Go beyond the conference
Heading to the Best Friends National Conference in May? Add a meaningful stop at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary with tours, volunteering, and behind-the-scenes experiences.
Before or after the learning begins, extend your trip with a visit to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. Set in the heart of Southern Utah’s red-rock country, the Sanctuary offers a rare opportunity to step inside one of the nation’s most well-known lifesaving organizations.
Make it a meaningful add-on to your conference experience by spending a day — or a few — exploring behind the scenes through guided tours, hands-on volunteer opportunities, and conversations with Best Friends subject-matter experts in animal care, visitor experience, donor relations, and more.
Kanab is about a half-day drive from Salt Lake City, making it a natural pre- or post-conference destination for those looking to slow down, reconnect, and experience something truly different. Explore iconic Southern Utah landscapes or simply enjoy time in a place where purpose and place come together.
Come for a day. Stay for a week. Leave inspired.
Make the most of your time in Utah by adding a meaningful visit to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, or take a tour of the Pet Adoption Center in Salt Lake City.
Available Sanctuary Experiences
Visits are flexible and can be customized based on availability and interest and may include the following options.
Grand Sanctuary Tour (90 minutes)
Led by one of our Sanctuary Ambassadors, this guided tour highlights Best Friends’ mission, key initiatives, and the role of the Sanctuary in advancing lifesaving work nationwide. The experience includes animal interactions and opportunities to ask questions, with an emphasis organizational impact rather than a guest-style walkthrough.
Best Friends Clinic Tour (30 minutes)
Led by our Clinic team, this guided tour offers a focused look at the medical operations that support a large-scale sanctuary. The tour highlights workflow, standards of care, and best practices, with time for practical questions.
Cat World Tour (90 minutes)
Led by a Cat World manager, this in-depth tour explores daily operations, housing models, enrichment strategies, and team structures within a cat program. Participants are encouraged to ask questions, share experiences, and discuss best practices relevant to managing cat populations at scale.
Dogtown Tour (90 minutes)
Led by a Dogtown manager, this in-depth tour explores daily operations, housing models, enrichment strategies, and team structures within a dog program. Participants are encouraged to ask questions, share experiences, and discuss best practices relevant to managing dog populations at scale.
Lunch & Learn: Planned Giving / Donor Relations (60 minutes)
This Lunch & Learn explores Best Friends’ approach to planned giving and donor relationships. Led by Planned Giving and Donor Relations team members, this session emphasizes long-term strategy, stewardship, and mission alignment, with space for candid conversation and shared learning.
Lunch & Learn: Small Animals (60 minutes)
This Lunch & Learn explores Best Friends’ approach to caring for and placing Rabbits, Parrots, and Wildlife within a sanctuary setting. Led by Small Animal Caregivers, the discussion focuses on daily operations, standards of care, habitat design, enrichment, and adoption pathways, with time for questions and discussion relevant to caring for small animals.
Lunch & Learn: Barn Animals (60 minutes)
This Lunch & Learn explores Best Friends’ approach to caring for and placing horses, pigs and goats within a sanctuary setting. Led by Horses, Pigs and Goats Caregivers, the discussion focuses on daily operations, standards of care, habitat design, enrichment, and adoption pathways, with time for questions and discussion relevant to caring for large animals.
Lunch & Learn: Visitor Experience (60 minutes)
This Lunch & Learn focuses on Best Friends’ approach to visitor experience, including tours, volunteer programs, and community engagement. Led by the Visitor Experience Team, the session explores how hospitality and education can support mission delivery while prioritizing animal welfare.
Individual Volunteering (2-3 hours)
With seven different animal areas and acres of canyon lands surrounding the sanctuary, you’ll have plenty of choices to lend a hand. While all volunteer experiences are different, you can always count on them being meaningful for both you and the animals!
Who This Experience Is For
This Sanctuary Experience is designed for conference attendees visiting on behalf of a network partner organization, either individually or as part of a group.
If you're a Best Friends Network Partner and can’t make it to the Sanctuary this time, no worries—we’d love to host you in the future. Reach out to vipexperience@bestfriends.org to plan a curated learning experience when you're ready.
If you’re planning a personal visit or traveling with family or friends, we recommend exploring our standard tours, volunteer opportunities, and lodging options on our Plan Your Visit page.
Stay in Kanab!
Make your trip to Kanab even more meaningful by staying at the Best Friends Roadhouse and Mercantile — the most pet-friendly hotel ever and an extension of the Sanctuary, where your stay benefits the animals. Located just five miles from the Sanctuary, The Roadhouse is the perfect place to relax and connect. The best part? Best Friends Network Partners receive a 15% discount!* Please note, there is no public transportation in Kanab, UT.
*To receive the discount, please call The Roadhouse at (435) 644-3400 to book your stay or book online with discount code NPSCV.
Can't make it to Kanab?
Groups that aren’t able to travel to the Sanctuary can still experience Best Friends’ lifesaving work with a behind-the-scenes visit to our Salt Lake City Pet Adoption Center, where every square foot is thoughtfully designed to support lifesaving work. We’ll spend most of our time highlighting how we’ve creatively and intentionally utilized our space to make the center welcoming for adopters and comforting for pets.
The tour will begin in our main front room, where adoptions happen and families meet their future pets, then continue into our cat room—home to our feline intakes and the place where cats first settle in as they begin their journey with us. We’ll also point out some of the smaller but essential spaces that keep everything running smoothly, including our exam rooms, kitten nursery, and panleuk room. While these areas are often occupied and not accessible to walk through, you’ll still get a clear picture of how they function and how much care goes into every detail of our setup.
It’s a great opportunity to see how we make the most of our space while putting animal welfare, efficiency, and the adopter experience front and center.