Every day at Best Friends animal sanctuary in southern Utah, cats are fitted up with a harness and leash and taken for an amble through the spectacular scenery.
"The
reality is a lot of these cats are going to spend the rest of their
lives here," says Michelle Warfle, a former aerospace engineer who is
now the cat manager at Best Friends Animal Society. "So we need to enrich their life as much as possible. And getting them outside is just fun for them."
Best
Friends' Utah sanctuary has around 1,700 animals in total -- dogs,
horses, pigs, birds and rabbits among them, in addition to the 550-600
cats under Warfle's care.
As with dogs, taking cats out hiking helps them burn off extra
energy. It helps keep them from getting bored and also gives them the
opportunity for one-on-one time with their favorite humans, who may be
full-time staff or even sanctuary volunteers.
Some of the cats love to go out walking and will spend an hour on the
move. Warfle's own "personal cat," as she puts it, enjoys hiking up to
about two miles at a time.
"And then we have others, they'll go a
little bit, find a sunny spot and lay down," she says. "It really all
depends on the cat."
Continue reading: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/03/cat-hiking_n_6093380.html
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