volunteer coordinator

director

public relations specialist

care specialist

veterinary technician

Best Friends Animal Society

Hi. I worked for bf for over four years. At their Kanab UT location as an animal caregiver. 

The experience was certainly one of a kind. It was fantastic to help out the animals in any way that I could. There were some great caregivers I worked alongside. Many of whom I still speak to regularly today. Best friends has an impressive mission statement and a reputation in the animal welfare world as “unmatched.” 


The culture and work environment best friends produces at the caregiver level is toxic to say the least. It is a cult, be aware. Extremely poor communication between upper management, to department management, down to caregivers. As a caregiver you were expected to kneel before any request, no matter how small. Our manager said it was our job (as animal caregivers) to wash her dirty dishes, or pick up her coke cans from her office floor. It sounds small, but this is what we are dealing with. Speaking out against such instances only means punishment for yourself. You must also be ready to adapt at the drop of a hat. For example, where I worked was a building full of animals in a community setting. It was a regular occurrence where management would call and tell you, that you would have to find space in your building for an extremely aggressive (towards other animals) animal. There was a point where we would have to house these animals in food closets, bathrooms, and medical preparation closets for extended periods of time. If we didn’t, it would mean you were to get reprimanded by management for being non compliant. To me, it didn’t make sense that an organization that pulls in tens of millions would need an animal to be housed in a closet or bathroom. Especially an organization as revered as best friends. One of the main issues with the scenario above, was upper management did not see that as their problem. They saw it as a caregiver problem. If we could not find a “suitable” environment for the animal, it was our lives, not theirs, on the line. Not to mention department managers hiding under desks (literally) to avoid any sort of conversation. As a caregiver, you are placed in a situation where you have 20 bosses. None of which care about you, the work you do, your goals, or even to some extent, the animals. They want the animals to get out the door. One way, or the other. The animals are not lives to these people, no matter how much they preach they are. They are only statistics in the eyes of upper management. The scenario above only justifies that argument. 

The opportunity for career advancement of professional development at the caregiver level is next to none. While yes, a lot of your immediate managers, department managers, and even upper managers, were hired in as caregivers. The chances of you, getting there is next to impossible. If you’re in a position in your life where you are looking to sell out and drink the red kool-aid, you will make it. But most people have an extremely bitter taste in their mouth after four months of being employed. Which glides me into the next section. 

As a caregiver you are not only the bottom of the ladder, but you’re also at the forefront of the turnover rate. There were many periods in my employment where it was common to be seven to eight positions down. All while maintaining the same, if not more animals.  So needless to say, the burnout rate was incredibly high. The burnout wasn’t always the cause of turnover though. It was more than common for people to get fired for no reason at all. The organization justified it as “it’s an at will state.” So basically, you’re not in good terms with the department manager for not picking up her Diet Coke cans, you can, and will, be fired. Often times it would take up to half a year, to a full year to recover positions. Which didn’t make sense. We were told thousands of people are willing to take our jobs from us. Not only were we told that, but it was regular to be told that. If the recruitment people said that so often, then how could we have been so poorly staffed? 

In conclusion, do not move across the country to work for these people. You won’t make a livable wage, you certainly won’t be able to find any affordable housing, and you most definitely won’t find a welcoming, loving culture. 






If you’re thinking of working for the Atlanta location, you might want to read this first. 

At least eight people have quit or been fired from the Atlanta location just in the last three months, and it doesn't have that big of a staff to begin with. 

Specialists are the backbone of Best Friends. They are the ones who pour their sweat, tears, and souls into their work. They’re the ones on the front line dealing with all the good and all the bad that comes with animal rescue. They do this because they want to make a difference in the lives of homeless animals. They do this because they truly believe in Best Friends' mission. And how does Best Friends treat them? Like they’re expendable and replaceable. 

