Rescue Tails Animal Sanctuary

04/01/2026

We love nothing more than when students and their families take such an interest in animals and the environment. This was a great visit, the students were excited and engaged, and they have extremely bright futures ahead of them!

03/30/2026

The work of an animal sanctuary, or any animal rescue organization, does not end. And that can lead to some radio silence as we work to rescue, medicate, feed, and care for dozens and dozens of animals each week. Some in our direct care, and others offsite assisting other organizations or simply helping members of the community who need an extra hand, or a bag of food or some other assistance.

In between all of those needs, we have been mending fences (literally) as some of the pasture fencing is getting up there in age and the posts are beginning to decay. When a large playful cow leans on a rotting fence post, chaos ensues!

As we work on fixing fences, we are actively raising money to buy the supplies and actual fencing and materials needed to keep the repairs going and get ahead of some of the work as much as we can. Spring has sprung, and this time of the year is incredibly busy in the animal world. Easter, in particular, is a busy time for rescues.

Please do not buy bunnies or chicks for your children for Easter without doing extensive research! More often than not they are bought to be cute, but then they grow up and end up with us. We reach capacity very quickly when two dozen people try to surrender animals three weeks after Easter - help us save some lives by not giving live animals as gifts!

A few photos of some resident rescues - donating helps these adorable faces stay safe and healthy!

01/19/2026

What a year so far! We've been radio silent because of the sheer number of animals that the community has been attempting to surrender. We feel it is worth taking a moment to say here that we as a sanctuary do not take in cats or dogs simply because we are not set up for them and there are so many other options to place those species.

We specialize in the rescue and rehabilitation of the less seen animals that suffer abuse and neglect - equine, livestock, exotic animals, fish, birds, and reptiles. This allows us to fill a niche and save animals that humane societies and other rescues are simply unable or not equipped to handle for a variety of reasons.

Becoming angry that we cannot accept the surrender of your cats or dogs, particularly when we offer you several different rescues who would be able to help you out, will not change the fact that we are not set up to take those species and they would not be safe around the much larger, more dangerous animals we do work with. Abusing the staff at a nonprofit just because they do not do what you want is not acceptable, and will not get you what you want. Take a breath, calm down, and be better.

A couple of throwback photos to lighten the mood!

12/09/2025

Some winter treats for the animals this week, and the horses enjoying a particularly big pile of hay to help get them through this very cold week. As expected, they made a very large mess. And as Vixen is showing with her side roll - a dirty horse is a happy horse! Let us tell you - these are some dirty horses...

Bran and Donkey enjoyed a small pumpkin treat together, while Midnight simply wasn't interested.

11/11/2025

An incredible turnout this weekend at Carolina Furfare, many new friends made with the North Carolina Anthropomorphic Society, and an amazingly friendly Furry Fandom community that opened their hearts and wallets in droves to support saving the lives of animals in need. It would be impossible to overstate just how much we love and appreciate every single person who came to the convention, stopped by our booth to donate or even just chat or say hi. It was an absolute blast to see everyone simply having fun, stress and worry free for a few days, being exactly who they wanted and needed to be, without fear of judgement from anyone.

You are an amazing community, and everyone here at Rescue Tails is looking forward to a fantastic future relationship with you all next year! For everyone who attended, we are extremely proud to announce that your generous donations have allowed us to put our plans for a brand new shelter for one of the pastures into action - something we could not have done without all of you.

For everyone else, always keep an eye on https://www.carolinafurfare.org/about-cff for news about future Furfare conventions, links to the North Carolina Anthropomorphic Society, as well as their other convention and charity work.

Carolina Furfare, or CFF, is a family friendly furry convention in western North Carolina. Check our social media accounts for information on our next event.

11/06/2025

If you're in the Hickory area this weekend and want a fun day/weekend of art, fun. culture, and community - all family friendly - come on down to the Hickory Convention Center and visit Carolina Furfare and learn a little (or a lot) about an incredibly creative community you probably don't know a ton about!

