Higher Ground Animal Sanctuary

amy burkhart

I've only had good experiences working with Higher Ground in animal rescue. They seem like a caring and compassionate place, and have helped with placement with several groups of animals that I personally have assisted with.

Caryn R

I had followed them for years on FB. I had messaged about donating and received responses pretty quickly on how to donate and if donation was received okay. About a month or two later needed some assistance with someone who had to surrender/rehome a dog. Messaged asking if they could take the dog in or advise me on where else we could look. Absolutely NO response whatsoever!! I guess if you're not messaging them asking how to get help to give them $, you're not worth a response!!

Cynthia Binsfield

We have been working closely with Cheri and several of her volunteers for 5 years now. All of these people, including Cheri, are hard working, loyal, dedicated, kind, and compassionate. During this time, we have adopted a kitten (Jingles), Duck (Millie), and now a puppy (Starr). For those of you saying it's all about the money and profits for them, you have no clue about how a non profit runs and how much goes into it. Our puppy was surrendered to HGAS at 3 weeks old. Her eyes were barely opened. This means she had to be bottle fed every coupla hours all through the night for weeks. Shots, wormer, spays and neuters are all taken care of. Many puppies she takes in have parvo and she pays the medical bills to get them healthy. She makes sure the dogs have behavioral training so they are starting off on a positive note. She interviews all adopters and picks what situations, or personalities are best for each critter. If you didn't get picked get over yourself, it's not about you, it's about that critter going to the best situation possible. She is up at the crack of dawn and does not finish til after dark. Her volunteers come in with donated produce they pick up for her, chop it up, and feed the critters. The volunteers help clean, remodel, chop wood, feed, water, build, and nurse back to health. There are special needs dogs, cats, and farm animals that need special attention. Somedays, no volunteers show up at all. To those negative reviews, all I have to say is there are 2 sides to every story. Before believing anything as fact from keyboard warriors, I would hope one would go check things out for themselves, get to know Cheri and her passion for HGAS and dedication to those in her care, both human and critter. If you got her dander up, or were treated badly, you pushed buttons you shouldn't have. She is fair, honest, and holds no punches. This is not a job for those with weak stomachs or fragile egos. There are lives she has to protect and she will at all costs.

Brittany Johnson

If I could give no starts, I would. To make a very long story short, the lady who contacted me about the dogs in the first place (Sherry) lead me on to believe I would be able to adopt them if they did well with me. Originally, she told me to just let her know if I wanted to adopt one or both of them once I had them and was actually fostering them. The first night of having them, I let her know we were highly interested in adopting. At that point, she called me too poor to have them (in a whole lot of words), undermined my knowledge and experience of fostering, and began to continually ignore my calls and messages. Then she told me today that the dogs were already adopted once they got to Seattle. She claimed to have forwarded my adoption application to the lady in Seattle (Kelly), who then sent me a lovely email this morning. It read, “Gosh...i am so sorry I already have homes for them! I have a waiting list as I have been rescuing Shar pei since the early 90's. Shar pei are very expensive with health care. They carry many hereditary issues that pet insurance will not even cover. Thank you so much for loving and taking care of them.” I wrote back in email multiple times, tried calling, leaving voicemails, texting, and even connecting with this Kelly lady on Facebook. She also blatantly ignored me. All I wanted at this point was to have my side heard, and no one was allowing me to even tell them anything. I sent a text to the Sherry lady saying, “You know, you told me prior to me picking the dogs up that I could adopt one. The only message I got from Kelly saying she already ‘has homes’ for them. It’s like no one is listening or even considering me. In AZ, when A foster wants to adopt a dog they’re fostering, that foster comes first. I feel like I’ve been lied to in regards to even having a chance to adopt them. I’ve got the money to do so. I know what I’m signing up for. I told Kelly, like I’m telling you, that I feel extremely undermined in this entire thing. Everyone keeps ignoring me or just blatantly not responding to me. This is probably the worst communication I’ve ever had to deal with while fostering. All I am asking for is for someone to let me adopt one of these two dogs. To give them a good life here. I am completely capable of doing what’s best for them. I hope you can understand my frustration in all of this.” In response to this, Sherry ended up calling me 3 times before I answered. (I was taking a minute to collect myself.) In the phone call, she once again called me too poor to have a Shar Pei, told me that I know absolutely nothing about fostering and running a rescue, and so on. She literally would not stop talking and insulting me. So I hung up the phone in the middle of her continuous rabbles (the politest thing I could do) and sent her a text saying that I was bringing the dogs to her at that exact time. Matt and I loaded up the car, and drove her way. Once we got to her ranch, I gave her the dogs, and Matt gave her the kennels, and we silently went on our way. Not looking for any fight, but to just end everything peacefully. Once we left, she continued to send me messages saying, “This is how I know the difference between someone who is about the dogs and someone who is self serving. If you have to leave and not confront me you are NOT good with dogs.” She continued to send me a couple more snarky texts, and that was the end of it. The boys supposedly were going to be transported to Seattle tonight and be in their ‘new homes’ on Monday. Overall, Sherry, the lady who runs this place is one of the worst people I’ve ever met. She’s a liar, rude, condescending, and will always talk over you and belittle you.