The Atlanta location has been consistently understaffed. Specialists care for over 300 animals (including the adoptable animals, transport animals, and community cat program animals), facilitate adoptions, perform intake examinations and other medical procedure, and many, many, MANY other tasks. They are regularly required to work overtime in order to complete their daily tasks. Closing shift often doesn’t get out until an hour or two after they were scheduled to leave. In the past year, the number of animals in house has tripled, and only two extra specialist positions were created. Specialists are drowning yet management keeps on dumping more on them only to then turn around and blame the specialists for being behind in their work. 

The staff must also constantly work against a terrible building. The Atlanta location is in an old furniture warehouse that was never designed to house animals. Best Friends keeps funneling money into this location just to make it functional, however all they’re doing is polishing a piece of poo. Local animal controls have better buildings than the Atlanta location. It’s nearly impossible to sanitize, especially due to the floors that slant away from the newly installed drains. (To clean, you must essentially flood the kennels, then use towels and squeegees to funnel the runoff into the drains. A very long and painstaking process) Runs are constantly under quarantine for giardia, parvo, etc due to an inability to properly sanitize. Yet the Atlanta location keeps cramming in more and more animals and investing more and more money into a location that just isn’t practical for what the organization wants. 

There is a clear disconnect between the upper management and the specialists. No one is denying that upper management works hard, but the fact is these people spend most of their days in their offices on their computers and in meetings. They aren’t on the forefront witnessing how hard the specialists work and how understaffed they are. Sure, they may have an office animal and pick up a broom occasionally, in order to “help”, but overall upper management is very hands off and clueless regarding the actual animal care. Many members of upper management seem to have little to no actual kennel or care giving experience which is demonstrated clearly in their complete inability to properly manage and maintain their staff. Instead of listening to the specialists and empathizing, they instead bark out orders, pile on more animals, change schedules and procedures without notice, use intimidation and bullying techniques to quiet any dissent, and then tell staff that they can “suck it up or leave.” 

The Atlanta location is basically the illegitimate child of the Best Friends organization -ill conceived and poorly managed. The quality of care of the animals is rapidly declining and the workplace is becoming more toxic by the day.

If you care about animals, this isn’t really a great place to work. Most people doing the day-to-day operations of animal care are invested and want what’s best for the animals under their care. The amount of blood, sweat, tears, and dedication from most of the staff and volunteers is the sole driving force of the organization. A normal day in animal care includes feeding and medicating the animals, engaging with volunteers, assessing the animals, and working as a team to help meet the basic needs of the animals. Which makes it even more frustrating when, while trying to advocate for the animals, management meets you with a laissez faire attitude and, in some instances, obvious forms of retribution. Management views you as disposable and sees little to no value in you despite any previous experience. Basically, if you can shut up and color you’ll go far.
Recommending courses of action for process improvement is a sure way to get on managements bad side and eventually driven out of the organization as they do not like being told that their idea is not going to be effective from a tactical perspective. Management will drum up any sort of obviously failing initiative to have a cute Power Point slide or numbers-based assessment of their effectiveness and to justify their positions. This is almost always done with no additional resources or support given to the staff and, on top of all the other tasks, creates an environment that leads to burnout and more sick animals. At the end of the day, the animals are great as is building relationships with staff members and volunteers and giving them the resources and education about how great animals are. The downside is management and their inability to manage let alone lead or care about the people or the animals.
Finally, being a minority and working or volunteering in animal welfare has its challenges that Best Friends tried to address. The organization tried to roll out a diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, DEIB, council, which was likely only the result of a desire to post a hashtag and brand activism, during the summer of 2020 but this too failed. 
While it was effective for a short time, soon after Julie Castle, the CEO, decided to speak at an ALEC convention and donate Best Friends things went south. ALEC is known for creating model legislation that represses the rights of minorities, women, and people working in animal welfare. The work was immediately stopped after staff and volunteers complained and made it clear this was not something we should support. Julie promised that the work will come back eventually with a senior level staff member that oversees DEIB work and reports directly to her. Several months later, nothing has been done and with each passing day it’s becoming clear that this work was all for not. 
As one of only a handful of racial minorities in the organization, it is understood that people like me are not welcomed. I have heard many derogatory remarks about groups of people that are almost always minorities. While calling this out, not having allies or awareness makes it hard to change the culture and who is accepted in animal welfare. This is by no means everybody or even a majority, it is a small, miniscule minority. Nonetheless, the fact that some people feel comfortable using this language is wholly unacceptable. Ultimately, being a part time or selective organization of courage and integrity is no way to run a business.  
At the end of the day, if you care about animals, are a minority, or have ever worked for even a moderately functional organization you should avoid Best Friends and volunteer or work for an animal welfare organization that could use and appreciate the help. 