We are their featured charity partner for the convention, with donations, a charity auction, and a D&D for charity all supporting us and the animals we rescue and work with. Come down, say hi, and experience some incredibly talented artists, performers, and just overall friendliness. Plus, we will have some special goat friends on site Friday from 1:00 - 2:30!

A huge thank you to the North Carolina Anthropomorphic Society for inviting us to be their charity, putting together the convention, and for just overall being an amazing group. https://www.facebook.com/NCAnthropomorphicSociety #

https://www.carolinafurfare.org/
https://www.facebook.com/carolinafurfare

Carolina Furfare, or CFF, is a furry convention that takes place in Hickory, NC.

11/05/2025

As the cold comes rolling in, the animals here at Rescue Tails all adapt in their own way. Some like to cuddle up together for warmth, some retreat internally and prepare for a hibernative state - and some just try to come inside.

Stay safe and stay warm out there everyone!

08/25/2025

Sometimes it can take an animal a bit of extra time to become truly happy at a new home. Often, it is easy to get an animal comfortable, but to get them truly feeling safe enough to be vulnerable is an entirely different story.

For the team here at Rescue Tails, the distinction is important. We want the animals in our care not just to BE safe, but to FEEL safe as well. Each individual animal is different, and each individual animal takes it at their own pace. And it can be a lot of extra work, a lot of extra time and attention, a lot of extra patience, to get an animal safe and comfortable.

But the payoff is worth it every single time. We could not be happier to see today that Donkey and Midnight, resident donkey rescues, are feeling safe enough to put themselves into vulnerable positions in their pasture home.

Unfortunately the camera was not pulled out in time to catch Donkey rolling happily, but we caught Midnight in all of her dirty glory. Equine species typically only roll and expose their sides and belly when they are feeling completely at ease - safe enough to be exposed. There is a saying that is often used - a dirty donkey (or horse) is a happy donkey (or horse)! And today, we aught a little bit of that happiness.

07/29/2025

Our friends at Humane Society of Catawba County are hiring! Join their incredible, compassionate surgical team in their mission to save lives and better the welfare of thousands of animals every year. The Surgical Squad have always been amazing when they help us out on the occasions when we have animals in need of a quick veterinary intervention, and we could not recommend them more heartily!

Join our team! Ever thought about a career where you get to help animals and be hands-on in the veterinary field? Then HSCC could be for you! We are hiring a Spay/Neuter Surgery Assistant for our clinic. Please send resumes and questions to [email protected] for consideration.

🐾Job Title: Spay/Neuter Surgery Assistant
🐾Location: Humane Society of Catawba County
🐾Job Type: Full-Time
🐾Job Summary: The Spay/Neuter Surgery Assistant plays a key role in supporting high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter surgical procedures in a fast-paced, mission-driven nonprofit environment. This role includes assisting veterinarians, technicians, and other assistants with patient prep, monitoring, and recovery, while keeping a clean and efficient surgical workflow that prioritizes animal welfare.

Join a compassionate team dedicated to reducing pet overpopulation and improving community animal health. Your work will directly impact the lives of animals and the people who care for them.

(For a full listing, please check out this link: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/199fKLyUA1/)

07/08/2025

Today we want to send out a huge THANK YOU to Lara Jones, Modern Woodmen of America for their generous donation of food and supplies to the animals here at the sanctuary today. Lara reached out to us earlier this year, back in February, to arrange to make a donation specifically to help animals and animal rescues in the area and visit to love on the resident sanctuary animals.

She came through for us in a wonderful way, generously purchasing and donating over three weeks worth of food in total to help us feed the horses, donkeys, cows, goats, pigs, and roosters currently in residence here at Rescue Tails Animal Sanctuary!

Thanks to Lara, Donkey won't need to eat his own socks anymore!
Donkey is very grateful!

Disclaimer: Donkey does not have to eat his own socks. He is a stubborn donkey, and refuses to wear them despite their medical and fly preventative necessity. He eats a healthy, veterinarian approved normal diet along with all other sanctuary animals!

05/21/2025

Photo dump! The heat is rising and the animals are living their best lives.

Not a lot of news this week here at Rescue Tails - but sometimes that is good news in itself.