Nonprofit Specialist Julia and Community Education Specialist Andie discuss the importance of peaceful and compassionate coexistence with wildlife. Whether it's through careful environmental management, robust predator protection for residents, stringent biosecurity protocols, or engaging educational programs, animal sanctuaries can be at the forefront of demonstrating how humans and wildlife can...

Executive Director Mckenzee and Nonprofit Specialist Julia dedicate an episode to a specific bird type: Pigeons! Pigeons may not be the first animals you think of when it comes to sanctuary, but they are very special individuals who, for many reasons, may find themselves in need of sanctuary, and they deserve individualized, compassionate care. We discuss some of their background, behaviors, and n...

Executive Director Mckenzee and Nonprofit Specialist Julia discuss what it means to us when we say that The Open Sanctuary Project is a living library. We talk about how and why we perform regular resource updates to address community feedback, integrate new developments in compassionate care and organizational strategies, and more. We also discuss major updates to our foundational resource on san...

In the 50th episode of The Open Sanctuary Podcast, Executive Director Mckenzee and Nonprofit Specialist Julia discuss a memorable and actionable definition of sanctuary sustainability and break down its elements. We discuss assessing your current capacity needs and limitations, planning to address them in both the near and distant future, and, crucially, cultivating the resilience to anticipate an...

Executive Director Mckenzee and Nonprofit Specialist Julia discuss contingency planning! We discuss the common challenges individuals face when it comes to contingency planning, as well as the various types of events that your organization should prepare for, including organizational challenges, operational challenges, and resident challenges. We offer a simple framework for you and your team to u...

Executive Director Mckenzee and Nonprofit Specialist Julia conclude their three-part discussion of succession planning! In this episode, we discuss succession planning for executive directors and other key roles at your sanctuary, contingency planning, as well as the importance of day-to-day resident and organizational recordkeeping!   --- This Episode's Referenced Open Sanctuary Project Resources...

Executive Director Mckenzee and Nonprofit Specialist Julia continue their discussion of succession planning! In our last episode on this subject, we discussed some of the challenges and emotions that can come up regarding succession planning. In this episode, we list some practical steps founders can take to work on a succession plan with their team! --- This Episode's Referenced Open Sanctuary Pr...

Executive Director Mckenzee and Nonprofit Specialist Julia embark on the first part of an episode series addressing the question of succession in animal sanctuaries and rescues. W e discuss some of the challenges (including the emotional ones) that folks may face when considering succession planning. If you have also encountered these feelings, listen on to learn more! --- This Episode's Reference...

Nonprofit Specialist Julia and Community Education Specialist Andie discuss animal sanctuaries' role as advocates. From a movement standpoint, sanctuaries are essential vectors of change when it comes to society's view of animals. In terms of education and even legal advocacy, sanctuaries do a great deal to change hearts and minds while supporting the compassionate care of animals. We talk about h...

Executive Director Mckenzee and our friend and volunteer Kyle Behrend discuss The Open Sanctuary Project's brand new Animal Database! This project was long requested by the sanctuary community because keeping thorough, up-to-date records of your residents' health and life events is a critical aspect of sanctuary care. To make the record-keeping process as simple and efficient as possible, we teame...

Executive Director Mckenzee and Nonprofit Specialist Julia discuss different staff positions that may benefit operations at your animal sanctuary. Assigning sanctuary tasks to appropriately skilled staff can help maximize your efficiency and effectiveness as an organization, which is very helpful for long-term sustainability! Listen on to learn more about the various roles and responsibilities you...

Executive Director Mckenzee and Nonprofit Specialist Julia discuss three tools The Open Sanctuary Project offers to help your sanctuary minimize liability. These include a resource discussing and analyzing insurance options, a liability waiver template and its accompanying resource, and a free system you can download to easily track visitor liability waivers! To learn more, listen on! --- This Epi...

Executive Director Mckenzee and Nonprofit Specialist Julia have another discussion about sanctuary capacity, this time about cruelty, seizure, bust, and escapee cases. We review all the questions your organization needs to consider before working on these cases. Some of these questions you may anticipate, and some you may not! Please note that we will not get into graphic descriptions of animal cr...

Executive Director Mckenzee and Nonprofit Specialist Julia discuss the critical importance of accuracy and transparency in communicating with supporters and the public. We discuss how these two values work hand in hand to maintain organizational integrity, how they might prevent your sanctuary or rescue from getting into adverse situations with others, and when being selective about your communica...