I didn’t work directly for Best Friends but was hired at one of the shelters that they included in their “outreach program”.  With this outreach program they sent an individual to be the director of the facility for a year to “turn the shelter around”. 

The individual they sent seemed really promising at first, however, it became clear that they allowed a toxic environment for their employees especially the ones who pulled more than their share of weight. Making it so hard on employees that are trying to complete the mission that they ended up quitting.  The director that was sent was also afraid of dogs and micro chipping and vaccinations.  Even on our busiest days with the least amount of staff he would not step in to help with anything. He would stand around asking customers what they needed and then pass them off to the over worked staff member. 

All he cared about was the 90% live release numbers (which is a good goal) however, he implied impractical solutions that once he left would no longer be an option like obtaining money from Best Friends to cover adoption fees, and allowing volunteers to use the Best Friends vehicle to transport animals to other shelters and rescues.  These options, while great temporary options, provide a sense of false expectations of live release numbers using the resources that the shelter has to be able to continue that rate after the outreach program ends. 

My position was a community car coordinator which specializes in the live release rates of cats, mainly implementing and running (by myself) a trap neuter program within my city.  Best Friends did pay the city for my position.  The problem was that I was expected to handle ALL cat related calls and was solely responsible for the live release rate of the cats, but was also expected to function as a shelter attendant because the director that Best Friends sent couldn’t get the shelter staff to have conversations with people bringing in animals. 

He was unprofessional and would make accusations towards employees in front of other staff members and customers.  It became so bad I’d go home crying. After I decided to quit I drafted a letter detailing the unprofessionalism, the unrealistic expectations that were put onto just a few employees, and examples of each and sent it to Best Friends. It’s nearly impossible to reach their boss as they don’t tell outsiders of their hierarchy and so I sent it to multiple departments hoping it’d get to the right person.  Best Friends never reached out to enquire about the things I had exposed regarding their employee and when I talked to a representative from their company they stated that the director they sent was “known to overload certain employees” basically stating that everything I had experienced was already known in the company and this person was being sent to “help” shelters across America anyways. 

Deeply disappointed in the company. Although they were able to help the shelter with a lot of funds of starting up worth while programs, they didn’t make it so that those changes would be able to be continued in the shelter over time. 

As another review pointed out, Best Friends' name applies to animals only; don't expect any warm, friendly, meaningful human interaction.

The culture at Best Friends is one built and maintained with a generous supply of narcissism holding it up at the foundation.  Best Friends is the be-all, end-all when it comes to the industry standard... and they'll tell you where to go and how to get there if you disagree.

Many highly qualified, animal-loving people have passed through their doors, only to be cycled back out of them within a 2 year period after they've given all they can offer.  People can and have donated days, weeks, moths, years of their life to the organization, even without pay, only to be chewed up and spit out once they made one too many suggestions or corrections.

A valuable lesson anyone can learn about an animal shelter when they look at Best Friends, is to ask the community in which they exists, what the locals' opinions of them are.  If you ask around the small town of Kanab, you'll find an overwhelming number of people who use the term "Best Friender" with a sneer on their face.  The shelter, despite its international reach and millions of dollars in its budget, provides almost no support for any animals or people in their local community; their doors are closed to any local strays or families facing a crisis.

