I looked forward to the trip to Noah’s Ark – it was 2 firsts for me. It was the first time I was driving to Malaysia and first visit to Noah’s Ark. I have seen the pictures in on the sanctuary’s website and the dogs look like great company to start my weekend. A small troop of us (5) had a bumpy ride to the sanctuary searching for a rather elusive sign for freshwater fishing place. After driving around for a while, I was over the moon to see the sign for “NANAS”.
Upon reaching, I was greeted by the volunteers and a very friendly traffic marshal – a black mongrel mix with soulful brown eyes. I was quite sad to see that the tips of his ears looked raw and bitten. Since the dogs are free to roam about within sanctuary set in a forrest clearing, there are lots of flies and sand flies that could burrow into the skin of the animals. When we entered the sanctuary through a reception area and were immediately greeted by more residents – dashund, terrier mix, shih tzus. The bigger ones are housed in the outer compound.
  One of the volunteers, took us along with other visitors through the main gate to the
sanctuary. Everyone was excited to see us and was eager to make friends, tails wagging and tongues out. Welcome to dogtown! For the uninitiated, the big dogs will offer bear hugs and sloppy licks. These are the ones that you know, love their human companions. There are some that will shy away and run away to hide. But there are plenty of human friendly ones.
  Our hosts consisting of a saint bernand, a husky, a german shepherd and assorted local breeds,
followed us to the first station where the retired race horses are kept. We fed the horses with apples that we bought. Contrary to the adage - “An apple a day, keeps the doctor away” – we were told that too much apples are not good for the horses. It was best to limit to 2 apples per horse. It was fun and reminded me of the patting zoo. The horses were beautiful and I was glad that they were saved from usual fate of being made into pet food when their racing days are over.
 We moved on to dog haven where most of the resident dogs are housed. We were greeted by the barks even before we enter the compound. There are at least 20 dog runs with fences and shelters built to house packs of dogs. The packs of dogs were segregated as some of them came from a common litter or they were not assimilated to the greater dog society yet. Dogs are pack animals by nature and they are most happy and at ease when living in a pack where the hierarchy is clearly defined. The definition of pack could also mean a human family. There are a large group of 50-100 dogs roaming freely in the compound with a big hut in the middle that provided shelter and relieve from the sweltering heat. Dog bowls filled with kibbles and pails of water was left at convenient spots for the dogs. Some of the friendlier ones would come to you for belly scratches. I could tell most of the animals were at ease and contented, signs of good care.
  Then we went to the “cat condo” where the cats are segregated from the dogs. They were kept in a nice, cool house with double doors to prevent dogs from getting in and cats from getting out. I didn’t think they will get out. If they were to play spa music in the background, I would have thought I was in spa retreat. There were a fox terrier and another doggie pal in the cat condo. I was told they could get along very well with the cats and cats didn’t seem to mind them at all. The cats are a friendly lot. Some of them will try to sit in your lap like a dog and ask to be scratched behind the ears. It had just started to rain and I was relieved that we got to the cat condo before we got too wet. The sound of the rain made the whole experience even more surreal.
  Our last stop was the rabbit and guinea pigs hutch. It was not hard to see why this was a favourite station with young children. The rabbits are a docile lot and blessed with white fluffy fur – what’s not to like? There was a curious guinea pig that I was particularly drawn to – it fed among the rabbits and was not afraid at all. The rest of his guinea friends were petrified by us and refused to come out to feed on the chye sim no matter how long we coaxed. The little fellow continued to nibble on the vegetable treats despite being squashed between 2 rabbits 5 times his size. It was hilarious to watch him. Perhaps he is trying to eat his way to match the size of the rabbits!
  It was almost the end of our 2 hour tour of NANAS. We paid a visit to Berry, a monkey who just had his remaining leg amputated. It may seems cruel to let him live on but I believe he is given a fighting chance. True, he may seems a little awkward with just using his arms to move around. True, he is not able to roam freely as he was meant to be. No doubt, he won’t be able to survive in the wild. But he is still able to enjoy a quality life among his human companions who were ready with kind words and his favourite treats. He still has a fighting spirit in him that was not taken away with loss of his legs. As with other animal amputees, (I have seen a few 3 legged dogs) they were given a chance to live with their disability. They got along with the pack like any other 4 legged ones. It was almost as if no one notice, not even themselves, that they only had 3 legs. That is why NANAS is an animal sanctuary where all are welcome and accommodated. I was glad that I made the trip.
 
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