Help an Animal. Change a Life. (Maybe Your Own): Five Benefits From Volunteering at an Animal Sanctuary
Photo collage courtesy of Leilani Farm Sanctuary, Ha’iku, Maui.
People volunteer at animal sanctuaries because they want to help animals, but research suggests that the volunteer benefits, too. Studies associate volunteering with greater wellbeing, social connection, life satisfaction and sense of purpose.
You Will Make a Real, Visible Difference
At an animal sanctuary, volunteer work is rarely theoretical. Living areas need cleaning. Grounds need maintenance. Animals need food, fresh water, exercise, enrichment, socialization and individual attention. Volunteer work is often physically demanding and repetitive. But every completed task contributes to caring for animals who depend on people for their wellbeing. This makes volunteering highly tangible: you can see what your time accomplished before you go home.
Volunteers are essential to the East Maui Animal Refuge, AKA the Boo Boo Zoo, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2027.
Volunteering Will Strengthen Your Sense of Purpose
Feeling useful and needed is more than a pleasant experience. Researchers increasingly recognize purpose as an important component of psychological wellbeing.
A major review published in VOLUNTAS examined 28 previous systematic reviews of volunteering. Researchers found consistent evidence associating volunteering with several positive outcomes, including life satisfaction, psychological wellbeing, self-efficacy and purposefulness.
The researchers cautioned that the quality of the underlying evidence varied, so volunteering should not be treated as a guaranteed prescription for happiness. Still, sanctuary work offers something particularly concrete: another living being is better cared for because you showed up.
A rescued deer at the East Maui Animal Refuge.
Spending Time With Animals Reduces Stress
Research on human-animal interaction has found physiological changes associated with positive interactions between people and animals. Studies have examined stress hormones such as cortisol, cardiovascular responses and oxytocin, a hormone involved in social bonding.
The science is still developing, and sanctuary volunteering should not be confused with animal-assisted therapy. Cleaning stalls on a hot afternoon isn’t necessarily relaxing. But the broader research supports something many people who spend time with animals already recognize: positive interaction with animals can contribute to emotional and physiological responses associated with wellbeing.
A rescued cat and baby goat are safe and loved at Leilani Farm Sanctuary.
Volunteering Builds Social Connection
Sanctuary volunteers don’t just meet animals. They meet people who care about them.
The 28-review analysis found consistent evidence linking volunteering with greater social support, connectedness, community and expanded social networks.
This doesn’t mean every volunteer automatically finds a new best friend. But volunteering creates something friendships often need in order to develop: repeated contact, shared experiences and a common purpose.
At an animal sanctuary, you already know you have at least one thing in common with the person working beside you. You both cared enough to show up.
Rescued Emily the Goat gave birth to three sons at Leilani Farm Sanctuary. Photo courtesy Leilani Farm Sanctuary.
You Will Never Look at Animals Quite the Same Way Again
Spend enough time around sanctuary animals and the labels begin to disappear.
A pig isn’t simply “a pig.” One may be adventurous while another is cautious. One goat may demand attention while another hangs back. Chickens, sheep and other animals also differ as individuals.
You arrive planning to give something away: a few hours, some effort, perhaps a little sweat. Then you discover that you are getting something back: purpose, connection, new relationships and a deeper appreciation for individual animals whose lives you are helping to make better.
Volunteer Opportunities on Maui
East Maui Animal Refuge, teambooboozoo@gmail.com
Leilani Farm Sanctuary, info@leilanifarmsanctuary.org
Additional volunteer opportunities are available at numerous Maui sanctuaries, microsanctuaries and rescue groups. Some of them are listed here.
Volunteers are essential to the East Maui Animal Refuge.
Sources