They'll laugh off these criticisms as just saying "they're locals" with that same level of disgust the locals use to describe them.  Not everyone locally, however, is the close-minded red neck Best Friends would like you to believe they are.  Many people in the town have moved from far and wide to live in the area and aren't just the local cowboys people think of when they see the red rocks.

With the passive-aggressive stance they take in the community, the lack of any real job security, shady HR practices (creating and enforcing policies that have never been documented before people get "written up" for them), high turn-over and lack of solid, objective leadership, Best Friends is a highly volatile organization to bet on... err... I mean work for.

The employees that have managed to keep their jobs for several years are the ones that either A) Keep their mouths shut and offer no opinions about anything, B) Have been in/gotten into trouble that Best Friends can use as leverage if they do start to make waves, or C) "Know where the bodies are buried" and can create a huge headache for the company if they were ever to be fired.

Best Friends is an example of a group of people who came to the realization that rescuing animals was a more lucrative business than The Process Church (semi-popular cult from the late 60's-70's) they were founded as.  If you're seeking employment here, consider yourselves warned!

If you like being understaffed, overworked, underpaid and underappreciated then this is the place for you. They put up a great PR front and a great message. Yes, they have helped many animals but they are so focused on "saving them all" that they've forgotten about the people who take care of the animals. They overload animal care areas, with animals, when there aren't enough people to care for them or the area is already past maximum capacity. The problem also is that they've grown so large that employees now seem disposable, forgotten and many experienced, long term employees have left or been fired. People have been fired, for ridiculous reasons, that have devoted their life to these animals. Management doesn't seem to care about the animal caregiver, like they should, and have ruined and demoralized peoples professional and personal lives.  It is an environment of low morale, at least in animal care, and overwhelming stress. The animals are a joy but there are never enough caregivers to properly care for them in the way they deserve. You can't trust anyone it seems because you can be terminated for the smallest infraction or even fired due to hearsay. I know it has really gone downhill and they always say BFAS is a family.  We aren't a family and even people working on the same team don't even really know or like each other.  It's like you're back in high school with cliques and fighting over juvenile things.  Perhaps I just had a bad experience working there but I know many other caregivers would agree with me.  I'm not saying don't give it a try but it probably will not be what you expect.  It has changed a lot for employees and not really for the better. Also, management is terrible, don't lead by example and aren't even respected because it's not deserved. HR can't be trusted at all.  No one in certain departments don't even know who to look up to for guidance.  It's more like a corporation where the people are numbers. It's really quite sad because it never use to be like this.

I implore Best Friends to listen to the absurd amount of turnover and feedback from employees who leave. In Bentonville, the wrong people supervise frontline workers and then act surprised when local orgs call them out for how they treat their community partners and their own staff.  6 good people have left in a very short amount of time.  While there are a few remaining good employees, Management/supervisors  are completely out of touch with their employees’ needs and frequently worked from home, pushing all the work on the specialists who make significantly less. 
That committiment to DEI with a promise of a sense of belonging and acceptance (I have a disability)- No way. 
 Prioritizing mental health care? Nope. Nothing but  promises and flashy marketing tactics. They lure you in with better than average pay and benefits (for this field ) build trust, then strip you of your dignity.
There is no work/life balance or healthy workplace culture. You work too much, you’re reprimanded for having OT, or having confidence in your abilities. (Seriously).
Like others have said, BF takes your love for animals, employs psychologically unsafe management and HR practices, and scolds you for wanting to take a mental health day.  Stay away if you have a disorder or invisible disability - My manager didn’t uphold the agreement for accommodations. They prefer to micromanage, selectively discipline employees, offer exciting opportunities to the same people,  and make you think you’re the problem when you just want to grow professionally.  
The wrong people have been promoted into positions, harming the reputation of this organization locally. If you care about animals and respect yourself,  avoid Best Friends.

My experience at Best Friends in Kanab Utah was very revealing; once you are "behind the scenes" of the public facade they spent millions to produce, it is pretty disheartening. Please reconsider working for this company if you are not prepared financially for a large pay cut and less than ideal benefits, or if you are interested in going above and beyond. Mediocrity is more than acceptable here (quantity over quality) and they are not interested in improvements, or suggestions that may be warranted. The veterinary clinic specifically has many flaws that are ignorantly defended, unfortunately, and their chosen leadership speaks to defy their very mission statement, which is to "save them all." You will not receive any training in the medical field here, or advance your knowledge, or even be encouraged to think independently as a medical professional. Your leadership won't be able to guide you because they don't know themselves and there is not a culture in place to change that. You will work much more than you are scheduled and still feel like you haven't done enough, and to be honest, many times you can't, given what the Sanctuary provides. 
You'll have to be OK seeing the money donated for your efforts to save the animals go towards loads of advertising, entertaining the wealthy, and furthering their reach to all ends of the country while neglecting the place that started it all. Almost $100,000 is budgeted annually just to fly out and entertain/house/feed a couple of medical specialists that see a dozen of the thousands of sanctuary animals during their time in Utah. Yet the people who are there every day, giving their all to the entire sanctuary, not just a few, are vastly underappreciated, underutilized, overworked, and worth a whole lot more.  My advice is to find other ways to help the animals you want to help.

What is the best part of working at the company?
BFAS's philosophy of kindness and compassion, and truthful interactions between staff, visitors, neighbors, and the animals in their care are beyond inspirational. The BFA Sanctuary is located within Kanab Canyon (Angels Canyon). Kanab, Utah, the nearest town, means "place of the willow" in Paiute and was named after the canyon. BFAS is passionately committed to the welfare of all animals that enter shelters and those that come to the Sanctuary to find respite, rehabilitation, and forever homes. BFAS also works with hundreds of other animal shelters and sanctuaries to bring a no-kill reality to the world. Moreover, they are equally concerned about the 'Wild-Best-Friends.'  They provide rehabilitation for local wildlife and are committed stewards of the wildlands under their care. It was the wildlands of Best Friends that I assisted with doing wetland and riparian restoration. Thus ensuring that the 'place of the willows', as the Paiute call this land, will be in ecological balance for perpetuity. The work of the wildland BFAS is cooperative.  The wildland restoration work within their boundaries happens through cooperation from state, tribal, county, university, volunteers, NGO, and federal partners who work together to ensure they are restored to wellness. It's a wonderful model of reciprocity. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
This was seasonal contractual work. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Positive, respectful, and grateful. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Varied, dependent on the work that needed to be completed. Either restoration, presentations, office (grant writing), or meetings.

Definitely one of those places that's amazing until you pull back the curtain. Great ideas, great motivators in some roles, and obviously a leader in Animal Welfare. The animals are what keep you going despite a lot of inner turmoil and extremely poor management. The corporate element has created an overly top heavy organization that at times seems far more concerned with brand recognition than their stated mission. They list in the application they value attitude over aptitude which is true but needs deciphering. If you can stomach the idea of working directly for a higher ups friend/spouse/kid/niece/nephew etc and praise them regularly you'll be fine. However, if you value competent management you'll do better elsewhere. Basically, they put high value in nepotism and expect everyone who works there to go along with it. Usually promotions and raises are doled out to the inner circle regularly and the outsiders who are new will salvage the scraps. Always understaffed in critical roles, medical, animal care, maintenance etc but overstaffed in management and directors, supervisors and on and on. Utah is a right to work state so if you speak up, or address issues your likely gone without any recourse. 

Still, the animals are worth it! My advice is to always keep an exit plan. Kanab is a terrible place to find yourself unemployed and you can easily get trapped there if you don't prepare.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Volunteer coordinator 5 salaries reported	$22.50 per hour
Director 5 salaries reported	$106,000 per year
Public relations specialist 4 salaries reported	$90,000 per year
Care specialist 4 salaries reported	$22.00 per hour
Veterinary technician 1 salary reported	$30.00 per hour

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